Housing
Focus Area:
Housing
Focus
Goal: Address the county’s needs for new housing and redeveloped housing that is accessible and attainable
- Promote adaptive reuse and redevelopment of obsolete commercial and industrial properties
- Assess and address the mismatch between housing stock and housing demand, including age, price point, type, and location
What We Look To Achieve
Housing Choice
Together
Housing is something of a new-comer to Economic Development plans. In years past, the inclusion of housing would have seemed out of place alongside Talent, Placemaking, and Business, but its connection spans across each category of our plan. Houses don’t build themselves and in the last decade, Berks County has lagged behind in housing growth. The need in our community is not just affordable housing, it is housing of all types, price points, and location. The IMAGINE Berks plan identified this need and added Jaime Perez as a full-time Housing Planner to look at innovative solutions and identify areas for collaboration and cooperation.
To learn more about the neighborhoods in Berks County, check out this guide to 5 neighborhoods: Boyertown, Centre Park, Hamburg, Kutztown, and West Reading.
Housing Support:
Whole Home Repair
Home
In addition to the need for the creation of new housing, the need for upgrades and repairs to existing housing stock is also crucial. Through the statewide Whole Home Repair Program, Berks County Redevelopment Authority (BCRA).
To date, over $1 million of repairs have been completed. The total allocation the County received was $3,684,308. All of the funding for the initial allotment has been committed and those projects are underway.
The Program offers forgivable loan funding for low-to-moderate income homeowners or a zero-interest loan equivalent to small landlords. These funds will be used to pay for fundamental repairs, replacement of a major system or items of their house, or weatherization of homes and rental units.
