PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Dwayne Fair proudly showed off pictures of his mother, Cattie Ann, hung on the wall of his North Philadelphia home. He promised her before she died in 2012 that he wouldn't lose the house — which was owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority — where she raised her eight children.
"I'm a man of my word," said 57-year-old Fair. "Especially to her."
Fair, a building manager, continued to pay rent to PHA and later enrolled in its homeownership program — a program he had never heard of before. The multi-year initiative helps residents gain independence and purchase their own homes. They learn about credit scores, financial planning, mortgages and more.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the program saw record sales so far this year.
In 2019, PHA facilitated 80 home sales, and 74 in 2020. With 42 so far this year, they are on track to beat those figures.
It took Fair about three years to complete the program. After 52 years of living in his family home, he was able to purchase it in March for just under $70,000.
"When I left with the deed, I went straight to the cemetery and I held it over her grave. I told her, 'I did it, I did it,' " he recalled.
Fair plans to completely remodel his home — something he couldn't do when it was owned by PHA.
"Now I can actually remodel, make it the way I actually want to make it. Yeah man, it's been a long time coming," he said. "PHA has a lot of stuff that people just don't know about. I didn't know about."
Over the course of about 10 years, PHA oversaw 475 families leave public housing or the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and move into their own homes.
"To move up and out of public housing is one of those things we have been trying to prioritize," said Kelvin Jeremiah, president and CEO of PHA. "Now they have the opportunity to build that wealth and really achieve in a real way the American dream."
