Helping house aged out foster youth in Philadelphia

[Troy Sheets]

We have a local non-profit coffee shop here in Brewerytown that employs mostly aged out foster youth. It's a block from my house and my partners and I meet there nearly weekly, we meet other investors/bankers/realtors there, and my wife and I stop by most mornings for a coffee. We're definitely regulars. So a couple months ago the director of the coffee shop pulls me aside and asks if we have any residential housing available. We didn't but I asked her what she needed so I could start asking around. Turns out one of the employees was homeless and living in the basement of the coffee shop. 

Wow. Here I am, cruising through life, not a care in the world, thinking all is well and because I buy my coffee at this place  I'm "giving back". What a joke! I'm oblivious to the daily struggles of others, as I think many of us are, and this hit me pretty hard. 

I told my partners about the situation and we immediately agreed that we needed to help house this kid. We had no vacancies so we decided to buy a house, rehab it and get this kid out of the basement. We found a place 2 blocks from the coffee shop and got it under contract with a 30 day or less, no contingency close. The place wasn't habitable as-is so we couldn't put him in until we rehabbed it. By the time we closed, thankfully, this particular kid had found other housing. I say thankfully because it wasn't a good thought that he was sleeping in the basement of the coffee shop. We then found out another employee, who was renting from/living with extended family, was losing their housing in 2 weeks. Apparently the family member hadn't been paying taxes on the property and it was going for sheriff sale in 2 weeks. It was also reportedly in really bad shape. 

Luckily for us, the house we'd just purchased could be rehabbed in right around 2 weeks so we agreed to house this young man and his wife and 2 year old daughter. I found a great GC for this type of work and he finished right on time and on budget. I should note that I found the GC through a fellow investor that I met here on BP! 

Our new tenant couldn't afford the lower end of market rate rents so we discounted it by ~25%. We also waived security and last months rent, mainly because they didn't have it. We did make the lease month-to-month. We're here to help and help this family be successful but there's zero chance they're going to take advantage of us if things go South. From here on out they're like any other tenant. 

We met with the tenant a few times to make sure he understood his responsibilities, get to know him, etc. and I got to hear more about this young mans story. He's championed some reform through other agencies such as getting a law passed (state I believe, doubt it was Federal) that siblings can't be separated. When he was 9 and put in the foster system with his younger brother, they were immediately separated. Can you imagine? Once in the system he bounced from house to house for the next 7 years, attending 8 different schools in that time. Many of these kids, once they age out at 18 and the checks stop coming to the foster parents, are kicked out. Many end up at shelters or living on the street. I had no idea. There are no systems, no supports, just BOOM...you're an adult with no family, no assets, no help, and you're now completely on your own. 

I'm not sure what more there is to say except try not to be as oblivious as I was and, if you can do some good and help someone out, go for it! 

Before and afters of the house below. 

Bathroom was tiny, standup shower, vanity behind it and you can see the throne, all in a luxurious 30 square feet! 

Not quite finished exterior paint but a drastic improvement.

Stove wasn't in yet as we ordered gas but electric showed up. 

We stole a few feet from the back bedroom and put in a full size tub. I can't imagine having kids and not having a tub.