Chris Spahr of Centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation talks about the need for safe, clean housing for all

Chris Spahr, Executive Director of the Centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation, defines affordable housing as housing that can be made available to anyone and everyone no matter their economic status.

About Centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation 

Our mission is to preserve, promote and revitalize East Parkside through partnerships with businesses and institutions and programs that engage residents, increase opportunity, and grow a diverse, thriving community. We are a governing body made up of the residents and existing organizations to progress community development goals in addition to including new initiatives around healthy living, civic engagement and the arts giving the community new life strengthening the community’s identity and connectivity to Fairmount Park. We hold regular monthly meetings and the community is welcome to attend. Contact Us

TRANSCRIPTION

Leon Robinson 0:00 Hi my name is Leon Robinson and I'm here with my co partner D'wayne Drummond. And we're here with Iron Sharpens Iron. And today our guest is, Could you introduce yourself?

Chris Spahr 0:21 Sure, my name is Chris Spahr, and I'm the Executive Director of the centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation. Well, great. Okay.

De'Wayne Drummond 0:27 I got a question. What is affordable housing?

Chris Spahr 0:32 Oh, that's a good question. First of all, we just want to thank you, Leon and Dwayne for letting me be a part of this. I love your guys' show. And what is affordable housing? I think affordable housing is housing that can be made available to anyone and everyone no matter their economic status. That means a lot of different things, depending on a lot of different neighborhoods. We know that in Philadelphia, we have a big affordable housing issue, and that we have lots of lots of market rate housing being built across the city. But when it comes to affordable housing, due to the cost of construction and the lack of real subsidies, it's very hard to build it at the same pace as market rate housing. And so we have a lot of folks who are finding that they can't, they can't find housing that suits their economic means. And I really honestly think that housing is a human right. And that housing should be available to anybody, no matter what their economic means. And not only just housing, but housing that is safe, that is healthy, that is sustainable, and that folks never have to worry about losing

Leon Robinson 1:44 secondary, secondary. How does equitable development plays a part in your work experience?

Chris Spahr 1:51 Well, I think it's directly related to the question you previously asked me about affordable housing, I think, you know, there's different kinds of development and development can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. I think that Development Act that is equitable, is development that raises up everybody in the community. So it's not just just helping a certain few, but it's helping everybody, especially the people who have lived and fought for that neighborhood. For decades, it is housing that it is development and housing and commercial spaces that support the existing community, and create space for everyone, no matter their economic means or status. Okay, what is a bad when you say, it's a good thing and a bad thing? What is some of the examples of a bad? That's a great question, I think development that is not inclusive of the needs of the community. So, you know, we know that we work in a capitalist society, and real estate development is certainly a way that folks can make good money off of and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that is why there's programs out there to train our, our, our residents, and our neighbors and our communities to be able to get into real estate developmen