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Description
At the Council Meeting held Thursday, Dec. 15, Council President Darrell L. Clarke will have legislation introduced to incentivize the development of affordable housing along the North Broad Street Corridor through tax exemptions.
Council President Clarke's legislation targets blighted areas in the 5th and 8th Council Districts, and is introduced pursuant to the Affordable Housing Unit Tax Exemption Act, sponsored by PA Rep. Jared Solomon (202nd) and approved by the Legislature. Rep. Solomon’s legislation authorizes "local taxing authorities to provide for tax exemptions for improvements to deteriorated areas and dwellings to incentivize the creation and improvement of affordable housing units.
A
B
A
Thank
you,
sir
appreciate
your
assistance
good
morning
we're
going
to
get
started
because
we
will
have
a
our
colleagues
coming
in
for
our
business
at
hand
today.
So,
first
of
all
good
morning,
thank
you
all
for
being
here.
We
want
to
talk
about
something
extremely
exciting
today,
just
kind
of
give
you
a
little
context,
so
we
have
heard
over
the
last
several
months.
This
whole
issue
about
inflation.
A
Yesterday
there
was
another
increase
in
the
interest
rate
by
the
fed
and
the
whole
intent
was
to
hopefully
drive
down
inflation
and
the
drivers
of
inflation
essentially
are
the
cost
of
gas,
which
we
hear
about
every
day.
The
cost
of
food
that
we
hear
about
every
day
and,
interestingly
enough,
the
cost
of
housing
is
another
driver
of
inflation,
and
we
don't
hear
so
much
about
that.
But
it's
a
reality.
A
So
today
we're
here
to
talk
about
something
very
significant
and
I
want
to
thank
so
much
and
I
can't
say
enough
about
the
ability
of
Representative,
Jared
Solomon
and
the
general
assembly
and
the
governor
to
pull
this
off
I'll
tell
you
haven't,
had
an
opportunity
to
see
what
goes
on
in
Harrisburg
and
not
necessarily
always
a
good
thing
for
the
city
of
Philadelphia.
Your
ability
to
do
this
is
really
awesome,
so
we
will
be
councilwoman
bass
and
myself
will
be
introducing
legislation
today.
A
That
will
essentially
create
a
vehicle
that
will
allow
us,
in
a
very
aggressive
and
meaningful
way,
to
continue
to
deal
with
that.
Third
leg
of
that
that
Triad
of
inflation,
making
sure
that
there's
affordability
as
it
relates
to
housing
costs
in
the
city
of
Philadelphia.
This
is
exciting.
It
is
they
start,
because
a
lot
of
the
individuals
involved
clearly
would
like
to
see
us
take
a
city-wide
approach,
but
you
know
sometimes
in
city
council.
We
have
to
take
baby
steps
before
we
move
ahead.
A
So
we're
going
to
be
talking
about
this
program
that
will
essentially
establish
zones
across
the
city
of
Philadelphia
to
incentivize
affordability,
genuine
affordability
in
neighborhoods
across
the
city
of
Philadelphia,
by
utilizing
an
abatement
for
affordable
housing.
So
I
want
to
thank
everyone.
So
much
I'd
like
to
thank
the
Bia,
represented
here
today
by
Mo
Rusty,
our
friends
from
Habitat
for
Humanity
Corrine
O'connell,
and
we
have
our
good
friends
from
the
Northeast
Oxford
Circle
Christian,
Community,
Development,
Corporation,
Shantae,
aitran,
atrom,
understanding,
nothing
good
happens
in
the
Northeast
unless
it
goes
through
you
all
right.
A
C
C
This
is
something
that's
been
going
on
in
the
city
of
Philadelphia
for
a
very
long
time,
so
I
really
want
to
come
in
from
Solomon,
and
the
council
president
and
everyone
who's
interested
in
making
sure
that
government
government
does
the
work,
that's
necessary
to
ensure
that
there's
quality
housing
available
throughout
every
neighborhood
and
that
it's
affordable,
and
so
this
is
something
that's
very
important.
We
know
that
more
and
more
people
are
being
pushed
out
of
their
homes.
C
So
I
again
just
want
to
really
thank
the
council
president
for
his
stewardship
of
this
I
want
to
thank
representative
Solomon
for
his
hard
work
and
making
sure
this
gets
done
out
of
Harrisburg
hard
to
get
good
stuff
out
of
Harrisburg.
But
we
thank
you
and
I
think
that
this
is
this.
The
first
of
many
more
things
to
come,
because
I
know
that
we
as
members
of
council
are
all
very
interested
in
making
sure
that
neighborhoods
stay
affordable.
