Diversified employs a community building or community development philosophy to underpin and guide its work, including its management strategies, decision-making processes, and its interaction with the community. Community building promotes a community’s physical, economic and social development – improved housing and safety, increased financial resources for individuals and the community as a whole, as well as strengthening skills and educational attainment of individual residents.
Community development is the unifying principle that gives the work of Diversified coherence and focus. The philosophy links programs, services and activities with social reform and advocacy so that individuals, families and the community itself have the right, responsibility and capability to influence the circumstances of their daily lives. As such, the preservation of the Tasker Village Apartments and development of the South City Gardens townhomes has become a natural extension of our work.
In 2011, Diversified has taken possession of Tasker Village Apartments (“TVA”), an existing affordable housing facility at 16th and Tasker Streets, and intends to make capital improvements to ensure preservation of affordable housing for years to come. TVA has been awarded an allocation of 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits for the preservation of 28 affordable housing units. Diversified has also partnered with Innova Services to develop 10 new affordable townhouses in Point Breeze on formerly vacant City lots.
South City Gardens
Diversified Community Services and Innova Services Corporation – two long term Point Breeze enterprises – have developed 10 new energy-efficient townhouses in Point Breeze on formerly vacant City lots.
This project has been named “South City Gardens” to highlight the key features of these homes: their location south of “the city” and their garden-focused interior spaces. The homes have been built in a traditional row house style, embracing both traditional and modern sustainable material choices and the very latest in energy efficiency technologies.
All of the South City Gardens homes encourage greening of the urban environment. The homes use an open plan design, with large glass exposure in the rear to beckon in and form a natural extension of the living area into the private gardens beyond. A wide kitchen island provides a large work surface and allows for casual use as a breakfast bar.
The second floor is comprised of two bed rooms, a full bath, and a laundry room. The third floor contains a master suite with a full bath, a large bedroom, a small office or den area and, where possible, access to the roof deck.
Five of the homes are priced to be affordable to families earning 80% of the area median income or less, and five are priced to be affordable to families earning 120% of the Area Median Income or less. One of the homes will be wheelchair accessible and one will be accessible for persons with hearing and visual impairments; three additional homes will be visitable for persons in a wheelchair.
This project was funded by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority through the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
AMENITIES
• 3 bedrooms and office/den area • 2 full baths; in three homes there is an additional powder room on the first floor. • Ceramic tile baths and foyers • Solid wood flooring on the first floor living area and kitchen. • Landscaped yards with an ornamental flowering tree, flowering shrubs, and evergreen plantings. • Street Trees • “Green” building cladding using recycled content materials • Roof decks (where permitted by code)
ENERGY STAR FEATURES
• Energy Star windows and doors • R-19 walls and R-38 roof cavity insulation • 95% AFUE gas fired furnace • 15 SEER Central AC • High efficiency hot water heater • Energy Star stainless steel appliances • Energy-efficient lighting • Water saving plumbing fixtures • Reflective white “cool” roofs • Induced ventilation for improved indoor air quality
Tasker Village Apartments
Tasker Village Apartments are located at 1508-48 South 16th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146 in the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philadelphia. Tasker Village is a 27,243 square foot, 28 unit apartment complex comprised of five buildings with manicured gardens and sitting areas. In March 2013, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency awarded Diversified 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits for the preservation of Tasker Village as affordable housing for the next 15 years. Total development cost for Tasker Village is $6.7 million.
The preservation project includes six (6) 1BR apartments ranging from 584-772 square feet, eight (8) 2BR apartments ranging from 772-837 square feet, and fourteen (14) 3BR apartments ranging from 970-1035 square feet. The entire complex includes 1.5848 acres and 28 open air parking spots.
The target populations identified for these apartments are low-income families and disabled individuals with tenant income restrictions ranging from 20% to 60% of the area median income (AMI).
Located in the Point Breeze section of South Philadelphia, Tasker Village is within walking distance of numerous stores, place of employment, and mass transit options. Residents are within two blocks of retail services, within 0.3 miles of a hospital, and within half a block of public transportation. Point Breeze is located immediately south of Center City. While the size of the LIHTC award is small, it comprises an important opportunity to preserve affordable housing within this rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.
For more information on Tasker Village, please contact Lorraine Yarborough at 215-336-5505 or lyarborough@dcsphila.org
Clean Corridor
In order to improve the quality of life, employment opportunities and entrepreneurial opportunities for very low, low and moderate-income individuals and neighborhoods, Diversified has partnered with the City’s Department of Commerce to support the activities of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) that provide community services such as street and sidewalk litter removal, public safety services and other public space maintenance activities. The principal goal of this program is to increase the delivery of additional public services to multiple low and moderate income neighborhoods in order to enable businesses to provide needed goods, services and employment opportunities to residents.
At the foundation of any vital commercial corridor are clean streets, sidewalks and storefronts. Litter deters investment and creates the perception that an area is neglected and unsafe. When quality of life issues are not addressed, other economic development initiatives do little to attract businesses and consumers to a given commercial corridor.
To this effect, Diversified provides effective cleaning, safety and public space maintenance services within the Snyder Avenue and Point Breeze Avenue commercial corridors. The specific areas served is the 1800 – 2400 blocks of Snyder Avenue and 1200 – 1700 blocks of Point Breeze Avenue.
This program also contains a sidewalk litter removal plan, public space maintenance activities, litter reduction campaign and community engagement plan, as well as a sustainability plan which includes self assessment activities.
