A Philly program for low-income renters is winding down. Housing advocates say that shouldn’t happen

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When Mayor Cherelle Parker unveils her budget proposal next month, affordable housing advocates hope to see more funding for the city’s expiring shallow rent initiative.

Since 2020, the pilot program has offered rental assistance to deeply cost-burdened residents who might otherwise have faced some form of housing insecurity, including eviction or homelessness. The federal government considers a household cost-burdened if it spends more than 30% of its income on housing.

In partnership with nonprofit housing providers, 300 tenants living in government-backed apartments have received up to $500 to put toward their monthly rent. The money comes in the form of a voucher that the city sends directly to the provider or landlord.

The annual eviction rate for participants is well below 1%, according to city data.

“It’s extremely successful,” said Guillermo Gomez, housing service manager at New Kensington Community Development Corporation, one of the program’s 11 housing providers.

It appears the administration, which has publicly committed to tackling the city’s housing crisis, supports funding the program past the five-year pilot. But it’s unclear to what extent. A mayoral spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Jamila Davis, a spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Development, said in an email that “our intention is to build on program success,” which would potentially include expanding the number of units the initiative serves in the new fiscal year starting July 1.

The Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, a group representing a majority of the program’s current list of housing providers, is pushing for a substantial raise to the program’s annual budget — $5.25 million.

The group says the increase would enable an additional 800 households to participate at a time when rents in Philadelphia are historically high.

PACDC also wants the city to expand the number of providers participating under contract so that residents across the city can take advantage, a position supported by the Department of Planning and Development. At the moment, most of the providers are concentrated in North Philadelphia, meaning the majority of the program’s participants are also in those neighborhoods.

“This means that currently thousands of families and individuals that desperately need this assistance and would otherwise be eligible are unable to access the program right now,” said policy director Andy Toy during a City Council hearing held earlier this month.

Most of the program’s existing contracts expire in May or June.

To Kensington resident Keith Farmer, it would be foolish not to expand a program with proven success. He joined the program last year and calls it a “miracle.”

“This is keeping a lot of people afloat where otherwise many people like myself would be drowning. And it’s not fair to let anyone who is a citizen of this great city to drown,” he said.

Farmer is living on a fixed income as he recovers from colorectal cancer, which kept him in the hospital for most of 2024. Before signing up for the program, he was struggling to pay his monthly rent — $1,600 — and keep food in the fridge.

The stress often moved him to tears.

“I was very close to having a mental breakdown,” said Farmer, who worked as a drug and alcohol counselor in the suburbs before his illness disabled him.

The $500 subsidy he receives has made affording the basics more manageable. Farmer can now supplement what he gets at local food pantries by going to the grocery store, which he said has taken a “weight off my shoulders.”

Housing advocates say the shallow rent program has been a lifeline for low-income residents in neighborhoods like Farmer’s, where they say investments from private real estate developers are putting pressure on rental rates.

“The home property values, and a lot of the redevelopment that is happening, exacerbates the unaffordability,” Gomez said.

Lawmakers must pass the city’s next budget by June 30, the final day of the current fiscal year.