Leo Biehl (C ‘25) meets us at the corner. The entrance to his house is a bit hidden, he explains, and it’s always easier to just show people the way. He’s wearing a blue button–up and dark denim jeans, well styled in their similarity while avoiding a Canadian tuxedo. Inside, the ceilings are high, and the floors are akin to a basketball court. It used to be an old gymnasium but has since been converted into a three–bedroom unit. He offers a drink before sitting down at the wooden kitchen table. Leo is just as comfortable here at home as he would be at Clark Park’s Saturday morning farmers market, at a coffee shop in Vietnam, or serving orange chicken in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Housing is the name of Leo Biehl’s game. Right here in Philly, he’s been working with Community Legal Services, offering aid to tenants and exploring the city’s not–so–glamorous housing history. And though he has spent a non–insignificant amount of time abroad, he brings that experience back home, keeping his heart close to the City of Brotherly Love.
Name: Leo Biehl
Hometown: Buffalo, N.Y.
Major: Urban studies and political science
Minor: German
Activities: Community Legal Services Housing Unit intern, Perry World House fellow, Penn Institute for Urban Research ambassador, Penn Abroad ambassador, Penn Mock Trial, Marks Family Writing Center
Where did your interest in housing policy begin?
My interest in housing started during the pandemic. I took a gap year before coming to Penn to work on the New York State Department of Health’s initiative to address COVID–19. I was responsible for calling people in quarantine and helping them access food, resources, and housing. I spent hours on the phone talking to people who were homeless, struggling to afford their housing, and facing a time of immense instability.
When I came to Philadelphia, I began studying housing policy. As a sophomore, I joined History professor Brent Cebul’s research team to work on a digital mapping project to study redlining in post–World War II rental properties. My job was to go through historical newspaper archives and determine where these properties were located. We found that the vast majority of affordable rental units insured by the Federal Housing Administration were built outside of minority communities, which essentially boxed African Americans out of accessing low–cost housing and contributed to some of the unequal outcomes we see today. When I was doing the project, I just loved reading about the histories of the buildings and the people in them. I was reading about love triangles, botched bank heists, and attempted murders that occurred at the properties. Then, I’d be reading about some of the revolutionary housing campaigns that took place there, or about the highways that came in the 1960s and completely bulldozed them, often without any sort of resident approval. It’s that intersection of urban geography and that storytelling that really speaks to me.
Can you talk more about what you’ve been working on here in Philly?
Over the past couple years, I’ve been working on an independent research project that explores the history of how urban renewal in the 1960s impacted one building called Boslover Hall. It was located on 701 Pine St., and it acted as the headquarters for one of the city’s prominent Jewish organizations. It was also a second home for the city’s Black and Hispanic communities who used that building to host dances and cultural celebrations at a time when a lot of other buildings wouldn’t let them do anything. By visiting the archives at Temple University and reading through court documents, my project uncovered how Ed Bacon—who was Philadelphia’s chief city planner—was able to push out this organization and the diverse, multicultural community to make way for what is now modern, upscale Society Hill. That's when I really became interested in how the legal system can perpetuate or even address some of these issues of urban inequality.
Now, this semester, at Community Legal Services, I’m working as an intern in the housing unit to help tenants navigate their eviction cases. Much of my senior spring has been spent on the sixth floor of Philadelphia Municipal Court observing landlord/tenant hearings. I help tenants navigate repair issues, prepare evidence for their trials, and give advice on their housing situations. It’s been fascinating to learn about some of Philadelphia’s unique policy approaches to addressing housing inequality, like the Eviction Diversion Program, which is nationally acclaimed and requires mediation between tenants and landlords before any eviction filings. That’s led to a drop in evictions. Still, I would say it’s been frustrating to watch how our legal system often fails to protect the city’s residents—and how easy it is for tenants to slip into unstable housing situations, or even homelessness.
What would you say is your guiding philosophy for housing policy?
