Pitt graduates are making housing more affordable for Pennsylvanians

Sellersville, Pennsylvania, is a quaint town of about 4,500 located in northeastern Bucks County. It has all the attributes of ideal suburban living: a walkable historic district, good schools and a not-unreasonable 30-mile commute to Philadelphia.

It oozes small-town charm. It's the kind of place that holds holiday house-decorating contests, encourages its residents to confer names upon park trees and asks its police force to forgo a month of shaving to raise money for charity.

But all that charm comes with a growing demand for housing, one that's resulted in skyrocketing real estate prices. According to Zillow, the average home price in Bucks County in 2025 was more than $508,000. In other words, the very people who make up the fabric of Sellersville - the teachers at the good schools, the voluntarily scraggily police officers and the fixed-income seniors who have officially retired from the daily commute - are increasingly being priced out of their own community.

Enter Sean Kelly.

The Pitt Business grad is executive vice president of Leon N. Weiner & Associates, Inc. (LNWA), a mission-minded development company dedicated to finding housing solutions for communities in need. In Sellersville, LNWA saw a dearth of housing options for older residents. Just last year, the company opened a much-coveted affordable housing complex for seniors, complete with elevators, activities, supportive services and a Net Zero Ready certification from the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Demand was off the charts," Kelly (BUS '04) says. "We leased all the apartments in 25 days, and we still have a 200-person waiting list."

That kind of demand is fueled by a changing economy and housing market. Once, such housing developments were reserved for those living below the poverty line. Today, affordable housing has a much broader definition and serves a much larger demographic. In Pennsylvania, the threshold varies by county, but in Bucks, individuals whose income is at or below roughly 60% of the median, or $68,850 annually, qualify for affordable housing.

The areas around big cities like Philadelphia are often hit the hardest, so that's where LNWA focuses much of its effort. In addition to the new build in Sellersville, Kelly's company is working in Chester County, Pennsylvania, to modernize an established complex using green building technologies and restructured financing to preserve affordability restrictions.

"Affordable housing is the infrastructure for real life. When we treat it that way, we allow people to take their next step."

Providing affordable housing is a delicate job that takes many agencies working in tandem to acquire the necessary permits, financial backing and community buy-in. In Bucks County, Kelly's efforts were, by coincidence or fortune, supported by three other Pitt graduates.

Jeff Darwak (A&S '05), executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Bucks, helped LNWA complete the environmental remediation activities associated with the Sellersville property. Jordan Space (BUS '06), formerly of S&T Bank and now chief operating officer of Mid Penn Bank, and Jordan Laird (BUS '12), director of finance at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), found financing.

Laird in particular was familiar with the kind of work Kelly was doing in Bucks County. PHFA's mission is to expand affordable home ownership and rental opportunities for older adults, moderate- and low-income families and people with special housing needs. Working with a fellow Pitt alum on affordable senior housing felt like a dream project for Laird, who values the connections he makes as he's crunching the numbers.