We must make sure every resident of our city has a safe, stable home.

A city where everybody has safe, secure housing 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. They got legal support from Community Legal Services but lost to a landlord that wanted to raise their rent during early Fishtown gentrification. They bounced around from house to house and endured poor living conditions and endless gun violence. If Philadelphia had protections for renters that prevented huge raises in rent, like rent control, Amanda’s family would’ve been able to stay in their home. 

 

In 2015, Amanda bought her home in South Philly. If she didn’t have help and a lot of luck, she would’ve never been able to afford to buy her home. 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 renters and homeowners alike and build upon our wins with the Whole Home Repair Act to invest in home maintenance so our families can stay in our homes. 

 

Amanda and her family’s experience is not unique. Many Philadelphians are faced with increasingly unaffordable rents and unsafe housing conditions. Most Philadelphians are left with no choice but to accept rising rents and unacceptable and unsafe housing conditions. Buying a home is increasingly unaffordable and out of reach. Moving is expensive and difficult, and on top of that, where else can we go? We stay in homes that are unsafe and that we barely get to see anyway because we just work all the time. 

 

In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Philadelphia embarked on an experiment that many had once thought unimaginable: a near-total ban on legal evictions. We learned that preventing evictions does not grind society to a screeching halt. But before long, local and federal government loosened tenant protections and evictions began to tick back up. In place of the eviction moratorium, Philadelphia implemented protections like the eviction diversion program and rental assistance. Even with these programs, landlords still file more evictions today than they did in the months leading up to the pandemic – evictions that are disproportionately filed against Black and Brown Philadelphians. 

 

Philadelphia is in the throes of gentrification — we can develop our city without displacement. We’re seeing rents doubled and tripled while our incomes don’t go up. Senior homeowners are being coerced into selling their properties for pennies on the dollar because real estate taxes are increasing every year; their incomes are fixed & their homes are essentially being stolen by big developers. We need  policies that protect renters, make it easier to buy a home, maintain our homes and stay in our homes.

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As City Councilmember, Amanda will fight for:

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• A cap on rent and limits on rent increases also known as rent control, 

• 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 and 19121),

• Establish a fee on the practice of “flipping houses,” with funds raised going toward preserving and expanding affordable, accessible houses and green space in gentrifying neighborhoods.