It’s really this idea of making sure that everyone has a home. I saw some of the gaps that we have in our society—people who are in homeless shelters, people who are concerned about losing their housing. Being in a big city like Philadelphia helped me realize that we need to do a lot to address the issue of homelessness and affordable housing. When I’m doing these research projects, when I’m exploring urban renewal in Philadelphia in the 1960s or traveling abroad to do research on housing, it’s centered on how we can take lessons from these other places to help this urgent problem that we have in the United States.
And in life?
My favorite football team is the Buffalo Bills. And there’s this quote that the famous Marv Levy said, which is chanted before every Bills game: “Where would you rather be, than right here, right now?” For me, wherever I’ve been, in any community, I’ve tried to really make sure that I’m living in that community. When I was abroad, I didn’t want to travel so much. I wanted to stay in Berlin as much as possible and meet German friends and experience the culture. I know Philadelphia gets a lot of criticism, but it’s my favorite city in the United States. I love walking through the Italian Market. I love going to get little samples of cheese at Di Bruno Bros. I love going to all of the art gallery openings and the jazz shows, and just being in a city that's so vibrant, so walkable. And I think that appreciating the communities I’m in instead of always looking to where’s next is one of my guiding philosophies.
You’ve spent some time abroad as well—how has that time guided your work back home?
Junior spring and summer, I was abroad in Berlin studying some of the city’s attempts to address housing policy. I am actually originally from Berlin. That's where I was born, and I wanted to go back, mainly to learn the language and to reconnect with my family, but also to study housing. After that, I went to Belgium to conduct research for my senior thesis in urban studies. My thesis focused on Community Land Trust Brussels and how this community has united to construct an affordable housing model in the city and also establish a tight–knit and successful approach to community organizing. The community land trust model is something that U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco, have tried to adopt, and by looking to models like CLTB, our cities can learn some successful approaches to organizing.
I think that going to Vietnam, where I worked at a sustainable architecture firm through Penn’s Global Research and Internship Program, helped me learn how we need to construct housing at scale and how we need to build sustainably so that we can also tackle issues like climate change when confronting the housing crisis.
Have you spent every summer abroad?
My first summer, I went back to Santa Cruz because my family moved there, and I worked at an amusement park. I was basically the guy who worked directly under the biggest wooden roller coaster, and I worked at an Asian food restaurant. It was called the Board Wok on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I was preparing the orange chicken in the back, and about every minute and a half, I would say, the entire stand would shake because the roller coaster would go overhead. Honestly, it did teach me a few customer service skills that I’ve used now when I talk to people for my housing work.
What’s one thing about you that you think would surprise other people?
I really like playing pingpong. It’s a passion that I developed when I was young with my dad. We would play after dinner every night. And then when I went to Germany, it became a real way to socialize with other Germans and to meet people. A common thing to do is to just go into a park and to play pingpong. I would do that, and I got good at pingpong, but I also really did improve my language.
Where are you headed next?
I am hoping to continue studying housing policy. I’m applying for a couple of grants that would send me to Vienna to do housing research there, because they have a progressive social housing system that has been used recently to help address homelessness. I think Vienna’s approach could offer lessons for U.S. cities. Down the line, I’m hoping to go to law school. I’m hoping to enter a career in public service where I’m helping with housing issues and working to make sure that as many people as possible get housed.
Lightning round
Favorite coffee shop in the city? Chapterhouse Cafe & Gallery
Favorite coffee shop abroad? The coffee shop on the ground floor of my office in Vietnam
Favorite thing you’ve read lately? The Power Broker by Robert Caro
Who is your celebrity lookalike? Dominic Sessa, according to friends
There are two types of people at Penn: Those who make the weekend trip to Clark Park to get a $1.50 apple cider donut and those who don’t
And you are? Very much a consumer of apple cider donuts
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Do you know that one senior who brings a smile to everyone’s face or always has the craaaaziest stories? It’s time to give them the recognition they deserve. Ego of the Week seeks to showcase seniors not for their grades or any other academic construct, but for who they are as a person and the joy they bring to the people around them! Nominate your favorite Penn seniors for Ego of the Week!
