In 1987, the Housing Association of Delaware Valley established the Housing Association Reinvestment Corporation (HARC) to carry out its housing development initiatives. One of the toughest barriers to decent housing is affordability. Housing construction costs are high and escalating constantly - preventing many people from achieving the American dream of homeownership. To make that dream a reality for more people, a new approach to housing construction is available: SWEAT EQUITY.

HARC I, the agency's first project, was completed in 1991 and represented an effort to demonstrate the viability of "sweat equity" in keeping costs low while building self-esteem and self-sufficiency. This project completely rehabilitated 17 single family row homes on the 2600 block of Oakdale Street. This location is on the border of both the Strawberry Mansion and Allegheny West neighborhoods.

Training was conducted in one of the houses selected as a model home. While waiting for the City to execute the contract, lessons in power tool usage, basic carpentry, reading rules, adding and subtracting fractions, deciphering architectural blueprints work were taught. Sweat equity homebuyers actively participated in nearly every aspect of construction from making miter box cuts, putting up sheetrock, and sanding masonry walls to mixing cement, dashing walls, and framing partitions.

HARC II represented the second phase of the Oakdale Street redevelopment. Ten new townhouses were built on an empty lot directly across the street from HARC I. Again, sweat equity was used to reduce project costs while investing purchasers with knowledge and a greater sense of community. The HARC I homeowners assisted their new neighbors with their skills, advice and motivation. Our project is replicable and we hope to duplicate it in other neighborhoods.

HARC is also expanding its wings in the community with the development of a comprehensive revitalization plan that will strengthen the area's existing resources and attract new ones. This plan will incorporate pre-schoolers, young adults, and the elderly in a strategy whose ultimate goal is to turn the area into a Mecca of business, community, and economic opportunity.

The Housing Association of Delaware Valley is exploring community revitalization in the Lancaster Avenue corridor of West Philadelphia in partnership with the Lancaster Avenue Redevelopment Corporation, and is working towards the construction of a modular housing manufacturing plant at the former Navy Shipyard facilities.