COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE City Hall, Room 400 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, March 25, 2025 10:00 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMAN JIM HARRITY COUNCILMAN CURTIS J. JONES, JR. COUNCILWOMAN RUE LANDAU COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY M. LOZADA COUNCILMAN NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMAN ISAIAH THOMAS COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR. HELEN LOUGHEAD, INTERIM CHIEF CLERK - - -
Good morning, everyone. Good morning. This is the public hearing and public meeting of the committee of the whole regarding bills number 250195, 250196, 250197, 250198, 250199, 250200, 250201, 250202, 250210, 250211, 250212, and resolution number 250214. Ms. Loughead. Can you please take the roll for attendance?
Present. Thank you. A quorum of this committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the title of the resolutions, please.
Bill No. 6 250195, an ordinance amending Chapter 191500 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Wage and Net Profits Tax by revising certain tax rates under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. '24 -- 250196, an ordinance 12 adopting the operating budget for fiscal year 2026. Bill No. 250197, an ordinance to adopt a fiscal 2026 capital budget. Bill No. 250198, an ordinance to adopt a capital program for the six fiscal years 2026 through 2031 inclusive. Bill No. 19 250199, an ordinance amending Chapter 192600 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Business Income and Receipts Taxes to revise tax rates and end certain exclusions from the tax on receipts in all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250200, an ordinance amending Chapter 12100, the Philadelphia Code entitled Traffic Code to revise the fee for the use of the parking meters all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250201, an ordinance amending Chapter 191800 of the Philadelphia Code entitled School Tax Authorization to provide for an increase in the tax of the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia, is authorized to impose on real estate in amending Chapter 191300 entitled Real Estate Taxes to establish an equivalent reduction in the tax rate for the city real estate tax all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250202, an ordinance amending Section 191806 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Authorization of Realty use in Occupancy Tax to eliminate certain exemptions, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250210, and ordinance amending Section 101101, the Philadelphia code entitled Fees of Commissioner of Records to increase the portion of fees for the recording of deeds, mortgages and relating documents to be used for housing trust fund purposes, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250211, an ordinance amending Chapter 191400 of the Philadelphia code entitled Realty Transfer Tax by revising the rate of the tax all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 250212, an ordinance to amend Chapter 194400 of the Philadelphia of code entitled Development Impact Tax to end imposition of the tax under certain terms and conditions. And finally, resolution No. 2 250214, resolution providing for the approval by the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a revised five- year financial plan for the city of Philadelphia covering fiscal years 2026 through 2030 and incorporating revisions with respect to fiscal year 2025, which is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement by and between the city and the authority.
Thank you very much. Today, we begin the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole to consider the bills read by the clerk that constitute proposed operating and capital spending measures for fiscal year 2026, a capital program and a forward looking capital plan for fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2031. Today we'll hear testimony from the administration on the five- year plan. We also have the Department of Labor on standby for questions as well. They will not read their testimony but they will be available for questioning. I want to also welcome the administration as well as the departments who will be joining us for this testimony today. Ms. Loughead, would you please call the first witness to testify from the administration?
Good morning, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. My name is Tiffany Thurman and I have the honor of serving as Chief of Staff to Mayor Parker. I'm honored to testify in support of the Mayor's operating budget for fiscal year 2026. Bill No. 250196 and the proposal FY 2026 through 2030, five- year plan resolution number 250214 along with the supporting budget and revenue bills introduced on March 13th. Joining me today are my colleagues, Chief Deputy Mayor Sincere Harris and Vanessa Garrett Harley, Finance Director Rob Dubow, Budget Director Sabrina Maynard, cabinet members and department heads from across the administration. The proposed five-year plan builds on the historic investments we made together in the fiscal year 2025, One Philly Budget, to pursue our shared vision of Philadelphia and delivering tangible results that residents and businesses can see, touch and feel. 5 billion in new capital investments over six years. This is an ambitious proposal that will continue to advance key initiatives underway, elevating five critical priorities around housing, fair and fiscally responsible multi-year contracts for city workers, tax reform, the wellness ecosystem, and preparing for special events in FY 2026. The proposed plan also balances the major investments in these priorities with an ongoing commitment to the city's fiscal stability. Despite the end of the American Rescue Plan Act funds last calendar year and a legacy pension obligation bond balloon payment due in fiscal year 2029, the plan builds reserves that meet our internal goal of at least 6-8 percent in each of the next five years. This is an improvement over last year's plan. All of these steps have been carefully measured amid an uncertain federal and economic environment. As with everything we've accomplished together so far, collaboration with this Council, state and federal partners, organized labor, businesses and neighborhood and community leaders will be paramount. Only as One Philly, a united city will we be successful. As Mayor Parker laid out in yesterday's housing address, this five-year plan includes two $400 million borrowings as part of an overall $2 billion financing strategy for the Housing Opportunities Made Easy or HOME initiative. As every member of the body knows well, access to safe quality housing that is affordable and meets an urgent need for thousands of residents, both homeowners and renters and for Philadelphians across income bans is important. This is why prior approaches to housing, the standard of -- the standard operating procedure will not suffice to meet the need. We have with us today Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer Angela Brooks, Director of Planning and Development, Jessie Lawrence, and Chief of Staff John Mondlak who would be happy to discuss further the details of the proposed housing plan. During this budget process, we cannot stress enough how intergovernmental and cross-sector collaboration will be instrumental, dare I say, paramount in reaching the 30,000 housing units that need to be built or preserved across the city. City workforce. With regard to the city workforce, Chief Administrative Officer Camille Duchaussee and Chief Human Relations Officer Candi Jones have been working intensively with departments to change the way we recruit, train, and retain public employees. This work will continue until we've addressed the vacancy rates that have been -- that have persisted for years in the city. That said, the city's head count has increased from the end of fiscal year 2024, marking a continued departure from the decreasing head counts in recent years. From the end of June through December, the city's general fund head count increased by 573 people suggesting that the targeted investments we're making in recruitment and retention are paying off. We've also made this progress as several thousand employees return to office creating better opportunities to collaborate and innovate together.