C
A
Thank
you,
councilwoman,
and
next
up
we
will
introduce
an
individual
who
figured
out
a
way
to
utilize
the
tax
abatement,
something
that
in
some
corners
of
the
world
are
not
necessarily
a
positive
thing,
but
he
figured
out
a
way
to
turn
it
around
and
use
the
tax
abatement
for
something
extremely
positive
state
representative
Jared
Solomon,
please
come
forward.
Thank
you.
D
Thank
you,
so
much
council,
president
and
I
want
to
say
it's
great
to
be
here
with
council
president
councilwoman
bass.
What
you
see
here,
I
think,
is
an
example
of
the
things
that
we
do
best
or
the
things
we
do
together.
We
have
elected
officials,
Business
Leaders,
non-profit
sector,
Civic
sector,
all
coming
together
and
saying
that
one,
affordable
housing
housing
is
a
foundational
fundamental
right.
D
D
We
went
to
the
traditional
route
of
looking,
whether
of
housing
vouchers.
The
Section
8
program
was
available.
Traditional,
affordable
housing,
no
dice.
In
fact,
the
waiting
list
on
those
programs
are
not
measured
many
times
in
days,
not
in
weeks,
not
even
in
years,
but
sometime
in
a
decade
or
more.
So
we
turn
to
faith-based
institutions
and
a
couple
said:
well,
we
can
give
your
constituent,
maybe
a
week
up
to
a
month,
but
the
parameters
that
were
very
strict.
It
was
very
hard
to
get
this
individual
in
to
the
affordable
housing
that
he
needed.
D
And
lastly,
we
went
to
the
nonprofit
sector
in
all
of
Northeast
Philadelphia.
We
have
one
non-profit
which
does
great
work.
It's
called
Family
Promise,
but
they're
understaffed.
They
don't
have
enough
funding,
so
they
can
maybe
do
one
month
of
rent
and
the
security
deposit,
and
then
this
individual
was
left
to
figure
out
how
he
was
going
to
secure,
affordable
housing.
D
D
I
just
want
to
say
in
terms
of.
Why
is
this
important?
Why
does
housing
matter,
and
why
is
it
foundational,
if
you
think
of
a
home
everything
flows
from
that?
It's
the
place
that
I
go
especially
now
during
the
holidays,
to
feel
the
love
of
my
family,
to
escape
my
professional
life
to
to
feel
at
home
and
joy
and
loved
and
sort
of
take
my
mask
off
and
be
my
real
self.
Well
for
many
of
my
constituents
who
are
paying
50
percent
to
80
percent
in
their
take-home
pay
to
rent,
how
can
they
feel
that?
D
How
can
they
feel
that
sense
of
embrace
and
love
and
warmth?
How
can
they
provide
for
their
family?
We
must
do
better.
This
is
one
step
and
we
will
continue
working
with
all
the
partners
here:
city,
state,
business
partners,
non-profit
profit
and
Civic,
and
the
Civic
sector
to
deliver
on
the
housing
that
philadelphians
and
pennsylvanians
deserve.
Thank
you.
So
much.
E
Good
morning,
thank
you,
president
council,
president
Clark
and
councilwoman
Bass
for
inviting
me
to
be
here
today.
My
name
is
Maria
Gonzalez,
president
of
assay,
a
non-profit
Community
Development
Corporation
in
North
Philadelphia,
and
also
the
president
of
pacdc,
the
Philadelphia
Association
of
Community
Development
corporations.
E
The
creation
of
new,
affordable
housing
is
very
effective
for
reducing
vacancy
rates,
eliminating
blight,
increasing
home
values,
boosting
the
confidence
of
long-term
residents
and
to
attract
new
Investments,
and
not
only
Investments,
enable
us
that
have
suffered
through
years
of
business
investment,
but
also
neighborhoods
that
have
been
gentrifying
and
I
want
to
bring
this
into
a
personal
perspective.
I
raise
my
family
in
what
is
called
now
old
Kensington
about
three
blocks
north
of
the
Piazza,
and
we
moved
out
a
few
years
ago
because
we
were
looking
for
different
amenities
in
other
neighborhoods
right
now,
my
son.
E
If
he
were
to
come
back
to
live
in
the
neighborhood
where
he
grew
up,
he
couldn't
afford
it.
So
I
see
this
legislation
as
an
opportunity
to
be
able
to
create
affordable
housing
for
people
that
grew
up
in
the
neighborhood
or
people
that
are
still
living
in
the
neighborhood
and
that
are
renting.
