WHYY
By
Jonathan and Marcia Pretlow with their children, Julius, Asia, and Laila. (Dani Fresh for WHYY)
Jonathan Pretlow dreams of having an asset that will help springboard his family forward for generations. As is the case for many Americans, that means owning a home.
In 2010, his then-fiance Marcia moved from Baltimore to join him in Chambersburg, a borough of around 20,000 in central Pennsylvania. Their blended family two kids of hers, one of his moved into a neighborhood of two-story townhomes billed by local officials as a “rent-to-own” project for low-income residents.
The Pretlows began paying rent for their Redwood Park home with the understanding that they would take on the mortgage after 15 years.