Montgomery County Announces 2020 Census Push

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Montgomery County.

Montgomery County officials and community leaders have announced a partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau to maximize participation in the 2020 Census and the formation of the Montgomery County Complete Count Committee (CCC) in support of census efforts.

The CCC’s goal is to reach, teach, and count every person in the county. Their strategic outreach will give census volunteers the tools and information needed to educate the community about the census, dispel myths, and promote participation among neighbors, friends, and family.

“In the 2010 census, Pennsylvania had the second-highest rate of forfeited funds per person due to undercounted individuals,’ said Mopntgomery County Commissioners Chairwoman Valerie A. Arkoosh. “With just a five percent undercount in 2020, we could lose $72,336,780 annually in critical funding for Montgomery County schools, infrastructure, Medicaid, SNAP, housing vouchers, and senior programs.”

The Montgomery County CCC is a cross-section of Montgomery County leadership, community and nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and the private sector. As trusted messengers of their communities, the members will reach out to municipalities, educational institutions, faith and community-based organizations, businesses, health organizations, and historically undercounted populations using digital marketing efforts, and community training and meetings. Some communications, meetings, and trainings will be available in different languages based on local needs.

For the first time, census questionnaires can be completed online. Residents will also have the option to provide their information by phone or request a paper questionnaire. 

By the third week of March 2020, residents will receive an invitation by mail to respond online. If they don’t respond by the end of April, they will either receive a written questionnaire or a visit from a census taker.

“The census is easy, and it’s confidential,” said Arkoosh. “There is no citizenship question, and no personal information can be used against you by any government or law enforcement agency or court in any way.”

For more information about the 2020 Census or how to help get a complete count in Montgomery County, visit www.montcopa.org/Census2020.

Construction on New Keim Street Bridge to Begin?

Will the Keim Street Bridge ever re-open? Montgomery County Commissioners say, again, be patient.

Like Christmas, Easter and your birthday, once a year the Montgomery County Commissioners come to Pottstown bearing gifts.

And like those other annual gift giving traditions, every year they provide the gift of re-assurance that the Keim Street Bridge, closed nine years ago, will be replaced any day now. That we just have to be patient.

You know the drill.

I think we can safely assume that after nine years, patience is far in the rear view mirror.

Only about 25 people, half of them public officials or paid county

staff, were in the audience for this year's 'Conversation

With the Commissioners' meeting April 23

Once again April 23, the three commissioners stood before a deminimus crowd at the community college's West Campus to talk about how great Montgomery County is.

And once again, Commissioner Ken Lawrence drew the short straw and got to discuss infrastructure.

"Montgomery County has 133 bridges but I know there is only one people in Pottstown want to hear about, and that's the Keim Street Bridge," he said.

The latest excuse is that Keim Street Bridge has been deemed "historic, so certain historic aspects have to be taken care of" with the new bridge, he said.

The H word means yet another agency has stuck its nose into this project, 

Now the Pennsylvania Museum and Historic Commission has to have its say before the "final design phase" we've been promised for three years can begin. Yes, that's right, I said "begin."

"I know it must be frustrating because people don't see things happening, when that are happening," Lawrence said.

Montgomery County Commissioner Ken Lawrence, left,

talks about progress, or lack thereof, on the Keim Street Bridge.

You'll have an opportunity to express that frustration, or any other emotion you care to unpack, at a meeting on the Keim Street Bridge project scheduled for Wednesday, May 22 at 4:30 p.m. at Montgomery County Community College's West Campus in Pottstown, according to Lawrence.

He said you can go to the county website http://www.montcopa.org/bridgeinfo to get updates, so I did and the only thing I found out is that the Keim Street Bridge is number 188 on the county's list of bridges.

Lawrence did say he believes the new bridge will be aligned with Keim Street's intersection with Industrial Highway. That's good news, but also means they will have to tear up some of the new Schuylkill River Trail the commissioners cut the ribbon on one day after the "Conversations" meeting at the college.

Construction should begin in 2020 .... or 2021, he said.

The bridge was closed in October 2010 after two teams of engineers inspected the bridge and found it had significant damage to the rocker bearings, which allow the bridge to shift on its concrete piers.

The bridge connects Pottstown and North Coventry and costs for the project are expected to be shared between Montgomery County and Chester County.

The commissioners then proceeded to take turns talking about why Montgomery County is such a wonderful place to live, so long as you're not waiting for a bridge to be replaced I guess....

You can read all about that in the Tweets below

Conversations With the Commissioners

New Montco Machines Make a Paper Trail for Votes

Photos by Evan Brandt

Jeffrey Cades of Gilbertsville, left, gets instruction from county employee Frank Spollen on amending his paper ballot during a demonstration of Montgomery County's new voting machines Tuesday at Montgomery County Community College's West Campus in Pottstown. The machines will make their debut during next month's primary election on May 21.

In the wake of fears about tampering with electronic voting machines during the 2016 elections, Montgomery County is in the midst of a roll-out of its new voting machines, which will create paper records of every vote.

Montgomery County Commissioners Chairwoman Valerie Arkoosh said the county was already in the process of replacing its previous machines, now more than 20 years old, when Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law requiring Pennsylvania voting machines to keep paper records.

