Low Income Senior Housing Philadelphia - With reduced federal funding for affordable senior housing developments, there is more competition for the remaining money. This means that it can take years for a community to get off the ground.
In Philadelphia's Kingsessing neighborhood, Presby's Inspired Life, a local nonprofit, recently opened Witherspoon Senior Apartments, which offer affordable units for adults 62 and older. Many affordable housing communities face long waiting lists. Read more DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Low Income Senior Housing Philadelphia
When the line started moving on a warm Tuesday morning in June, nearly a dozen senior citizens had been waiting for nearly a day.
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They flocked to South Philadelphia — finally, many of them, over the age of 62 — to try and secure one of the new affordable senior housing units that have sprung up near Fourth and Snyder Streets. Many started lining up the afternoon before in their lawn chairs and sun hats. Hours of waiting, even overnight, seemed like a small price to pay, they reasoned, for a chance at a safe, clean home they could afford.
In fact, most of them wait more than 24 hours. The new development, called Cantrell Place, has been in the works since 2011, when Montgomery County-based developer Presby's Inspired Life envisioned the residential senior community. Before finally opening its doors in December, Presby spent time making plans, assembling the ground, and repeatedly applying for funding.
The 61 one-bedroom units, with room for seniors earning just $12,240 and up to $36,708 annually, took more than seven years to complete.
For seniors who live in close neighborhoods, that means living in townhouses with lots of stairs or plenty of room to keep up. Others remain on properties damaged by the destruction. Others have seen their incomes fall and the cost of living rise, leaving them with homes they can no longer afford.
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But in today's affordable housing landscape, seven years to complete a project may be considered the norm. Government funding for these types of projects continues to decline. The competition for what remained intensified. Non-profit and for-profit affordable housing developers have to repeatedly apply for limited public money. If they don't get it, experts say, affordable housing projects will be hard pressed to continue.
The issue has become particularly problematic for the elderly. Most of the large baby boom generation, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964, are in their 60s, with several million boomers already in their 70s. According to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, the population of people aged 65 and over is expected to rise to 73 million by 2030, an increase of 33 million in two decades.
But the problem is bigger than the growing demand. It's no longer common for people to live to be 80 and beyond, meaning housing is needed for longer than ever. At the same time, the number of low-income elderly households is growing, the Harvard study says, with those earning less than $15,000 a year rising 39 percent between 2000 and 2016.
The result, experts say: an affordable senior housing crisis, which is expected to get worse in the coming years.
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"Subsidies have never kept pace with that population growth," said Robert Silverman, a professor at the University at Buffalo and an expert on affordable housing. "Without funding for affordable housing development, what developers are left with as options — and what kind of options they're pursuing — is actually market-priced housing that leans into the high-rent market."
Isabella Kelly is a two-time cancer survivor, suffering from spinal stenosis and suffering a broken ankle that landed her in the hospital.
That's why she, she thinks, she stayed so long in her rundown West Philadelphia home. For years she had no heat and finally she broke the oven with it to try to keep warm. The water from her roof that she leaked filled buckets and sacks. And when she came home from the hospital after ankle surgery in 2017, she found the kitchen ceiling with a gaping hole.
"One day I saw stuff falling from the ceiling, and I looked up and there was a raccoon looking at me," Kelly said. "I screamed and it just sat there. And then the second time…it was on top of the closet. I nailed a 2x4 in there and some heavy cardboard on the roof, but I couldn't sleep. I said, 'What if I wake up and is it sitting on my chest?' "
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Then, in the summer of 2017, Kelly applied to Presby for a low-income apartment. But like thousands of other seniors looking for affordable housing in the region, she was told there is a waiting list, which could take years to cut.
In Presby's affordable senior communities, as well as other senior communities in the region, applicants are faced with waiting lists that are often hundreds in length. In Presby, for example, nearly 4,200 people are waiting to move into the 2,451 slots they offer in the 36 communities they develop or manage.
The wait, a spokeswoman said, can often take years. Kelly finally landed a position in a Southwest Philadelphia community just days before Christmas, about a year and a half after applying.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority said the wait list for affordable senior housing is 11,262 people long, meaning applicants can expect to wait between five and 10 years to get a place in one of Philadelphia's 2,100 apartments. public housing for the elderly only. For seniors with physical disabilities, however, PHA can usually move them into functional units within a year, a spokesperson said.
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(PHA classifies seniors as people 55 and older, compared to Presby, which has a minimum age requirement of 62 for its residents.)
"Demand is very high," said Vidhi Anderson, executive director of housing and land development in Presby. "I think it's become a bit of a bottleneck for funding. It's very limited and very competitive... It's not for the faint of heart."
When developers of affordable senior housing want to build a new community today, their options for different financing boil down to one: low-income housing tax credits, administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
For decades, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has funded new affordable senior housing projects through the Aged Supportive Housing Program, known as Section 202. Throughout its life, according to HUD estimates. But the program was cut in 2012 by several million dollars, eliminating the ability to use Section 202 for new projects. Current funds support only existing senior housing and appropriations will be further reduced in 2016-17, Harvard says.
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Each year, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency receives approximately $30 million in housing tax credits from the federal government, for which developers can claim up to $1.25 million. If selected, the developers will transfer credits to investors and companies in exchange for millions of dollars in stock. Investors, in turn, can use the credits as a discount on future taxes.
Last year, across the state, developers of 98 affordable housing projects filed applications for tax credits. Just over a third were selected - 39 in total.
Ted Wasserman, president of Montgomery County-based Wasserman Properties, was a candidate who was rejected last year. He hopes to build a 44-unit low-income senior housing community called Frankford House in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Frankford, which he says will provide social services and health care in addition to housing.
Now, he said, he has sunk nearly $150,000 into the planning of his project. He recently applied again. But with such aggressive competition — 86 applicants — there's no guarantee it will get funding this year.
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“All types of affordable housing are looking for the same pot of money,” Wasserman said. "And there are stories of people applying three or four times."
Anderson of Presby knows what he means. For the organization's Witherspoon senior housing project in Southwest Philadelphia, which also opened in late 2018, Presby applied for three consecutive years before getting tax credits. Besides, he still needs funding from the city, as well as private money, to cover the full cost of the project.
With a line of seniors also camping out for the rent-subsidized project, Presby filled the community to 60 in just days. Discover your new home at Paschal Senior Housing in Philadelphia. It is located in Philadelphia on S. 70th St. in the 19142 area. The rental team is standing by to show you everything this community has to offer. Come visit to explore the apartment floor plan options. It's time to love where you live. Close to a visit today.
Paschal Senior Housing is located in Philadelphia County and in the 19142 ZIP Code. This area is served by the City of Philadelphia presence area.
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