Patients’ families priced out of housing by DNC get their pleas answered

by Rita Giordano

Published Jul. 26, 2016, 2:46 p.m. ET

So Philly just may be the place that loves you back after all.

Hosts for Hospitals, a Philadelphia non-profit that offers rooms in private homes to the loved ones of people being treated in local hospitals, was able to double the number of lodgings in its network in just a few days - and more may be on the way.

Last week, the group was getting swamped with calls for help finding affordable lodging during and shortly after the Democratic National Convention. Loved ones of people coming from out of town to get specialized care in Philadelphia hospitals said that they could not afford the high hotel rates - some over $500 a night - they were being quoted.

After a story ran Thursday in the Inquirer and on philly.com, 73 households volunteered to host families; about half have been checked out or are on the schedule, Mike Aichenbaum, director of Hosts for Hospitals, said Tuesday.

Each home is visited by the group's staff before referrals are made. Guests pay only a $10 per night service fee. Since 2000, the organization has housed more than 2,900 families of patients.

Some of the people who offered the group space in their homes talked about having loved ones with some of the same illnesses as the people now in need.

Aichenbaum said the new volunteers told him they wanted to continue to help even after the convention was over. Some offered to drive guests back and forth to the hospitals.

Quite a few of the new volunteers are professional caregivers, Aichenbaum said: doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers.

"It's the City of Brotherly Love in spades."

Information for potential hosts - and guests - is posted here. Or call 215-472-3801.