Thousands of West Philly tenants remain in limbo as city considers saving 925 affordable rentals

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Tenants in West Philadelphia are feeling frustrated and anxious as they wait to learn if their longtime homes will remain affordable into the future.

The city and other stakeholders are weighing possible solutions for preserving nearly 1,000 subsidized rentals in the area, but it could be months before an agreement is reached with the private developer who owns them and wants to retire.

In the meantime, concerns about displacement are ever-present.

“I’m trying to remain faithful and hopeful that we will be able to be here,” said Toya Burgess, whose family has rented the same rowhouse in Kingsessing for nearly 30 years.

The properties in question belong to Neighborhood Restorations, a private developer that provides affordable housing to roughly 3,000 low-income renters in West and Southwest Philadelphia. They were built using federal tax credits that required them to remain affordable for a set period. As those restrictions expire over the next decade, a new owner could convert the units to market-rate housing.

Jim Levin, who assembled the scattered-site portfolio over two decades, has said he doesn’t want to see that happen. His first choice is selling these units to the city — to keep the units affordable for his tenants, many of whom have rented from him for years.

For now, that position hasn’t changed. But the company also has yet to connect with anyone to discuss what a deal might look like, what would be needed to move it across the finish line and how long it could take.

“Neither Jim nor I have heard anything from the city for several weeks,” said George Bantel, Levin’s longtime business partner, at the end of June.

A spokesperson for Mayor Cherelle Parker did not respond to a request for comment.

West Philly tenants still fighting to preserve affordable rentals

Housing advocates pressed the city to reach a deal while it had the ability to put forth a priority bid to buy the units. That yearlong window ended last week, meaning Neighborhood Restorations is free to start marketing these homes to the general public, which could translate to higher rents that current residents can’t afford.

That’s concerning for longtime tenants like Burgess. She lives with mother and teenage daughter and doesn’t want to leave her home — what she calls her “peace station.”

She’s not sure how she would afford to even if she did.

“I’m staying optimistic about it. I truly believe that we will keep our home. I truly believe that the city would not allow 3,000 people to be displaced. It will look extremely bad on behalf of the city and Cherelle Parker,” said Burgess, a single mom who works as her mother’s personal care assistant.

In May, OnePA West/Southwest Rising formally launched a pressure campaign aimed at convincing the Parker administration to take on Levin’s portfolio. To date, there has been no formal commitment to invest, angering tenants and elected officials who say there is plenty of money to put toward a bid.

Advocates argue that some of the funding could come from the Parker administration’s $2 billion plan to build and preserve 30,000 units. The first phase of the plan — the Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., initiative — includes $46.1 million for affordable housing preservation.

Generally speaking, the city doesn’t buy properties. But it will help finance property transactions with developers by effectively subsidizing those deals. In that way, the city doesn’t need to take ownership.

Fredrica Lightford, another longtime tenant, said she has become cynical about a potential sale involving the city, particularly after a meeting with the administration that she said ended without any concrete assurances that the properties would remain affordable.

“This is just something that wasn’t in her gameplan,” Lightford said. “That’s the feeling that I’m getting.”

So far, she hasn’t looked into moving, but she’s heard other Neighborhood Restorations tenants are preparing to leave rather than wait for the final outcome and risk scrambling for housing.

She said she doesn’t blame them.