SeniorLAW Center receives $200,000 Housing for Everyone Grant from the TD Charitable Foundation
Support from the TD Charitable Foundation will help support SeniorLAW Center’s Homeownership Rights work, increasing their capacity to deliver critical legal services to vulnerable older homeowners and amplify SeniorLAW Center’s impact across the communities they serve.
April 17, 2025 – SeniorLAW Center, a leading advocate for the legal rights of older adults, was recently awarded a $200,000 Housing for Everyone grant from the TD Charitable Foundation, the giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®. SeniorLAW Center is one of 36 nonprofit organizations selected from more than 270 applicants to receive a Housing for Everyone grant as part of the TD Charitable Foundation’s annual, signature program, which has helped support organizations providing affordable housing and affordable housing services since 2005.
Access to housing remains a major issue for individuals and families across the country. But sustaining homeownership amid the increasing costs of maintenance and other economic pressures is just as prevalent of a challenge. This growing burden has put significant financial strain on many households, particularly those with lower incomes, underscoring the need for the TD Charitable Foundation’s 2025 Housing for Everyone grant program. This year’s focus was on supporting organizations that provide solutions through post-purchase support to help those struggling to maintain homeownership due to rising property taxes, increasing home insurance premiums and expensive repairs, for example.
To address some of these challenges, SeniorLAW Center will use the Housing for Everyone grant to support older Philadelphia homeowners by investing in its Homeownership Rights project to add capacity through additional staff support and technology. Philadelphia has some of the oldest housing stock in the nation, much of which is at risk of or currently falling into disrepair, and over 70% of Philadelphians aged 60 or older own their homes, highlighting an urgent community need for our homeownership services. The goal of this investment is to ultimately help more older low-income Philadelphians facing critical threats to their housing like mortgage foreclosure, deed and contractor fraud, tangled titles, and property tax issues, so they can age in place with dignity and grace.
“We’re grateful that the TD Charitable Foundation recognizes the distinct challenges older homeowners in Philadelphia face. Our city has been deemed one of the worst places to age in place in the country and our clients are facing rising food and pharmaceutical prices. This makes our work helping older homeowners remain in their housing, the most fundamental basic right, more important than ever.” said Justine Dougherty, Director of Development and Communications at SeniorLAW Center.
“The costs of owning a home can rise substantially as houses begin to age, putting owners, especially those in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods, in a vulnerable financial position,” said Paige Carlson-Heim, Director of the TD Charitable Foundation. “That’s why supporting the critical legal assistance and educational programming of SeniorLAW Center through the Housing for Everyone grant program is crucial. SeniorLAW Center is setting people up for long-term success, empowering them with resources to ensure they can stay in their homes over the long term,” added Paige Carlson-Heim, Director of the TD Charitable Foundation.
Through the TD Charitable Foundation’s 19th annual Housing for Everyone grant program, a total of $7.2 million was awarded across the bank’s footprint to help support programming for low- to moderate-income homeowners. Organizations were selected for their programs focused on post-purchase homeownership support, such as foreclosure counseling, agency-owned and/or managed financial assistance funds, legal assistance and/or property tax relief programs, and energy efficiency improvements. Since 2005, more than $63 million has been granted to support more than 620 affordable housing projects and initiatives through the Housing for Everyone program. Learn more about the Housing for Everyone grant program here.
About SeniorLAW Center
SeniorLAW Center is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal services agency founded in 1978 as Senior Citizen Judicare Project by members of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Our original focus was to protect the legal rights and interests of Philadelphia’s needy, elderly residents through a volunteer-driven program. Today as a $5 million legal services staff with volunteer pro bono program, the Center seeks justice for older people by using the power of the law, educating the community, and advocating on local, state, and national levels.
SeniorLAW Center serves over 10,000 older people each year. Their vision is a world that values older people, hears their voices and guarantees their rights. SeniorLAW Center changes individual lives and works to change systems to promote justice, security, and independence for older Americans and their families. To learn more, visit SeniorLAWCenter.org.
About the TD Charitable Foundation
The TD Charitable Foundation is the giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 10 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,100 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. Since its inception in 2002, the Foundation has distributed over $361 million through donations to local nonprofits across the bank’s footprint. Learn more about the TD Charitable Foundation here.
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Media Contact:
Justine Dougherty
SeniorLAW Center
jdougherty@seniorlawcenter.org
Natasha Brown
Corporate Communications Manager
TD Bank