June Landis of Limerick watches as her ballot is submitted.

"We had been socking money away to pay for new machines before the governor signed that bill," she said.

The Dominion Voting System cost $3.5 million, nearly $1 million of which was provided by federal funding.

When all is said and done, the contract will cost about $5 million over the course of eight years of maintenance, servicing and upgrades.

Arkoosh said the system chosen was the least expensive and the one overwhelmingly preferred by the 300-or-so people who showed up last year at the Montgomery County Community College's main campus in Blue Bell where the 11 possible models were on display.

County employee Frank Spollen explains the new voting machines
to, from left, Pottstown Councilwoman Trenita Lindsay, Annette
Kobb of Pottstown and Ted Josey of Collegeville.

"This is what our constituents wanted," she said.

"I love a paper ballot," said June Landis of Limerick as she tried it out during the demonstration at the community college's West Campus in Pottstown Tuesday night. "It can't be hacked and it's available for a re-count if necessary."

Arkoosh said the county decided against issuing paper receipts reflecting the vote cast "because it would be used for intimidation, like if a spouse demands to see how a spouse voted. Also, it could be used as proof to sell votes."

These machines will not be connected to the Internet, which was also true of the previous machines, Arkoosh said.

She said the paper records will be kept for at least two years and the county is in discussions with the Pennsylvania Department of State to look into holding random accuracy audits of machines to match them against the paper records.

"We're just trying to figure out how many we need to audit to be statistically significant," Arkoosh said.

Joan Chambers of Lower Frederick isn't so sure about the new machines. Here she is having the machine explained to her:



"I think I'm too old for change," Chambers said with a laugh after she finished. "The first time I tried it got spit back out and told me there were four things wrong with it."

Faux voters fill out faux ballots as part of the effort Tuesday to
familiarize themselves with Montgomery County's new voting
machines which will be used for the first time during the
May 21 primary election.

Teresa Harris, communication manager for Montgomery County, said the county has been keeping track of concerns raised by residents as the machines tour the county for similar demonstrations.

"The most frequent complaint we get is people didn't know we were changing them," she said. "People are also worried it will take too much time and make the lines longer."

But the fact that the machines will be used for the first time in an off-year primary election, traditionally the one with the lowest voter turn-out, may help voters ease into the new method, Harris said.

The faux ballot.

For the test, those who showed up were given a faux ballot for the "Famous Names Acceptance
Election." It asked faux voters to pick their favorite sports team, author, musician, artist, TV talk-show host, college and even past president.

On the reverse side, ballot questions, one simple, one complicated, offered yes/no options. Voters fill in "bubbles," much like standardized tests from school, to make their selections.

The ballot is scanned optically and the machine takes note if there are any discrepancies, like an "under vote," someone not filling in a bubble, or offering a write-in alternative.

This reporter's attempt to befuddle the machine by writing in two votes proved futile, this despite the fact that I indicated the New York Mets are one of my favorite sports teams. (They're not, but I like them more than the Yankees.)

Here is video of my vote being cast:



"It's pretty simple," Gilbertsville resident Jeffrey Cades said of the new voting method. "And I'm glad they have some way to verify the vote and do a re-count if they have to."

"I think it's an improvement over what we had previously and it works pretty fast once you know how to use it," Cades said.

Pottstown Land Bank Chairwoman Deb Penrod and Pottstown

School Board member John Armato get instruction on the

new voting machines being demonstrated last night.

There will be two more demonstrations and, like in Pottstown, they will be held at 6 p.m. and precede "Conversations with the Commissioners" town hall meetings.

The next one is scheduled for Wednesday, May at in Pennsburg, in the multi-purpose room of the Upper Perkiomen Education Center at 2229 East Buck Road.

The last one will be Monday, May 6 in the Great Room in the commons Building at Arcadia University, 450 S. Easton Road in Glenside.

And now, without further ado, are the Tweets from the event. (Look for coverage of the Conversations with the Commissioners event which followed the voting machine demonstration in a subsequent blog post.)

Making a Voting Paper Trail

Montco Commissioners Get Earful About Y Closure

Photos by Evan Brandt

Vice Chairman of the Montgomery County Commissioner Ken Lawrence, standing, talks about improvements to the Schuylkill River Trail in Pottstown. At center is Chairwoman Valier Arkoosh and at left is Commissioner Joe Gale.

The Montgomery County Commissioners made their annual pilgrimage to Pottstown Monday night, talked about their successes over the past year and heard about two things from the audience.

One, they expected: "when will the Keim Street Bridge be re-built?" (Work still set to begin in 2020).

The other is a new development, the decision by the Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA to close the Pottstown branch on North Adams Street in June.

Montgomery County Commissioners Vice Chairman Ken Lawrence

signs the petition opposing the closure of the Pottstown YMCA.

The latter consumed the vast majority of audience comments and the commissioners were urged to exercise any influence they can to keep the facility open.

For those of you sleeping through the last two months, here's the quick recap: After merging with the larger YMCA organization in 2012, the Pottstown branch has seen few benefits.

After closing the warm-water pool last year, the larger organization announced in November, with no warning and no consultation with the community it insists it serves, that the facility loses too much money and will close in June.

