Affordable Housing, Property Taxes, Gentrification, and Poverty
Issue discussion
We must ensure that everyone has a decent place to live and that gentrification, which can improve neighborhoods for everyone, does not force people out of their homes and communities. We can provide more affordable housing and more money for housing rehabilitation through an Inclusionary Housing program and by devoting more city resources to housing.
Poverty is a Communal Problem. As we come to understand it, poverty is not primarily a problem of individuals. It is a communal problem. To have a low income is to have fewer material goods than other people. But the deeper problem with living in poverty is that one lives in a poor community, with a limited number of high priced stores, few banks and many payday lending outlets, with limited government services like recreation centers or parks, with terrible schools, and with few jobs or connections to jobs in other communities. Most people who live in these communities are hard-working, responsible people who try hard to be good parents. But they live in communities that are afflicted by the less than ten percent of the population who sell drugs, commit violent and non-violent crime, create havoc in schools, and disrespect their neighbors. And both because of the limited economic prospects in these communities and the social disorder created by a small number of people, the children growing up in these neighborhoods are cut off from the economic life most of us take for granted.
Gentrification Can Help If Done Right. Gentrification is potentially a very good thing for many neighborhoods. When middle-income people move into poorer neighborhoods, everyone can benefit. However, that only happens if the people who have lived through the bad times in their neighborhoods can stick around for the good times. To ensure that everyone has a decent home in which to live and that gentrification benefits everyone by creating economically integrated neighborhoods, we must:
Adopt an Inclusionary Housing Program. Inclusionary housing programs requires developers who receive subsidies or tax abatements from the city to either set aside a certain percentage of housing units as affordable housing; build a number of affordable housing units in the same community; or contribute to a fund for producing or rehabilitating affordable housing.
Protect People from Property Tax Increases. We should allow property taxes to enable residents whose taxes rise by more than 5% in any year to delay payment of those taxes until they sell their home. Homeowners would have to pay a low interest charge to delay those taxes. But if their property values have risen a great deal, then the payment of back taxes and interest should still leave them with substantial equity in their homes. If, however, property values have not risen as the city has claimed, then the back taxes would be forgiven.
We will eventually move to full valuation of properties in the city. If this is done right, then no one should see their taxes rise too fast. City Council must make sure it is done right.
Devote More Resources to Affordable Housing and Housing Rehabilitation. Philadelphia is the only major city in the country that does not spend any general revenues to provide affordable housing. We must do so. And we must make a special effort rehabilitate our fabulous housing stock through programs such as Targeted Basic System Repair. Homes of the quality that were built in Philadelphia in the first half of the twentieth century will never be built again. We must preserve them.
Reform The Section 8 Program. We should continue the section 8 housing program while reforming it in the following ways:
- Ensure that payments are made to landlords on a timely basis so that they can keep their housing units in a good state of repair.
- Disqualify people who are convicted of criminal act from living in Section 8 housing.
- Prohibit landlords whose properties fail an inspection from taking part in the Section 8 program.
- Cap the number of Section 8 properties on any block.
- Require the Philadelphia Housing Authority to conduct random inspections of Section 8 properties.
