PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation is trying to keep the dream of home ownership within reach of Philadelphia’s working class through a program for first-time buyers.
The city and PHDC are looking for first-time buyers to take advantage of the Turn The Key initiative. They’re holding an open house on May 8 at SEPTA headquarters (1234 Market Street) in Center City, to show prospective buyers that a huge down payment or a perfect credit score are not necessary for home ownership in the city.
“Let's be really honest. They're hustling, they're working a full-time job, a part-time job, and you know, they're paying rent and not seeing any wealth creation,” said Angel Rodriguez, executive director of the Philadelphia Land Bank. “And here, we have this opportunity for them to move into a home.”
Turn The Key puts publicly owned vacant land back into productive use while increasing the limited supply of affordable homes available for purchase in the city. For example, for a home that costs $280,000, qualifying applicants can get as much as $95,000 in assistance, with an average monthly payment of about $1,353.
“You're getting the $1353 monthly, you're getting three bedrooms, two baths, and it's a starter home, it's your home,” Rodriguez said. “You know what you're getting. You know the neighborhood. Plus you're saving so much money monthly, that really changes a family's life.”
He says the criteria for approval is income-based, and that applicants have an average credit score of 600.
“We’ve approved … over 700 properties,” he said. “Right now we have about 265 in production. I expect by the end of this calendar year to have 359 done. And then we have another 325 that we hope to see done in the calendar year 2025.”
Registration is required to attend the open house.