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Philadelphia City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier will introduce legislation Thursday calling for a public hearing to examine the city’s efforts to preserve 925 affordable rentals in her district.
The resolution, which is expected to pass the same day, is a “minor escalation” that is primarily aimed at securing city funding for a potential sale that would keep the units permanently affordable, Gauthier said. It comes roughly three months after Mayor Cherelle Parker said her administration is committed to finding a way to save these homes amid an affordable housing crisis.
The formal announcement, released after more than a year of relative silence, did not promise a particular dollar amount. Gauthier insists that needs to change before the portfolio’s owner, Jim Levin, changes his mind and decides to seek out other buyers, who may not want to keep the homes affordable into the future.
“This is almost 1,000 units of affordable housing in some of the most desirable neighborhoods in West and Southwest Philadelphia,” Gauthier said in an interview. “We cannot rebuild this opportunity.”
The majority of the properties are single-family homes. They belong to Neighborhood Restorations, an affordable housing developer, and were built in the 1990s and 2000s with federal tax credits that have kept them affordable for decades.
The administration has said it wants to focus on preserving 225 rentals with expired affordability restrictions. The remaining 700 units will lose their restrictions over the next decade, potentially giving the city more time to arrange what is expected to be a series of deals involving those properties.
Angela Brooks, Philadelphia’s chief housing and urban development officer, said the administration is currently working with Levin on what a deal might look like and a potential timeline for selling the properties.
“One thing I know for sure, Jim is not interested in kind of piecemealing it. He wants to have this happen in one or as few transactions as possible,” Brooks said in an interview.
For now, it remains unclear how much the city is willing to invest in the portfolio.
Generally speaking, the city doesn’t buy properties, but it has helped finance property transactions with developers by effectively subsidizing those deals. In that way, the city doesn’t need to take ownership.
To date, no developers or organizations have publicly signaled that they’re interested in taking on some or all of Levin’s properties.
“We are starting to hear from potential people who are interested in portions of the portfolio,” Brooks said, adding that the administration is also exploring how to create homebuying opportunities for existing tenants.
