Penn Hills is a bedroom community located in Southwestern Pennsylvania, adjacent to the City of Pittsburgh. Penn Hills was transformed from a rural to a suburban community in the post World War II period. Today, there is very little new construction of housing, as Penn Hills is primarily developed.
The Penn Hills Consolidated Plan includes a one-year action plan for the use of approximately $912,000 in CDBG funds, which includes project income. Also included is a five-year plan for the use of federal funds.
The lead agency in the development of the Consolidated Plan was the Penn Hills Planning Department. The Consolidated Plan was developed through public hearings, council workshops, and the use of existing data from the previously approved CHAS.
Consultations were made with many agencies, such as the Allegheny County Housing Authority, Eastern Area on Aging, Allegheny County MH/MR, and many others. A number of citizen groups also participated in the public hearings.
Three public hearings were held on the following dates: January 17, 1995, March 8, 1995, and May 3, 1995.
Efforts were made to broaden public participation by sending direct notices
about the hearings to various groups and individuals, as well as the newspaper
ads.
Penn Hills is located in Allegheny County, and is the second largest municipality in the county, with a total population of 51,479. This population represents a loss since the 1980 census, when the population was 57,632. Allegheny County is also losing population. The African-American population comprises 16 percent of the total population, with the remainder of the population white.
The median family income for Penn Hills in 1990 was $35,338. The average
income of African Americans on the average is equal to that of white families.
The census shows that 60 percent of white families make over 95 percent of the
median family income, compared to 59 percent of the black families. Those
considered extremely low, very low, and low income are also proportionally equal
between blacks and whites.
Penn Hills has a declining population, similar to the remainder of Allegheny County, and an aging housing stock. The majority of persons from Penn Hills who are employed work elsewhere, such as Pittsburgh, as this is a bedroom community.
Housing needs identified in the Consolidated Plan include the rehabilitation of single-family homes. Many homeowners are cost-burdened, and therefore need loans in order to make needed home improvements. Another need is rental assistance for low income renters, as the cost of rental housing is relatively more expensive than the cost of purchasing housing. The purchase price of housing in Penn Hills is affordable, but the costs of rents are rising faster than incomes of renters. More Section 8 vouchers are needed.
In the renter category, large, extremely low income families have the greatest cost burden. Many low income homeowners are also cost burdened.
Penn Hills has 20,059 year round housing units. 15,978 of these units are owner occupied, while 3,862 are rental units. Approximately 72 percent of the housing units contain three bedrooms or more.
About five percent of all owner occupied units are considered substandard, with approximately 98 percent suitable for rehabilitation. Only 1.3 percent of the renter occupied housing units are considered substandard, of which approximately 95 percent are suitable for rehabilitation. Penn Hills has an aggressive occupancy permit requirement, which requires that units be brought up to code, prior to the transfer of ownership or the changing of tenants.
Affordability of single-family homes in Penn Hills is not an issue, as homes in the $50,000 to $65,000 range are plentiful. Affordability here is mainly an issue of rent prices for lower income tenants, and also the affordability of major home repairs, such as furnaces for lower income homeowners and senior citizens.
The rising number of female headed households, who tend to be lower income, show a need for rental subsidy, such as Section 8.
There is only one homeless person in Penn Hills to our knowledge. In Penn Hills, there are no homeless shelters, no soup kitchens, or any other facility for the homeless. Homeless in this region tend to locate in Pittsburgh. Penn Hills, therefore, does not identify any resources for homeless needs.
Penn Hills has 108 public housing units, which are under the jurisdiction of the Allegheny County Housing Authority. There are also a number of Section 8 buildings. 221 persons from Penn Hills are on the waiting list for public, assisted, and Section 8 housing. Currently the housing authority is not accepting any new applications for assisted housing. No units are expected to be lost from the public housing inventory.
Other groups in Penn Hills that need assistance include the elderly, who are often served by the Allegheny County Aging Division; the mentally or physically disabled, who often reside in group homes in Penn Hills.
Often, zoning and building code regulations are cited as barriers to affordable housing. However, this is not the case in Penn Hills. The Municipality has land development regulations that are not a barrier to affordable housing, but serve to protect the housing stock. Our zoning regulations are not excessive; they do not require large lots, or excessive setbacks.
One of the major problems regarding the development of housing in Penn Hills today is a ban on sewage tap ins by the Department of Environmental Protection. Currently, no tap ins are available in Penn Hills, and in several watersheds, have not been available for over 7 years, although we are in the midst of 45 million dollars in sewage renovations.
The Municipality completed a Fair Housing study in June 1992, in conjunction with Allegheny County, McKeesport, and the City of Pittsburgh. Patterns of residential segregation are subsiding, as minorities are dispersing throughout the Municipality. Penn Hills has adopted a fair housing ordinance, and contracts with the Fair Housing Partnership for a housing hotline service that residents can call to report housing related complaints.
Penn Hills' housing stock is primarily older in character, therefore making lead-based paint a concern. The Allegheny County Health Department screens for lead poisoning, but numbers specifically for Penn Hills are not known. The Health Department has received a grant for lead abatement, which can be used in Penn Hills, at the Health Department's discretion.
Community Development needs include infrastructure improvements, youth services, public services such as food banks, neighborhood facilities, and economic development.
The Municipality of Penn Hills does not intend to coordinate activities
between other service providers. Many service agencies operate within Penn
Hills, but we do not feel that it is our role to coordinate. We will continue
to refer persons in need of services to these agencies.
The Municipality seeks to improve the low income neighborhoods in order to stimulate reinvestment and to better these neighborhoods for those who currently live there. We seek to improve and maintain the housing stock in order to keep a good supply of affordable housing.
Our housing and community development objectives center around helping the low income residents. Our housing objectives include the rehabilitation of single-family homes in order to maintain our aging housing stock. We also seek to eliminate blight, and to make infrastructure improvements.
We plan to continue the single-family low interest loan program in order to maintain our housing stock.
Priorities include continuing to assist neighborhood facilities, street improvements, food banks, youth job programs, and elimination of slums and blight.
Penn Hills does not have its own plan for reducing the number of families in poverty, although we do have programs for low income to help them so that their housing does not become substandard, such as our low interest loan program. There are social agencies that have programs such as job training, child care, and assistance with utility bills.
The main resource for Penn Hills is the CDBG grant, although other programs are often available, such as mortgage programs available through the state. Currently we are seeking approval of the formation of a consortium in order to be a participating jurisdiction under the HOME program.
The Penn Hills Planning Department is responsible for the activities
identified in the Consolidated Plan. However, other agencies and nonprofits,
such as food banks, are involved in carrying out activities.
| Housing rehab loans | $300,000 | |
| Handicap improvements | 15,000 | |
| Street Improvements | 185,000 | |
| Demolition | 60,000 | |
| Youth Employment | 50,000 | |
| Fair Housing | 5,000 | |
| Food banks | 38,400 | |
| Community centers, senior centers, etc | 95,000 | |
| Miscellaneous other projects | 163,600 |
The projects identified above will all be carried out within the Municipality of Penn Hills.
The lead agency for the one-year action plan is the Penn Hills Planning Department.
During the first year, the Municipality will seek to assist 40 homeowners with rehabilitation loans. If HOME funds become available to us, we will also design housing programs with these funds.
MAP 2 depicts points of interest and low-moderate income areas.
MAP 3 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and minority concentration levels.
MAP 4 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and unemployment levels.
MAP 5 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects; in addition, a table depicts information about the project(s).
MAP 6 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects. Additional information about the project(s) is depicted in the table on MAP 5.
