Man found dead in shuttered senior housing complex was electrocuted, authorities say
The man's body was found at the Brith Sholom House one day after city officials announced a plan to redevelop the vacant facility with a $50 million loan from a coalition of building trades unions.
A man died after being electrocuted inside a dilapidated West Philadelphia senior housing complex Wednesday morning, authorities say.
The discovery came a day after city officials touted a $50 million investment into the vacant property, the Brith Sholom House,which is owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority and has been shuttered since August 2025.
The man’s body was found around 5:45 a.m. after police were called to the property, located on the 3900 block of Conshohocken Avenue.
The man, whom police did not identity, was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:40 a.m.
Kelvin A. Jeremiah, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, said the complex’s doors and windows on the lower floors have been sealed since tenants left the property, though there have been several instances in which individuals managed to enter in an attempt to steal copper wiring from within the structure.
Early Wednesday morning, a 911 call was placed from Brith Sholom by a man who told police that a contractor had gotten hurt on the job and needed assistance, Jeremiah said.
But Jeremiah said the housing authority had not authorized any such work, and no one was permitted on the property at the time.
The housing authority later learned that the man was electrocuted and died after he tried to strip copper wire from the complex’s basement. The body was found next to the switch gears, Jeremiah said.
The CEO suspects the person who called 911 was an accomplice in the break-in, though police are still investigating.
The housing authority’s security cameras were not active during the incident because much of the building’s power is off, and other cameras have been destroyed by bad actors, according to Jeremiah.
He said the individuals might have used a ladder to enter the complex through the third floor.
Just a day earlier, Brith Sholom received a much different sort of attention.
On Tuesday, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced that the city’s powerful building trades unions would offer PHA a sizable loan to redevelop the complex, which the housing authority purchased from its former owners in 2024 in order to preserve it.
Prior to the sale, tenants had complained of rampant neglect and repeated code violations, including deteriorating infrastructure, threats of utility shutoffs, squatters, and severe pest infestations.
After PHA acquired the property, it initially told its 111 residents they could remain in their units. But upon discovering some units were damaged beyond repair, officials told those residents they would need to move out and return at a later date.
The Brith Sholom project, when completed, is expected to add 336 affordable units for seniors on fixed incomes, Parker said in her announcement Tuesday.
The mayor cast the complex’s revival as a first-of-its-kind approach to expanding the city’s affordable housing stock, one that would help her administration reach its goal of building, redeveloping, or preserving 30,000 units.