The lack of affordable housing is a growing issue everywhere, but here in Philadelphia, the problem is particularly acute. In fact within the last decade Philadelphia lost approximately 20% of its low cost housing due to numerous factors.
My guest today is Ross Hennesy and he’s the co-founder of Rigby Housing, a social enterprise firm that he operates with his partner Frank Reis, and which strives to provide affordable housing to low and moderate income residents in Germantown.
Rigby Housing's philosophy is as follows:
"By modestly renovating existing housing that is in poor or unsafe condition and managing from a place of neighborhood awareness, we help stabilize the price of rental homes. This buffers neighborhoods from volatile market forces, such as blight on one end and economic displacement on the other. We see ourselves as part of a much larger movement to provide "development without displacement" in Philadelphia and around the world."
Rigby Housing aims to provide housing that is affordable to moderate-income residents , which means residents make less than 60% of the Area Median Income (AIM) as reported by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and spend less than 30% of their income on rent.
