Over the next two years, City of Williamsport officials anticipate more income-eligible rental properties will be rehabilitated, further helping to remove blight and providing more affordable living spaces for residents.

This will be possible after Williamsport City Council approved two resolutions related to the continued use of Pennsylvania Housing Affordability Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) program funds, which are derived primarily from natural gas impact fees.

With $481,103 of recent PHARE funds the city has revitalized many rental properties within the city. “Yet, there remains an issue with blight,” said August “Skip” Memmi, executive director of the city department of community and economic development.

Originally, the concept of PHARE in Williamsport was site specific, he said. The funds were targeted for the former Brodart neighborhood improvement project (BNIP), that is an area that used to be where the Brodart warehouse was in the 1600 block of Memorial Avenue and surrounding blocks designated as the BNIP area. Also, the city’s historic district and areas along Park Avenue, he said.

Now, with these resolutions approved by council and previously approved by the Lycoming County commissioners, the PHARE funds will be able to be used across the entire city landscape, going to support the city’s rental rehabilitation of income-eligible properties.

With the county PHARE grant the city was able to rehabilitate properties for 23 applicants and a total of 56 households, Memmi said. The majority of these households, or 68% of them, were considered very low income by the definition applied by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. These individuals were below 50% of the area’s median household income.

Officials are recognizing that helping to fund these rental properties, fix what is repairable and make better and safer for the residents, provides affordable and safe housing for residents.

The wider brush of funds allows the city to be able to assist more income-eligible households.

Additionally, the citywide program could help the city to overcome past challenges related to the lack of applicants as more households will meet the eligibility requirement, according to Memmi.

The goal is to expend these funds within the next year and then apply for additional funding from the county in 2025, Memmi said. The issue did not go for review before a council committee.

Councilwoman Liz Miele, chair of the finance committee, asked Memmi how much funding there was left between the two programs.

There are $295,470 in funds and four applicants were awaiting the resolutions being approved once the program became citywide, he said. The resolutions to amend were reviewed ahead of the vote by the city solicitor Austin White of McCormick Law.