Joseph DeFelice has visited Reading several times over the past year. And the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Deputy Secretary said he has been struck by what he\u2019s seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m seeing excitement in Reading,\u201d he told a crowd gathered at the Reading Housing Authority\u2019s Willis Center for Administration during the spring. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not going to lie to you, I haven\u2019t seen that before.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeFelice\u2019s May 20 stop in Reading was to take part in a discussion about what\u2019s going right when it comes to development in Reading and Berks County, and what the federal government can do to help make sure things keep moving forward.<\/p>\n
The session included local developers, real estate professionals, leaders of housing organizations and local government officials.<\/p>\n
One of the chief subjects of interest was the desperate need for and critical lack of affordable housing.<\/p>\n
According to data and comments shared during the session, the available housing stock in the county \u2014 much like many other places across the country \u2014 is woefully lacking. Housing construction has simply not kept up with demand, having ground to a halt following the bursting of the housing bubble in 2008 and now estimated to be about 20 years behind.<\/p>\n
In the greater Reading area there is a need for about 5,000 new units. Several construction projects underway would provide about 900.<\/p>\n
Those who spoke during the roundtable said there is a need for all sorts of housing \u2014 market value, luxury and affordable. Affordable housing, they said, represents the biggest challenge.<\/p>\n
DeFelice acknowledged that, saying the dollars and cents don\u2019t typically add up for those kinds of projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is, building affordable housing is not affordable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Reading](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/REG-L-HUDRoundtable-01.jpg\")
Reading Mayor Eddie Moran (left) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Deputy Secretary Joseph DeFelice took part in a roundtable about affordable housing and economic development held in Reading on May 20. (DAVID MEKEEL \u2013 READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
The federal government does have something in place to help with that as well as other development, DeFelice said.<\/p>\n
He touted the federal Opportunity Zone program, where certain areas are designated for development assistance, largely through the deferral of federal capital gains taxes. The zones have been widely successful in spurring development, he said.<\/p>\n
The new tracts that will be included in that program will be unveiled on July 1, DeFelice said. He guaranteed that some of those zones will be in Reading and elsewhere in Berks County.<\/p>\n
\u201cReading is a place to put this Opportunity Zone money into and watch it work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
DeFelice also spoke about the possibilities loans available through the federal Community Development Block Grant program can afford. Communities are able to borrow up to five years worth of their CDBG funding at a reduced rate in the form of a federally-backed loan.<\/p>\n
The loan does not impact a community\u2019s annual CDBG allotment, DeFelice said, and the money can be used for things like building hotels and parking garages that can help support economic development.<\/p>\n
DeFlice stressed that HUD offers programs that can provide up to $10 million in small-business loans.<\/p>\n
Developers who took part in the session said, the federal programs offered by HUD are helpful for the most part. But there are some issues with them.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest complaints was the red tape associated with applying for programs, as well as the slow pace at which applications move through the approval process.<\/p>\n
In particular, the Build American\/Buy American program \u2014 which requires developers to purchase U.S.-made products for projects receiving federal dollars \u2014 creates challenges.<\/p>\n
Some necessary products aren\u2019t made in the U.S., and the waiver process is lengthy. The delays, they said, can end driving up the cost of projects.<\/p>\n
DeFelice acknowledged processes often move too slowly and said HUD is working on streamlining efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be the reason your project takes six more months or costs a lot more money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joseph DeFelice has visited Reading several times over the past year. And the U.S. Department of Housing and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[102932,128,130,129],"class_list":["post-239355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-an-official-from-the-u-s-department-of-housing-and-urban-development-recently-took-part-in-a-roundtable-discussion-in-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239355","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=239355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}