It then put together a task force to forge solutions with only one rule, you cannot recommend that the building remain open. The task force recommended exactly that, and the Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA rejected that recommendation.

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale signed the 

petition opposing the closure of the Pottstown YMCA as well.

"They don't want to be here. How do you deal with an organization that says it serves this community, but obviously does not want to be here?" asked David Charles.

"This seems like a pattern," said NAACP President Johnny Corson. "They closed the Aubudon facility with three months notice. Does it seem to you like they are closing YMCA's on low-income people? Their mission statement said they will help people who- are at a disadvantage, but they are pouring resources into high-income communities. Doesn't that concern you?" he asked.

Commissioners Chairwoman Valerie Arkoosh said Pottstown is a "community the county is deeply invested in," and that she is trying to serve as an "honest broker," to bring the Conshohocken-based non-profit to the table to talk.

"But I don't want to over-promise. They are a private entity, we have zero- authority over them," she said.

Montgomery County Commissioners Chairwoman Val Arkoosh,
standing. 

addresses the crowd of about 60 at the Pottstown meeting.

However, Vice Chairman Ken Lawrence says what he plans to bring to the issue is the "moral authority" the commissioners can exercise.

"I have no desire to hear about the Willow Grove project," he said of the $30 million facility the organization is building in Upper Moreland. "I want to know what is going on in Pottstown. I don't understand having a task force and then disregarding what that task force says."

"This June 29 deadline is a gun to our heads," said one resident. "What we really need is more time and perhaps the commissioners can help with that."

One woman said she has collected more than 1,000 signatures on an on-line petition opposing the

closure. "They say they are committed to our community when clearly they are not," she said.

She said the YMCA was where all fourth graders in Pottstown were taught to swim for free, that they could walk to the facility from nearby school campuses.

Joe Ciresi, a former Spring-Ford School Board member running against Republican Tom Quigley for the 146th District House seat, advised the community to seek out the Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA's donors and make them aware of the situation.

"These are people who made large donations to help the under-priviledge in the community, get in touch with them and say 'are you aware of what is going on here in Pottstown?' That will get their attention," Ciresi said.

"I've been so impressed by all the people in community who are working to try to resolve this, I think the task force did a great job. I hear clearly having child care two miles away is really not a solution at all," Arkoosh said of the often-touted 10-year lease the YMCA has signed with a facility in Lower Pottsgrove Township.

"We have so many things that tear us apart in this country and the Y is one of the few places where we can come together," she said.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting.

Work on Keim Street Bridge Pushed Back to 2020

Seven years and counting for the closure of the Keim Street bridge.

Do I need to say the words?

The Montgomery County Commissioners made their annual pilgrimage to Pottstown Tuesday night and had lots of good things to say about the county and Pottstown's place in it.

Sure, I could tell you about the growing population, the growing jobs, the low unemployment rate or the high financial rating from Moody's.

But I know what you want to read about. Three words: "Keim Street Bridge."

Photo by Evan Brandt

Montgomery County Commissioners, from left, Ken Lawrence,

Val Arkoosh and Joe Gale address a crowd of about 45 at a

town hall meeting Tuesday night in Pottstown.

Last year when the commissioners visited, we asked and they said construction would not begin until 2019.

This year, the start date they offered is 2020.

The bridge was closed in October of 2010 after being declared structurally unsound and since then, it seems to be the unenviable task of whomever is the vice chairman of the commissioners to deliver this update.

That means that this year, the task fell to Kenneth Lawrence, the board's newest member.

Preliminary design work is going on right now, said Lawrence. Final design work will apparently take until the end of 2019 and shovels won't hit the first until 2020.

Here is some video of what he said:

He said the vehicle registration fee enacted by Montgomery County last year raises money that can only be used for roads and bridges in the county -- "including the Keim Street Bridge" -- and that it helps speed things along.

But somehow, the county's version of things being speeded along results in the the start date for construction being pushed back by another year.

Was it ever thus.

Anyhoo, here are the Tweets from the rest of the meeting.

$1Million Up for Grabs in Montco Grant Program

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Montgomery County.

Applications are now open for a $1 million grant program aimed at furthering the goals outlined in Montgomery County's comprehensive plan and there is a March 1 deadline to apply..

The Montgomery County Commissioners approved $1 million for the second cycle of the Montco 2040 Implementation Grant Program. The program is intended to assist municipalities in making targeted physical improvements that achieve real progress toward the goals of the County’s comprehensive plan, Montco 2040: A Shared Vision.

This year, for example, Pottstown intends to apply for funding to pay for a pedestrian crossing on King Street, linking the Carousel at Pottstown and Manatawny Green mini-golf with Memorial Park and the

Colebrookdale Railroad, furthering several county goals including making communities more walkable and promoting tourism and recreation as an economic driver.

“This grant program provides the opportunity for municipalities to advance and build projects, such as parks, sidewalks, public art projects, and green infrastructure, which improve our communities and raise Montgomery County’s quality of life,” said Jody L. Holton, AICP, Executive Director of the Montgomery County Planning Commission.

The program will be administered similarly to 2016, with another $1 million available on a competitive grant basis for municipalities and their partners, but with one important change in 2017.