We're especially grateful to Commissioner Joe Brodsky and the team at public -- at Public Property who supported this transition so effectively and continue to upgrade city workplaces. Meanwhile, Chief Deputy Mayor Sincere Harris and our labor team are working to negotiate fair fiscally responsible multi-year contracts with the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, International Association of Firefighters Local 18 and AFSCME District Councils 33 and 19 47. The five-year plan includes a 20 $550 million labor reserve as the 21 administration continues to work 22 through negotiations. This is the largest labor reserve in the city's history. Turning now to tax reform. Tax investments and job creation is important to Mayor Parker and our team, and we're also grateful for the leadership of President Johnson and this body and the members of the Tax Reform Commission for their efforts in recent months. Following the guidance of the commission, this administration is proposing historic changes to the city's business and wage taxes with dramatic savings on the horizon from a pension fund that will fully fund -- that will be fully funded in fiscal year 2033. We're in an unprecedented position to significantly decrease both the gross receipts and net income portions of the business income and receipts tax over the next five years, while codifying further reductions to eliminate the former and cut the latter in half by fiscal year 2039, seven years after the pension fund reaches full funding, which is important to our administration. At the same time, we'll restart steady decreases in the wage tax from fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2030. This would be the first time in years that a Mayor 9 and City Council have concurrently 10 reduced all these rates in the same 11 year and with the long-term 12 certainty that businesses need. 13 This is a key priority to increasing 14 access to economic opportunity by 15 attracting, retaining and growing 16 businesses that will create jobs 17 with family sustaining wages. Boosting the city's competitiveness in today's economy through tax investments is a major lever to growing the economic pie and putting more Philadelphians on a path to self-sufficiency. Now is the time to jump start business growth and job creation for Philadelphians. Turning now to Wellness Ecosystem. For those Philadelphians who are among the most vulnerable, the new Riverview Wellness Village is already providing comprehensive care, treatment and supportive housing, thanks to the $100 million approved by City Council in fiscal year 2025. The Wellness Village is a centerpiece of a campus that will, with the investments in the proposed plan, eventually be able to host 640 residents and support them with medical care and clinical support, as well as education, workforce development and other onsite programming. Staff in the Managing Director's office including the Capital Program's office, Procurement Department, Department of Behavioral and Intellectual Disability Services and other agencies have worked tirelessly including L&I to create this new capacity. The fifth of the new major investments areas lifted up in the proposed plan is the acceleration of preparations for 2026. This Council and numerous other key stakeholders have diligently kept this work in the forefront of our minds as the first of the major events begin later this year. This fiscal year, 2026 budget, puts forth another $40 million on top of the nearly $60 million already committed to ensure Philadelphia realizes the full potential and benefits of the special events in 2026, and bringing the total investments for preparations to $100 million. And this is part of the $500 million put forth together to work at the Philadelphia International Airport with travelers at -- in waiting areas, roadways and signage, SEPTA platforms, video surveillance, and other improvements to ensure a top class guest experience.
Our thanks go out to City Representative and Special Events Director Jazelle Jones, 2026, Director Michael Newmuis and so many others who are working the long hours to ensure we're making history yet again. These major investments in housing, labor, tax reform, wellness and 2026 preparations will help shape our city's future. At the same time, we're pressing forward hard on key initiatives and programs across our mainstay priority pillars, public safety, clean and green, economic opportunity, education and core support, each of which have new targeted investments in the five- year plan. We also have with us today Managing Director Adam Thiel, City Solicitor Renee Garcia, Chief Public Safety Director Adam Geer, Public Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, Director Carlton Williams of the -- Office of Clean and Green initiatives, Director Alba Martinez from the Commerce Department, Chief Administrative Officer Camille Duchaussee, Chief Education Officer Dr. Debora Carrera, and other senior administration leaders who look forward to discussing further with you the massive amount of exciting work underway. Our shared vision remains steadfast to make Philadelphia the safest, cleanest and greenest big city in the nation with access to economic opportunity for all. On behalf of Mayor Cherelle Parker and our entire team, thank you for your partnership and the opportunity to present our testimony. We have also submitted testimony for the Mayor's office and the Department of Labor. Council President, I'd like to ask Octavia Howell to provide testimony on the fiscal year 2026 capital budget and FY '26 through 30 capital program, after which we and our colleagues are here today and are available to answer any questions you may have.
Good morning, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. I am Octavia Howell, Executive Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'm joined by my colleagues from finance and from departments across the city. We're here to present, for your review and consideration, the recommended capital program for fiscal years 2026 to 2031 and the capital budget for fiscal year 2026. These budgetary proposals were approved by the Planning Commission on March 11th, 2025. The Parker Administration's inaugural recommended capital program and budget strove to make Philadelphia the safest, cleanest and greenest big city in America with access to economic opportunity for all. The recommended fiscal year '26 to '31 capital program and the fiscal year '26 capital budget represent the administration's continued commitment to advancing that vision. The recommended program is a six-year plan for investing in neighborhood and community facilities like parks, libraries and recreation centers, specialized vehicles including medical units and trash compactors, repairs to city streets and sidewalks, maintenance of city owned buildings and technological infrastructure. The recommended budget reflects the spending appropriations for the first year of the six-year program as both the program and budget are key instruments of planned physical development by city agencies and institutional partners. The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter directs that their initial preparation and submission to the Mayor be a function of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Beginning in October, 2024, planning commission and budget office staff receive an evaluated funding request from city 20 departments. We then work with each 21 of these departments to produce a 22 capital program and budget that aligns with the administration's priorities, addresses the city's capital needs and long-term goals, and reflects the city's financial resources and spending capacity. 4 billion in new city tax supported general obligation bond funding to support public improvements throughout Philadelphia. When possible, city funds are used to leverage additional resources provided by regional, state, federal, and private partners. 8 billion in total improvements. For fiscal year 2026, the recommended capital budget calls for $337 million of new general obligation bond funding. The recommended budget makes critical infrastructure investments while reflecting the city's financial constraints and ability to support new debt service. For fiscal year 2026, the recommended capital budget -- excuse me -- excuse me. 9 million over the full program for clean and green. This funding area prioritizes energy efficiency retrofits, sanitation facilities and equipment, improvements to city parks, trails, pools, and playgrounds, and investing investments at Lemon Hill in anticipation of the FIFA World Cup fan fest. Funds for street paving, ADA ramps, traffic calming, and Vision Zero are also recommended to ensure the residents can safely access these amenities which improve the quality of life in Philadelphia and make all neighborhoods cleaner, greener, and more vibrant. 7 million over the full program for public safety. These include investments in the Riverview Wellness Center to complete a new tower, a multi-year project to renovate the fire academy, critical improvements to the city's prisons, fire and police facilities and replacements of fire vehicles. These recommended investments will increase public safely across the city. 7 million over the full program for core support. Recommended capital investments for core support include information technology upgrades to optimize and streamline the city's financial and procurement systems, improvements to city owned vehicle fueling and electric charging stations and safety improvements to municipal buildings. 2 million in fiscal year '26 and $145 million over the full program for economic opportunity.
To expand access to opportunity for all, the planning commission recommends capital investments and neighborhood commercial corridors throughout the city, critical repairs and maintenance of improvements to local public, transit infrastructure, unlocking state and federal grants and matching funds, industrial and waterfront land redevelopment including the continuation of the I-95 CAP project. 7 million over the full program for education. This priority advances investment in city-owned facilities at the Zoo, free library, African American Museum, as well as cultural institutions including the Mann, the Dell, the Please Touch Museum and the Art Museum. We are pleased to propose these investments, which balance fiscal constraints of the city with the immense needs of its physical plant. The recommended city new CN, general obligation bond funded spending and our recommended capital program and budget is higher than in previous years, reflecting the city's efforts to invest in its aging infrastructure while also -- while also -- excuse me, while also investing in infrastructure for new initiatives. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. We would be happy to address any questions that you may have regarding the recommended fiscal year '26 to '31 Capital Program and the fiscal year '26 Capital Budget.
