West Philly Councilmember wants to cut affordable housing red tape
The package of bills seeks to accelerate affordable housing approval at the zoning board, and allow more basement apartments and "granny flats."
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Councilmember Jamie Gauthier introduced a package of bills Thursday to boost affordable housing construction by accelerating the permitting process and encouraging the creation of “granny flats.”
Gauthier represents much of West Philadelphia, including booming University City, and has made housing policy her focus. Thursday’s legislation follows a 2024 package of bills meant to stem displacement by offering protections to low-income residents.
This year Gauthier wants to focus on regulatory changes to encourage development of low-cost homes.
“It’s about cutting red tape and helping affordable housing projects move easier and faster and more cheaply through the city’s permitting and zoning process,” Gauthier said.
Gauthier’s legislation would create a five-day expedited turnaround for proposed affordable housing projects. Under current rules, any applicant can pay to seek a 10-day expedited permit as long as the Department of Licenses and Inspections can process it.
The legislation would remove a provision that states expedition shall occur “to the extent capacity permits,” essentially requiring L&I to always expedite affordable housing projects. It would also reduce the cost of expedited permitting in these cases.
Currently, even with expedited review, projects requiring approval by the Zoning Board of Adjustment routinely face delays of six months or longer. And the perennially understaffed Department of Licenses and Inspections may not have the capacity to fulfill requirements in Gauthier’s bills.
“It’s true we would need to add more people to review these applications, but we just happen to be heading into the city budget process, so it’s a good time to look at L&I’s capacity,” Gauthier said.
Her legislation defines affordable housing as anything created through zoning requirements — including projects required to include below-market-rate units under her inclusionary overlay — or that receives city or state support through direct financing or free land.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker promises a big push of her own on housing policy this year, although it is not clear when the details of her initiative will be ready. Last year, she set a target of 30,000 homes built or repaired during her administration.
“These bills complement the Parker administration’s goal of 30,000 housing units,” Gauthier said. “If we’re serious about addressing the housing crisis, we have to help affordable housing move through the system faster.”
‘Bonus’ units in or near single-family homes
Gauthier’s legislation would also make it easier to create what she calls “bonus units,” also known as accessory dwelling units, the technical term for apartments in the basement, attic, garage, or some other area in a lot occupied by a single-family residence.
“Think about Spruce Hill in my district, those huge, beautiful Victorian homes,” Gauthier said. “But if my family has moved out over time, that might be too much house even if I want to stay in my neighborhood. Bonus units help people who can get pushed out of that type of neighborhood because they cannot afford the cost.”
Laws allowing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are a popular zoning change in suburban areas or cities where homes tend to be built on large lots. They allow a secondary home to be built in a backyard or above a separated garage.
In Philadelphia, the category stoked controversy when it was created during Mayor Michael Nutter’s zoning code reform. In a city of rowhouses where units generally can be built only inside existing structures, some Council members and community groups in the Northeast feared ADUs would create issues with parking, density, and trash.
As a result, ADUs were not allowed anywhere in the city until Councilmember Mark Squilla pushed to allow them in historically protected structures in 2019. A couple of years later, Councilmember María Quiñones-Sánchez sought to legalize them citywide, but Parker, who was then on City Council, fought the legislation and exempted her district from it. Many other Council members followed her lead.
Today, ADUs are banned in the two Council districts in the Northeast and are allowed only in historic structures in four other Council districts, including all of Northwest Philadelphia and many of the other peripheral neighborhoods with larger lot sizes, like those Parker used to represent.
Only 10 such units have been created legally in Philadelphia since the category was created in 2012, Gauthier said.
Gauthier’s bills would allow accessory dwelling units in any area zoned for single-family housing in any Council district that does not have restrictions on ADUs. Applicants would not need approval from the Zoning Board of Adjustment if the unit did not “materially change the footprint of the original … structure.”
Under current conditions, it would apply to less than half the city, including Gauthier’s district, Southwest and South Philadelphia, part of Center City, and much of the river wards.
Gauthier said that she has talked with Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Councilmembers Mark Squilla and Quetcy Lozada — the three other members whose districts would be affected by the current legislation — and that they are reviewing the ADU bill.
‘They’re going to have to talk about this bill with their community members,” she said. “I’m giving them the time and space to do that, but I’m hopeful that they will be supportive.”