Applications will no longer be reviewed and awarded on a rolling basis. A deadline of March 1, 2017 is the important date to submit applications for projects that are ready to go for round one of funding.

There will also be a second round opportunity to apply by July 1, 2017, but that round will be dependent on funding still remaining after the first round.

The program, initiated in 2016 with annual allocations expected over the next five years, successfully awarded 14 projects totaling $1.24 million in 2016, with the final two projects awarded at a recent Board of Commissioners meeting.

The first was a $42,500 grant to the Upper Perkiomen Region headed by East Greenville to implement a wayfinding and identity program that will install 65 signs across the region.

The second was a $200,000 grant to Lower Merion Township supporting Phase 2 of a multimillion dollar roadway and streetscape project that will improve pedestrian and vehicular travel across a 1.4-mile stretch of the busy corridor separating Montgomery County and Philadelphia.

“The program focuses on supporting local projects that make Montgomery County a great place to live,

Val Arkoosh, chairperson of Montgomery County Commissioners

work, and raise a family,” said Val Arkoosh, Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. “These projects specifically further the goals of Montco 2040 and its themes of Connected Communities, Sustainable Places, and Vibrant Economy.”

While the program is open to a wide array of projects fitting within the comprehensive plan, there are specific focus categories announced each year that highlight recent County planning initiatives.

In 2017, these focus categories will correspond to Walk Montco and Bike Montco (trails, paths, sidewalk connections, and bike facilities), Support of Downtowns and Community Destinations, and Revitalization of Office and Business Parks.

Visit www.montcopa.org/Montco2040GrantProgram for program details, a brochure that provides information on eligible projects, complete guidelines for the 2017 cycle along with application forms and instructions, and to view the 2016 grant recipients.

For more information on the Montco 2040 Implementation Grant Program, please contact Scott France Scott France, AICP, Section Chief of County Planning, at 610-278- 3747 or via emailsfrance@montcopa.org.

The County Commissioners Are Coming to Town

Montgomery County Commissioners, from left, Josh shapiro, Val Arkoosh and Joseph Gale.

Did you have anything you'd like to ask the Montgomery County Commissioners?

Maybe you want to know what so much county funding drives so much low-income housing to the borough.

Maybe you'd like to hear why they don't provide additional county dollars to help with the additional load those low-income families put on our police department and schools.

Or maybe you just want to know when the Schuylkill River Trail will be finished.

Well Monday night is your chance.

The commissioners are starting their goodwill tour, which they call "Conversations with Commissioners” town hall meetings right here in Pottstown.

They will be at the Montgomery County Community College West Campus South Hall Community Room located at 101 College Drive, on Monday at 7 p.m.

Maybe you should be too.

“These sessions are a very effective way to keep residents informed about what we are doing and to hear what issues are foremost on their minds” Commissioner Chair Josh Shapiro said in a prepared statement.

“These sessions are another way we use to keep residents informed about what we are doing in county government,” said Commissioner Val Arkoosh said in a press release about the series.

“We live stream our board meetings online and use social media a great deal to inform everyone about what is going on in the county," she said, "but the ‘Conversations’ provide a true, personal level of contact with our constituents.”

Public Meetings Squared

What's the (New) Deal with Josh Shapiro?

Josh Shapiro

Blogger's Note: The following is a press release from NewDEAL.

Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro was recently selected as one of twelve rising leaders from across the country to join the NewDEAL, a national network that is committed to highlighting innovative ideas from state and local elected leaders who are pro-growth progressives.

Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland and U.S. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, Honorary Chairs of the NewDEAL, recognized Commissioner Shapiro’s efforts to make government smarter by using zero-based budgeting.

“Senator Begich and I have joined the NewDEAL because we believe we need to look for fresh ideas not just from the top down in Washington, but also from the bottom up, where innovative leaders like Commissioner Shapiro are developing and testing their ideas out on the ground,” said Governor O’Malley, Honorary Co-Chair of the NewDEAL.

“In communities throughout the country, rising state and local leaders such as Josh Shapiro are proving that you can be both pro-growth and progressive. The NewDEAL is designed to foster these types of ideas and these types of leaders,” said Senator Begich, Honorary Co-Chair of the NewDEAL.

"I am proud to be recognized by the NewDEAL for my work to reform county government and use innovative solutions like zero-based budgeting to close Montgomery County's budget shortfall while investing in our people and the core functions of government," said Commissioner Shapiro. 

“I’m looking forward to sharing my ideas with the other NewDEAL Leaders and learning about their ideas from around the country that can help us make even more progress here in Montgomery County.”

Shapiro is currently featured on the NewDEAL’s interactive website at www.NewDEALLeaders.org/NewDEAL-Leaders/Josh-Shapiro. 

He joins Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams and Auditor General Eugene DePasquale as the third NewDEAL Leader from Pennsylvania.

The Borough's Burden, Part 4

The Bright Hope public housing complex on Pottstown's west side, formerly called Penn Village, is operated by the Montgomery County Housing Authority and represents one way low-income housing is concentrated in Pottstown and other older traditional towns.

What Role Does Public Housing Play?

This is the $64,000 question in Pottstown.

We should begin by understanding that not all of this high concentration low-income housing can be laid at the feet of public housing, whether it be in the form of Section 8 Housing or public housing projects like Bright Hope.

