A historic partnership among the building trades, the city, and the Philadelphia Housing Authority aims to renovate and reopen hundreds of affordable housing units in the city’s Wynnefield Heights neighborhood.
Getting to work on restoring the Brith Sholom House over a year after its closure, Tuesday, city leaders announced a plan to renovate the buildings and bring 340-plus units of senior housing back to the Wynnefield Heights neighborhood – thanks in part to the building trades.
“We’ve married the building trades, PHA and administration together and ain’t nobody getting divorced anytime soon,” said Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority acquired the West Philadelphia housing complex for $24 million in 2024, after years of neglect by previous owners, that lead to unsafe living conditions for over a hundred elderly residents.
NBC10 obtained photos from apartments inside the building. The conditions were so bad that residents had to move out and relocate.
“I thought we would be able to go in and do the renovations with the residence stay in place, but the conditions didn’t afford us that opportunity. No one, in my view, and absolutely no one should live in those conditions,” said Kelvin Jeremiah of PHA.
Now, the building trades are getting involved, loaning $50 million to the PHA to invest in the Brith Sholom House, which will be repaid by the PHA over 15 years.
The announcement comes the same week as the council is expected to vote on legislation connected to the mayors $2 billion H.O.M.E. plan.
The mayor is saying that, despite disagreements with the council over how the money will be spent, they’re all committed to the goal of building and preserving 30,000 housing units.
“Yes, we’re working together. We’re building consensus, and council is committed to housing and supporting the $2 billion H.O.M.E plan that I introduced, and I’m really proud of it, Philadelphia,” said Parker.
Union leaders say, in addition to creating hundreds of units there, the investment will also create 545 union jobs through renovation work.
