The Nayda Cintron Homes Honor Community and Family, Coming Soon in Philadelphia.

In a lovely tribute to the founder of Xiente (formerly Norris Square Community Alliance), Women’s Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) will build and operate an affordable housing development named the Nayda Cintron Apartments.  She was a prominent Puerto Rican activist and community organizer in Philadelphia. Ms. Cintron is best known for her work in the Norris Square neighborhood during the 1980’s. She rallied residents to oppose the division of Norris Square among multiple City Council districts.

She founded the Norris Square Civic Association, creating a model for grassroots control of housing, zoning, and public safety. She also helped establish the American Street Business Corridor and pioneered some of Philadelphia’s earliest community gardens, land banks, and job-training programs. The development honors a woman whose organizing work championed community control of housing, zoning, and neighborhood development.  

The development directly serves populations that have often faced exclusion from housing opportunities. This includes larger families who struggle to find appropriately sized affordable housing. There will be three new construction buildings in all. The first is a large multifamily apartment with thirty-four apartments. The other two will be three-story triplexes.

Between the buildings, there will be ten fully accessible units, plus two more units intended for those with hearing or visual impairments. People with disabilities are often shut out of affordable housing opportunities, but they will be able to find a home through these fully accessible units and the designated VisitABLE apartments (a new housing requirement of wider doorways). Four apartments will be deeply affordable. Thirty of the apartments will have residents benefiting from rental assistance through Project-Based Vouchers.

RHLS’s Director of Development Legal Services Kim Dolan and Staff Attorney Esteban Rodriguez worked with WCRP on this Low-Income Housing Tax Credit transaction. They negotiated the partnership agreement between the investor and WCRP, assisted with entity formation, drafted and reviewed financing and professional services agreements, and helped facilitate financial closing.

The land for the development is held by a WCRP affiliate, Community Justice Land Trust, to promote very long-term affordability, and our attorneys also assisted with the associated ground lease. A core aspect of racial equity is ensuring that communities can maintain control over land and housing resources rather than being displaced by rising costs. The land trust model will protect the long-term affordability of these apartments.

In addition to the tax credit funding from PHFA, both the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Philadelphia Housing Authority will provide subsidies for a portion of the units. The deal also included loans from Citizens Bank and Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation. It also includes funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh.

The project had challenges, the financial closing was delayed more than once, there were various bureaucratic delays from the city and the federal level, as well as the complexities of a RAD conversion.

The Women’s Community Revitalization Project is a Philadelphia based, women led nonprofit dedicated to advancing social and economic equity for low income women and their families through the development of affordable housing, the provision of supportive services, and advocacy for equitable public policy. 

WCRP and RHLS have worked together for many years. The Nayda Cintron Apartments will be WCRP's 18th affordable housing project in Philadelphia. It has developed 369 units and has another 105 either planned or under construction. Others have been built in neighborhoods including Kensington, Port Richmond, Grays Ferry, Germantown and Point Breeze. 

WCRP expects to complete the three buildings in early 2028. Check out the WCRP website to get more information:

www.wcrpphila.org/how-to-apply-for-housing