FHLBank Pittsburgh Awards $6.58 Million in 2006 Affordable Housing Grants, Offers More Than $6 Million More

On June 16, the Board of Directors of FHLBank Pittsburgh approved $6.58 million in grants under its Affordable Housing Program (AHP). The grants will help finance 28 housing projects across the district, creating 726 units of housing with total development costs of $89.3 million.

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper congratulates homebuyer Cevon Maull, a beneficiary of AHP funding.

"In this, our 17th year of AHP, we are again pleased to provide our financial institution members with grants that help create a growing stock of attractively priced housing for purchase or rental by low- and very-low-income individuals and families including the homeless, children, frail elderly and the physically and mentally disabled," said John R. Price, FHLBank Pittsburgh's president and chief executive officer.

The grants are the result of the first of two competitive funding rounds to occur this year. FHLBank Pittsburgh received 77 AHP applications during this year's first round.

FHLBank Pittsburgh celebrated some of the funding recipients at congressional events held around the district. Those events include:

• August 15 — U.S. Rep. Charles W. Dent (PA-15) announced a $500,000 grant for major renovation work at a homeless shelter in Allentown, PA.
• August 16 — U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (PA-2) announced $3 million in grants made through 5 local banks for the construction or rehabilitation of 230 units of affordable housing. The projects serve a wide variety of low-income occupants ranging from single mothers and their children to those with physical and mental disabilities to the elderly.
• August 23 — Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed announced the release of $1.4 million in grants to help fund five affordable housing projects in Harrisburg and southcentral Pennsylvania.
• August 24 — U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (PA-6) announced a one-half-million-dollar grant for Our City Reading’s cornerstone revitalization project, creating homeownership opportunities for 100 first-time homebuyers.

Cevon Maull purchased her home through the Cedar Creek Landing Self-help Project in Lincoln, DE.

The second 2006 funding round is now open, and FHLBank Pittsburgh expects to award approximately $6.5 million in funding. The round ends at 5 p.m. Thursday, September 28. As in prior years, the total AHP allocation in 2006 will equal ten percent of the Bank’s net income from 2005, a record earnings year.

Since the start of the AHP in 1990, FHLBank Pittsburgh has awarded approximately $118 million for more than 21,000 affordable housing units — empowering families, improving neighborhoods and building sustainable communities.