Simple Homes is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to creating dignified, affordable housing for low-income families in Philadelphia. We do this by offering a simple deal: we won’t build a house for you, but we will build a house with you. We obtain abandoned houses, rehabilitate them together with our future low-income homeowners, and we then sell that home to them for $35,000 at 0% interest. Simple Homes grew from the housing work of our parent organization, The Simple Way, an organization that grew out of its founders’ activism for housing justice and aid to people experiencing homelessness.In 2014, The Simple Way teamed up with the Fuller Center for Housing, whose model of creating affordable housing has proven effective, measurable, and scalable in 60 cities across the country and in 16 countries around the world. Simple Homes Fuller Center was thus incorporated as its own separate, 501(c)3 non-profit. Since this founding Simple Homes has been proud to complete 6 houses in partnership with low-income families from the community.
Funds from this grant will be used to pay for contracted services for one of the three houses we are currently working to rehabilitate. These services include the repair and replacement of electrical service equipment and lines and plumbing equipment and piping in the house. These are some of the most expensive items to have completed on the house and cannot be subsidized with volunteer labor as they are professional services that require professional licensing.
