Need Home Repairs

Need Home Repairs
(Note: neither of the following agencies is an emergency program, and neither does porches, steps, cement or masonry work).

SHARP
(minor home repairs and minor modifications) – to qualify, applicants must be Philadelphia homeowners and over age 60.

  • Examples of the type of work SHARP can do are:  install exterior doors with dead bolt locks; window locks; repair steps or replace basement steps; install smoke alarms; repair windows; weather-strip doors; replace electrical switches, outlets and fixtures; repair leaky faucets and toilets; install shut off valves.  SHARP also can do minor modifications to the homes of seniors with physical disabilities such as: adapt bathroom fixtures; grab bars and install wrought iron railings.  In some rare cases, SHARP can install a first floor 1/2 bath, stair glides and ramps.  Monthly income guidelines are $1,361.00 for one person; for two: $1,839.00; for three $2,316.00. 

Contact: PCA Helpline, 215-765-9040

Philadelphia Housing Development Corp (PHDC)
Major repair assistance to low income eligible homeowners and Modifications done for disabled.  PHDC will fix three basic systems in homes: plumbing, roofing and electric.  They will not do any repairs if the homeowner’s property taxes are not current.  PHDC is a city agency and all policies are subject to change.  The wait for services is generally 1-2 years. 

  • Plumbing 
    PHDC only addresses drain lines.  Examples are the sewer pipe from the house to the street and the stack pipe from the sewer pipe that runs vertically through the house and out of the roof top.  PHDC does not do any minor plumbing including supply lines, under floor plumbing and the leaking of anything but the stack and sewer pipes.

  • Roofing 
    PHDC only addresses the roof on the main house, which they can replace.  They do not work on ceilings, porch roofs or the roof of a shed kitchen. 

  • Electric
    PHDC will rewire the entire house. They will not put anything new in, but will replace every switch, receptacle and fixture and will also rewire any existing wiring.  If the home is old and has knob and tube wiring where the protective sheath has rotted off the wires, this is when the entire rewire will occur.  It is also possible for PHDC to do a service upgrade if the house has new wiring.  This would involve the electrical panel and breakers, but only if all of the wiring is okay.

PHDC Contact Information:
Main Number: 215-448-2160
1234 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
www.phdchousing.org