Liz Hersh, formerly from the Housing Alliance for PA speaks about campaigning in Pennsylvania to secure income for affordable housing initiatives.
The Housing Alliance for Pennsylvania is a state-wide coalition providing leadership and a common voice for policies, practices and resources to ensure that all Pennsylvanians, especially those with low incomes, have access to safe, decent and affordable homes. Over three years the Alliance used an Oak grant to build a campaign to establish ongoing funding for the State Housing Trust Fund – which is a designated form of revenue for affordable housing.
The Housing Alliance wanted state legislation to secure income from the post-recession growth in real estate transfer tax (projected to grow to USD 25 million a year) for affordable housing initiatives. Its work resulted in a huge success – legislation was passed in 2015 and initial funding of USD 12.5 million was made available in 2017.
“This was the first new funding for affordable housing in the state for many years,” says Liz Hersh, the former executive director of the Housing Alliance for Pennsylvania, who led the campaign. “In addition, the funding is flexible, recognising the need for diverse solutions and local decisions on how money is spent.”
The Housing Alliance for PA sees their campaign as:
• Values-based – identifying and messaging using commonly held, deeply felt values.
• Market research data informed – it benefitted from nationally supported market research which gave them real data about how to develop materials and messages.
This grant falls under Oak’s Housing and Homelessness Programme, which focuses on preventing homelessness by funding sustainable solutions that improve the economic and social wellbeing of marginalised youth, adults and families. We have three priorities: promoting economic self-sufficiency; increasing the availability and supply of affordable housing; and preventing homelessness. The work of the Housing Alliance for Pennsylvania came under our priority area to improve the supply of low-income housing and housing opportunity. You can find out more here: [ Ссылка ]
Find out about the Housing Alliance for Pennsylvania here: [ Ссылка ]
