Title
Amending Chapter 16-800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Philadelphia Affordable Housing Opportunity Zones," by designating the Allegheny Avenue, Roosevelt Blvd and Erie Avenue Affordable Housing Opportunity Zones pursuant to the 1500 New Affordable Housing Units Initiative, all under certain terms and conditions.
Body
WHEREAS, An uneven economic recovery following the Great Recession has brought income inequality into sharp relief across the country, including in Philadelphia. Coupled with the housing crash, which spurred the recession, many regions of the country are grappling with a critical shortage of affordable housing; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia is uniquely positioned to tackle its affordable housing crisis because we have what many other major cities do not: thousands of publicly owned, buildable parcels of land plus access to untapped federal resources to spur development; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia City Council ("City Council") proposes the 1,500 New Affordable Housing Units Initiative, a legislative and policy response to growing demand for affordable housing in Philadelphia. The initiative envisions the construction of 1,000 affordable rental units and 500 ownership units affordable for moderate-income households over a two-year period; and
WHEREAS, To create 1,000 affordable rental units, City Council proposes the use of Housing Trust Funds in conjunction with unspent federal and state housing assistance funding to accelerate the production of affordable housing units on vacant land in the public inventory through new construction or substantial rehabilitation of existing housing units in strategically designated neighborhoods throughout the City; and
WHEREAS, The proposed plan combines existing affordable housing programs of the City, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) and Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) to leverage each more effectively and to "unlock" greater outside funding in order to generate 1...
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