Equitable Community Building: One house at a time

Our partners at LEVEL: Equity Buildings, a nonprofit working simultaneously to develop both homeowners and complimentary housing stock, will hold a groundbreaking for its second McKees Rocks renovation project later this month.

This upcoming rehab for resale project is located at 403 Woodward Ave. Groundbreaking there is scheduled for this Fall.

This brick four-square home is part of a multimillion-dollar homeownership and community redevelopment program that will assist in providing stock for a sustainable homeownership process.

The first rehab project was sold to its new homeowners – graduates of LEVEL’s homeownership programming – earlier this year. That house is located at 310 Gardner St. in the McKees Rocks Bottoms neighborhood.

HOMEOWNER PROCESS – The organization’s “process and programs will help remove the barriers to homeownership and increase access to underserved populations including single mothers, BIPOC (Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color), and veteran populations, according to levelcommunities.org.

More specifically, according to the website, LEVEL will work with the following categories of first-time buyers to move them into homeownership:

• Community residents who rent (within guidelines, HUD <80 AMI)
• Individuals on Section-8 HUD voucher program
• Employees of designated employers offering housing assistance
• Those who meet eligibility requirements and want to live in the neighborhood

LEVEL’s transformative work looks to provide a sustainable, long-term solution to address affordable housing.

NOTE TO RESIDENTS: The MRCDC Ambassadors will perform upcoming canvassing to assist LEVEL in the 3rd, 4th and 5th street areas.

Following the groundbreaking, LEVEL has additional renovation projects planned along Woodward Avenue and Grove and Bouquet streets. 

These projects are supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Allegheny County, Borough of McKees Rocks, MRCDC and the Hillman Foundation.

To show interest in becoming a homeowner through this program visit the SURVEY PAGE.