The program concluded with a panel discussion on the process, findings, and recommendations for each TAP hearing from Anne Marie Collins, MS, Vice President/Executive Director, Drueding Center, Stacey Mosley, Director of Research, Brandywine Realty Trust, Chair: Drueding Center TAP, Jason Miller, MSW, Chief Executive Officer, Families Forward Philadelphia, and Paul Vernon, AIA, Urban Designer, Kimley-Horn, Chair: Families Forward Philadelphia TAP. The panel conversation was moderated by Mari Gonzalez, Senior Research Associate, The Pew Charitable Trusts, ULI Philadelphia TAP Committee member and Local H2H Committee member.

For each TAP, ULI Philadelphia recruited six interdisciplinary members with expertise in affordable and market rate housing development and financing, commercial real estate, architecture, legal services, and consulting. The interdisciplinary panel of ULI member volunteers, at the request of Families Forward Philadelphia and Drueding Center, were asked to identify how each organization could reposition or expand its real estate assets to further its core mission and provide critical supportive housing for individuals and families.

As preparations were underway to finalize the TAPs, Families Forward and Drueding Center were notified in February 2024 that their contracts with the city of Philadelphia to fund their transitional housing units were not renewed, and in the case of Families Forward, were immediately terminated. This development added a critical urgency to the panels’ recommendations.

Below is a summary of the recommendations for each organization.

Families Forward Philadelphia TAP, held on March 14 & 15, 2024. Families Forward Philadelphia works with families experiencing homelessness and provides emergency shelter, community housing, personalized case management, workforce development, education initiatives, and agency supports. Their emergency shelter operates out of the Kirkbride Center in West Philadelphia with additional housing units throughout the neighborhood.

• The panel cautioned Families Forward against embarking on their own development project to augment or replace Melville Way and instead made several recommendations to renovate and improve the building to permanent supportive housing.
• The panel recommended physical improvements to the emergency shelter space at the Kirkbride Center to increase the quality of life for families temporarily living in the shelter. This will require long-term conversations and lease negotiations between Families Forward, the city of Philadelphia, and the Kirkbride Center owners.
• The panel also encouraged the organization to strengthen and broaden its partnerships with outside property owners and landlords as its primary means to increase its supply of and access to additional supportive housing units, freeing the staff and leadership of Families Forward to focus on their core strengths––coaching families out of homelessness through case management and supportive services.

Drueding Center TAP, held on March 27 & 28, 2024. Drueding Center, an entity of Redeemer Health, has been serving individuals and families in need since its 1986 founding by the Sisters of the Redeemer. Drueding Center provides transitional housing, childcare, and a food pantry to families progressing out of homelessness. These additional social services are also open to residents of the surrounding neighborhood of Olde Kensington.

• The panel first addressed the organization’s residential building on Master Street, recommending the board and staff engage in a redevelopment pursuit, likely through a joint venture with an experienced developer and funded by Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, to renovate the building to better suit a slightly smaller number of families in a supportive housing framework.
• The panel also recommended Drueding Center set aside a few units in this building for rapid rehousing services and arrange for a small number of units provided via partnering landlords offsite.

In a second phase of its real estate work, the panel recommended the demolition and rebuilding of the inefficient and maze-like community center, again likely with a development partner and funded with tax credits. The new building would house Drueding’s current community services and provide space for additional supportive and workforce housing as well as commercial space that could serve the residents and the surrounding community.

A complete summary of the recommendations can be found in the reports, Families Forward Philadelphia TAP Report and Drueding Center TAP Report.

“It was both an honor and privilege for Families Forward Philadelphia to take part in the ULI Technical Assistance Panel. I must admit I was not sure how the TAP Panelists would go from a basic knowledge of Families Forward to presenting a plan in just two days, but after taking part in the process I fully embrace this process. The plan that the TAP Panelists created was authentic, and thoughtful to who we are as an organization and where we are headed in the next few years. The TAP plan provides the framework for what is next for FFP and builds upon the enthusiasm to keep the plan moving forward. Everyone at FFP appreciated the collaborative nature of the process. A special thanks to ULI Philadelphia and the Panelists for joining in with FFP mission and theory of change. We look forward to implementing the ULI Tap plan over the coming years.” 

Jason Miller, Executive Director, Families Forward Philadelphia

“Drueding Center was so fortunate to be chosen to participate in ULI’s Homeless to Housed initiative in Philadelphia. We have been working for two years to try to figure out how to leverage our current assets in order reimagine how we would continue to our mission to serve the most vulnerable members of the city. We knew that changes would be coming, and we had to be prepared but were struggling to identify a clear path and get all stakeholders on the same page about what our future could look like. I’m still not sure how the TAP panel did it, but they were able to learn about our history, our mission and our hopes for the future and set out a clear vision for us with some solid recommendations and ideas about how to achieve it. I am so grateful to ULI and the members of our technical assistance panel for their hard work and dedication to the process.”

Anne Marie Collins, Vice President/Executive Director, Drueding Center