Mercury Photo by Kevin Hoffman

Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman Josh Shapiro,

left, addresses the Pottstown crowd last month. At right are

commissioners Bruce Castor and Leslie Richards.

When the Montgomery County Commissioners visited Pottstown last month, Commissioners Chairman Josh Shapiro pointed out that Pottstown has a lower concentration of Section 8 vouchers than is often proclaimed.

I have no reason to doubt that information.

But not all low-income housing is public housing and what he could NOT deny, and which the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission study we began examining yesterday and will continue to draw from today confirms, is that public or not, there IS a concentration of poor and low-income housing here in Pottstown.

And the burden that Pottstown bears from that concentration is equally heavy, whether that low-income housing comes from a public source or not.

Photo by Evan Brandt

Joel Johnson, the executive director of the Montgomery

County Housing Authority also spoke at that Pottstown meeting.

When the police are called to a low-income home for a domestic, a drug call or other disturbance that so often accompanies such households, it costs taxpayers the same, whether their rent is paid through public vouchers or not.

When a child from Bright Hope needs an IEP from the school district and a specialized one-on-one aid to give him or her the best leg up on keeping up with their education, it costs taxpayers the same whether their rent is paid through public vouchers or not.

And when we complain to public officials about Section 8, it is only because that portion of the low-income housing burden is the only portion we can hope to directly affect by appealing to those public officials who are answerable to us and can, hopefully, do something about it.

OK, so enough preaching from the mount.

Back to some more facts from the DVRPC report, "The Mismatch Between Housing and Jobs," issued in 2011.

For those of you who haven't been following along, we began working through this report in yesterday's post and today are posting the sections I pulled out of that report that contain numbers, facts and assumptions about how the region handles publicly assisted housing.

As with yesterday's post, what appears below was taken directly from the report, but is not necessarily posted in the same order as the report. Anything in bold is my own emphasis or additional comment.

The Montgomery County Housing Authority operates 615 housing units; the Bucks County Housing Authority operates 742 housing units; and the Chester County Housing Authority operates 331 public housing units. 

There are 331 public housing units in Chester County, managed by the Chester County Housing Authority. These are located in the City of Coatesville, Phoenixville Borough, Oxford Borough, South Coatesville, and West Chester Borough. Almost 1,600 assisted housing units are also located in the county, all within 14 municipalities located primarily along the Route 30 and Route 322 corridors. 

In Montgomery County, 615 public rental units are managed by the Montgomery County Housing Authority. Public housing units are concentrated within six municipalities in the county, three of which are older boroughs along the Schuylkill River (the Boroughs of Conshohocken, Royersford, and Pottstown) and two of which are well-developed suburban townships (Upper Moreland and Upper Dublin). An additional 3,500 subsidized units are located throughout the county. 

Between 2009 and 2010 approximately 53,650 Housing Choice Vouchers (the new name for Section 8 ) were allocated in Greater Philadelphia. The rationale behind the Housing Voucher Choice Program is to give low-income families an opportunity to move to moderate and median-income areas where they can better access jobs and secure a better education for their children. 

The five southeastern Pennsylvania counties are allotted 26,209 certificates and vouchers (49 percent of the region’s total). Housing Choice Vouchers and certificates are also administered by the other five Pennsylvania housing authorities of the City of Chester (1,586), Bucks County (3,398), Chester County (1,521), Delaware County (3,086), and Montgomery County (1,480).  

Public Housing in Montgomery County:
Pottstown -- 632 units
Norristown -- 546
Lansdale: -- 647 

Public Housing in Chester County"
Coatesville – 510
Phoenixville – 107
Spring City -- 190 

The most common perception and concern of those opposed to affordable residential development in their communities is that the presence of subsidized housing or tenants with rental assistance leads to declining property value.

Several studies, however, conclude that the impact of federally subsidized housing on nearby property values is not always negative, but varies by type of unit and by type of community.

One study that reviewed the impacts of subsidized housing in New York City, for example, found that units subsidized under the federal Section 202 program (housing for the elderly) or constructed using Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) had a positive impact on property values that then remained stable over time.

For Section 8 and public housing, the same study found that the impact on property values was relatively minor for smaller scale projects and that any negative impact on values typically occurred within the first three years after project completion and then dissipated.

Another study noted that affordable housing developments that replace vacant, abandoned, or otherwise blighted conditions generate positive impacts on surrounding properties, and stressed that good management and housing maintenance is critical to sustaining property values.

Good property maintenance (of both affordable and market rate developments) and proactive property code enforcement are key to maintaining neighborhoods. Units subsidized under the Housing Voucher Choice program are inspected annually and landlords must agree to correct any deficiencies within a limited time in order to continue to receive their subsidy.

Housing advocates note that this requirement (if properly enforced) can result in a Section 8 rental unit being better maintained than another unit rented through an absentee landlord in the same neighborhood without a subsidy.

Some studies do suggest, however, that there is some threshold (in terms of either number of units or scale of the project) where an over-concentration of subsidized units in one community, particularly of tenant-based subsidies, may result in stagnant or declining property values. This threshold is difficult to define and most likely varies by community, depending on the existing characteristics of both the neighborhood and the tenants.