Thank you very much for your testimony, and also, we will be doing three minutes per member each round just to make sure everybody gets their questions in. First question, I want to start off with -- is regarding the five-year plan and the question is to Mr. Rob Dubow regarding job growth and development as a part of five-year plan. How are you doing, Rob? How are you?
I'm doing fantastic. Can't complain. So I remember, during our fiscal stability hearing, we talked about how last year's five-year plan gave a forecast of negative job growth, right, based upon S&P Global Market intelligence, the consulting firm that we use. And so I just want to get an idea as we move forward, kind of, you talked about that will be adjusted -- that approach will be adjusted. What are we doing, as a city, to attract more jobs as relates to us eliminating poverty through job creation and development?
I'll take the "what we project part, and then hand it back over to the chief of staff or the commerce director to talk about what we're doing to try to attract jobs. So in the five-year plan, we -- based on what we -- feedback we got from our econometric firm, IHS Global Insight, and a meeting we had down at the Fed economists, we're projecting relatively flat growth for jobs over the five years. For the five years, have small growth, and one year has a small decline. So, kind of, based on all the economic uncertainty that we're seeing and the feedback we got, those are the projections in our plan. I see the commerce director coming up to talk about what we're doing.
It's an honor to be here. So on the question of job growth, I'll start by saying that the commitment of this administration and Council to do something around tax competitiveness is going to be really critical to stimulate and spur growth. And the fact that businesses will be able to project their obligations is extraordinarily important. And, you know, I personally, this is a commerce director speaking, if we can accelerate the rate of growth of revenue in jobs and wages, we can always look at accelerating the speed at which we fund -- you know, fully fund our pension fund and reduce taxes, you know, more quickly. So I'll start there. The second thing I'll say is that our investments in workforce are really critical and this budget makes a big commitment to the workforce space. And it is also -- this budget -- this five-year plan and this coming budget also will make an extraordinary commitment to the idea of positioning Philadelphia as a business hub, as a world class business hub. It'll be the first time where we're proactively marketing Philadelphia as a business hub. This work is underway, we call it the Brand Attraction campaign and I look forward to sharing more details about our aggressive work across the board in commerce testimony. Thank you.
All right. Thank you very much. I want to do an overview of when you take into account part of your testimony, Tiffany, you talked about the work that has been done, the investment around the recruitment and of retention of filling out vacancies. Most folks may or may not know that the vacancies play a major role in terms of how much we take in, in terms of our overall budget and is calculated in terms of how much we have available. I know two members in this body particularly Councilwoman, Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, the Majority Leader - Majority Leader, Gilmore-Gilmore-Richardson and Majority Whip Isaiah Thomas, worked on a -- worked on a working group to address the vacancy issue and so just do a double back on what that looks like, you talked about some growth in that area and maybe put some dollars and cents around that figure.
Absolutely. And so, I'll give the top line and then I'm going to ask our new Chief, HR Officer Candi Jones, to come up as well as Camille Duchaussee who heads our CAO unit. So --
And one additional follow-up, and just give me an idea of also we know what the federal government laying off a lot of individuals in the city of Philadelphia, and the Mayor stepped up and said, well, we have vacancies and went on and did a recruitment tour. I want to get an idea of -- also how did that work in terms of -- because I had several constituents who called me who lost their jobs, and so that particular initiative gave people a safety net, one opportunity to come work for the city of Philadelphia. So please give us an update on that as well.
Absolutely. So we are -- we've been very, very intentional over the last year in our recruitment efforts, not just in the traditional sense of posting on the traditional platforms like LinkedIn and through social media. We've also been very intentional on using -- doing ad buys and deploying radio station ads talking about, you know, the opportunity to come and join the workforce. We also have a mobile unit that goes out and does hiring fairs where people can go onto this bus of sorts and apply, in real time, for critically needed positions, hard to -- hard to fill positions. So we've been really intentional in that. We've seen a decrease in our vacancy rates overall and we've also been intentional seeing what's happening at the federal level doing recruitment fairs. We've done a recruitment -- we had a recruitment initiative, a fair that we did down in DC earlier this year, and then we had another one that occurred just last week. Candi Jones will now take over and talk about the number of job fairs that we've had to date and where those numbers are. But I will say, I'm proud to share that we've hired a significant amount of people over the last year, closing that vacancy rate.
So I'll start, just generally, about the vacancy rates. So as of March, 2025, we have about 5,700 vacancies, so that closes the gap to about percent, 9 whereas the prior vacancy rate was 10 about 19 percent. Our application 11 numbers are increasing 12 significantly, partially due to the 13 "Philly On The Move" campaign with 14 the hiring bus and also our 15 recruitment efforts, and billboards, 16 and digital advertising at the 17 airport and at the stadiums. We've increased our application count from 53,000 applications in 2023 to about -- to over 60,000 applications in 2024. In 2024, we've attended over 155 events and engaged over 3,000 candidates. And since January of 2025, we've already attended over events also in partnership with some of the Councilmembers, to do very targeted recruitment in some of the districts. Sorry. For the federal recruitment events, we've had two events, one in January and just one this past week. We've engaged over 250 potential employees that are either in transition or looking to transition in from the federal government. So at this time the Office of Human Resources is kind of intentionally creating partnerships with those candidates who've come out to our events and some of those who have not made it to align them with City Department heads and leaders so that we can make intentional connections and fill some of those vacancies.
24 Thank you. I'm going to follow-up, but The Chair at this moment recognizes Majority Leader Gilmore- Richardson.
Thank you. I don't know what's wrong with this thing. Thank you. Thank you very much, Council President. I just had a point of clarification. I was trying to take notes on what you were stating. If you could just repeat for me the amount of vacancies and then repeat for me the actual percentage that you notated. And based on what I thought I heard, if you could just, for the record, tell us for FY '24 and '25 the budgeted vacancy rate versus the actual vacancy rate. Thank you, Mr. President.
So for -- as of March of 2025, there are 5,791 vacancies which is approximately percent of the vacancy rate. I apologize, I missed the next question.
Yes, based on what I 7 thought I heard you state, if you 8 could just, for the record, notate 9 what the budgeted vacancy rate and 10 the actual vacancy rate is for FY 11 '24 and FY '25? 12
I don't have 13 those numbers in front of me, but I 14 can certainly follow-up with those. 15
And I do know that we have a hearing coming up with CAO and OHR so we can -- we're prepared to certainly follow-up in writing, but then answer any further questions you have during that hearing as well. But really proud that we were able to decrease the vacancy rate by to percent, and that number will continue to decline as Candi Jones and her team continue to be intentional about our recruitment efforts here locally.
8 Can we expand that mobile 9 bus? Like, we have one, but based 10 upon the central urgency and 11 addressing the issue of poverty 12 through job creation, could we 13 possibly maybe get two, three, maybe 14 four, five, maybe one per Council 15 district? 16
Listen, the 17 demand calls for that. The demand calls for that so we will not -- we will not say no to that, absolutely.
Because -- so there's a $10 million investment for workforce. Could somebody give a detail on what that $10 million in this budget are going to be for?
Absolutely. I'll call on now Camille Duchaussee, our Chief Administrative Officer.
