Affordable housing development breaks ground in Harrisburg

Harrisburg’s Sycamore Homes affordable housing development celebrated a ceremonial groundbreaking Friday. 

The $3 million project, on the 1400 block of Sycamore Street, will include 23 one-bedroom units affordably priced to prioritize serving low-income people. 

Steel Works Construction is the general contractor. The project is expected to be completed sometime next year. 

A release said Sycamore Homes “takes a holistic approach to directly address the major social, economic and health disparities among minority communities. These … include race and ethnicity; gender; sexual identity and orientation; disability status or special health care needs; and geographic location.” 

Sycamore Homes will also provide a wide variety of community-based services and create employment opportunities in the development phase and in the long term. 

The development team aims for an inclusion goal of 20% of local MBE/WBE (minority business enterprise/woman business enterprise) companies to help stimulate the local economy. 

Sycamore Homes’ development team is led by Fernandez Realty Group, a minority-owned development business, and Latino Connection, a local social determinants of health agency that exists to meet the needs of diverse and underserved communities. 

“I’m a product of a single mother of three, victim of domestic violence, whose family never qualified for social assistance programs,” said George Fernandez, founder and CEO of Fernandez realty Group. 

“I grew up in low-income housing that did not feel safe, failed to meet our basic needs, and diminished our sense of pride and dignity. My vision for Sycamore Homes is to ensure underserved communities never experience what my family did and always have adequate access to comprehensive social assistance programs that give people the right tools for building a prosperous life.” 

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer