City plans for $16.5M in housing-related cuts, layoffs

Mayor Nutter on Thursday proposed $16.5 million in housing-related cuts - including layoffs - to make up for reductions in federal and state funds directed to Philadelphia.

Administration officials did not say exactly how many layoffs there would be, but said they may effect more than half a dozen city agencies that directly or indirectly receive money from the federal programs being cut.

Nutter spokesman Mark McDonald said 21 already-vacant positions would also be eliminated at many of those agencies, which include the city Redevelopment Authority, the Office of Housing and Community Development, the Philadelphia Housing Development Corp., and the commerce, city planning and law departments.

All reductions would become effective July 1 or later. That is the start of the city's new budget year.

A call to Anthony Council, the president of Local 1971 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents many housing workers, was not returned.

City Council members learned about the reduced funding in a briefing session Thursday with Nutter officials.

"The bottom line is here we go again. The federal government decides to do what they do, and poor people suffer," said Fifth District Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who represents some of Philadelphia's most impoverished neighborhoods.

"I'm extremely concerned," said Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez, whose Seventh District also includes many poor residents.

Of the $16.5 million in cuts, about $5.3 million will be made in personnel while the rest will come from reductions in certain housing services.

For instance, about 700 fewer households next fiscal year will receive roofing, electrical and plumbing repairs. Another 135 fewer households will receive major system replacements, such as new furnaces or new electrical systems.

Most of the money being cut comes from the federal Community Development Block Grant program. The city is slated to receive $9.1 million less than the $55.3 million received this year.

The city is also expected to lose $1.9 million from another federal grant, the HOME Program, through which the city this year received $16.4 million.

In addition, the state is eliminating $5 million of housing-related money it currently gives Philadelphia, and the city will receive $500,000 less from the Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund. That fund this year was the source of $7.5 million.