Good morning. Camille Duchaussee, chief Administrative Officer. The $10 million allocation or ask is relative to this considerable work that we're doing in terms of workforce development. The City College for Municipal Employment, while it is a bespoke program that has partnerships with the Community College of Philadelphia, it's also the umbrella for our workforce development efforts. So this is making sure that we have partnerships with all of the stakeholders throughout the city, our labor partners, the philanthropic community, the School District of Philadelphia as well as CCP. This -- we really have a comprehensive plan for ensuring that we are not leaving any stone unturned and that we are leveraging the talent within the city of Philadelphia to fill our workforce needs. In combination with the work of CCME, we are working very closely with the Office of Human Resources, the Commerce Department, to leverage all of the existing partnerships that we have and create new partnerships.
Can you give me an update on where we're at with the Municipal College?
Sure. So we are very early in, as you know, we stood up CCME on September. We launched September of 2024. Successfully, we had a first cohort that included approximately 75 students across three different program areas: IT, our health services, specialists and our administrative officers -- administrative support staff, right? The administrative professional program was the first and only thus far to be completed. The candidates in that program are in the process of interviewing for municipal employment. And so we are hoping by spring we will have the first cohort of programs completed and have better numbers for you, more accurate numbers. But the response was extremely positive with very little by way of advertisement. There was a lot of word of mouth. We had just under a thousand candidates express interest. Again, we are constantly in -- and again, the funding would go a far -- go pretty far with expanding the programs that we're able to offer. We are aligning the programs that we create to the vacancies that are existing and have been critical and difficult for us to fill, traditionally, in the city. And so we are moving forward with things like paramedic, our EEO professionals, and of course, we continue to partner with prisons and the police department to ensure that we are creating spaces to upskill and provide on-ramp and pathways to employment in those areas where we have significant vacancies.
Okay. Well, thank you very much. And again, you know, my single, like focus is around job growth and development that specifically tackle poverty, right? Erase that moniker is best being the largest poorest city in America, and I believe this administration, this body, is at the right time in history to actually erase that moniker. And so that's why I want to get some additional follow-up questions particularly around those particular issues, which before I turn over to my colleague, I just want to talk about FY '26 celebration. You know, the world will be watching us, so I want to get an idea, One, I know we did a midyear transfer, the exact amount that we transferred, just for the record. And then also how much is in this budget to support the celebration, the 250 celebration. But most importantly, just making sure that the dollars that are transferred, the dollars that are budgeted, that the organization they're going to are equitable across the board. So as we celebrate the birthplace of America and we celebrate, you know, Betsy Ross and Rocky, we're still also supporting Paul Robeson and Joe Frazier within the same context, right? And these organizations that are out there are doing the same work. And so as I observe and pay attention to this process and I talk to different people, you know, they want to make sure they're a part of it, and that this process is very, very inclusive while we're utilizing the taxpayers' dollars to celebrate the birthplace of America. So we want to celebrate everybody and make sure everybody has a seat at the table and advocating, promoting and participating in the celebration. So can I just get an update on where we're at?
Absolutely. And we have Budget Director Sabrina Maynard for any additional details, but generally speaking, specifically speaking, Councilman, you're absolutely correct. We -- the administration is proud to have already devoted over $60 million towards celebrating 2026, but we're not done, so that's why you'll see in FY '26 we call for an additional $40 million. So over $100 million dollars in investments that the city is putting to making sure that we have the best celebration and put on the biggest party in America. The birthplace of America was here and we're going to make sure that we shine and Philadelphia is adequately reflected. But that entails addressing 2026 investments from a three-prong standpoint, making sure that all of the events are exciting. So we get kicked off this summer with the Club World Cup rolling into the fall with the 250th founding -- the anniversary of the 250th founding of the U.S. Marines and Navy. So actually events start this year and we are prepared to meet that challenge. Then we have a great New Year's Eve 2026 extravaganza planned for New Year's Eve, and of course, in 2026, we have the semi sesquicentennial which is a lot to say and it's just a fancy way of saying celebrating America's 250th birthday on July 4th of next year. And then we also have the MLB world -- MLB All-Star game taking place here. So while we have those big events, we're also going to be having and sponsoring and partnering with organizations that will be having -- putting on smaller events across the city. So we have the events that are happening in terms of the special events, but we also are significantly invested, as you will see, in the security around those events, and that can't be taken lightly. We've seen the headlines, we've seen this past New Year's Eve and some of the unfortunate attacks that have happened in other cities. We want to make sure that Philadelphia is more than prepared to meet this moment. We want to have fun, but we got to make sure our residents are safe. And then last, but not least, it touches on what you mentioned. Our approach has been to make sure that, yes, we know downtown there's going to be a lot of things going on. Center City is going to be a popping place. But that's not all. For the Parker administration, our priority is making sure that every neighborhood feels the lasting impact of the 2026 experience. So from uptown to Southwest Philly and Nicetown and Overbrook and Northeast, we are going to be focusing on commercial quarters and partnering with organizations that are, yes, the traditional arts and cultures organization that we all know and love, but some of those community groups. And you'll see that as we continue through this budget and beyond.
All right. Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Curtis Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. And I know I only have three minutes so I'm going to cut all of the flattery I wanted to give all of them off of my -- off of my time, but I would be remised in not thanking the Mayor for putting together this team. I call you my musketeers, of which Porthos is the budget director, who has been here budget testimonies. Rob 12 Dubow is an amazing steward of the 13 budget. 14
15 Hey, before you start 16 giving them props, we got to get our 17 stuff first. 18
Well, 19 yeah, all right. So I just didn't 20 want to come off my time but -- 21
What I want to say to you is that I am proud of what the direction this city is going in. I listened to Mayor Parker's projections on housing, and you don't have to answer this question, but I want to know that you are contemplating the answer to this question. All of these projections depend on what number 45 -- 47 actually, does up in the White House. And I want to know and be assured that there is a plan B so that this modest surplus that we have is in position to be the stop- gap if he decides to attempt to bully the city of Philadelphia. Because we -- my leader, Mayor Parker, is not going to be bullied. She's not going to compromise her positions on her core values. But fiscally, are we preparing with a plan B? That's question number one. Number two, I want you to know that during the course of this budget, I will be revisiting the blueprint for safer Philadelphia. I always -- I already talked to our Police Commissioner to, kind of, look by department, how we're doing. There's a 39 percent reduction in shootings. I know it's a combination of things, but I'd like to know in a granular detail, what things are working, what things we need to double down and do more of? And Vanessa, I know you've been on this for a very long time. And second -- third thing is that something that I've always been concerned about is our capital budget and how long it takes to do any one thing. I'm excited that a partner, who is my shero, that has taken on that goal but we've had all these iterations with rebuild and this build and that build, but we ain't -- we haven't built enough. And so how do we get rid of that 10-year backlog of capital projects? And is that, in effect, a way to help stimulate the local economy by putting shovels in the ground. And then along with Rob Dubow, I've been here now budget 8 -- no, 17 budget presentations. And 9 I always pick one department -- not 10 to pick one but to hope to do -- 11 motivate to do better. And one of 12 them is -- and I couldn't do their 13 job, I say it with authority, the 14 office of homelessness. We've got a 15 homeless problem in the city of 16 Philadelphia and it is wedded to the 17 mental health problem that we face 18 in the city of Philadelphia. And if we're going to be a great city for FIFA, if we're going to be a great city for -- there you go see, I got them all in.
