Latest news with #RisingTidePartners
CBS News
13-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Home for sale highlights progress made in restoring East Hills neighborhood
It was a celebratory day in the East Hills on Friday morning. Complaints about water damage and collapsing roofs are starting to turn into renovated homes. Rising Tide Partners has turned some of the abandoned properties into rentals, but on Friday, it cut the ribbon on the first for-sale home with the community. Dr. Patricia Saunders-Madison, the vice president of the HOA involved, heard the complaints from people in this neighborhood over the years. "It was a good house in the middle – and two abandoned on each end – so a lot of the water coming through the roof was coming into their homes," Saunders-Madison said. In came Rising Tide Partners, and Kendall Pelling, its executive director. "They needed that real estate capacity. They needed somebody who would come and take risks with them," he said. The first of those for-sale homes was revealed Friday. The house includes a renovated kitchen, a bathroom and even a deck. "I'm happy that we're here today," Dr. Saunders-Madison said. Pelling says 84 of the 167 properties in this HOA are abandoned. "Now we control them and the community controls their destiny instead of an absentee investor controlling their destiny," he said. Rising Tide has turned some of these into rentals. He says they want to get them all to good owners and keep them at a low cost. "A homebuyer can have a monthly mortgage payment of $650 to $700 a month," Pelling said. Part of the next steps include making lot improvements, like to sidewalks and the parking area. Pelling said those projects will be up for bidding this summer. The hope is for the home that was renovated for sale to be available by the end of the summer as well. Pelling also said that Rising Tide applied for a low-income housing tax credit from the state for funding to allow for continued renovations and help. Dr. Saunders-Madison remembers how this place used to be. She also knows that the work is not over, but she and others are pleased with what's become of it. "We're not there yet. We're not there yet – but it's coming, it's coming along," she said.
CBS News
16-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Pittsburgh non-profit organization takes steps to fight blight in Homewood
After years of absentee ownership and widespread neglect, nearly 100 properties in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood are now in the hands of a non-profit organization. For two decades, residents in Homewood have lived alongside rows of vacant, blighted properties and homes that not only posed safety hazards but also reinforced negative stereotypes about the community. "Everybody thinks of Homewood as these properties," said Kendall Pelling, executive director of Rising Tide Partners. But not anymore. Pelling says Rising Tide Partners, working with the Homewood Collaborative and Pittsburgh, now has full legal ownership of 93 abandoned properties and a plan to renovate them. The road to ownership took four years of court proceedings with previous owners. With legal hurdles behind them, Pelling says the real work begins stabilizing structures, securing developers and planning for long-term growth. "A strong neighborhood is one for everybody," Pelling said. "Anywhere from low-income families and their children to teachers to doctors and lawyers. A healthy community has room for everybody." The goal isn't just housing. It's about restoring dignity. "How can our kids feel like they are cared about or loved if we can't even care about the environment that they're living in?" said Donta Green, football coach at Pittsburgh Westinghouse Academy 6-12. Many in Homewood are cautiously optimistic as they've seen promises before. But residents like Alvin Dean, who has called Homewood home for over 60 years, say they're still holding onto hope. "I've seen the great parts of it. I've seen the mediocre, ugly parts. And then the true ugliness of it," Dean said. "Now it's time for this community to come back." Pelling says they aim to lock in developers by this summer, with affordable housing plans already in motion. Full renovations, however, could take several years before the vision is fully realized.
