Our Mission

SWAP, Inc. (Stop Wasting Abandoned Property) is a private non-profit community development corporation committed to providing affordable housing opportunities for persons of low and moderate income; revitalizing urban neighborhoods and building new communities.

Building homes and neighborhoods since 1975.

Our History

In 1975, when urban neighborhoods across the country were being blighted by fires and the exodus of residents to the suburbs, a pioneering group of residents in Providence formed SWAP to stop the fires and reverse the blight. 

Led by the determined and ultimate neighborhood organizer Berta Phillips, one house, then one street, then one neighborhood were reclaimed by an innovative homesteading program that brought a home buyer and a house in need of rehabilitation together. With limited government subsidy and loans from local banks, over 1,000 houses became homes and the neighborhood fabric of Providence was salvaged.

Today SWAP continues to transform neighborhoods.  Through historic restoration and new construction SWAP creates affordable rental apartments and homes for sale. SWAP's current focus on the development of mixed-use residential and commercial spaces is creating newly vibrant commercial corridors.