Greene is fortunate to receive housing funds
Greene County is fortunate again this year to receive money from the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund for projects to improve and develop housing.
During the most recent funding cycle, the county was awarded $890,000 to help fund three housing projects and a veterans’ rental assistance program. The money will be used to build a four-unit apartment building in Jefferson with two wheelchair-accessible apartments, to begin developing a senior housing project in Rogersville and to build two, single-family homes in Waynesburg.
In previous years, the PHARE Fund provided money to help with the development of the 52-unit Gateway Senior Housing project now under construction in Waynesburg and to fund the county redevelopment authority’s home rehabilitation program.
Housing has been a big issue in Greene County for many years, as was documented in a study conducted for the county by the Delta Development Group and released earlier this year. The study showed a steady annual decline in the number of new homes being built in the county between 2005 and 2013. In June 2014, it noted, only six homes were listed for sale in the $150,000 to $200,000 range, a range considered affordable to the average Greene County resident.
The availability of adequate housing is an ongoing problem and the growth of the natural gas industry and influx of new workers to the area will only compound that problem, the report concluded.
Though the influx of new workers has somewhat abated with the natural gas industry’s slump, it seems unlikely to last and there will again be a resurgence in growth in the industry. So, we believe, housing should remain a focus.
What’s significant about the PHARE Fund is it receives money to provide housing grants from the fees paid by natural gas drillers under Act 13, the same legislation under which counties and municipalities receive their impact fee allocations. PHARE Fund money from Act 13 is distributed to address housing needs in the counties where drilling is being carried out.
Given Greene County has a demonstrated need for affordable housing that is only expected to increase with the growth of the natural gas industry, we believe the method under which PHARE Fund money is distributed is fair and we hope the county continues to receive its share of money from the fund.