The Johnnie Tillmon Townhouses venture comprises apartments (some wheelchair accessible) and two-, three-, and four-bedroom rental units—all in a townhouse configuration with on-site community facilities. The parcel of land on which it was built had been cleared by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia (RDA) in the 1960s. Because fully funded, federal housing programs were subsequently phased out (with a policy shift to block grants awarded to city governments), the RDA never developed the land. It remained unoccupied for about three decades, until the Women's Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) identified the site as the prospective location for a venture in rental housing.

Founded in 1987, WCRP is a multiracial, community-based development organization that supports the social and economic empowerment of low-income women and their families. It provides affordable housing linked to education, training, and support services (such as child care) with economic self-sufficiency as a goal. During the 1990s, WCRP was one of several nonprofit developers that helped a substantial number of their tenants complete a transition from welfare dependency into full- and part-time, unsubsidized jobs.

WCRP has developed 123 units of affordable rental housing at sites in several eastern North Philadelphia neighborhoods, with each venture named after a righteous woman. For example, Johnnie Tillmon (a Californian) was the founder of a national welfare-rights organization. In another example, the late Lillia E. ("Mom") Crippen was beloved in her Philadelphia neighborhood as a one-woman social services agency, organizing educational and charitable programs for more than 55 years. Two locations named for Crippen, one at 6th and Berks Streets and one at 6th Street and Montgomery Avenue, provide housing for very low-income families with special needs. In addition to developing rental units, WCRP has rehabilitated and sold off scattered properties that have provided eight families with homeownership opportunities.

Members of WCRP's housing committee—tenants, former tenants, community members, technical specialists, urban planners, and architects—generate concepts for an ideal home for the neighborhood. Then the designers do their best to approach that ideal, for example making sure the kitchen window always faces an individual yard or general courtyard. Colors and types of materials are chosen with community input. WCRP places a portion of its "developer's fee" into an "internal subsidy" fund; the interest or dividend income helps reduce rents for those families who are in greatest need of financial assistance.

• In the book Neighborhood Recovery, John Kromer discusses the accomplishments that community development corporations have made in creating rental housing for low-income families. (Chapter 1, "A Strategic Problem.")
  www.neighborhoodrecovery.com
  
  
• For information about WCRP, contact:
  
  Coordinator of Real Estate Development
  Women's Community Revitalization Project
  407 Fairmount Avenue
  Philadelphia, PA 19123
  215/627-5550 voice
  215/627-6766 fax