Reading City Council tables a $2.89 million grant for housing for shelter clients

Yahoo

20-02-2025

City Council has deferred a decision on the allocation of funds for affordable housing for working adults and families currently living in shelters.
Council voted 4-2 at a special meeting Tuesday to table a resolution that would allocate $2.89 million in HOME Investment Partnerships American Rescue Plan Act, or HOME-ARP, funds to Opportunity House for the acquisition of a property at 100 S. Fourth St.
Councilmembers Vanessa Campos and Rafael Nunez cast the dissenting votes. Councilman Jaime Baez Jr. was absent.
Council previously tabled action on the allocation and requested additional information at its regular meeting Feb. 10.
The special meeting was scheduled for further discussion and possible action on the proposal.
The city received $3.5 million in HOME-ARP money about three years ago, Jamar Kelly, city finance, deputy managing and acting community development director, said Wednesday.
The funds administered by the federal office of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, are earmarked to reduce homelessness and increase housing stability.
'When the city received the award, we had to go through a community engagement process,' Kelly said.
As part of that process, Kelly said, some of the money was set aside for support services and workforce development programs for the city's unhoused population. The remaining $2.9 million, he said, was allocated for affordable housing as part of an action plan council approved in 2022.
Only one organization, Opportunity House, which operates a shelter at 430 N. Second St., responded to the city's request for proposals, Kelly said.
Modesto Fiume, executive director of the nonprofit, said the organization looked at three other properties before agreeing to buy the 20-unit apartment building on South Fourth Street from Dream Ventures PA II LLC, an entity of the Brooklyn development company, Heights Advisors.
Council previously approved plans for the building with the understanding it would become market-rate apartments, Councilman O. Christopher Miller said. He and some other council members expressed concerns about removing the building from the tax roll should it be bought by the nonprofit.
The Brooklyn entity also has plans for apartment projects at 601 Penn St. and the former Central Catholic High School building on Hill Road.
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Opportunity House has a lease with the developer for the temporary operation of an emergency shelter in a former convent building on Eckert Avenue.
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Fiume said the South Fourth Street building would have 20 one- and two-bedroom units that could be rented to those below the median income level who have been stuck living in the shelter because they cannot afford market rates for rentals.
The targeted tenants would include those working at low-paying jobs and others, such as the elderly or disabled who receive Social Security income or disability insurance.
Miller and Councilwomen Melissa Ventura and Vanessa Campos said they were unaware of the project until the resolution was presented last week.
Council only received supplemental documents and information a few hours before the meeting Tuesday, they said, not enough time to thoroughly review it.
'I would appreciate in the future for some of us who have full-time jobs to have a little bit more lead time to be able to review,' Miller said. 'I felt I was being inundated four hours before the meeting, and there was just no way that I could read everything to prepare for tonight.'
Miller also raised concerns about the safety of the property.
City Solicitor Fred Lachat said the building was deemed safe and received a certificate of occupancy from the city's building inspector.
Kelly said he needed to defend the city staff involved with the project.
'I get the concern about the timing, that's very legitimate,' he said, 'but casting blanket aspersions on all of our code and building officials can't stand without some pushback.'
Council members also asked for more involvement in this and other projects using public funding.
Kelly said obtaining council's approval for the project is not a HUD requirement but is needed due to a condition council placed in its 2022 approval of the HOME-ARP action plan.
Some council members also had concerns about the appraisal process and called for an independent appraisal, something Lachat and Jack Gombach, city managing director, said would be an unnecessary expense for the city.
After initially refusing to disclose the appraised value of the property in a public meeting, Fiume, at the urging of Councilman Wesley Butler and others, said the building was appraised by a Lehigh Valley area appraiser at $3.3 million.
After discussing the proposal for more than an hour, council voted 5-1 to amend the motion to approve the allocation with the condition an independent appraisal is done by the city.
Campos voted against the amendment.
Following approval of the amendment, council voted to table the resolution.
Council is expected to vote on the resolution at its Feb. 24 meeting.