PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 The Parker administration threatened to withdraw support for the mayor\u2019s own signature affordable housing initiative on Wednesday, during a City Council hearing on a bill to authorize the sale of bonds for the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is one sentence in [the bill] that the Parker administration does not support,\u201d Parker\u2019s chief of staff Tiffany Thurman testified. \u201cIf this sentence is not amended, then we cannot and will not support this ordinance in its entirety.\u201d<\/p>\n
The startling position opened a new front in the power struggle between Mayor Cherelle Parker and Council over who will be eligible for programs in the $2 billion HOME initiative to build or restore 30,000 units of affordable housing.<\/p>\n
The mayor favors allowing moderate income Philadelphians to benefit through home repair programs and mortgage assistance. Council wants to reserve 90% of the spending for very low income residents.<\/p>\n
In June, Council approved a bond authorization in line with the mayor\u2019s plan but last week, it approved changes to the spending ratios, creating the need for the new bond authorization bill heard by the full Council sitting as a committee on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The new bill contains a provision stating, \u201cCouncil has the authority to establish the maximum Area Median Income (AMI) qualifications for any program or subprogram. The established AMI qualification can apply to all the funding allocated to such program or a percentage of funding allocated to such program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thurman asked Council to remove the provision or amend the second sentence to clarify that Council can establish AMI qualifications but for no more than 60% of the funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout one of these changes,\u201d Thurman repeated, \u201cthe Parker administration will not support this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his own escalation of the dispute, Council President Kenyatta Johnson refused to allow Council member Anthony Phillips to introduce the requested amendments, maintaining Phillips had not circulated the amendment until almost two hours into the hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe administration just showed up,\u201d Johnson said, \u201cand I don\u2019t think in the history of this body that I remember the administration not having a conversation with the Council president on any alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also cut off comments from Thurman and dismissed the administration officials after her testimony, rather than allow the usual question and answer period.<\/p>\n
Council then engaged in an unusually lively debate during the hearing with Councilman Curtis Jones arguing the administration\u2019s point that moderate income residents (over 60% of AMI) should be eligible for 40% of the HOME budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in ALICE: Asset Limited, Income Constrained Employed. In other words, the working poor,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they have a $400 home emergency, they cannot fix it because they are not eligible for the programs we\u2019re talking about today. They just pay for everything and are eligible for very few things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Housing chair Jaime Gauthier led the charge against the mayor\u2019s request.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Council, at least I hope, the Council will not be bullied into being a rubber stamp for a proposal that does not serve the needs of the most vulnerable people in our city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Council voted 13-3 to approve its version of the bill, without amendments. Jones, Phillips and Brian O\u2019Neill dissented. Council member Mike Driscoll voted yes but said that was just to keep the process moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still hope to influence a reasonable solution which includes program support for row home Philadelphians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The mayor is not accepting the defeat lightly. She issued a statement after the vote, saying, \u201cI will continue to lead the effort to Save Row Homes in Philadelphia. They need repairs to remain vibrant and critical investments for our homeowners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole debate over income eligibility limits is to make sure that we leave no working Philadelphian and no qualifying Philly rowhome owner excluded from these vital programs. That includes City employees too. We have a duty and a responsibility to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t save Philly rowhomes, we\u2019re going to become a city of used-to-be neighborhoods, blocks that used to be nice but now are showing signs of age and decline. I will not allow that to happen \u2014 not on my watch as Mayor of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll take this message with me wherever I go. My mission won\u2019t change!<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not leave any Philadelphian behind, including working Philadelphians or their neighborhoods!”<\/p>\n
The bill now goes to the full Council but, because Thursday is the last session of the year, Council cannot vote on it until it returns from winter break on Jan. 22. Administration officials said the mayor will be appealing directly to voters in the intervening weeks, hoping they will put pressure on Council to expand income eligibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 The Parker administration threatened to withdraw support for the mayor\u2019s own signature affordable housing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":439683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-439682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-pa","10":"tag-pennsylvania","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115699994122281783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}