State Funds Available for Housing in Shale Regions

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

August 1, 2012 | 1:30 PM

Back in February, WPSU’s Emily Reddy reported on a new phenomenon in places where shale drilling has boosted the local economy — homelessness. The influx of out-of-state drillers in need of places to stay has put pressure on the low-income housing stock in heavily drilled areas of the state. The good news is a hotel building boom. But for many, rising rents have left them out in the cold, creating a homeless population for the first time in places like Tioga County.
Now the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency has a pool of money to hand out for low-income housing projects in drilling areas suffering from a new housing crunch. The Pennsylvania Housing Affordibility and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund, or PHARE, will provide $2.5 million collected in 2011, and an additional $5 million each subsequent year. Funds from the Impact Fee will also become available.
“The end result will be improved housing options suited to the needs of the people who live in those regions affected by the increase in natural gas drilling,” said PHFA director Brian Hudson.
PHFA will be accepting proposals up until November 2.
The agency will be holding public information sessions, including a Q&A, on drafting these proposals.