Application deadline is November 20, 2025
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency has issued a Request for Proposals soliciting applications from organizations for projects to improve the availability and affordability of housing across the commonwealth. Funding for this RFP is being provided through the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) Fund. The total PHARE funding available this year exceeds $85 million.
PHARE receives its funding from the impact fee levied on natural gas drilling companies and a portion of the Realty Transfer Tax. Funding is available for housing initiatives in all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. PHFA is charged with administering the allocation of PHARE dollars.
To date, $435 million in PHARE grant awards has leveraged more than $2.3 billion from other funding sources – delivering a nearly six-to-one ratio in total funding for housing initiatives.
“Over 13 years, the impact of PHARE on housing across Pennsylvania has been tremendous,” said PHFA Executive Director and CEO Robin Wiessmann. “New affordable housing has been created, existing affordable housing has been preserved, and families that could have become homeless have places to live. We’re proud of the many ongoing successes of the program.”
PHARE applications are completed and submitted entirely online, eliminating the need for paper submissions and simplifying the process for applicants. The RFP is located on PHFA’s website at https://www.phfa.org/legislation/act105.aspx. The online application is accessible on the PHARE website at https://phare.phfa.org/. This website will be open to accept applications starting Monday, Sept. 15. The deadline for application submission is 2 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20.
PHFA is hosting a 90-minute informational webinar at 10 a.m. on Sept. 23 for organizations interested in applying for PHARE funds. The webinar will be recorded and made available online for people who can’t watch the event live. A link has been posted at https://www.phfa.org/legislation/act105.aspx for webinar registration.
Questions about PHARE and webinar registration may be directed to Clay Lambert at PHFA via email at clambert@phfa.org