‘This is so surreal’: Rehabbed apartments in Kensington provide fresh start for formerly homeless families

Have a question about Philly’s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover.

Claudia Mathieu couldn’t believe her eyes.

After three years in and out of the shelter system, she finally had a place of her own — a place to raise her family, a place of peace.

“This is so surreal,” said Mathieu, 37, inside the home’s master bedroom, her 4-year-old daughter by her side. “I don’t feel like I’m on pins and needles.”

Mathieu’s house is one of 31 affordable rentals Odin Properties renovated along Frankford Avenue in Kensington over the last year. The properties, collectively known as Kings Highway Apartments, sit between East Cambria and Ann streets, not far from Allegheny Avenue.

Most of the units are single-family homes with two or three bedrooms. And like Mathieu, several tenants have experienced homelessness.

“Our investments in Kensington are in keeping with Odin Properties’ mission to create high-quality affordable housing, while ensuring that no one is displaced and no one is left behind along the way,” said Odin CEO Philip Balderston during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.

All of the units are subsidized through the Philadelphia Housing Authority, meaning tenants will pay Odin 30% of their adjusted monthly income each month for rent and utilities. Funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will cover the rest.

The units, all of which are leased out, will remain affordable for at least the next 20 years through deed restrictions. This comes as market-rate developers continue to invest heavily in the neighborhood amid an ambitious revitalization effort launched by Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration.

“It’s incredibly important that throughout areas that are changing, you’ve got a constant low-income base,” Balderston said.

Odin acquired the units last year from a nonprofit developer that was unable to complete the project. The company then spent around $1 million in private funding to restore the units, the vast majority of which had been vacant for the better part of a decade.

The properties were originally developed as PHA housing in the mid-1990s.

In addition to the housing authority, Odin partnered with the city’s Office of Homeless Services, Department of Behavioral Health and Division of Housing and Community Development.

Thursday’s ceremony comes weeks after the Public Interest Law Center filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of working-class tenants at Bentley Manor, a West Oak Lane apartment building operated by Odin Properties.

The suit alleges that Odin demanded and collected rent from residents for months despite the property being designated an “unsafe structure” by the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections. The dangerous conditions included “loose and missing bricks” and a “leaning parapet” on the roof.

City and state law requires landlords to keep their properties safe and habitable. In Philadelphia, violators are barred from collecting rent until the property is compliant.

In a recent statement, Balderston pushed back on the suit’s allegations.

“We care deeply about our residents and take tremendous pride in our relationships with them, so we take any allegations to the contrary very seriously. We are carefully considering the allegations of the recent complaint and plan to respond appropriately,” said Balderston, whose company owns and manages at least 1,500 apartments in Philadelphia.

Tenants at other Odin properties have also targeted the company for allegedly failing to make urgent repairs, including faulty ceilings, plumbing and heating issues, and pest infestations.