‘No more important issue’: Mayor Parker outlines ambitious housing plan amid ongoing crisis

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Mayor Cherelle Parker said Monday her administration hopes to leverage a $2 billion investment in housing under an “aspirational” proposal to expand the city’s supply of market-rate and affordable units amid an ongoing crisis.

“There is no more important issue — single issue — facing our great city of Philadelphia than the issue of access to housing,” Parker said.

The announcement came during a special session of City Council, convened a little over a week after Parker delivered her second budget proposal.

The administration’s $6.7 billion spending plan calls on the city to borrow $800 million in bonds, an unprecedented amount the administration plans to build on by bringing in public dollars and trading on the value of city land and assets: a list that could include Holmesburg Prison and the Roundhouse.

Parker’s multifaceted housing proposal, which must be approved by Council, is centered on creating or preserving 30,000 units of housing during her time in office.

Under the plan, 13,500 units would be newly constructed and 16,500 would be preserved.

The administration wants the overwhelming majority of those units to be below market-rate, including more than 20,000 units for residents earning 50% or less of area median income. That translates to $57,350 a year for a family of four, according to state data.

The median household income in Philadelphia is $60,698, according to U.S. Census data.

“I am committed to working with our legislative body, this City Council, to put people on a path to self-sufficiency and will not engage in policy making that breeds class contempt, by pitting the have-nots against those who have just a little,” Parker said.

The administration’s proposal — dubbed the Housing Opportunities Made Easy (H.O.M.E) initiative — seeks to make it easier for real estate developers to build new housing; incentivize housing revitalization projects; prevent housing instability; and improve access to mortgage loans, among other goals.

Under the initiative, the city would continue to invest in existing housing programs Turn the Key and the Basic Systems Repair Program, as well as create new ones.

The proposal, for example, calls for the creation of a Land Bank Acquisition Fund, which would provide capital for the public agency to acquire tax-delinquent properties auctioned off at city-operated sheriff sales.

Tax sales are the primary way the land bank adds parcels to its inventory of vacant properties. The vast majority of those acquisitions are repurposed to increase the city’s supply of affordable housing. A smaller percentage of parcels are used to establish community gardens or other open spaces designed to serve the community.

In partnership with the city’s building trades, the administration also wants to launch a contractor training program to grow the city’s next generation of union laborers. The program would focus on preparing people for pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships.

‘Elephant in the room’

Over the next three months, the administration will work with Council to further shape and fine-tune Parker’s proposal. The goal is to approve the proposal alongside the city’s next budget, which must be passed by the end of June.

Council President Kenyatta Johnson said Monday the administration’s proposal was a “step in the right direction,” adding that the mayor’s proposal is reflective of Council priorities around housing.

“It’s good to see our key initiatives as part of the plan,” Johnson said. “We will still be in constant dialogue.”

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who chairs the council’s housing committee, called Parker’s proposal “exciting” and “ambitious.”

“A lot of our affordable housing crisis is actually a funding issue,” Gauthier said. “We know right now that the for-profit market has not been serving low-income, working-class people in this city.”

One potential sticking point for council members could be the mayor’s proposal to create a list of city-owned properties that could be disposed of without legislation from a district lawmaker. She also wants to create a list of pre-approved developers with hopes of expediting new housing construction on those pre-authorized parcels. Parker said the arrangement would only apply to “smaller” parcels — “where one single-family or a few single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and quad-plexes can be built.”

Typically, public parcels cannot be transferred to private real estate developers without legislative approval, a prime example of the longstanding and deep-rooted practice of councilmanic prerogative.

“I am not trying in any way, shape or form to go to war with councilmanic prerogative. But with this H.O.M.E initiative, I am proposing a new framework for how the disposition of municipally owned land could work as it relates to the home bond proceeds,” said Parker, who called it the “elephant in the room” during Monday’s address.

Asked about the proposal, Johnson told reporters it must “make sure the community has a voice in the process.”

“That’s key. District council members have a right to make sure that they’re advocating on behalf of the individuals who put them in office,” Johnson said.

It’s not completely clear how the administration plans to repay the $800 million that sits at the heart of the mayor’s proposal. So far, Parker has only mentioned a proposal to increase the realty transfer tax, a move she said would generate $173 million in revenue over the next five years.

It’s also unclear what public funding may be available for the city’s housing plan, particularly federal funding. President Donald Trump has spent his first two months in office making drastic cuts to a variety of departments within the federal government as part of a broader push to make it more efficient. That includes the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where the administration has so far cut staff, canceled contracts and frozen funding.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority, which is expected to play a major role in Parker’s proposal, relies almost exclusively on HUD funding for its operations.

The Parker administration will likely be asked about that uncertainty during a budget hearing next month devoted to the mayor’s H.O.M.E initiative. Questions may also come up about how much money would be devoted to helping the city’s most cost-burdened residents — residents who spent more than 30% of their monthly incomes on housing.

Members of the Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities, an umbrella group representing 80 groups, said Monday the administration’s proposal does not do enough to address the vulnerable population.

“We value prioritizing housing and all the priorities that the mayor said. But we are focused on the poorest people that need the most help. We can’t ignore them,” said Jonny Rashid, pastor at West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship.

The all-day hearing is scheduled for April 21.