Philadelphia Housing Authority will shrink staff in 2026 to cut operating expenses

Have a question about Philly’s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority plans to lay off approximately 300 employees next year, including many who perform the agency’s property maintenance and repair work.

The vast majority of these jobs are union positions belonging to members of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, a powerful umbrella organization for more than 50 locals that are part of the construction industry.

PHA employs about 1,200 people. Reducing the workforce by more than 20% will save the agency about $24 million a year, PHA President Kelvin Jeremiah said.

The decision, reached in partnership with the trades, represents a significant shift in how PHA conducts maintenance and repair work. Starting in January, the agency will begin contracting out these jobs instead of directly hiring union workers. The list of impacted positions includes electricians, carpenters, plumbers and other skilled laborers.

The work rule change will not impact the building trades when it comes to new construction projects carried out by PHA.

Jeremiah said the cutbacks are necessary for the agency to continue fulfilling its mission of providing affordable housing to families in need. The authority is the largest landlord in the city, renting to about 82,000 residents.

According to Jeremiah, the operating expense for each unit is well over $15,000 a year, largely because maintenance and repair work must be carried by multiple skilled laborers, as opposed to a single “jack of all trades.”

“We cannot do that with an unsustainable operating expense that far exceeds all industry standards, far exceeds the private market, and that far exceeds other similarly situated entities,” he said.

“We have too many employees who have very defined roles: a carpenter who can only do carpentry work, an electrician who can only do electrical work, a plumber who is only permitted to do plumbing work, a laborer who can only do laborers’ work. And that model does not exist anywhere and is cost-prohibitive,” he added.

In addition to the union jobs, the authority is also laying off administrative employees, as well as property management and support positions at its central office.

The cutbacks are partially a response to PHA shuttering and renovating hundreds of units across three of its traditional public housing sites — Fairhill Apartments, Bartram Village and Westpark Apartments. With fewer units in use, fewer maintenance and repair workers are needed.

PHA will continue to employ about 360 members of the building trades, including maintenance mechanics, maintenance aides and laborers.

The layoffs come as the authority works toward remaking its entire portfolio under an ambitious initiative launched last year. Under its “Opening Doors” plan, PHA will preserve, redevelop, build or acquire roughly 20,000 units over eight years — an estimated $6.3 billion investment amid a deepening affordable housing crisis.

The initiative, which PHA says will generate 4,900 jobs, gets underway at a time of great uncertainty for housing authorities across the country, including the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

The Trump administration, for example, has cut staff, canceled contracts and frozen funding in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. PHA receives 93% of its funding from HUD.

Jeremiah said Wednesday the layoffs are partly a response to expected cuts at the federal level.

“In every case, whether it’s the president, the House or Senate versions, all of the budgets, all three, call for reduction in funding,” he said. “There isn’t any way for us to just wait for that to happen given the already high cost.”

Ryan Boyer, business manager for the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, said in a statement the layoffs were caused by the “Republican Party’s ‘big ugly bill.’”

“PHA knows it has to pivot to meet this challenge, and we at the Building Trades understand. The Trades will still do PHA work, just in a different configuration,” said Boyer.

He added that the maintenance work his members performed “was never meant to be permanent.”

“We were brought in to augment the already great craftsmanship being performed by the PHA workforce,” he said. “That unionized workforce is still in place and will see PHA through these turbulent economic times.”