January 29, 2025
Making a Statewide Impact: Meet Inglis Regional Housing Coordinators
By Lauren Tilghman
They’re innovators, accessibility crusaders, equity experts, and champions for change; but to the outside world they’re better known as Inglis Regional Housing Coordinators (RHCs).
Regional Housing Coordinators (RHCs) play a pivotal role in providing educational trainings and resources across the state of Pennsylvania, that enable and empower every community to increase access to affordable housing for people with disabilities and older adults. They are collaborators who often work at the systems level to teach various groups of stakeholders about everything from funding sources that would support the creation new accessible housing; to different laws and strategies that have helped develop inclusive, affordable communities and implement new practices. “We keep a pulse on what’s happening in housing and disability realms across the state; and we use that to bring it to other communities,” shared Olivia Benson, Manager of Statewide Programs.
Funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services through a partnership with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, this program joined Inglis in 2021 via a merger with Self-Determination Housing of Pennsylvania (SDHP). There are 18 Inglis RHC team members supporting 67 counties across Pennsylvania while hosting over 70 free trainings and webinars. “We’re a resource for professionals to help them do their jobs even better than they’re [currently] doing them,” shared Jennifer Malone, Senior Manager of Statewide Programs.
“As a team we bring such a breadth and depth of collective knowledge and experience that we tap into on the regular and share within our local grassroots meetings and with [our] connections and planning groups.”
Many of the RHCs are subject matter experts with diverse backgrounds and a wealth of knowledge navigating different industries like education, healthcare, commerce, and so much more. Whether they’re meeting with a local community development corporation or a school district, the Regional Housing Coordination team ensures that every entity that plays a role in social services or human services—can gain a keen understanding of how to navigate the affordable housing system and provide the resources for people with disabilities and older adults to offset the barriers they may face.
“It takes the ‘village’ concept to a whole other level and allows the program to work across systems to really meet needs, and really solve these problems that often feel unsolvable because we can get stuck in our silos,” shared program director, Laura Wilmer. “Think about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs…we can’t talk about all these things until folks have their basic needs met, and so we get to bring it all together; and you get these magical moments, ‘ah-ha’s,’ and light bulbs.”
As collaborators you’ll often find them connecting one local municipality agency with another and helping to bridge the equity divide and break down silos amongst different types of providers and services, to share information and resources. Quite often they’re also participating in city, county, and community planning meetings to advocate and remind leaders to include disabled and aging populations into theirdevelopment plans.
For nearly 20 years Regional Housing Coordinators have been setting the pace— walking alongside leaders and helping to guide Pennsylvania communities with a person-centered approach and housing-first model, and they have no intentions of slowing down anytime soon.