The $2 billion, four-year initiative is on track to win final City Council approval this month. The funding comes from $800 million in housing bonds, city land assets valued at $1 billion, and federal and state dollars. That money is supposed to fund the building and refurbishing of 30,000 housing units. The plan also aims to provide financial assistance to homeowners and renters, remove blight, reduce the number of vacant properties, and help beautify neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
In recent years, a steady stream of research has connected housing to public safety. In 2023, a University of Pennsylvania study<\/a> found that fixing up clusters of abandoned homes with new doors and windows, and clearing yard weeds reduces gun crime compared to clusters of houses that received no remediation.<\/p>\n Obentsuwaa-Tiga, a native of Ghana who works as a nursing assistant, lamented that many of the city\u2019s poorest residents are virtually trapped in dilapidated housing in dangerous communities without the means to improve their circumstances. She makes ends meet by living with her parents in Northeast Philly. She hopes that the housing plan will help her get a place of her own.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to really look at some of these buildings and houses. They are not pleasant. You look at them and it\u2019s like, Oh, no!\u201d says Obentsuwaa-Tiga, 43. \u201cThis is a developed country. Why aren\u2019t our houses developed the way they\u2019re supposed to? They breed violence.\u201d<\/p>\n 400 dead houses<\/b> <\/p>\n A drive through parts of West and Southwest Philadelphia provides a window into some of the city\u2019s best and worst housing. On the highest end, there are stately Victorian houses and newly built townhouses in Spruce Hill and University City. On the lowest end are more than 400 abandoned homes that are magnets for crime and violence, say concerned residents, including City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who represents the area.<\/p>\n There\u2019s the house at the corner of 61st and Walnut Streets, all boarded up on the first floor, with windows missing on the second. The house at 5939 Pine Street also features boarded-up windows, a sofa turned sideways, slouched against the front porch, and a trash dump along the side wall.<\/p>\n \u201cHousing is health care, housing is a way that we keep people out of the criminal legal system.\u201d \u2014 City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Two side-by-side houses on the 5600 block of Walnut Street stand forlorn on an otherwise intact block, across from the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses church. Then there is the house on Spruce Street near 60th that looks so haunted that the OnePA West\/Southwest Rising organization used it as the backdrop for a spirited news conference to demand that the city\u2019s housing plan address such problem properties.<\/p>\n The organization, which represents low-income Black residents, is calling for the city to enact a law to hold property owners accountable for repairing vacant properties and for the city to repair abandoned buildings and turn them into affordable housing and green spaces.<\/p>\n \u201cWe chose this issue because every empty lot and boarded-up house erodes community trust, fuels crime, and undermines our vision of a safe, beautiful neighborhood for all families,\u201d says Rasheeda Price, a OnePA co-chair. She added that in addition to just over 400 unsafe vacant homes in Gauthier\u2019s Third Council District, there are 31 dangerous buildings. Some of those properties are hot spots for crimes, she says.<\/p>\n \u201cHideouts for illegal activity\u201d<\/b> <\/p>\n The authors of the 2023 University of Pennsylvania study also found that vacant houses help drive crime, perhaps because they \u201care excellent hideouts for illegal activity, like open-air drug dealing, that can generate gun violence.\u201d The authors noted that such houses are used to store firearms and contribute to a stressful neighborhood environment, which may lead to the escalation of disputes involving firearms.<\/p>\n Dianna Coleman, a OnePA member and block captain in her Southwest community, called vacant and abandoned properties one of Philadelphia\u2019s most pressing and overlooked crises. \u201cIn neighborhoods full of broken houses and empty lots, it\u2019s not just a housing issue, it\u2019s a public health crisis,\u201d says Coleman, who was The Citizen\u2019s 2025 Block Captain of the Year<\/a>. \u201cAnd until we treat it like one, we will continue to lose lives, we will continue to lose families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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Every Voice, Every Vote funds Philadelphia media and community organizations to expand access to civic news and information. The coalition is led by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support for Every Voice, Every Vote in 2024 and 2025 is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Comcast NBC Universal, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, Judy and Peter Leone, Arctos Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 25th Century Foundation, and Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nl_bolt600-copy.jpg\"\/)
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