Housing is a human right. A city where everybody has a safe and affordable home is a city that’s safer and more prosperous for everybody.

 

When Amanda was in middle school, her family was evicted from their home in Fishtown because their landlord hiked up their rent. This destabilized her life — they bounced from home to home and lost their community. Years later, her parents were finally able to buy their own home in Frankford — only because her dad became a Teamsters truck driver. It was life changing for her family and that home is still owned by her parents now.

 

The story of Amanda’s family is not unique. It’s the story of so many of us. The best way to build generational wealth is to increase homeownership rates. The best way to destroy generational wealth is to evict us. If Philadelphia had protections for renters that prevented huge raises in rent and pathways to homeownership for poor and working people, Amanda’s family would’ve been able to stay in their home.

 

Housing in Philadelphia is increasingly unaffordable – developers are building luxury homes on every corner while affordable housing sources are diminishing, corporate landlords can double or triple rent without repercussions, and both homeowners and renters are forced to occupy housing that’s often not inspected and neither safe nor built to last. Evictions in Philadelphia are at an all-time high, which disproportionately impacts Black and Brown Philadelphians.

 

As a Councilmember, Amanda will fight for homeownership and housing stability to be for everyone, not just the wealthy or lucky. She’ll work to ensure protections for both renters and homeowners and build upon our wins with the Whole Home Repair Act to invest in home maintenance so our families can stay in our homes.

​

We need policies that protect renters, make it easier to buy a home, maintain our homes and stay in our homes. As City Councilmember, Amanda will fight for:

​

• Stabilize our neighborhoods by establishing limits on rent increases also known as rent control,

• Increase homeownership rates by passing “First Right to Purchase” protections that ensure tenants have an opportunity to purchase their home if their landlord decides to sell the property.

• Tenants’ rights to organize at their properties by dedicating resources to supporting tenants’ unions and allow tenants to sue slumlords for damages and legal fees who leave their properties unfit for human habitation

• Increase funding for the Department of License and Inspection, so that it can proactively inspect rental units, new construction and rehabs to ensure all units are livable and safe.

• Expand Right to Counsel to the whole city (it currently only covers ZIP codes 19139,19121, 19134 and 19144) and strengthen it by automatically expunging eviction records for residents who appealed an eviction and won.

• Enforce Just Cause Eviction protections.