As protestors heckle, affordable housing bills advance in City Council

Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who represents neighborhoods like Point Breeze in South Philadelphia, said he was intrigued by a provision that would allow revenues routed into the sub-fund to be spent on down payment and closing cost assistance. He said he saw such programs as a way to help African-American families who have been historically prevented from building wealth through redlining and other discriminatory housing practices.

“I consider this bill’s commitment to down payment assistance a crucial step in the right direction,” said Johnson after the hearing. “We know that 20th-century redlining led directly to today’s racial disparities in household wealth and access to home loans. [So] In Point Breeze, even affordable housing developments have been out of reach for constituents of color.”

These deliberations were punctuated by cries from the protesters: “What about renters?”

Fadullon also highlighted a couple other programs the city is considering, including what she called “a shallow rent subsidy.”

Research released on Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts reported that less than 20 percent of the city’s low-income renters receive housing subsidies.

Fadullon also said the city is also working to find a way to produce affordable housing units more cheaply. Currently a new build affordable housing unit can cost $250-$300,000 per unit to construct, making it difficult to bring a substantial number of new units online.

“How do we get some help from our brothers and sisters who built those units and how do we reduce those costs,” said Fadullon, referring to the city’ powerful building trades unions, who are close allies of Mayor Kenney.

Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez, who kickstarted City Council’s affordable housing debate over a year ago, said she was particularly curious about the administration’s plans to bring down construction costs.

“I look forward to some real leadership from the building trades,” said Quiñones-Sánchez, “in looking at modular housing and all the other options the city has resisted in the past to bring down the cost per unit the square footage costs per unit.”

Now that the bills have passed committee they can receive a first reading before the full City Council and could receive second reading and final passage as early as next week.

Source: http://planphilly.com/articles/2018/09/26/as-protestors-heckle-affordable-housing-bills-advance-in-city-council