ULI Philadelphia is recruiting 8-10 members to serve on a two-day Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) that will provide Families Forward Philadelphia (FFP) with recommendations to maintain, create, and expand their current housing stock and models for increasing affordable housing for families.  

Families Forward Philadelphia’s mission is to help families experiencing homelessness become healthy, productive, and self-reliant. FFP works to achieve this mission daily by providing emergency shelter, community housing, personalized case management, workforce development, education initiatives, and agency supports. FFP is focused on keeping families together during times of homelessness, helping them create stability by offering housing, comfort, support, and hope. 

Families Forward operates Philadelphia’s largest emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness, serving 65 families nightly, and maintaining 75 transitional and permanent supportive housing units in West Philadelphia.  

In 2023, FFP began a yearlong strategic planning process that went into effect on January 1, 2024, and will guide their work through the end of this year. One of their priority areas in the strategic plan is to maintain, create, and expand safe, inclusionary spaces in both emergency shelter and community housing sites. Key steps for this plan include: exploring opportunities to grow housing options throughout the city (build new units, convert units, access larger units, partnerships, etc.); creating and implementing a landlord recruitment plan; and creating an action plan for Melville Way – a multi-unit apartment building owned by Families Forward.  

This TAP will be sponsored by Families Forward Philadelphia and supported with grant funding through the ULI Homeless to Housed (H2H) Initiative. Its results will be part of a national body of work through the H2H Cohort of five district councils.  

Questions for the Panel  

1. In what ways can FFP improve its current housing stock with the continuum of care programs of Transitional Housing, Rapid Re-Housing, and Supportive Housing? (Added context: This includes 15 RRH Units, 50 SH Units and 8 TH Units. RRH is Client leased with landlords, SH is FFP master leased with landlords and TH FFP is the landlord). 
2. Is FFP utilizing Melville Way in its program model of transitional housing in the best way possible? 
3. Given the FFP Shelter is always at capacity, are there housing models that FFP should consider increasing affordable Housing in Philadelphia for families (Subsidized and Unsubsidized)? 
4. Given the hurdles that exist to building affordable family housing, what is the best approach for FFP to increase its housing capacity? 

Professional expertise needed from panelists:

• Experience with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program 
• Experience with Pennsylvania affordable housing programs 
• Additional Public & Private financing options 
• Public Policy, zoning, and legal 
• Affordable housing development 
• Multi-family housing development 
• Adaptive reuse 
•  Design/construction
• Community development and engagement 

Panelist Expectations:

• Be available for two full days on March 14 & 15, 2024
• Review extensive briefing materials prior to convening
• Join briefing meeting and site tour one to two weeks prior to convening
• Actively participate in stakeholder interviews, recommendation generation, and findings presentation
• Adhere to ULI Conflict of Interest policy and Code of Ethics

Important Dates:

• Panelist Application Deadline: January 26, 2024
• TAP Dates: March 14 – 15, 2024

More info: 

• Learn more about ULI Philadelphia’s TAP program here. 
• ULI Philadelphia is offering two TAP opportunities under the Homeless to Housed Initiative. More information about the Drueding Center TAP can be found here.
• Questions about this opportunity? Please contact Christina Chavez, Manager, ULI Philadelphia at [email protected].