The Bottom Line
Housing
Brady promises to ensure "all Philadelphians have access to clean, safe, affordable housing." He'd appoint a deputy mayor of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation to coordinate housing-related agencies. With federal grant money drying up, he'd streamline the Philadelphia Housing Authority and have it work more closely with the private sector, redirect unclaimed sheriff's sale proceeds into the Housing Trust Fund to finance new transitional housing facilities and bolster the Basic Systems Repair Program, which would provide grants of up to $5,300 to "fund essential home repairs." Brady also supports Councilman Darrell Clarke's bill to set aside for affordable housing 10 percent of any 20-plus-unit development on city property or receiving tax abatements.
Evans has yet to release an official policy —a spokesman says it's coming soon — but a questionnaire he answered prior to a recent ACORN housing forum offers insight. He would seek "local resources to invest in our housing needs so Philadelphia can leverage additional federal funds," work with homeowners to help them keep their homes before the foreclosure process starts and better coordinate assistance programs to "reduce overlap and help improve how services are provided." He also notes that the city needs to become less reliant on federal funds and says he'd work with the faith-based community to reduce temporary-shelter overcrowding.
Fattah wants to make it easier for homeowners to invest in their properties. He'd modify the tax-abatement program for homeowners and have the city both provide grant funding (for those completing a Homeowners 101 course) and loans for basic home repairs (they'd repay the debt when they sell). He'd expand Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation's Weatherization Assistance Program, urge neighborhood groups to pool resources for greater buying power, offer first-time homeowners a one-time $4,000 property-tax exemption, expand a tax-freeze for seniors and create a Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program. Fattah would also have the zoning code rewritten (with substantial public input), expand the "Home Buy Now" program to private as well as city employees, and divert funds from expiring tax-abated development toward the Housing Trust Fund to produce permanent housing for the homeless.
Knox promises to work to produce more housing, promote homeownership and protect existing housing and support real-estate tax reform. He says inclusionary zoning legislation currently before City Council needs more teeth to truly help the city's poor (he'd like developers to be able to pay into the Housing Trust Fund as an alternative to percentage-based set-asides). Knox also would like to have, through matching grants, the Housing Trust Fund budget jump from $15 million to $75 million, modify the 10-year tax-abatement program, create a lease-to-purchase program, improve down-payment-assistance programs and push to have millage rates adjusted and cap residents' assessed property values so the looming property-tax reassessment doesn't bankrupt home owners.
Nutter would fully fund the Housing Trust Fund at $15 million (which would enable it to pay for more than 900 home repairs a year) and give housing officials the goal of producing 1,000 units of low and moderate-cost housing annually (using money from the expiring tax abatements). He also wants to consolidate the city's housing agencies and restore the development coordinator position. Supporting a "fair and accurate citywide property reassessment," Nutter would enact a homestead exemption that'd exclude a portion of the assessed value from taxation and enact a property-tax cap. Reducing the 10-Year Tax Abatement program to 90 percent of property tax (with the rest going into the Trust Fund), he'd limit it to five years for projects in well-developed areas and expand it to 15 years in underserved neighborhoods.
And the verdict is...
Philadelphia ACORN is a neighborhood union made up of dues-paying members organizing in support of issues critical to working families, according to group spokeswoman Ali Kronley. During this year's mayoral election — as their official endorsement is pending, they didn't want to compare the candidates' plans publicly yet — ACORN PAC members identified critical housing issues that they asked the candidates to support. On March 29, in front of 350 of ACORN's 10,000 local members, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, State Rep. Dwight Evans, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and former Councilman Michael Nutter agreed to support the following planks of our platform:
• Support neighborhood preservations with the creation of a new city-funded home repair program,
• Protect families from winter shutoffs by increasing resources for weatherization and outreach to increase enrollment in PGW's affordable programs, and
• Close the gap in affordable housing by developing 8,000 new units of affordable housing over the next four years and support passage of inclusionary zoning legislation and prevent winter shutoffs.
As part of City Paper's ongoing election coverage, The Bottom Line will take a weekly look at important issues in the mayoral campaign, examining each candidate's stance on the issue and having an independent expert interpret the plans and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. The Bottom Line will run each week leading up to CP's mayoral endorsement.
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