READING, Pa. – Reading City Council heard a presentation Monday night on a downtown housing initiative from the city’s community development staff.

Community Development Director David Barr said the program is a staff initiative intended to get people living downtown.

Tony Veloz, community development program director, explained the initiative is designed to address a large amount of vacant or underutilized upper floors of properties which are only occupied by businesses on the ground floor.

“Those spaces have not been developed due to a variety of costly barriers, such as needing to install fire suppression systems to make them safe for habitability, and historic preservation mandates that need to be complied with,” Veloz said. “This makes it a little more difficult for property owners in the downtown area to redevelop some of these properties.”

The pilot program will include properties in the 200 through 500 blocks of Penn Street, but Veloz said the goal is to eventually expand the program to other areas of the city as potential future funding would become available.

Veloz said the staff estimates there are about 67 vacant or underutilized upper stories across 29 buildings in the identified area, and that space could equal about 60 residential units.

For the past year, a steering committee and an advisory committee have been working on the proposed parameters of the program.

Building owners will be able to apply for grants between $25,000 and $100,000 to develop the residential units.

“We’re looking at substantial improvements to address significant non-cosmetic deficiencies, especially those related to code compliance, structural integrity, and safe habitability,” Veloz said. “Some examples include structural stabilization, restoration of major building systems or construction thereof, as well as the construction or rehab of one or more of the following: roofing and related drainage systems, HVAC systems, water supply and fire protection systems.”

Veloz explained that the initial funding would come from $1 million which council set aside in a housing improvement fund sometime around 2019.

One of the program requirements will require a 25% match from the applicants.

Veloz said community development is looking at launching the application window next month, which will be closed sometime in June.

Council President Donna Reed said the program could prove to be interesting since so many of the upper floors have been vacant for many years.

“I’m hopeful that it will be economically viable and that it will work because it will help the city and hopefully bring more business,” Reed said.