an Oct. 1 request for approval<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Center for Public Enterprise will help Bethlehem with \u201cfiguring out how to package incentives that will both support the private development but also ensure that there\u2019s affordability that we have some sort of control over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bethlehem Director of Community and Economic Development Laura Collins<\/p>\n
Collins said CPE will help the city with \u201cfiguring out how to package incentives that will both support the private development but also ensure that there\u2019s affordability that we have some sort of control over.\u201d<\/p>\n
That could look like tax abatements, expedited permitting and other incentives, for example, to lower an overall project cost, while also making room for affordable units in the build, she said.<\/p>\n
CPE will assist with \u201cthe creation and review of model pro formas for potential capital stack structures and developments\u201d and \u201cthe identification of projects Bethlehem could develop\/co-develop and provide a brief detailing strategies for the development of a pipeline of projects,\u201d Collins wrote in her report to City Council.<\/p>\n
Revolving loan funds have seen success in spurring development in a number of other communities, Collins said, such as Montgomery County, Maryland, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.<\/p>\n
‘Investment likely to pay off manyfold’<\/p>\n
CPE is philanthropically funded \u2014 a couple of donors include the United States Energy Foundation and Working Families Organization \u2014 meaning the $12,000 contract costs much lower than what you may pay otherwise in the market, Collins said.<\/p>\n
City Councilwoman Hillary Kwiatek said the new agreement gives the city \u201ca little bit of a hand in the game\u201d in making projects, especially those that hit financial snags, move faster to some degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cFilling that gap, speeding up timelines, potentially empowering smaller, local developers to participate.”<\/p>\n
Bethlehem City Councilwoman Kiera Wilhelm<\/p>\n
\u201cFilling that gap, speeding up timelines, potentially empowering smaller, local developers to participate \u2014 I think the investment is likely to pay off manyfold,\u201d Councilwoman Kiera Wilhelm said.<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Rachel Leon said the new move could provide the market with a sort of \u201ccooling effect\u201d while also incentivizing affordability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is pretty exciting and a very modest price, all things considered,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 A new revolving loan fund aimed at prioritizing mixed-income housing would allow the city to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[163,153,164,155,154,165,166,167,168,169,170,171],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-affordable-housing-in-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-city-council","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-center-for-public-enterprise","tag-hillary-kwiatek","tag-laura-collins","tag-lehigh-valley-housing-crisis","tag-new-housing-in-bethlehem","tag-opening-doors","tag-rachel-leon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}