In partnership with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Regional Housing Legal Services (RHLS), and with funding from The Heinz Endowments, Reinvestment Fund set out to understand how communities utilize the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) program and identify recommendations for improving the program’s application and reporting processes. This report summarizes our findings, describing the program’s history and eligibility criteria, summarizing lessons learned from 11 community projects funded by PHARE dollars, and providing an overview of PHARE funded projects across the Commonwealth.
In 2020 PHARE awarded nearly $55 million dollars which were used to create 3,246 affordable housing units. But PHARE funding also helps grantees leverage additional public and private funding. The state’s $55 million dollar investment through PHARE leveraged $509 million in additional funding.
The PHARE program could have a larger impact, but is limited by the level of funding and availability of grants. Every year the PHARE program receives more applications than it can fund, and only 35% of PHARE grantees in 2019 to 2020 received the full funding amount that they requested.
PHARE funding is uniquely responsive to local needs. The projects highlighted in our case studies underscore the unique way in which PHARE funding allows local communities to develop programs and interventions that meet their needs.
PHARE funding helps support some of the most vulnerable residents across the state, but at the same time also supports the broader community. Every grantee was able to describe how PHARE funding supported not only low-income families but also the broader community.
PHARE funding fills critical resource gaps in communities across the Commonwealth. Grantees spoke about how PHARE funding was a unique and critical resource in their community. Some smaller communities lack foundations or institutional funders that can help support community development efforts through grants. In these communities, PHARE grants are one of the largest sources of flexible funding to address community development needs.
PHARE funding is enabling innovative approaches to community challenges and helping to leverage new funding. The flexibility afforded by the PHARE program enables grantees to try out new approaches that other funders won’t yet support.
Alana Kim is a Policy Analyst for Reinvestment Fund, where she conducts quantitative and qualitative research for topics related to housing, high-quality childcare, place-based public policy interventions, and community social wellbeing. She supports the team’s research projects that help all levels of governments, philanthropies, community organizations, as well as Reinvestment Fund’s lending department, respond to community needs by using data-driven, place-based tools. Ms. Kim first joined Policy Solutions as an intern, contributing to the Early Childhood Education Analytics for Philadelphia and Atlanta, as well as Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) analysis.
Previously, Ms. Kim’s research experiences involved gentrification, food systems planning, rural development policies in China, and spatial data management. She has a Master of City Planning degree from the Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania, with a focus on community economic development, GIS, and digital geographies, and a B.A. in Geography and International Political Economy from University of Washington.
Jacob Rosch conducts quantitative and qualitative research at Reinvestment Fund. His most recent projects have investigated the supply of uncertified child care in the Philadelphia area, the impact of scattered site housing projects, and the role of “middle market” neighborhoods in legacy cities. At Reinvestment Fund, Mr. Rosch leads projects to help philanthropic, government, and private investors design strategies to support the expansion of high quality childcare, build healthy and thriving communities, and improve the lives of residents and families in disadvantaged communities.
Prior to joining Policy Solutions, Mr. Rosch spent six years as a consultant working with clients in the K-12 and higher education sectors on a wide range of topics including school finance, teacher quality, accountability, online education, and university budgeting. His work has been published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and the Chicago Policy Review.
Ira Goldstein, Ph.D., is the President of Policy Solutions at Reinvestment Fund, a results-oriented, socially responsible community investment group. Dr. Goldstein has conducted detailed spatial and statistical analyses in many cities and regions across the US.
| Cookie | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
| viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |