City of Philadelphia - File #: 150357

• File #: 150357
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 4/16/2015
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 4/16/2015
• Title: Calling on the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to preserve the Moving To Work (MTW) Program and maintain current, or substantially similar, funding levels for the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) under its Moving to Work (MTW) Agreement with HUD in order to continue to provide housing and services for low-income families in the City of Philadelphia.
• Sponsors: Council President Clarke, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Quiñones Sánchez, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember O'Brien, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Neilson, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Bass, Councilmember Oh, Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember O'Neill

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
4/16/2015	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Moved to Be Placed on This Week's Final Passage Calendar - Rules Suspended	Pass
4/16/2015	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED

Title
Calling on the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to preserve the Moving To Work (MTW) Program and maintain current, or substantially similar, funding levels for the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) under its Moving to Work (MTW) Agreement with HUD in order to continue to provide housing and services for low-income families in the City of Philadelphia.

Body
WHEREAS, In 1996, the United States Congress established the Moving to Work (MTW) Demonstration Program to provide housing authorities with the ability to flexibly combine funding sources into an MTW Block Grant, streamline the administration of housing programs, and develop local solutions for addressing the housing and social service needs of low-income individuals and families, in order to create opportunities to achieve self-sufficiency; and

WHEREAS, Since the beginning of the Philadelphia Housing Authority's participation in the MTW program in 2000, the program has had a tremendous impact on transforming distressed public housing developments and revitalizing neighborhoods across the City of Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, The flexibility afforded to PHA by its MTW status has served as a catalyst for redeveloping 23 housing developments, which provide quality housing to over 4,200 residents, and has provided thousands of families with services that have led to over 500 families achieving homeownership and self-sufficiency; and

WHEREAS, Despite a letter from HUD to the City of Philadelphia in March 2014 stating that the City's MTW agreement would be renewed for 10 years without significant change to its financial terms, HUD has arbitrarily and without justification reversed its position. The agency has stated that it now proposes to cut Philadelphia's public housing operating subsidy by as much as 36.5 percent. This would cost the City more than $49 million each year in fed...