Domus inc philadelphia5/5/2023 ![]() The houses are black, tan and red brick buildings that occupy several blocks along 23rd and Jefferson Streets. ![]() ![]() “It’s worse,” Glenn said of the current condition of Sharswood. Some homes have been hit with graffiti while another vandal broke into a house and stole pipes, Glenn explained. “PHA went full-steam ahead, uprooting people from their homes with eminent domain without the full funding for the project,” Glenn said.įuture funding is expected to come from Low Income Housing Tax Credits, federal block grants, the PHA, city dollars and private sources.Īccording to Glenn, some homes that had been seized through eminent domain that once had occupants are now abandoned and vandalized. However, Glenn is critical of the PHA even starting such an ambitious project without all of the funding in place. PlanPhilly reported that there are five to seven years left to complete the project, Calvin Jeremiah, CEO of the PHA, said the project is 70 percent funded and he is confident that the agency can secure the other 30 percent. The PHA also has not secured all the funding it needs for the seven-year development project. Some residents feel as though they are being uprooted senselessly from their community by the PHA through eminent domain. The project was supposed to be completed last August, but it was instead finished in late October. “They could have hired people from the neighborhood to jumpstart their careers,” Glenn said. Section Three residents are either PHA residents or those who live in Philadelphia with a household income that is low or very low under HUD’s income limits. These include recipients of government housing assistance. Section Three specifically states that if a contractor or subcontractor demonstrates that they have no need to subcontract or hire, or that it is unable to meet Section Three hiring requirements, the contractor can make a contribution to the PHA scholarship fund as a substitute for hiring.Īccording to PHA’s website, Section Three is a provision in the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Act of 1968 that is meant to provide economic opportunities to low and very low-income persons. Glenn pointed out a loophole in the hiring contract between the PHA and the contractors. and TN Ward for the demolition of the Blumberg high rises and the construction of the new houses. Glenn said that the PHA hired contractors Domus, Geppert Bros. According to Glenn, they failed to follow through on that commitment. When the construction started last May, the PHA promised residents that they would hire 70 people from the neighborhood. Glenn observed that many license plates on the construction site were from New Jersey. Glenn claimed that when residents were hired, they were subsequently terminated within three weeks of starting the job. Upon completion of the houses in October 2016, resident Jeff Glenn told Spirit News that nothing had changed since then. ![]() In May 2016, Spirit News reported that the PHA was not keeping its promise to hire neighborhood residents to build the townhomes. While the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) has been keen to herald the construction of 57 newly-built townhomes in Sharswood, local residents seeking employment are not so jubilant. ![]()
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