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For Immediate Release
2/13/08
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Senator John Pippy Remarks
Rhoades Blight Task Force – News Conference

Thank you, Senator Rhoades for taking the initiative on this issue, and thanks to everyone who joined us today. 

“Blight” is one of those problems that cause such a ripple effect, it’s sometimes hard to appreciate. 

It depresses property values, of course. And it promotes crime. But, just as bad, blighted properties send a signal to the whole community that hope is lost, that no one cares, and that the neighborhood’s best days are behind it. 

That’s a ruinous message to see, day after day. No matter how vigorous and engaged the people of the community may actually be, blighted properties are a constant advocate for despair and low expectations, and a constant rebuttal to hope and ambition.  

Everyone who stands here today, and citizens of communities across this great commonwealth, reject the message that blight sends, and reject the notion that blighted properties are a natural, unavoidable facet of the urban landscape. 

The people are ready to take back their communities. We’ve seen it with the problem of crime, and we can make it happen with the problem of blight. 

My contribution to this effort is legislation to enact the “Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Act” or “PHARE.” 

With the enactment of PHARE, Pennsylvania would join 38 other states that have created housing trust funds.  Through this program, our underfunded Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency would be given the resources to develop programs to build, rehabilitate and preserve homes for low-to-moderate-income individuals and families, senior citizens, and people with disabilities.   

Activities would include construction, rehabilitation and repair of homes, rental assistance, foreclosure prevention and counseling, and predevelopment costs.   

Combating blight isn’t easy. There are parts of the problem that are beyond mere legislative solution. But we must do what we can to confront blight’s message of despair, property by property, community by community.