Bloom Heights Apartments are coming soon!

RHLS client Community Strategies Group (CSG) has deep ties to the Bloomsburg area and is the largest nonprofit affordable housing developer in the area. The Executive Director, Rich Kisner, once worked for the Columbia County Housing Authority and continues to partner with them. They build and manage their affordable housing as a solution-based approach to mitigating the social inequity in their hometown.

Their latest project to come to a financial close is the Bloom Heights housing development. Now that the ink is dry on the contracts, the construction can begin. This development is part of a larger push on the part of CSG to expand housing opportunities in Bloomsburg. The town, between Harrisburg and Scranton along Route 80, is home to Bloomsburg University, which simultaneously keeps the town young and vital even as it snaps up all the available housing for its students.

This development has thirty-two new homes, of which twenty are two bedrooms and twelve are three bedrooms. Three units will be rented to residents at or below 20% AMI, fourteen units will be rented to residents at or below 50% AMI, and the remaining fifteen will be rented to residents at or below 60% AMI. Ten units are designated for PennHomes, and three are set-aside for PHARE-HTF funds.  

RHLS Senior Attorney Kelly Prokop and Supervising Attorney Jack Stucker worked with CSG on these new homes. RHLS and CSG also worked with consultants Laura Northup and Eddy Kaplaniak from M&L Associates.

Some highlights of the development include its location on a hill that overlooks the town center. The new residents will be able to walk to stores and restaurants, as well as to the local public school. Six of the new apartments will be fully accessible.

Bloom Heights will be supportive housing, meaning that CSG will help occupants stabilize their situation by using tools such as financial literacy courses, job training, family skills, and other services. CSG will help their tenants to access available resources, such as public assistance and health insurance. One of the buildings will house a community space for events and community-building activities. Congratulations to CSG for this successful transaction, we look forward to the grand opening!