by pcacadmin | Sep 30, 2019 | Accessible Housing, Affordable Housing, Philadelphia
Thursday, September 12th was the first day for city council after their recess. Like coming back to school after summer break, it’s a time to get back to work. For members of the Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities, it is also a time to get back to work in a sense. We work all year round, but the first day of council is special. On that day we get back to making city council aware of our presence. This year we are demanding change to the ten year tax abatement. The tax abatement means tax free development on new construction, for ten years! In other words, developers don’t pay property taxes on all that fancy development you see happening in your neighborhood. Meanwhile, neighboring property taxes go up, affecting renters and homeowners. It also means that public schools lose revenue since schools are funded, in part, through property taxes. This incentive may have been a good thing when it started more than a decade ago to spur community revitalization, but it is now clear that developers no longer need this incentive. We need everyone to pay their fair share of taxes to fund things like affordable, accessible housing and public schools. This year, we met outside city hall at 10am and gathered with members of Our City Our Schools, an education reform coalition fighting for school funding. The coalition wore our signature green shirts with our message of development without displacement and Our City Our Schools came in their signature orange. Our objective was to present a united front to city council so they would know they can no...
by pcacadmin | Jan 29, 2019 | Accessible Housing, Affordable Housing, Displacement, Election, Gentrificaton, Philadelphia
My name is Emma; I was born here in Philadelphia and grew up mostly in the Wynnefield section of the city. I grew up on a block where everyone knew everyone. It was a working class neighborhood and the American dream was alive and well. I now live in South Philly and I work in North Philly at the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP helps low income families with heating expenses and makes referrals to the city for individuals who need basic system repair assistance. I spend a lot of my free time wandering all over the city, this city that holds some of my dearest memories, the city that I love. The city has changed over the years, sometimes for the better and sometimes not so much. There are new houses coming up in old neighborhoods that changes how much it costs to live there. As a renter, I can tell you that it is almost impossible to find decent affordable housing. I have dealt with landlords who weren’t legal, who would not keep up repairs on the property, but whose prices were reasonable. Then when I would find a decent property, the rent would be almost double in price. There shouldn’t be such a disparity in pricing for decent housing in this city. Decent, affordable housing needs to be treated as a right and not a privilege. Working at LIHEAP I hear stories everyday about the hardships people are having with housing. Recently, I spoke to a client that is 97 years young who worked hard all of her life. She married, raised 3 children...