How do we take on that task so that when people visit our city, they're not stepping over the downtrodden and we have to kind of work with both hemispheres of our brain to solve that. And I'll drop the mic there. Thank you. You can answer that now, you can answer that during the budget. You can answer both.
So I have four different buckets that we are -- we're mapping it out. First, we'll start with housing. The Mayor has this process of ensuring that whenever we proffer a plan, we've gone through -- we've put it through a rigorous test, a very rigorous test. She calls it a geometric, if then, statement.
A geometric, if then, statement. So this is the plan, but then if this happens, what do you do then? And then if that happens, then what do you do then? And so, whether it's our housing plan, our Kensington Revival plan, the Wellness Center plan, the Wellness Ecosystem plan, even tax reforms, our five-year plan overall. Every plan that we proffer as an administration has gone through a rigorous geometric if then statement . So to answer your first question, our housing plan, the address that was delivered yesterday, the plan that is being uploaded as we speak, are the plans that we will go into greater detail on April 21st. It has gone through that rigorous plan such that it will stand the test of time, should federal cuts happen at the federal level, should proposals that we're hoping, you know, be put forth and passed, including the governor's budget being adopted at the state level, should those things happen, great. But if they don't, we always have another plan. I don't call it a plan B because the mission is the mission, and we're going to continue on the mission but we will employ different tactics. We're happy to discuss that in greater detail on April 21st regarding housing. As it pertains to the blueprint, I'd now like to call up our director of Public Safety, Adam Geer, to talk about how we've actually adopted many of the principals in that plan. And I know that the Mayor gave you a wonderful -- a nod, a shout out, a recognition for the hard work that your team did to bring that plan to bear. So Adam Geer can talk about that and then we'll go to the third bucket.
Morning esteemed Councilmembers. Absolutely, Councilmember Jones, we have been doing a lot in this administration, right? It started with a lot of the work that this body had been doing and leading on, and we built on that. Our anti-violence prevention grants program, that $25 million that you all gave to the city to dispense is making a difference. The leadership of this Council is making a difference. The leadership of our Mayor, making a difference of our police commissioner, of the folks you see here on the table, right? It is all of these things. It is cleaning, it is greening, it is sanitation. None of them are having an effect in their silos. They're all collectively contributing along with, yes, our back to work, right? Along with -- I would even go so far as to say the Eagles winning, lifting up a morale. All of this stuff matters as a city, but leadership matters. We're leaning into your plan. We're really excited to talk about all of the other work the Office of Public Safety has been doing for the past year built again upon the work that this Council and others community members have been doing for years.
I have a question on that same line of questioning. So I know we start off with -- I think it was 22 million last year, and then we 23 advocated for an additional 30. And we know in this budget, it's for the fact -- for the Violence Prevention grants. How much did we spend for -- on the Violence Prevention grants for Boots Center Ground organizations? And then also -- and I know we have a chance to talk to you about the Office of Public Safety, but also give us an idea about the consultant work for regarding evaluating the effectiveness of our investments with organizations from the violence prevention money.
Absolutely. So we're not done spending the money, right? We have already gotten through our CEG, our largest grants. We made those awards and also our second largest grants, the CCG. So that money is ramping up and getting out the door, we're signing those contracts, and we are finalizing probably within the next 10 days the organizations that are going to be receiving the TSIG, those smaller micro loans to do their work. We intend to spend all, if not most of the money.
For the TSIG and the CEG. I know that we have that available. So I will -- I will make that available to you.
Second part of your question, Councilmember, if you could repeat?
-- of the organizations. And to be frank, this is being asked since Vanessa was in the position so I got asked a question, so I want to just put on a record and see where we're at in terms of moving that process forward under this administration.
Most of our major programs have been evaluated or are currently being evaluated. That includes P3, that includes GVI. So it's either in process or it has been completed. Now, a lot of this is new territory that the city is leading on, right? And so what I mean by that is, we have hired a Director of Performance Management. We did a nationwide search. We brought up gentleman back home to Philadelphia who's doing -- leading the work in the Seattle DA's office. And we have tasked him with now our grants team, which we'll talk about it more, but we've pulled together all of our performance management folks from all of the agencies. They used to be in each of the agencies. They now operate together as a group. We pulled them out of their silos so that we could all be speaking the same performance language. And his task is going to be to continue to evaluate and understand how our groups, how our anti-violence program groups work, what effect they have, the lives that they are saving. And so we will talk more about that, but we are engaged in that work and we'll lead on that.
So at some point in time we expect a report to say, from the investments that we have given, here's our dashboard on how we're being effective in terms of investing and supporting Boots on the Ground Organizations and how that ties into saving lives, correct?
As a first step, we're going to have prepared for April 8th, the number of what our city's anti-violence spending is. As a next step, we're going to continue the evaluations of those programs and then be able to report back to Council what we think works and what we think does not work and where we're going.
And then also -- because I also believe that what gets measured, gets done, right?
But then I'll have another follow-up conversation which we just -- to also make sure when we talk about quality and we talk about quantity and numbers and evaluation, right, it can sometimes be a little complicated when you're dealing with also, like, you know, mom and pop organizations that are actually doing the work, right, but also need the back office support compared to, like a pin that might get millions of dollars from PCCD, but they're not in the neighborhood, right? Where they're partnering with groups in the neighborhood and using their list to say, during our outreach, we touch 300 people, but that's off the partnership of working for organizations like NOMO or Unity in the Community. And so -- but, so we can be fiscally responsible, we would like to see a thorough evaluation to make sure that our investments are put in good hands. And so I look forward to working with you on that.
Mr. President, 83 million a year from the federal government goes to PCCD goes to those groups. We have to be cognizant of that kind of impact. And I'm sorry to take --
No, you're absolutely right and those are the -- those organizations that even the Council President referenced, NOMO, that work is really important. We want to make sure that we have all the right levers and supports in place to ensure whatever changes at whatever level, that organizations that are the boots on the ground that have been doing the work and doing a significant amount of work and doing a really good job can continue doing that. So whether that's Unity in the Community under Anton or NOMO, under Rickey Duncan, we want to continue -- and EMIR, Chantay Love and on and on, we want to continue to support those organizations because it's proof positive that it is working. And Council President, I really like what you said. What gets measured, gets done. That's the impetus for Philly Stat 360. And we have -- we have our standard 31 stats and measures that we measure on that site, but also we build out story board. So I know we were here recently in this room 23 discussing our public safety plan and our commitment to Kensington and even the Kensington Caucus. And we have a story board up to show how we're measuring our success. And so I can tell you that, you know, it's exactly as Director Geer said, April 8th is D-Day. That's when we'll provide that report to you on those numbers. Accountability is important. What get measured, gets done. That's going to be my new mantra.
