A Breath of Fresh Air in Philadelphia: Debra’s Story

At Rebuilding Together, the intersection of safe housing and healthy lives is more than a statement, it’s a living reality. As first reported by WHYY in May 2025, a pilot program in Philadelphia illustrates how critical repairs can literally let someone breathe again. 

67-year-old tenant Debra Autrey lived in a row-home in Germantown with a leaking roof, raw sewage seepage, inadequate heating, mold, mice and cockroaches. Her landlord repeatedly failed to make the necessary fixes, despite city code violations. The levels of mold and pest residue in her home were so severe that they showed up in her medical respiratory panel and as she lives with asthma and COPD, the stakes were life-changing. 

That’s when Rebuilding Together Philadelphia stepped in through the “Repair & Deduct” pilot (in partnership with legal advocates at Community Legal Services and Face to Face Germantown). With grant support, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia carried out the vital home repairs first, then the legal partners filed suit so that the cost could be recouped and reinvested into further repairs. After the work was done, Autrey said simply: “I feel like I can breathe again.”

While this story happened in Philadelphia, it speaks directly to why Rebuilding Together exists across the country. Housing is the foundation of health and opportunity and when home conditions fail, everything else suffers. By supporting our network of affiliates, like Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, we help ensure that vulnerable homeowners and renters don’t live in conditions that jeopardize their well-being.

It also speaks to the broader systemic challenge: landlords failing to maintain homes, tenants afraid to speak up and the gap between housing code and real safety. The pilot program shows a promising model: repairs + legal framework = healthier homes. Harvesting that model nationally means we can replicate impact beyond one city.

As we enter the end-of-year giving season, stories like Debra’s remind us exactly what your support matters. Your donation to Rebuilding Together helps:

• Fund life-changing repairs in homes with mold, pests, structural issues and health hazards.

• Strengthen community-based affiliates across the country so they can act with urgency and local knowledge.

• Support innovations like legal-repair partnerships that keep homes safe, tenants healthy and dollars reinvested into more impact.

Please consider a gift today. Together, we’re rebuilding more than homes: we’re rebuilding safe homes and communities for everyone. 

This story was adapted from reporting by WHYY, originally published in May 2025.