This is the first part of my testimony before City Council on the Housing Trust Fund. My argument here is against Councilwoman Blackwell’s proposed ordinance to divide the Housing Trust Fund money equally among the ten council districts. While this idea died in committee, it may come back again. So I thought it might be a good idea to post it.
Chairwoman Blackwell, Members of the Committee
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to testify about this ordinance.
The Reorganization Plan
I am here to talk about the Housing Trust Fund not the Mayor’s Housing Reorganization Plan. I understand, however, that this hearing may have been motivated in part by concerns—on the part of the labor movement, advocates of good housing policy, and Councilwoman Blackwell—about the Mayor’s housing reorganization proposal.
I very much share these concerns and would encourage the Council to insist that the Mayor release his plans in full and to hold hearings about the reorganization plan before it goes into effect.
Don’t Hold the Trust Fund Hostage
However, I would insist ask you not hold the Housing Trust hostage to the continuing debate about housing reorganization. The Housing Trust Fund is a new, much needed, and important first step towards insuring that Philadelphia make funds available for affordable housing.
Let me now speak to the ordinance before us.
Ten Ways of Looking at a Housing Trust Fund
There is a superficial plausibility to the idea of distributing money for the Housing Trust Fund equally among Council districts. A central goal of Neighborhood Networks is to encourage racially and economically integrated communities. To attain that goal, affordable housing must be built throughout the city. But for two reasons, this ordinance is actually not a good way to attain that aim.
The First Problem: No Guarantee that the Money is Spent the Right Way
First, just distributing money equally in districts does not guarantee that the money will be spent in the right places and the right way. We should, instead, insist that good projects are chosen, ones that are efficient, in that they create more housing units per dollar, that are designed property, that are respectful of the neighborhoods in which they are located and that help create racially and economically integrated communities. Given these various goals, I would expect that, over time, Housing Trust funds will be sent more or less equally in all districts. And, if we find out after a number of years of experience this is not the case, Council should certainly investigate and change the program. In the meantime, however, we should all work to insure that projects are chosen that, as much as possible, meet our various goals for affordable housing.
The Second Problem: The Need is Not Equal
Second, the need for affordable housing is not found equally in all districts. More than in most cities, Philadelphians care about continue to live in their own communities. To satisfy that need, most of our affordable housing should be in the neighborhoods built where the people who need it now live.
No Government by Mathematic
al Formula
There are a number of tensions among the various goals we have for affordable housing. Those tensions have to be resolved through good planning and constructive negotiations. They will not be solved by applying a rigid mathematical formula to the disbursement of monies from the Housing Trust Fund.