Can we defer the third bucket so that my colleagues can get in? I'll circle back.
So we'll make sure that we submit, in writing, a response around the efficiency of our new Capital Programs Office.
Under the leadership of Aparna Palantino. And then of course, all of the amazing work that's happening under Cheryl Hill for our Office of Homeless Services. We will submit that.
So we can do that on round two, if it's okay with you, Mr. President.
The Chair recognizes Majority Leader Gilmore-Gilmore-Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you, Council President. And I wanted to start off with a thank you to the administration and to each of you for the work throughout the year. It's been a wonderful year to work together on a number of constituent issues. So I just wanted to put that on the record. I wanted to go back to the point around the vacancy rate so I could properly put my question on the record. I asked this because of our overall financial picture and outlook over the next several years based on a number of things. And, you know, I heard you talk about the end of the one-time federal funds, the new uncertainty in Washington, the new contracts, our new union contracts, our pension obligation payment in FY '29, the service department demands, the weaker tax base, maintaining the positive fund balance, and then also the investments in the BSR and the Federal funding reserve. And so just for the record, for the vacancy rate, because this will be important to me and I know I talked to Rob and Sabrina about this as well. If you could just detail for us the vacancy rate versus actuals for the last two years. And then what you have budgeted for this year in addition to the budgeted vacancy allowance for this year. I'll start there. And then I wanted to ensure that I put on the record, my concern and consternation regarding the workforce development change. You all know, and this is prior to this administration, that during the COVID years, during our budget process in the previous administration that the workforce development department was eliminated and then became a unit under the Commerce Department, much to the push of members of City Council. And now, we are just getting back to a space in place where there's real investment in workforce development both from the commitment of the Mayor and of your administration, but also from a financial perspective and how we are working, both internally and externally, on recruitment. And so I want to put on the record that I do have concern regarding the transition of the workforce development department in that, I thought the thinking was, initially, for that department to work under commerce to talk about all the things that the commerce director mentioned earlier today from a business growth perspective from commerce, but also if, in the Commerce Department, you're working directly with the businesses that will hire the individuals, who will work at those businesses, if that was the reason why workforce development stayed with commerce. And I get CCME is sort of the umbrella to do the recruitment work for the city overall but I'm talking about from an overall financial picture of commerce is working with the businesses, and the businesses are the ones that will hire the workforce here in the city. So I'll go back to -- I just wanted to paint that picture for you. I'll go back to the question regarding the vacancies and then if we could go to the commerce workforce development question next.
Yeah. So I think we know what you want. Probably, we look at vacancy by division. So we can get you something that shows how what we had in the budget compares to actual, and you want that for '24 and '25?
And we're still getting some of that back from the department. So the '26 part may take a little longer, but '24 and '25 we can get to you.
Right. That's why I started with '24 and '25 because I figured wasn't completely 17 finished yet, but I think that'll 18 help us sort of understand what 19 actual wiggle room we may have per 20 se. And I also wanted to address -- 21 go ahead. 22
Sorry. 23 Remember we're going -- we'll say 24 part of the trade off on vacancy allowances depending on the department between that and overtime.
So we'd probably then need to look at, kind of, how overtime compared to projection too, just to give that fuller picture.
Right. And I -- and I think the other reason why I was asking that question is because when you go through the materials and in reading everything, there are a number of new positions slated for a number of departments based on priority. And so, for me, I'm seeking to understand how many of those positions are brand new positions to city government versus a position that can address a vacancy that has already been allotted for in the budget process.
Yeah, understood. And that was one of the things that working with OHR we looked at as we looked at each budget request.
So I was actually working under the previous administration prior to the Office of Workforce Development being established during the process of the office being established, being the department that stood up a program, the first program under that office and then seeing it successfully grow. As I was transitioning out of government at that time, that's when COVID hit and then the decision was made to put it in commerce. Coming back in this role, you know, drawing on my experiences both in government on the previous administration, but then also working with other local governments across the nation and in my consultant role, I realized that enterprise-wide roles, enterprise- wide work should rest and reside in enterprise-wide focused departments. And so that was the impetus for the change. So yes, the work that is led under Gianna who is here today, Gianna Grossmann it is -- it was doing really well in the Commerce Department, but it was siloed because it was only focusing on those businesses tied to commerce. That work continues but it's more enterprise-wide now. So not just focusing on the businesses externally or external to government and looking at job growth, but also internally as well. So we are -- and we're doing the same thing as well in our restructuring with our HR practices. We find that when we centralize it, and we can -- we can then ensure that there's a common practice, a common north stars if you will, common guidepost and guidelines that each department will be held accountable for. And so under the leadership of Carol De Fries and CAO, in partnership, of course, with Gianna Grossman. There it is, Grossman. We are -- we are ensuring that that work is -- it is not just siloed to businesses. And so that is really important to us, not just focusing on those businesses, but enterprise- wide across all of our many departments.
And I read the bill and I want to be respectful of the clock and I do have a lot here that I want to try to get through today, but it was my understanding that OHR handle more of the internal coordination of workforce development, that it was not just the business coordination under the Commerce Department, but it was also the nonprofit partner round table that, you know, collaborated with the Commerce Department. It wasn't just business. I think commerce was more external, I should say. It included the nonprofit partners, they had a round table, a robust round table of nonprofits that they met with on a daily basis. We work with even the life sciences and tech industry folks with commerce as well. So I didn't look at it as commerce being in a silo. I thought that OHR did the internal portion, which would be more of the CCME work, and that commerce focused on the external to city government the nonprofits and the businesses, obviously that are coming to the city. So I say that because I also was looking at the additional positions for it as well along with recognizing the work that commerce, I think, has done a good job around ensuring that we are properly investing in workforce development, even creating outside opportunities for these organizations with the money that we and Council had put into that work under the previous administration because of what happened during COVID. So --
Yeah, it wasn't a punitive decision. They were doing a great job under commerce, and they're doing a great job but it's expanded. We've expanded our approach. But the focus is both internal and external under CAO. So that hasn't -- that hasn't changed. Just last week, we met with over a hundred nonprofits to circle back to them and remain accountable to the work that we were doing around our contracting and procurement process. There is a workforce development component tied to that as well. So we were able to seamlessly address one issue and then talk about the additional work that we want to expand with our workforce development. So it's just -- it's a different model but it certainly doesn't take away from all of the different organizations across a myriad of sectors that we were engaged with under commerce. We're still -- actually, our engagement has grown in these last few months under our new CCME model. I think that we've been able to attract more external partners in that -- with that model as well. And so I just want to, you know, just state for the record that it is -- that I'm really proud of the direction that we're going with workforce development. We're even being more intentional in how we are engaging with our labor unit -- union. So we have some exciting work coming ahead that we'll be announcing pretty soon around partnerships with SEIU, Unite Here, CARP, Rosie's Girl, Sam Staten Jr. So we have those investments already in our -- in our budget, in our portfolio. We're able to expand it at record clip because of that enterprise-wide focus that the CAO team brings, that was a bit more siloed under commerce. So we just increased our effectiveness but it didn't take away certainly from all of the work that was happening within the Commerce Department.
