If approved, the funding would go to households whose income does not exceed between 80% and 120% of the area median income. In Philadelphia, that translates to between $95,520 and $143,280 for a family of four.
Danielle Thomas, who owns a rowhouse in the city’s Nicetown section, would be overjoyed if the PA Home Preservation Program comes to pass.
Thomas bought her home five years ago and has been trying to find ways to pay for critical repairs ever since. She moved in after going through a homeownership program offered through the Philadelphia Housing Authority. And after the property passed inspection, she thought she was starting a new chapter for her and her family.
Before buying the home, Thomas and her family had spent more than a decade living in public housing. At one point, she was staying at a homeless shelter.
“I was excited about everything,” said Thomas, a single mother of four who helps lead an afterschool program and summer camp at an elementary school.
Now the home is a constant source of worry, often sending her into a depression.
Every time it rains, water leaks throughout the house. The problem is so severe that one of her sons is living with family, and Thomas is sleeping on the couch so one of her daughters can have a bedroom.
She’s laid out for some repairs and received help from a city repair program, but there’s still more work to do to stabilize the house and she simply doesn’t have the money to pay for it.
“I’m really at rock bottom right now,” Thomas said. “I pray everyday that I can get some help.”
The state’s next budget was supposed to be passed by June 30. And while it’s not unusual for negotiations to go past the deadline, it could be weeks before a final deal is struck.