Council takes up Mayor Cherelle Parker’s $800M housing bond request — with a catch
Lawmakers introduced a measure calling for the issuance of $800 million in city bonds.
Philadelphia City Council on Thursday introduced legislation to approve Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s plan to issue $800 million in city bonds for her signature housing initiative — but not before adding an “oversight provision” giving lawmakers an increased role in how the money is spent.
Council is scheduled to adjourn for the summer on June 12, making Thursday’s meeting the last time new legislation could be introduced and passed before lawmakers reconvene in September.
The timing means that Parker and Council now have about a week to finalize negotiations over a slew of high-profile measures — including the new city budget, wage and business tax rates, and Parker’s Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E, initiative — before key committee meetings next week.
» READ MORE: Here’s how Mayor Parker plans to spend $800 million on housing
The new legislation, which was introduced by Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson, details a list of 28 programs that would be backed by the H.O.M.E. bonds, ranging from Turn the Key subsidies for home ownership to Basic System Repair, which provides grants for low-income homeowners who struggle to afford rehab costs for their houses.
“We need to get access to funds, and we need to start spending. We need to start addressing the housing crisis,” Rob Dubow, the city’s finance director, said in a Wednesday interview.
But the bill now includes language that requires the administration to send an annual report to Council, providing household income targeting details for each program, a list of properties that Council could be expected to take action on in the coming year, and how each district will be affected. A “Project Review Team,” consisting of an administration representative and two legislative representatives, will have the authority to approve midyear changes to the annual plans.
The team “shall not approve any matter without first obtaining written authorization from each district councilperson,” the language added by Council reads.
“All members of Council are supportive of the H.O.M.E. plan, so that’s a good start,” Council President Kenyatta Johnson said. “It’s just working out the details and what we all feel comfortable with in terms of [what we can] support.”
Parker’s plan calls for $400 million in bonds to be issued this fall, followed by another $400 million issuance two years later. The mayor’s stated goal is ensuring the production and preservation of 30,000 housing units during her first term.
The bill also includes programs supporting “contractor training and support, blight and vacant property reduction, urban beautification, neighborhood infrastructure.”
Critics both on the political left and among development advocates fear that Parker’s initiative will spread the funds too thinly to have the impact the administration desires. There are also concerns about Parker’s plans to raise the income caps on some city programs, allowing middle-income residents to access aid even as existing programs are greatly oversubscribed.
» READ MORE: Philly City Council probes Mayor Parker’s housing plan in tense hearing as battle lines become clear
Some Council members have also expressed concern that the $800 million price tag is too large amid fears that President Donald Trump’s administration could cut federal assistance to cities.
Parker’s team countered that many other cities are also issuing bonds to support housing and community development programs expressly to address the uncertainty emanating from Washington.
“What’s going on at the federal level and the insecurity that creates for the people who live here make it even more important and more urgent that we move ahead and that we not cut back on what we’re proposing,” Dubow said.
A good sign for Parker’s plan, with caveats
The bond issuance is the most important part of Parker’s ambitious housing plan, and Council’s moves on Thursday were a good sign for the mayor’s hopes of issuing the first tranche of bonds this fall. Council has also introduced four zoning bills related to H.O.M.E.
But the addition of the oversight provision and the fact that lawmakers left two other bills that are part of the H.O.M.E. initiative in legislative limbo indicate Council has still not come around on parts of the mayor’s plan.
In particular, Council seems hesitant to give up even minor aspects of its significant role in the city’s development and land use processes, a dynamic that advocates for greater housing production frequently cite as an impediment to growth.
One of the H.O.M.E. bills that has not yet been introduced would streamline the Philadelphia Land Bank’s process for selling city-owned parcels by removing a step that requires Council action. Another would create a system in which lawmakers could work with the administration to create preapproved lists of properties that the city could sell without requiring new legislation for each transaction.
“We’re really happy with the nature of our conversation and we’re progressing along really well in this negotiation process,” Tiffany W. Thurman, Parker’s chief of staff, said Wednesday. “The focus is on the synergy that we’re building, and not so much who’s introducing it tomorrow.”
Johnson said that the bills could still be introduced but that Council members still have questions that need to be answered.
Thurman said she does not view Council’s scrutiny of the H.O.M.E. bills as “skepticism.”
“Our position isn’t that we’re fighting against Council,” she said. “I think Council wants to ensure that there’s accountability and that we thought through the methodology, and we’re also thinking about their constituency.”