Okay. I appreciate the response. I'll come back on the next round but I'm happy that you stated for the record regarding sort of the thinking around workforce development, which was -- I have to be honest, it's one of my babies since I've been here.
This has been the work that I have focused on, legislation that I have passed, and so I just wanted to ensure that you all understood the importance of it by placing it on the record. And in addition to that, I'm happy that you stated that investments are already in this process for the pre-apprenticeship work because I know that we had to talk about that last budget cycle.
Particularly for the Sam Staten, Jr. Apprenticeship Program, for Rosie's Girls, for the CARP program and also for -- it's one other program, one of the workforce development program that we support is a pre-apprenticeship program. But I'm happy that you put that on the record that the support is already there for those organizations.
They're there for those organizations. We're really excited about that work. It's tied also to our housing agenda. So we are really thinking about how we can be more comprehensive with our investments, right? Ensuring that our dollars, that we can stretch it as long and wide as we can. So through CCME, we have -- the same way we have -- we have a funnel of showing, you know, starting through partnering with the school district and schools like it, our charter schools, creating that funnel at the early ages through CCME, working from that enterprise wide approach to putting them in critically needed positions, ensuring that whether it's within government or with our -- with our third party partners and then making sure that it's tied to our housing agenda and other agendas around clean and green to advance that work. That's what we mean by economic opportunity for all. So I appreciate that, your ongoing support and that acknowledgement there.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Council President. I'll come back on the next round to talk about more of my finance questions. Okay. Thanks.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning. How's everybody doing? Good to see everyone. I just had one quick question and I want to just refer back to the Mayor's conversation yesterday or her speech yesterday, regarding housing and the $400 million borrow that was going to be coming up. And she really did emphasize that that money would not sort of sit around which is, kind of, something that happens over and over and over again. When we have these projects, when we did rebuild, you know, we had this, you know, borrow a $100 million and then we couldn't get it out the door and then we borrowed another hundred. And meanwhile, we're paying debt service, and people aren't seeing projects done as promised. And, you know -- and, you know, I'm not blaming you. Obviously, that was another administration. But how do we make sure that this money gets out the door which is critically important to ensuring that the full scope of her plan and project to provide, you know, 30,000 units new and refurbished existing units? How do we make sure that that actually happens and get those dollars out the door? Because we have a problem with spending money. You know, we're the only people who have a problem with spending money. Most of the time you -- you know, you've got some money and is burning a hole in your pocket and it's not really a problem to spend it down. But the way that we operate, and I think Councilman Jones had done a chart which showed from beginning to end. How many steps was it councilman?
Too many. Okay. It was a lot to be able to proceed with a project. You know, I don't want to, you know, guesstimate but it -- you know, I want to say 30, 40, somewhere in that range steps in the city of Philadelphia to be able to get a project up and running. Anytime we can build 95 and, you know, rebuild parts of 95 in a couple of days. And, you know, we see private developers who can get their projects up and running, you know, in a few months, and then our projects take forever. So how are we fixing that to be able to accomplish her goal and vision?
So I'm going to call up Jessie Lawrence, our Director of Planning and Development.
By successfully adopting our HOME Initiative, that's how we do it. So that HOME Initiative -- jokes aside, but no, seriously, that -- the HOME Initiative does that. So the first thing that we did was over 30 days ago, we -- the Mayor executed or delivered an executive order, which called first on us, it called for introspection, for plus 18 departments to look at how we do 19 business, what are the bottlenecks? 20 What are the barriers? What's going 21 to prevent us from having shovels in 22 the ground? How do we learn from 23 rebuild and initiatives like it? 24 And then what are we doing really well? And then how do we learn from that and adopt that. So on Friday, we received those recommendations from those departments. We're now operationalizing that work through our -- in the Mayor's office, we have a new office of Policy Planning and Delivery. That D stands for delivery. It's the implementation that's really important. So they are working in partnership with the plus departments and partnership 14 with a Philly Stat 360, because as 15 the Council President said, what 16 gets measured, gets done. 17 So we are holding ourselves 18 accountable with all of those 100 19 plus recommendations. We're making 20 it public. It is going to be on our 21 Philly Stat 360 website. And by 22 streamlining processes through those 23 recommendations and more, we're 24 going to be able to get shovels in the ground, but also through the successful passage of the recommendations that we've put forth. So two $400 million bonds and then I'll give it over to Jesse to talk in more detail.
Well, before you do that, let me just ask a follow-up. So, with the introspection that's been done, will there be -- and I know you said you just got sort of, like, a report or, you know, a plan last week. And so, will there be a report to Council detailing how we're going to change things, how we're going to take it from, let's say 40 steps to, you know --
-- a reasonable number? So you will be reporting back to Council on that?
Absolutely. And in fact -- so under Jessie Lawrence's leadership along with his Chief of Staff, John Mondlak, here recently, they showed me all of those steps and my mind was blown at the number of steps it takes to bring a project to bear. So we are streamlining that process. We have proffered a recommendation. We're not touching councilmanic prerogative, but we are -- we are looking at how we address that through a new recommendation that we're putting forth that the Mayor teased yesterday, that we will go into greater detail on April 21st. But I'll kick it over to Jessie to talk in greater detail now.
One last question. When do you -- when do you think that you'll be able to report back? How long do you think it'll take you?
That's not the type of department or that's not the type of city that we're running.
So I just looked over to my right a few minutes ago and saw our CIO, Melissa Scott. So as quickly as Melissa Scott and Kristin Bray, our Chief Legal Counsel and head of Philly Stat can get it up, it will be up there. But we really are a government that we want residents that can see, touch, and feel. We're a government of transparency. So as quickly as we can get it up, it will be there and we'll make sure that Y'all have that.
And just to give the bottom line to the top line, you just got. We have done a significant amount of research on the pace in which the program spending associated with many of the programs that we're carrying over, continuing investing and expanding. We have a great sense of how money and funds have been spent over. A lot of that has been -- a good amount of that's being carried over from NPI, so we have a sense of the spending whether it's on a weekly basis, quarterly basis. And then also with the new programs we've quantified how we need to staff up to respond to that as well. My particular unit will give it 30 some odd positions to be able to support what we're doing there.
And we will be -- you know, we're looking at it in terms of the executive order report that you've -- that the Chief of Staff just described, understanding where the different departments are already aligned to carry out a lot of that work when it comes to the programs. So, you know, we were tasked with providing the finance and budget department a specific spend down schedule. So we've looked at that understanding, where we're going to be able to bridge the gap, with whatever's left over in the existing MPI draw down, but also understanding on a quarterly basis and fiscal year basis when we'll be hitting certain marks. Because it's going to take some time to stand up some new programs, but we also have the capacity to maintain the existing programs as well. So with the existing programs, we're expanding them, understanding what monetarily and staff-wise it is going to take to move all of that out. The key here is to minimize our finance department holding on to funds way longer than they should be because they're the ones paying out the debt services. So we need to make sure that that timeline aligns, so we're closely monitoring that as we finalize our budget, make sure that we are on the same page about what programs are being rolled out. We are looking at every single one of those programs to be sure about when they'll actually start, when they need to be funded, and how soon we can fund them.
