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Cutting The Ribbon On Philly's New 'Workforce Housing'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Developers and city officials helped cut the ribbon, last week, on 13 new homes built specifically for middle-class buyers, in neighborhoods where housing prices are climbing rapidly.

They are the first product of the city's "Workforce Housing Initiative."

"All of a sudden, everybody wants to live in North Philly, right?" said Council President Darrell Clarke.

Clarke watched it happen in his district. Down and out neighborhoods became choice locations, but that's a double-edged sword.

Rising prices can squeeze out the very people who made the neighborhood attractive.

"We need to be able to provide an opportunity for the police officer, and the nurse," said Clarke.

The key to the initiative is selling city-owned land to the developer at below-market prices so the total price of the new homes stays affordable.

The first set of houses, 1200 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths, in the East Poplar neighborhood sold for about $200,000.

Sarah Reester was one of the first to buy.

"I honestly work really hard, and I could never afford a house in the city, let alone new construction, so I'm very thankful," she said.

Owners must be median income to buy, and they can't sell the house for more than what's owed on the mortgage for ten years or any profit goes to the city.

Clarke hopes to see a thousand houses built this way across the city.

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