The City of Erie is in the process of developing a comprehensive housing plan and they are asking residents to join in. This week, they are hosting two listening sessions where residents can give their input.<\/p>\n
The first listening session will be co-hosted by Erie Spiritual Coalition and is scheduled for 6 pm this Wednesday at the Cathedral of St. Paul on 134 West 7th St. They are also providing free childcare so that as many people as possible can participate.<\/p>\n
Erie\u2019s Public Schools launches district-wide suicide prevention review <\/a><\/p>\n The Very Reverend with the Erie Spiritual Coalition explained how the session will work: \u201cThey have consultants coming who are going to be working on developing the city\u2019s next housing plan. So, I think they\u2019d like to hear from as many residents as possible, from all sorts of neighborhoods, from homeowners to renters to landlords to the unhoused, so that everyone has input in the city that belongs to all of us,\u201d The Very Reverend Melinda Hall told us.<\/p>\n Erie city\u2019s Director of Neighborhood and Economic Development says that they will be approaching this housing plan from several viewpoints, \u201cWhat\u2019s available- what is our housing stock available, what\u2019s missing- what are those barriers. Why aren\u2019t people going into homeownership and then also how do we support that from the city level?\u201d Cathryn Easterling told us.<\/p>\n According to Gary Horton, CEO of the Urban Erie Community Development Corporation, the barriers keeping a lot of residents from homeownership are systemic- and they have been a problem for decades.<\/p>\n