{"id":23018,"date":"2023-06-21T22:25:15","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T02:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/?p=23018"},"modified":"2023-06-21T22:25:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T02:25:15","slug":"wcdc-receives-400k-grant-to-support-vacant-property-restoration-housing-improvements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wcdc-receives-400k-grant-to-support-vacant-property-restoration-housing-improvements\/","title":{"rendered":"WCDC Receives $400K Grant to Support Vacant Property Restoration &#038; Housing Improvements"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>WCDC Receives $400k To Help Empower Residents To Fight Back Against Wilkinsburg\u2019s Growing Vacancy And Blight<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23019 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The WCDC is pleased to announce that it has secured $400,000 in PA Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Funds (PHARE) from the PA Housing Finance Agency to support the Wilkinsburg Vacant Property Recovery Initiative. This initiative grew out of the WCDC and its Strong Neighborhoods Committee\u2019s work, and it represents a collection of efforts and programs that provide funds and resources directly to community members interested in acquiring and rehabilitating vacant properties and\/or to making exterior repairs and updates to their homes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-23020 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"533\" height=\"109\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant1.png 587w, https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WCDC-blightgrant1-300x61.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Through programs like the Homeowner Acquisition, Repair, and Preservation (HARP) Program and Vacant Property Recovery Initiative, PHARE funds will specifically support the WCDC\u2019s work to provide financial and\/or technical support to residents for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>much-needed home repairs;<\/li>\n<li>vacant property acquisition to encourage new homeownership and preservation of Wilkinsburg\u2019s housing stock;<\/li>\n<li>and wills and estate planning funding to encourage existing homeowners to plan for the future of their property.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"justify\">This is the third grant provided to the WCDC by PHFA since 2020, totaling $750,000 in support from the agency over the past three years. PHFA\u2019s increasing support of the WCDC shows the effectiveness of the organization\u2019s work and the need to continue addressing Wilkinsburg\u2019s most pressing issues with dedicated, consistent funding to support capacity and program development.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Examples of how these funds have been used to impact the lives of Wilkinsburg residents include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>30 applications submitted\u00a0to acquire vacant properties and\/or land have been submitted within the last two years with\u00a012 properties\u00a0successfully acquired to date.<\/li>\n<li>34 Wilkinsburg residents\u00a0received grants of up to $10,000 in 2022 with\u00a014 home repairs and\/or renovations\u00a0completed in the last year.<\/li>\n<li>19 residents\u00a0have reached out for free legal assistance related to wills and estate planning with\u00a07 completed\u00a0so far.<\/li>\n<li>3 resident-driven neighborhood improvement plans\u00a0have received technical assistance and funding to support phase one, with more funding planned for subsequent phases. The plans represent a concerted effort to address the vacancy and blight within these three focus areas and are a direct result of the WCDC\u2019s Strong Neighborhoods Committee\u2019s work and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wilkinsburgcdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Wilkinsburg-Vacant-Property-Report-Apr22-update.pdf\">2022 WCDC Community Vacant Property Strategy<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wilkinsburgcdc.org\/wilkinsburg-cdc-receives-400k-to-help-empower-residents-to-fight-back-against-wilkinsburgs-growing-vacancy-and-blight\/\"><strong>READ FULL ARTICLE<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WCDC Receives $400k To Help Empower Residents To Fight Back Against Wilkinsburg\u2019s Growing Vacancy And Blight The WCDC is pleased to announce that it has secured $400,000 in PA Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Funds (PHARE) from the PA Housing &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wcdc-receives-400k-grant-to-support-vacant-property-restoration-housing-improvements\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"xn-wppe-expiration":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-action":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-prefix":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 14:49:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23021,"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23018\/revisions\/23021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}