So
this
provides
incentives
to
do
that
and
stabilize
and
really
help
create
wealth
amongst
the
people
that
live
there
and
have
been
living
in
those
communities
for
a
long
time.
E
Building
new
homes
not
only
changes
the
lives
of
the
people
who
live
in
them,
but
it
changes
the
entire
neighborhood.
We
see
this
legislation
as
a
starting
point
and
we
look.
We
will
work
with
city
council
to
expand
the
tax
exemption
for
affordable
housing
development
initiative
to
other
neighborhoods
in
Philadelphia
that
can
also
benefit
from
new,
affordable
housing
investments.
E
We're
grateful
for
the
leadership
of
council
president
Clark
and
councilwoman
bass
for
introducing
this
legislation
that
responds
to
the
needs
of
the
residents
of
the
8th
and
fifth
councilmatic
districts
for
safe,
affordable
housing
and
for
the
development.
Continued
development
of
vibrant
neighborhoods.
In
the
this
great
City.
A
Thank
you.
Thank
you
very
much,
Miss
Gonzalez
and
thank
you,
representative
Solomon,
and
my
colleague
and
friend
so
this
this
is.
This
is
something
that's
you
know
it's
going
to
be
very
significant.
Two
days
ago,
we
had
a
neighborhood
preservation
initiative,
turn
the
key
where
we
were
able
to
break
ground
on
the
first
1000,
affordable
home
ownership
units.
This
will
allow
us
to
accelerate
that
pace
by
also
providing
this
opportunity
to
those
individuals,
as
we
continue
to
extend
so
we
look
forward.
We
want
to
thank
you
all
for
your
participation.
A
A
If
they
take
advantage
of
this
opportunity,
30
of
that
50
unit
development
will
be
affordable,
so
we've
incentivized
them
by
allowing
them
to
get
the
earlier
tax
abatements
was
100
percent.
So
we're
essentially
utilizing
that
tax
abatement
to
incentivize
and
support
the
building
of
affordable
housing.
A
Districts
or
something
like
that,
well,
you
know
with
anything
different
in
the
city
of
Philadelphia.
Sometimes
you
have
to
take
what
we
call
baby
steps
when
we
looked
at
Broad
Street,
particularly
on
the
northern
part
of
Broad
Street,
we
recognized
that
there
was
likely
going
to
be
a
significant
amount
of
development,
but
we
want
to
make
sure
that
that
development
has
an
affordable
component
in
that,
particularly
as
it
relates
to
north
of
Temple
University
in
our
districts.
A
It
is
clear
that
that
opportunity
exists,
but
we
want
to
make
sure
that
it's
a
significant
amount
of
affordability.
As
we
move
forward,
we
will
be
looking
at
creating
zones
I
anticipate
up
in
the
Oxford
Circle
area.
There
will
surely
be
one
put
in
place,
but
it
made
sense
to
start
here
on
Broad
Street.
First
and,
as
you
know,
we
do
things
usually
for
the
entire
city
of
Philadelphia.
A
F
A
A
So
we,
as
you
know,
we
introduced
earlier
an
inclusionary
zoning
bill
on
portions
of
Broad
Street,
with
a
lower
percentage
of
affordability.
The
one
thing
that
we
don't
want
to
have
happen.
It's
nothing
gets
built
and
that's
the
potential
possibility,
based
on
the
costs
associated
with
materials
and
all
the
things
that
we're
hearing
from
the
industry.
So
our
position
as
well.
A
You
know
what
based
on
what
was
allowed,
allowing
us
now
to
do
on
representative
Solomon's
legislation
that
allows
us
to
create
and
incentivize
the
development
of
that
those
developments
across
the
city
of
Philadelphia.
So
we
think
that,
in
combination
of
the
inclusionary
housing
having
this
opportunity,
we
think
that
we're
actually
going
to
get
a
significant
amount
of
affordable
units
in
the
city
of
Philadelphia
I'm,
pretty
excited.
As
you
know,
we
have
challenges
in
the
market.
Interest
rates
are
going
through
the
roof.
A
He
had
another
increase
yesterday,
a
half
a
percent
about
a
fed
and
it's
creating
an
environment
where
the
only
housing
that's
actually
being
built
is
high
in
housing.
You
see
cranes
all
over
the
city
of
Philadelphia
now
and
unfortunately,
a
minimum
amount
of
those
actually
include
an
affordability
Clause.
So
hopefully
this
will
allow
us
to
do
what
we
need
to
do.