Resident groups asked to be kept in the LOOP of property-tax break

Philadelphia City Council has heard from residents who are calling for an extension of a property-tax break  for longtime owner-occupants. 

Groups of residents from throughout Philadelphia testified at a hearing about the benefits of the longtime owner occupant of residential properties, or LOOP, program.  It gives longtime homeowners an abatement of their property taxes but has a 2024 end date.

Madeleine Shikomba of the North of Washington Avenue Coalition urged Council members to remove that limit, instead extending the tax break for the life of the owner. That, she said, will keep people in their gentrifying neighborhoods.

“I beg you not to let this happen, and I beg you to do something about this abatement,” Shikomba said. “You lose $80 million on abatements, and you want to talk about the lousy $14 million that LOOP is costing you.  Please don’t do that.”

According to Councilman Kenyatt Johnson, LOOP’s cost will fall from about $17 million to $14 million in 2024, and continue to fall, as homeowners enroll in the tax-freeze program, sell or transfer their homes, or pass away.