Past and current housing policies that concentrate affordable housing assistance in distressed communities, although well-intended, have unintentionally contributed to suburban sprawl and contributed to disinvestment in cities and older suburbs.

Public housing residents pay 30 percent of their monthly income toward the rent and the federal operating subsidy makes up the remaining difference. The operating subsidy funding received each fiscal year is often not sufficient to cover actual operating costs, which can lead to poor maintenance of public housing units.

The Section 8 program, now referred to as the Housing Choice Voucher Program, assists low-income households, defined as those earning 50 percent or less of the median income.

Housing vouchers may be used for any unit where the owner agrees to participate and where the unit satisfies the standards set by the local housing authority (This puts the responsibility for maintenance and standards squarely in the lap, in Pottstown's case, of the Montgomery County Housing Authority.) 

Under the current program guidelines, HUD pays the difference between what a low-income family can afford to pay towards their rent (defined as 30 percent of their adjusted income or 10 percent of their gross income, whichever is higher) and an approved fair market rent for an adequate housing unit. Landlords who agree to participate in the program are required to allow the housing authority to inspect the unit annually.

Although the intent of the Housing Choice Voucher program is to enable low-income tenants to use the subsidy for a unit in a location of their choice, the Fair Market Rent limit realistically encourages their use primarily in places with the lowest housing costs (including cities, boroughs, and older suburbs).

Counties and local jurisdictions that receive Community Development Block Grants, HOME , and other types of federal funds are required to comply with the federal Fair Housing Act and the requirements of the Community Development Act.

Which brings us back to this. Does THIS look like fair housing choice?

These regulations require that the county or municipality affirmatively further fair housing to the maximum extent possible. Under these requirements, every jurisdiction receiving federal community development funding must (1) conduct an analysis of impediments to fair housing choice; (2) take appropriate actions to overcome the effects of impediments identified through that analysis; and (3) maintain records reflecting actions they’ve taken and their accomplishments to date.

A 2009 court decision involving Westchester County, New York, emphasized the seriousness of fulfilling this requirement.

In February 2009 a federal judge ruled that Westchester County had failed to conduct an adequate analysis of impediments and had taken no steps whatsoever to further fair housing while continuing to receive HUD funding, despite clear racial segregation throughout their communities. In July 2011, after repeatedly rejecting revised analyses of impediments submitted by the County, HUD stopped providing community development funds to the County and is currently pursuing additional action, including the possible restitution of previously awarded funding.

Low Income Housing Tax Credit

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 established the LIHTC to encourage the construction and rehabilitation of rental housing for low income persons. LIHTC accounts for nearly 90 percent of all affordable rental housing created in the United States today. 

Photo by Kevin Hoffman

Mary Beth Lydon, now Mary Beth Bacallao, protested the 

proposed senior housing project in 2010. She is now a 

member of the Pottstown School Board.

(Some may recall, this was the program that, in 2010, was going to be used to construct the low-income senior housing project along Industrial Avenue, a project which was considered controversial and was ultimately denied by the state, even though borough council voted to support it.) 

The tax credit is available to owners of and investors in rental housing for up to 10 years as a dollar-for-dollar reduction of federal tax income liability, provided that the rental housing project remains in compliance with occupancy and rent requirements for a 15-year compliance period.

The LIHTC program is one of the largest funding sources available to local Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for the development and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing. 

Most states (including New Jersey and Pennsylvania) usually allocate low-income housing credits to cities and older suburbs. This policy is well-intended but has played a role in creating concentrations of poverty, encouraging suburban sprawl, and exacerbating the mismatch between these older areas and their surrounding growing suburbs.

In general, Pennsylvania has not been proactive in requiring municipalities to provide affordable housing for low and moderate income families. One exception is the 1975 case of Township of Willistown v. Chesterdale Farms (341 A. 2d 46), in which the Pennsylvania courts ruled that the local zoning ordinance was exclusionary because it did not allow any acreage for apartment construction and thus excluded a lower-income population which could rent but not purchase.

Improving the financial status and quality of life in the region’s cities and older suburbs requires revisions to the current property tax structure as well as housing policies and programs.

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) released a report in 2001, The New Economy and Jobs/Housing Balance in Southern California, which found that balancing housing and jobs in a defined geography has numerous environmental benefits, lowers infrastructure costs, and improves family stability. 

The same study found that an excess amount of the region’s vacant land had been zoned for commercial and industrial purposes relative to their forecasted housing needs for the Year 2025, which would undoubtedly exacerbate the mismatch.

By providing an analysis of zoned land for future uses, local governments can plan for the appropriate number and type of housing units in proximity to existing and future employment centers.

A new approach is needed, one that recognizes that public policies and funding streams can catalyze a more balanced and sustainable approach to housing that will benefit older and newer communities, workers and employers, and the region as a whole.

Tomorrow, we will conclude with a look at the recommendations made in this report for ALL levels of government.

Until then, thanks for sticking with me on this...

The Borough's Burden Part 1

As I opined in a Feb. 10 post in this space, I have come to the belief that the root of Pottstown's many problems revolve around the issues raised by the First Suburbs Project  housing, education and infrastructure, and of course jobs.

