City commits to being ‘part of the solution’ to preserve affordable rental homes in West and Southwest Philly

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration met formally for the first time on Friday with the owner of hundreds of rental homes in West and Southwest Philadelphia whose federal affordability requirements are expiring and committed to working to preserve the homes.

Jim Levin of Neighborhood Restorations plans to sell 925 homes where tenants pay below-market-rate rents, and he wants to keep them affordable. But he needed assurance that the city plans to work with him, said Angela D. Brooks, Parker’s chief housing and urban development officer.

Brooks gave him that on Friday, she said, telling Levin “that we’re in this, that we’re going to be a good partner, and we’re going to move this forward.”

“We are committed to being part of the solution,” Brooks said in an interview Friday.

About 3,000 people live in the 925 rental units in West and Southwest Philadelphia. The homes were developed through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, which requires reduced rents at the properties for three decades.

» READ MORE: Can City Hall keep 925 West and Southwest Philly homes affordable?

The city’s initial focus will be on 225 of the homes: the 63 that are no longer required to be leased for below-market-rate rents or will lose the requirement by the end of the year, and the 162 homes where affordability requirements are set to expire within the next three years.

Agreements for reduced rents at the other 700 homes are set to expire between 2030 and 2040.

Across the city, Philadelphia is at risk of losing more than 7,500 subsidized rental homes during the next decade as federal affordability agreements expire, according to an analysis published by the Housing Initiative at Penn last fall.

When agreements end, property owners can choose to continue charging below-market rents, charge higher market-rate rents, or sell their properties in potentially lucrative deals to take advantage of the city’s rising property values.

Levin told tenants and city officials a year ago that he planned to sell the properties.

The city will not buy the homes, Brooks said, and it has not made a spending commitment toward its goal of keeping the properties affordable once they’re sold.

But a steering committee that began meeting at the end of last year and includes members of the administration, elected officials, and housing policy experts recommended that the city provide $36 million over five years to help preserve Neighborhood Restorations properties.

Over the next few months, the committee plans to start the process of evaluating the conditions of the properties and identifying funding sources, Brooks said.

Three days before Brooks’ meeting with the property owner, tenants who fear losing their reduced rents and their homes rallied at City Hall to push the administration to help save the properties.

Brooks said preserving all 925 homes could cost more than $260 million.

In a statement, Parker said “there is no simple or immediate solution at this scale.”

» READ MORE: Affordable housing across Philadelphia could be at risk as subsidies expire (From 2023)

“The City remains committed to doing our part and continuing the work,” she said. “But preserving these homes will require all of us, including strong intergovernmental support that includes resources from local, state, and federal government.”

Tenants have partnered with the grassroots social justice nonprofit OnePA to push the city to keep the homes affordable permanently and to give renters the opportunity to buy their homes for below-market prices.

In a statement, tenants thanked Parker and her administration “for making an initial commitment to saving our homes.”

“We know there is still a long way to go before our homes are safe, and we urge the city to act quickly before it is too late,” they said. “We look forward to working with Mayor Parker and others, and we will continue organizing until all 925 units are protected and no one is displaced.”