Affordable housing: in Philly and around the country

Listen 49:28
A new house towers over its Northern Liberties neighbors. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

A new house towers over its Northern Liberties neighbors. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

Guests: Beth McConnell, David Feldman, Kriston Capps

Conventional wisdom suggests that you should spend one third of your income on housing. But a large portion of Philadelphians have to spend much more than that — sometimes up to half of their income — just to have a place to live. Currently, City Council is considering new proposals aimed at easing this burden. Today on the show, we’ll discuss what is before the Council, but also take a broader look at what steps the city and developers can take in order to ensure a reasonable price on housing. We’ll be joined by BETH McCONNELL, policy director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, and by DAVID FELDMAN, executive director of The Development Workshop, to get their perspectives. Then, we’ll hear about the housing crisis nationwide, when we speak to KRISTON CAPPS, who writes about housing for CityLab.

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