The Centre County Housing and Land Trust and Ferguson Township are planning to assist efforts to preserve dozens of income-restricted affordable rental homes.
Sylvan View Estate, a development of 49 single-family homes near Blue Course Drive in Ferguson Township, was constructed in the 1990s with the aid of Low Income Housing Tax Credits. A requirement of the tax credits is that the properties be maintained as income- and rent-restricted based on area median income formulas for 30 years.
That 30-year affordability period ended on Dec. 31, 2024, and the partnership that owns the development is looking to sell it, CCHLT executive director Missy Schoonover and board member Adam Brumbaugh told Ferguson Township’s Board of Supervisors on Nov. 3.
A local investor with experience in developing affordable housing has expressed interest, and has asked the CCHLT for assistance with approximately $300,000 in “soft costs” for funding from the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) Fund to acquire and rehab the homes and maintain their income-restricted status.
The soft costs include things such as legal fees, appraisals, rehabilitation assessments and compilation of the application materials.
“One of the concerns that we have obviously throughout the Centre Region has to do with the creation of more affordable housing, but likewise the retention of our existing affordable housing is equally important,” Brumbaugh, who is the College Township manager, said.
The Sylvan View project is the first since CCHLT’s formative development of Thompson Place in Patton Township with Habitat for Humanity when the Mellott Mobile Home Park closed “that the land trust has been in a position to really help facilitate a really meaningful multi-unit impact” on affordable housing.
After about 40 minutes of discussion, the township Board of Supervisors approved a motion to send a letter to CCHLT committing to provide an amount to be determined from the workforce housing fund once an agreement between the land trust and investor has been presented.
While he and Schoonover did not name the interested party, Brumbaugh said it is someone who “has been very successful in our immediate area securing [PA Housing Finance Agency] funding for these types of income-restricted housing projects and has done a very good job in terms of operation and ongoing maintenance in facilitation of that program.”
The current owners of Sylvan View Estate developed the property during a brief window when the PHFA allowed Low Income Housing Tax Credits to be used for single-family homes. Since then it has only been available for multi-family units.
That makes the more than four-dozen homes in Sylvan View Estate a “unicorn” in the affordable housing market, Schoonover said.
With the development’s affordability period over, the units can now be rented at market rate. And Schoonover said that, in fact, she is aware of at least two families who have already relocated because of rent escalations for their last renewal offers.
A new owner could also simply choose to raze the homes and construct a new market-rate development.
“It would be like another mobile home community going away,” Schoonover said.
She added that the current owners would prefer to sell to someone who will keep the homes income- and rent-restricted.
“It really is their intention that if it were a perfect world they would say this is only going to be sold to an entity that will commit to keeping it affordable,” she said. “But because they want to divest of this property, because they stewarded it for 30 years 31 now, they can’t really put that restriction. It really is at the mercy of the market.”
PHARE funding for the acquisition and rehab would likely preserve the affordable status for at least another 30 years and would offer more flexibility in how the money could be used and the income restriction ranges, which could be between 50% and 80% of area median income, Schoonover said.
Meanwhile, several other affordable housing developments have or will in the coming years, reach the end of their tax credit affordability requirements. Among them are Ashworth I and Ashworth II in Harris Township, three- and four-bedroom units that will “roll off in the next two to three years,” according to Schoonover.
“One of the concerns that we have obviously throughout the Centre Region has to do with the creation of more affordable housing, but likewise the retention of our existing affordable housing is equally important,” Brumbaugh said.
The investor’s request to assist with the PHARE application costs only came to the CCHLT in recent weeks, and Brumbaugh said a specific proposal, including whether the land trust would have any long-term role in the property, has not yet been developed. The presentation to the Ferguson Township supervisors was intended to gauge interest, he and Schoonover said.
The board generally agreed they were interested in helping to retain the homes as affordable units, but were unsure of what particular commitment to make until a deal is proposed.
Supervisor Omari Patterson said he is “not a big fan of soft cost funding” because of a lack of tangible results.
Some supervisors suggested earmarking an amount to be determined in the 2026 budget under the workforce housing fund, or committing the full $300,000 when it is available. Township Manager Centrice Martin said the workforce housing fund is expected to receive $1.2 million in fee-in-lieu payments from recent developments in the township, though the timing of when that money — which can only be used for housing initiatives — will arrive is not yet known.
Supervisors eventually settled on a letter expressing their commitment to assisting.
“It is ok to commit to action,” Patterson said. “I think that’s probably step one… To jump in with some number I think is silly right now. I don’t think it’s appropriate to have a number. But we can commit to action at some point when we can evaluate the deal and see exactly what is necessary to get the ball rolling.”
A PHARE application deadline is coming up on Nov. 20, but Brumbaugh and Schoonover said they expect the investor will not be ready to apply until the next round, which will be awarded in the fall of 2026. In the meantime, they said, there is the risk that another buyer could make an offer, though they do not know whether there currently is any other interest in the property aside from the local developer.
College Township Council will be asked to consider supporting the initiative during its meeting on Thursday, and Brumbaugh said he expects it also will be presented to the Patton Township Board of Supervisors.