As I began writing this post, which deals almost exclusively with housing it became so lengthy that I realized no one would read it, so I have instead broken it up into more easily digestible installments.

The first of those begins below.

Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks

I suppose it really is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

In regards to a recent debate going on here in Pottstown and cyberspace about  subsidized housing, I have found certain images which are very illustrative.

They come from a nifty new web site called "Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks."

Here is the link.

I suggest you go take a look for yourself as you can move around and zoom in much more than with the images I have posted below.

(I apologize for the poor quality of the images, they are simply a screen shot. When I contacted the folks at this site and asked them if there was a way to create a higher-quality image of a particular search, they said "not yet.")

The site takes information from the Census and the American Community Survey and color codes Census tracts by two important measures: income and rent.

So first take a look at average incomes in Pottstown borough.

As you can see, the redder and browner the color, the lower the median household income. This is, pardon the gallows humor, a whole new way to say that Pottstown is in the red.

Now pull back, and take a look at income in the region as a whole:

As you can see, older communities like Pottstown, Phoenixville, Reading, Royersford-Spring City and Norristown host a concentration of low-income households; islands of poverty quite literally surrounded by a sea of green.

(When public contracts are let and the "prevailing wage" is calculated based on the relative wealth of the "Philadelphia Area," which includes all the green above of Montgomery and Chester counties, you can see why its high, but is an additional burden in low-wage communities like Pottstown.)

Not surprisingly, the site's maps for average rents, found below, show a similar concentration of low rents in the same places as the low income colors above.

Here is the close-up of Pottstown:

In this case, the red colors show higher rents, in the $1,100 range, and the lighter colors the lower rents, in the $350 range. the lightest area includes Pottstown's public housing project, Bright Hope, where the rents are subsidized through the Montgomery County Housing Authority.

Not surprisingly, if you look at a page (below) from the study the Mosaic Community Land Trust presented to Pottstown Borough Council last year, you will see lots in the first ward, that match that tan area up there bounded by High Street, Hanover Street, Beech Street and Washington Street and how high the concentration of renters truly is.

Look closely and you will see several reasons rents there are so low, not least among them, the purple properties, which are rental properties with absentee landlords. The peach-colored lots are vacant and the brown ones are in foreclosure. The yellow lots are owner-occupied.

And here is a pull-back showing rents through the the entire region (make note of the light-colored areas in Pottstown, Reading, Spring  City and Royersford):

Needless to say, these things are not unrelated.

But while useful, these maps also clarify and confirm what most of us already know about Pottstown and the surrounding region.

They do not answer the important questions of how did it get this way and why?

Find out tomorrow in my next post.

Dear Commissioners, Let's Talk Price

Dear Montgomery County Commissioners Josh Shapiro, Leslie Richards and Bruce Castor:

Thanks for coming to Pottstown tomorrow night to hear what we have to say.

Hopefully, some of our more thoughtful residents will show up to greet you and help you understand what ails us.

In case they don't, it seems prudent to jot down a few thoughts for your consideration:

Well just one thought really. You see, as complex as modern life it, the issues here in Pottstown boil down to a pretty simple equation.

Concentration of low-income housing + lack of living wage jobs = high crime, high taxes and low quality of life.

Look, you need not waste too much time Monday night explaining to us why things are done this way.

We get it.

In a lot of ways, it makes sense for Montgomery County to steer its poor to places like Pottstown and Norristown.

After all, it's where all the social service agencies are located already (although that's a chicken-or-the-egg example if ever we saw one); they both have bus systems and people who can't afford cars can walk to places more easily than out in the middle of the cookie-cutter sub-divisions where you need a car to get your mail.

And when it comes to housing vouchers (read Section 8), then you spend less public money in places where the rents are cheaper. After all, those federal subsidies for housing vouchers are tax money as well; best to get the most bang for the public buck.

On the other side of the coin, you could hardly pick worse places to concentrate low-income housing than in places like Pottstown and Norristown, at least not in terms of what's best for those communities.

Those still hanging on by their fingernails to home-ownership and jobs there are doing so under the burden of the highest tax rates in the region,

They're sending their children to schools with more special needs students than the wealthy suburbs that surround them, all under a state aid formula that gives them less funding than those same wealthier neighbors.

Their children walk to those schools through streets with a higher crime rate than their quiet suburban neighbors, whose children ride to school in buses or SUVs.

They're protected by police forces that must feel like they're running to stand still in terms of keeping up with the constant crime that shadows all concentrations of low-income life.

And their classmates are living in sub-standard apartments because the housing authority and the borough both lack the resources to ensure those places are kept up to code.

