Support for

Cypress Place at Royersford

Thomas Reitnour

Food Service Worker

"I graduated from West-Mont Christian Academy near Pottstown in 2008, and after living at my parents' house and working in food service at Shannondell in Audubon and Spring Mill in Kimberton for about 8 years, I moved to FL to help Grandma, who had fallen. There, I became a certified medical assistant (CMA) and lived in a rooming house for $500 per month. After Grandma passed, I moved to Harrisburg, near my brother, and with a little financial help from my parents, rented an apartment downtown for $800 per month while I worked as a CMA. In 2023, I moved back to the Spring City area and now work in food service. Like most medical office staff (other than doctors and other top people, there) and food service people, I've never been paid more than $18 per hour plus benefits, and I make less than that here. My bring-home pay averages now about $1,700 per month, and there are not rentals here like there were in Ft Myers or Harrisburg. The typical single apartment around here runs about $1,400 per month, which no one like me can afford. And even if I could, I don't want to live in government or Section 8 housing (there's a waiting list of over two years for that, anyway), so I live in a room at my parents next to Coventry Terrace Mobile Home Park. They remind me all the time, though, that they won't always be here. I'm a member of Royersford Baptist Church, and I support Cypress Place at Royersford because I don't know what single working people like me will do unless places like this get built."



Kelly Raggazino, CEO

Open Hearth, Inc.

Open Hearth fully supports the Cypress Place project and projects like it that will increase workforce housing opportunities. Workforce housing ensures that individuals and families who work in essential sectors such as healthcare, education, public safety, and retail can afford to live near their workplaces. In my 25 years in the housing/social service sector, the need for affordable housing has never been as critical as it is today and as important to keeping our communities vibrant places where we all want to live.