Philadelphia needs a Housing Recovery Act | Opinion
Economic recovery under the coronavirus starts with housing.
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The week before Mayor Kenney issued a citywide stay-at-home order, 566 eviction cases were scheduled in the Philadelphia courts. Well before a global health crisis shook our city, a local housing crisis impacted tens of thousands of families here each day.
Almost half of Philadelphians are now renters, and more than half of them are already cost-burdened, spending over a third of their income on housing.
Over the past three years, our City has made historic strides in expanding renter protections and housing access, guaranteeing recurring funding for eviction prevention services, creating a right to counsel program for low-income tenants facing eviction, and allocating rent subsidies to help individuals stay in their homes.
As COVID-19 has closed in on our city, housing has again moved to the forefront of our agenda. This is more than a housing issue — it is necessary to our public health. If we need to follow stay-at-home orders to flatten the curve, we have to ensure that people keep a roof over their head and have habitable housing to make that possible. Last month, Council worked with our courts, the Sheriff, and utility companies to enact a swift moratorium on all evictions, foreclosures and utility shut-offs. Landlord associations also stepped up, encouraging their members to avoid displacing families during this historic crisis. We joined a national call with Councilmembers across the country for a nationwide rent and mortgage freeze.
While those measures were adequate in the initial weeks of the emergency, we need a bold plan for housing stability for property owners and renters alike so we do more than survive this crisis — we rebuild for a safer, healthier, and more equitable future.
» READ MORE: Lawmakers should anticipate avalanche of evictions after coronavirus | Editorial
A local economic recovery package must put housing first. Council must work together with our courts to establish a comprehensive renter diversion program and income-based payment plans before any eviction can be filed. Property owners need expanded financial assistance, including forgivable loans in exchange for keeping their tenants in stable housing. And we need a limited extension of the eviction moratorium once the state of emergency is lifted so we can buy ourselves time to get these programs underway. We have the responsibility to ensure that renters do not lose their homes as a result of this crisis, and also that landlords get paid.
A housing-first approach has worked here before. During the 2008 Great Recession, Philadelphia led the nation by creating a successful mortgage foreclosure diversion program, which brought together homeowners, lenders, housing counselors, and the courts to find solutions that have kept tens of thousands of Philadelphians in their homes.
We can and must do something similar again.
The needs have never been greater. Over 1.3 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment in the past month alone. A national trade association for the apartment industry has warned that as many as one third of renters didn’t make their April rent, also placing many small landlords at grave financial risk. The economic shock of the pandemic is unlike anything we’ve seen in modern history, and it will take time for our neighbors to get back to sure footing. In the meantime, we can’t afford for them to become housing insecure or homeless as rent and mortgage debt racks up.
When the emergency order is lifted, we cannot afford to pack our courts with hundreds of Philadelphians once again facing the trauma of eviction. We cannot afford to pack more people into shelters when social distancing is a healthcare necessity.
In this moment, stable housing is as much a means of racial and economic justice as it is a means of economic recovery. We must come together to keep a roof over everyone’s head, and to turn the corner on housing dignity.
Helen Gym (At-Large) is Chair of City Council’s Children and Youth Committee and Jamie Gauthier (3rd District) is Chair of Council’s Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless Committee.
The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org.