Class lets students rebuild old houses

More houses may be available to low-income families in the future thanks to an alum's generous donation to the University's Entrepreneurial Inner City Housing Rehabilitation class. As part of the class, students are responsible for locating and acquiring abandoned houses in West Philadelphia, putting together a development plan and renovating the homes, explained one of the course's two professors, Hanley Bodek of the Philadelphia Construction Company. Students then sell the houses at cost to new home owners. They also assist the buyers in the financing process, helping them obtain mortgages from banks, Bodek said. Wharton creative emeritus management professor William Zucker, the other professor teaching the class, said that 1960 Wharton graduate Barry Goldin's recent endowment of $27,000 will allow the class in the future to rehabilitate several houses at the same time. "What I found wrong with the program was that students were only seeing a small piece of the process at a time," Goldin said. Zucker said that as a result of the donation, the class is currently negotiating with the city to buy four more abandoned houses. Goldin said hopefully with his added support the program will be able to expand to 100 students. He also said he thinks the program should work closer with the city. "I think it is a wonderful thing to give practical experience to students," Goldin said. "I love hands-on training and I think [the program] is an epitome of that," he added. Students from many varied disciplinary backgrounds such as Wharton and Engineering are enrolled in the course, along with some graduate students. "It's one of the best, most practical classes I've taken here at Penn," said Wharton senior Terence Cooper. Cooper said he has learned about the sales, marketing and finance of the housing as well as basic carpentry work. "We want to get students to understand all the problems and issues of working in the city," said Zucker. "Students also learn leadership." Each person in the class is required to work at the site twice a week for a total of four hours. A different person is designated construction manager each time, explained College junior Christina Goletz. That person is in charge of the site for the day. "I like the hands-on work the most," said Wharton senior Michael Geier."It's a nice thing for the University to provide a class like this to the students, because there are a lot of homes in Philadelphia which need development and refurbishing." Bodek said the program is the University's way of helping improve the area around campus. "It's an example of the University's interest and commitment to West Philadelphia," he said. This semester's group is close to completing what will be the program's fourth rehabilitated house, said Zucker. The first house was bought with $35,000 raised from various developers in the community. With the money from the sales of the renovated houses, students purchase ones which are abandoned.