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Seeing Green – AHP Funding from Valley Green Bank Supports Green Affordable Housing in West Philadelphia

Instead of looking at run-down vacant buildings in the area east of 40th Street and Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia, residents will be seeing a lot more green, thanks in part to the grand opening of an environmentally friendly affordable housing apartment building for families moving out of transitional housing called Jannie’s Place.

Jannie’s Place transformed a 33,000 square-foot factory into a three-story development with 17 units for formerly homeless, special needs families in one building; preserved three rowhome-style units on an adjacent street for low-income or special needs families; and renovated nine units that occupy the third floor of a People’s Emergency Center (PEC) shelter nearby.

Kira Strong, PEC vice president of community and economic development, spearheaded the green project in 2006 as part of an initiative to make Philadelphia more environmentally friendly. This new affordable housing features energy efficient units and a green roof that uses plant cover to lower temperatures and reduce energy consumption.

FHLBank Pittsburgh member Valley Green Bank provided $650,000 in Affordable Housing Program (AHP) funds to help meet total development costs of $9.2 million. Other funding partners include the City of Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development, City of Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund, City of Philadelphia’s McKinney Supportive Housing Program Fund, Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) PennHOMES Program, PEC’s development fund and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“Valley Green was wonderful to work with and we are thrilled that they agreed to support a local project,” said Strong. “This grant helped us to secure ARRA tax credit exchange funds (the bulk of the project funding) from PHFA since it gave us leveraging points on their application. Because it is such a big grant, it was a major contribution to the budget on its own. Without it, the project probably would not have worked,” she added.

Jannie’s Place is named after Philadelphia Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell (3rd District), a supporter of project sponsor People’s Emergency Center Community Development Corporation and a long-time advocate for social justice.

Councilwoman Blackwell was on hand to mark the grand opening alongside Farah Jimenez, executive director of PEC; Brian Hudson, executive director of PHFA and an FHLBank Director; and other dignitaries from the housing, banking and business communities.

PEC Board Chairman David Fryman said, “PEC is at the forefront of providing sustainable housing for the homeless and is consistently helping to drive change in an environmentally friendly way.” 

To date, active members of FHLBank Pittsburgh have shared more than $164 million in AHP funds and helped build 26,000 units of housing within their communities and other areas served by member banks, making them better places to live, do business, save, borrow and invest.