Presby’s Inspired Life Opened Low-income Senior Housing Community in Southwest Philadelphia
January 14, 2019
LAFAYETTE HILL, PA–Presby’s Inspired Life along with residents and local officials officially opened Witherspoon Senior Apartments, an adaptive reuse of a former nursing home, which sits on Presby’s 58th Street Campus in Southwest Philadelphia. The campus, which is composed of almost an entire city block, currently features three other low-income Affordable Housing communities managed by Presby’s Inspired Life. After today, the entire campus will serve more than 300 adults aged 62 and better.
A December grand opening celebration included remarks from State Representative Joanna McClinton; Councilman Kenyatta Johnson; Nancy Twyman, Director of Eastern Region, Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency; Joe DeFelice, Regional Administrator, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Lopa Kolluri, Senior Executive Vice President of the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
A majority of the new Witherspoon residents waited in line overnight to receive an application. Almost all of Presby’s senior Affordable Housing communities boast wait lists twice, sometimes triple, the number of units available.
“Finding safe Affordable Housing has been and continues to be an ongoing issue for so many Philadelphians — especially the senior population who want to stay in the neighborhoods where they were born and raised,” said Judee M. Bavaria, President & CEO of Presby’s Inspired Life. “At the heart of Presby’s ministry is its service to older adults of limited financial means. Witherspoon Senior Apartments is fulfilling a critical need for quality Affordable Housing for older adults in Philadelphia, and we are able to do this with help from local officials and organizations like Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, Philadelphia Housing Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We are thrilled to say that these residents have a new ‘home for the holidays.’”
In addition to Witherspoon, Presby’s Inspired Life is opened Cantrell Place in South Philadelphia, a new construction project, at the end of 2018, with a grand opening event scheduled for this month. The site of the new buildings will revitalize a city block by transforming 33 vacant lots into 61 units of Affordable Housing for seniors.
Presby was awarded tax-credit funding from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency in July 2016 to develop both new properties. The developer for Witherspoon Senior Apartments is TN Ward, and the developer for Cantrell Place is Domus.
For more than 60 years, Presby’s Inspired Life, a not-for-profit, faith-based organization, has provided continuing care and Affordable Housing for more than 3,000 people 62 and better, across 40 communities throughout greater Philadelphia.