In case I'm not being clear, here is a good summary of what the impact of the county's policy of sending low-income families here, courtesy of the Brookings Institute's Metropolitan Policy Program:

• Lead to increased crime rates and poor health outcomes. Crime rates, and particularly violent crime rates, tend to be higher in economically distressed inner-city neighborhoods.Faced with high crime rates, dilapidated housing stock, and the stress and marginalization of poverty, residents of very poor neighborhoods demonstrate a higher incidence of poor physical and mental health outcomes, like asthma, depression, diabetes, and heart ailments.
• Limit educational opportunity. Children in high-poverty communities tend to go to neighborhood schools where nearly all the students are poor and at greater risk of failure, as measured by standardized tests, dropout rates, and grade retention.Low performance owes not only to family background, but also to the negative effects high-poverty neighborhoods have on school processes and quality. Teachers in these schools tend to be less experienced, the student body more mobile, and additional systems must often be put in place to deal with the social welfare needs of the student body, creating further demands on limited resources.
• Reduce private-sector investment and increase prices for goods and services. High concentrations of low-income and low-skilled households in a neighborhood can make the community less attractive to private investors and employers, which may limit local job opportunities and ultimately create a “spatial mismatch” between low-income residents and employment centers. In addition, lack of business competition in poor neighborhoods can drive up prices for basic goods and services—like food, car insurance, utilities, and financial services—compared to what families pay in middle-income neighborhoods.
• Raise costs for local government. The concentration of poor individuals and families—which can result in elevated welfare caseloads, high rates of indigent patients at hospitals and clinics, and the need for increased policing—burdens the fiscal capacity of local governments and can divert resources from the provision of other public goods. In turn, these dynamics can lead to higher taxes for local businesses and non-poor residents.
• Hinder wealth building. Many residents in extreme-poverty neighborhoods own their home, yet neighborhood conditions in these areas can lead the market to devalue these assets and deny them the ability to accumulate wealth through the appreciations of house prices.Moreover, the presence of high-poverty neighborhoods can affect residents of the larger metropolitan area generally, depressing values for owner-occupied properties in the region by 13 percent on average.

To Pottstown residents, the Brookings Institute just described conditions in our town.

Pottstown might have absorbed a portion of this county-sponsored burden if it were still a thriving community in which people with high school educations made a living wage at the local plant.

Indeed, wages that could support a middle-class family in Pottstown would solve many problems here simultaneously.

But the days of the labor-intensive factory are gone forever.

This kind of work isn't around here anymore

Those who wish for their return must realize that the manufacturing that remains in America is extremely specialized and high-tech.

A high school education is rarely enough to secure one of those jobs.

Good jobs to have certainly, but those who work there can no longer walk down the street the day after graduation and sign up for a place on the assembly line.

In fact, the people who get those jobs are those best prepared by a superior education system, which brings us right back to the Catch-22 with which we live every day here in Pottstown.

So presuming the county commissioners can do little to bring jobs to Pottstown, what should we ask for, other than their apologies for the decades of neglect at the hands of a flawed housing policy?

So what can Josh Shapiro, Bruce Castor and Leslie Richards do for us?

What can they offer us when they arrive at 7 p.m. Monday at the Montgomery County Community College's West Campus here in town?

They're here on a "listening tour," with no other purpose than to hear what we have to say. So what should we say?

I propose the following:

Let us recognize the reality that any suggestion that more low-income housing be directed toward wealthier communities will never come to pass.

It's a fool's errand folks. That's where the money is, and no politician is going to get campaign donations from a community where they just located a low-income housing project like Bright Hope.

Fair? Sure. Likely? Never.

Further, let's recognize that people who live in low-income housing are people, not statistics. If they're voting on where to live with their vouchers, they are going to live where they feel comfortable and where their dollar goes furthest, just like the rest of us.

How happy is a family living on $30,000 likely to be surrounded by neighbors who all make $250,000?

Also, we must recognize that barring a major structural change in county government, Leslie, Josh and Bruce don't have full control over this issue.

The entity which sends us voucher upon voucher is the Montgomery County Housing Authority, an independent agency not under the control of the county commissioners. It's not a county department.

So even if they agreed to, the commissioners could not stem the flow of vouchers.

What is in their power, is to pay the price for the policy.

So let's look at this like the capitalists we all claim to be.

The truth of the matter is we're providing a service for Montgomery County.

We are taking in their tired, their hungry, their poor, so their wealthier constituents don't have to. There's a dollar value to that service.

The real problem is we just aren't charging enough and we're going out of business as a result.

It's not that hard to document the increased costs Pottstown and Norristown take on with each low-income voucher that crosses the borough line.

So let's demand a better price -- an agreed upon amount of county dollars that go to the borough and school district for each housing voucher that comes this way.

Fortunately for the county, the borough and the school district share the same borders, so the accounting will be easy.

In the schools, that money can ONLY be used to pay for special education costs, or tutors for low-income students in homes using vouchers.

In the borough, that money can ONLY be used for things related to the costs those vouchers bring:

• To pay for increased policing; 
• To pay for more (and better-trained) code inspection officers to ensure the buildings at which these vouchers are being used are kept up and not contributing to the degradation of the neighborhood;
• To pay for increased recreational opportunities for the children in those households, giving them a place to recreate other than the streets. (By happy coincidence, we have a community center located right in the center of town where such programs could be located);
• To pay for adult training programs to help the adults in these households get the jobs that exist today. (By happy coincidence, the previous county commissioners had the foresight to locate a college campus right here in town, which makes for a handy training location.)

Those are just a few suggestions for concrete things the county commissioners could do for this community.

But for Monday's "listening tour" to have any real value, I don't think the commissioners should leave Pottstown without having committed to real help.

Anything else will just be vague promises, happy talk and smoke.

Been there, done that. And we know what it's worth.