Philadelphia proposes $16.5 million cuts to housing agencies

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

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

Nutter spokesman Mark McDonald said 21 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 Departments of Commerce, City Planning, and Law.

All reductions would take effect July 1, the start of the city's new budget year.

A call to Anthony Council, 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 funding cuts 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 Quiñones Sánchez, whose Seventh District also includes many poor residents.

Of the $16.5 million in cuts, about $5.3 million will be made in personnel; 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. An additional 135 fewer households will receive major system replacements, such as new furnaces or wiring.

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 it got this year.

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

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