Well, excellent. Well, I just want to thank you for your work. I'm really excited. I'm very excited because it's -- you know, it's been a minute, you know, Rebuild had great promise potential and expectations. And so it's been way too quiet for the liking of most, you know, it's been quite like a cemetery. It's been way too quiet to move these projects along to get them where we had thought we would be by now. Rebuild was debuted, I think in 2016, and it's just -- it is just not where we had hoped it would be. So I'm excited about the possibilities that you're presenting here today. So this is -- this is good. Thank you.
Thank you, Member Bass. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. And good morning to Y'all. Thank you for being here. I wanted to talk about homelessness in our city. Despite past stumbles, we cannot deny how crucial the Office of Homeless Services is. As homelessness becomes a more urgent and widespread issue, we need to ensure that the department has the tools it needs to serve our neighbors who don't have a place to call home. It was heartening to hear the Mayor speak about the unprecedented amount of investment in housing in our city that will come through the HOME Initiative, especially in light of early impressions from the recent point in time count that homelessness in our city is rising. So, I wanted to ask as it relates to the HOME Initiative, will eradicating homelessness be a part of this huge undertaking? What additional resources and tools, if any, are being deployed in this effort? And can you explain the proposed $5 million decrease in OHS funding over the next five years?
So I'll take that two -- there's a two-prong question. First, I want to, you know, thank you, Cheryl Hill who is -- who is seated at this table who was not here last year. We -- when we started in this administration, of all of the departments that we wanted to see a quick and fast turnaround, it was OHS. And we are really grateful for Cheryl Hill and her leadership and all of the dynamic work that's happened since she's arrived here in this role. So Cheryl will take the first question, and then the second question around eradicating homelessness as a part of our HOME Initiative, I'll call on first, Crystal Yates-Gale to talk about this proof of concept that we're socializing. And then Jessie Lawrence and our new Chief of Housing and Urban Development Officer, Angela Brooks, will talk about our -- the supportive housing component of the HOME Initiative. So, Cheryl, first, then Crystal, and Jesse and Angela.
Thank you. So first I want to say we can end homelessness in Philadelphia, and that is our intent. And so one of the things that we are currently doing is we're looking at our processes, we're looking at the services that we provide and make sure they're the right ones for the people who are unhoused in Philadelphia. So we take what you say seriously and we definitely appreciate your efforts that you have also had in trying to end homelessness. But one of the things that we are looking at is how we spend the money and making sure that it goes to the right places, to make sure that it's serving the right people. And so we are looking at how much shelter that we provide, how we can target permanent housing. And as the Chief of Staff said, we will be working closely with Jessie's team in order to do that. But also we have been engaging PHA, we've been engaging other providers to really talk about it. And on Thursday, we are actually having a community meeting to engage the service provider community as well to be able to talk about how we can do things different in order to end homelessness in Philadelphia.
Good morning, Councilmember. Thank you for always caring about the unhoused in Philadelphia. When we first heard or when I first heard about the proof of concept, I'm like, let's call it a proof of concept to end street homelessness in Philadelphia. And that is our plan. So as part of Mr. Lawrence's department plan to add 30,000 units to the system, OHS is working very collaboratively with them to make 3000 of them -- at least 3000 of them part of OHS's supply of housing for people. The other thing is related to what Councilmember Bass has said is that part of our proof of concept is to provide these things at what the Mayor says is I-95 speed. So that's the answer to what we're trying to do to eradicate homelessness in Philadelphia.
I will also note, for the record, that the budget was not cut. We can talk more about that. But before we get there, we'll talk about supportive housing as it's part of this initiative. And I'll call on now Angela Brooks, our Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer.
Sorry. Good morning and thank you. So I would just like to refer to the section of the plan. So first, prevent housing instability and homelessness is one of the north stars of the HOME Initiative. And we have quite a bit of focus that's on that. But we have specific recommendations in the plan that are a part of that. So it would be the existing programs that we have, eviction diversion, homeless prevention. We want to invest and expand in EDP targeted financial assistance. We've got the Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Programs and Right to Counsel that will be continuing transitional housing and homelessness prevention, permanent housing and supportive housing services, tenant-based rental assistance, and rapid rehousing and foreclosure prevention. And just to -- just, kind of, note for me, prior to coming here, I worked for the Corporation for Supportive Housing for -- so for the last four years I've been working on preventing and ending homelessness on a national level. So this is something that's very personal to me, but something I have a lot of experience in. So it will be a hyper focus of some of the work that we're doing, but we're also looking forward to working with you and some of the things that you've been doing as well, Councilmember Gauthier. So certainly, I look forward to having conversations with you around that. But it is a huge north star of this plan. It's a hyper focus and it's one of the biggest things that the Mayor has talked about since I've started in some of her key focus areas. So I look forward to thinking about how we end homelessness in Philadelphia. It is an achievable goal. I think a lot of the funding, increasing units and some of the plans that we have outside of that, that aren't explicitly tied to ending homelessness will be very applicable as well, and really help to eradicate homelessness.
And then finally, which is part of your question, but also I certainly want to also shout out Councilmember Lozada. We are investing additional dollars into Code Blue, and I know that, that is something that is really important to all members of Council especially in Kensington and the work that you are doing under your leadership there, Councilmember Lozada. We also learned through statistics, that were provided under Cheryl Hill's leadership, that two-thirds of the people that actually come into our homeless shelters are first timers. And so through our HOME Initiative, we are looking at ways to do that eradication by ensuring that we have pathways that prevent them from going into our homeless shelters but that can provide supportive housing as a -- as a solution. So we're working on that initiative in coordination with OHS, other departments of -- including under Angela's leadership and Jessie Lawrence's.
Good. And I established a working group around this particular issue that I want to work in partnership with the administration on, one, about the point in time count.
Who gets count, who doesn't get count. Two, the quality of our shelters. Because when I was out on the street doing Code Blue, talking to individuals, some to be quite frank what you said, I prefer to be here than to go and deal with what's going on in some of the shelters. And so the evaluation standpoint, taking a look at that. And then also our system, making sure everybody has an opportunity to talk with one another and share information. I know some people say it may impact the HIPAA law. I see Renee Garcia over there. But other cities have a system where service providers are able to talk to one another through a particular portal while you have individuals going from one service or one shelter to another. So I want to be a partner in that. And not so much because we're about to celebrate on the birthplace of America, but because it's the morally thing that we should be doing. And also not looking at homeless as just a quality of life issue but also from a moral standpoint. You have children, young people sleeping from house to house, couch to couch, families particularly young ladies with children not on the street, but staying from house to house on people's couches because they don't have a home. And so I want to be a partner in that with my colleagues in the administration.
Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones, and then I'll go back and relinquish your time to Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you so much, Mr. President, and thank you, Jamie, for reinforcing this issue. When you went out on Code Blue, 30-plus people contacted. Only one went in and said he felt safer in prison --