Council Hearings are being held today (Wednesday, June 7)) and tomorrow (Thursday, June 8 ) on three ordinances related to the Housing Trust Fund, which remains in danger.
Here is some information on the hearing, the ordinances that will be considered, and my view of those ordinances. I urge you to contact your council members and all the at-large council members to express your views on these bill. You can find phone, fax and email contact information for Council members on my website. Or you can use the Hallwatch Faxbank Service to send a fax to all council members who represent you.
Wednesday, June 7th at 3:00 p.m. City Council Chamber:
(1) Darrell Clarke’s Trust Fund Transfer Ordinance (Bill No. 060475) would put Trust Fund monies back into an account that would allow for the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing. It will be under consideration at a Joint meeting of the Appropriations Committee and the Housing, Neighborhood Development and Homeless Committee. To sign up to testify, contact Chris Creelman in Councilwoman Krajewski’s office at (215) 686-3444 or 3445, or John Christmas in Councilwoman Blackwell’s office at (215) 686-3418 or 3419.
Please urge Council members to support this ordinance which will allow Housing Trust Funds to be used for the purposes for which they were designated.
(2) Jannie Blackwell’s ordinance to split Housing Trust Fund monies resources equally among the ten council districts (Bill No. 060466) will be heard by the Housing, Neighborhood Development and Homeless Committee. To sign up to testify, contact John Christmas in Councilwoman Blackwell’s office at (215) 686-3418 or 3419.
Please urge Council members to oppose this ordinance (which I discuss below.)
Thursday, June 8th beginning at 8:45 a.m. City Council Chamber:
(3) Councilwoman Blackwell’s bill to Repeal the Housing Trust Fund will be heard by the Housing, Neighborhood Development and Homeless Committee. To sign up to testify, contact John Christmas in Councilwoman Blackwell’s office at (215) 686-3418 or 3419.
Please urge Council members to oppose this ordinance which would kill a critical program in our effort to increase the supply of affordable housing.
What’s Wrong With Spreading the Money Equally Among All Districts
There is a superficial plausibility to Councilwoman Blackwell’s plan to distribute the money for affordable housing equally among council districts. If we want to encourage racially and economically integrated communities, then affordable housing must be built through out the city. But, for three reasons, Councilwoman Blackwell’s bill is not a good idea.
First, just distributing money equally in all districts does not guarantee that the money will be spend in the right places and the right way. We should, instead, insist that good projects are chosen, ones that create more housing units per dollar, that are designed properly, that are respectful of existing communities, and that help to create racially and economically integrated communities.
Second, the need for affordable housing in not found equally in all districts. More than in most cities, Philadelphians care about continuing to live in their own communities. To satisfy that need, most of our affordable housing should be built where the people who need now live.
There are a lot of tensions among the different goals we have for affordable housing. None of those tensions are resolved if we use a single abstract metric, like dollars spent per district, as a means of distributing housing dollars.