Philly City Council Pres. Clarke introducing bill to stop foreclosures over unpaid taxes

A new bill in City Council seeks to help those who are having problems paying their real estate taxes in Philadelphia.  

Council President Darrell Clarke says the aim of the bill is to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their real estate taxes and are facing foreclosure.

“There’s been a significant increase in tax foreclosures based on the aggressive approach by the city of Philadelphia to collect taxes,” he said. “While we support that the reality is that it does have an impact and it has a significant impact on low income individuals in the city of Philadelphia.”

The plan is to offer a way to freeze foreclosures for unpaid taxes and offer counseling to help people avoid losing their homes.

“The simple reality is that there are a lot of people in census tracts where there is extremely low income demographics that people just simply cannot pay the taxes,” he said.

Clarke says he’s still working out the details.