Enforce the law. It's a very simple thing. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: I'm going to ask everybody --
-- what makes landlords special -- CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: -- to quite --
-- that they should not have to post their license credentials? There is no provision that speaks to what you have stated. That wasn't my question though. Thank you for answering something else. My question was, what makes landlords special that they do not have to post this? I sit in a barbershop and every chair I look at, the barber has a actual license in every single one of those chairs, because you have to address these sorts of things, and there has to be some sense of faith engendered into the customers that are coming there. Why should they get a pass to not prove and make it accessible to be able to do that? We understand that license information is available on Atlas, restaurants and other businesses are in a similar situation. The purpose of our legislation is to help make this information as accessible as possible so that folks can actually have faith that their issues are being addressed.
Landlords -- CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: I'm going to -- let me just pause for a second. So a couple things. This is a really important exchange, and we need quiet in order to hear it. Secondly --
Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: -- I'm going to ask to the best of your ability, if you can provide a direct response to the direct question that the -- that the Councilmember asks. And then I'm going to try to push us along. We not only have one additional panel, we have a number of people for public comment, so I'd like to, kind of, move things along.
Landlords are the most regulated industry in the world. Nobody's more regulated to the -- than landlords. So to say that landlords are getting away with something, is ridiculous. And I could - I wasn't allowed to read and I won't do it again. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Please.
All the different things that landlords have to comply with. Look at this book. This is how regulated landlords are, and you want to complain that landlords aren't regulated. Come on. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Okay. I think that might be as good as we're going to get in this moment. I'm going to try to move us along; is that okay, Councilmember?
Thank you, Madam Chair. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much for your testimony.
I appreciate it. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: And obviously, we'll be, you know, continuing to talk and work on this. Will the clerk please call the last panel of witnesses to testify?
Dr. Tyra Bryant-Stephens, and Adam Weintraub- Barth. MALE VOICE: Quiet please.
Thank you very much. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you both so much for being with us today. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. And again, four minutes to the best of your ability.
Chairperson Gauthier, my name is Tyra Bryant-Stephens. I'm a pediatrician, and I am the Chief Health Equity Officer at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I'm a board-certified pediatrician in clinical primary care practice for over 30 years, and I want to thank you for this opportunity to offer testimony on Bills No. 250330 and 250331, which is intended to protect Philadelphia renters from unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions. The first thing I would say is that housing is health. And I want us -- I'd like to begin by grounding us in the fact that we've known for decades, asthma being the most chronic -- a common, chronic disease in children has major disparities. We know that they persisted across the United States for as long as we've been tracked at -- tracking them. Non-Hispanic Black children are twice as likely to be diagnosed with asthma and five times more likely to be hospitalized compared to their non-Hispanic White peers. These disparities are especially profound among children living in substandard housing, like we have in many of our rental properties in Philadelphia, where exposure to asthma triggers is more common. Plumbing, and roof leaks, and ventilator or damp basements and worn carpeting can all contribute. These conditions create environments where mold, pests and allergens thrive as we have already heard from the community residents. While housing disrepair can happen anywhere, it's far more common in low-income neighborhoods, especially those with predominantly underserved racial and ethnic minority residents historically redlined. When children are exposed to these triggers early in life, the risk of developing asthma increases. Continued exposure leads to more emergency department visits, more hospitalizations, and more unscheduled doctor's appointments. Even more concerning, symptoms can worsen when children are exposed to multiple triggers at the same time. I've had the privilege and the honor of working with my team at CHOP to study how community-based interventions impact low-resource areas like West Philadelphia. Our team has even mapped asthma rates code violations from Philadelphia's L&I Department. And we've mapped that with CHOP's Emergency Department use in 2019, as well as hospitalizations. the results were clear, more code violations meant higher asthma rates, and more emergency room 3 visits for children. We've started home repairs. In our home repairs, we have found all the conditions described today. It's very heartbreaking to see children growing up in these conditions, which impacts their health -- impacts their ability to sleep. If they can't sleep, they can't perform well in school. So we are preventing our children from becoming economically independent adults with these housing conditions. We appreciate City Council and the mayor's commitment to thoughtful consideration of how to best build and repair existing homes so that one day all of Philadelphia's children have access to healthy housing. Thank you for this opportunity to testify today. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your testimony, and thank you for the significant investment that CHOP has made in making sure that homes are healthy in West Philadelphia. You're not just coming here and sharing data, you're walking the walk, and we appreciate it. Proceed.
Thank you, Chairman Gauthier. My name is Adam Weintraub-Barth. I'm a senior attorney at the Senior Law Center in the Tenant Rights Project. I want to first, very quickly, congratulate you Councilmember O'Rourke on the birth of your child. As the father of a NICU graduate, who's 15 months old, he is so full of life and strength, he was from the very moment he was born. So I want to send you all the courage and strength, prayers to you and your family, and if my son is anything like yours, I'm sure your son, as much strength as you are displaying to be here today, he is somehow displaying more right now growing and improving, so all my best to you and your family. So I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support of the Safe and Healthy Homes Act. I'm going to do my best to summarize my testimony, because I also do want to provide some feedback based on some of the prior testimony that's been given today. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: I'm not even going to count that beginning part. That was really sweet.
Oh, thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: So your clock starts now.
Thank you, Chair Woman. Us NICU parents, we got to -- we got to hold together. It's a very specific experience, so I hope no one else has to experience that, but it's a very powerful experience, yeah. So very quickly, Senior Law Center, we prioritize services to older people with the greatest economic and social need, that is older Philadelphians who are low-income, cultural and racial minorities, disabled victims of crime and family violence, and those facing other vulnerabilities and challenges. Our work addresses the historic and persistent disparities faced by older people we serve, as well as those who are isolated by language, culture, disability, and poverty. Housing is an issue of racial justice, of basic human need, and the most -- perhaps, the most important issue facing older Americans. Without a safe habitable home, there is no ability to age in place. Access to home and community-based health support and services to avoid institutionalization and remain in one's beloved community, near family, doctors, supporters and trusted places, and people, spiritual resources and comfort. I want to quickly highlight a few of the aspects of the bill 20 that we strongly support. So I was happy to hear today, it sounds like license and inspection, whether in response to this or not, is ready to get a proactive inspection program off the ground. We're happy to hear that. We're -- we would love to see it enshrined in this bill, and we want to make sure that this is done in the right way. We want to make sure that they're not gaping loopholes that allow landlords to skirt through attesting to the conditions and property avoiding these proactive inspections when they really are needed the most. In addition to that, we're strongly in support of creating broad anti-harassment protections in the city code. Currently, there's nothing to prevent or punish landlords from harassing tenants. The current section of the Unfair Rental Practices Act pertaining to anti-retaliation is poorly and rarely enforced. This bill strengthens that section and adds more robust protections. Finally, I want to talk about the right to relocation. What we've heard today is a lot of tenants who basically have expressed their concerns that if they call L&I, they don't know what's going to happen. If a cease operations order is issued, there's a big question mark that hangs over them for what that means for them. We heard the prior panel talk about the problem of unlicensed landlords, our clients, older adults, any tenant who's sitting behind me, they know if they call L&I and whether their landlord is licensed or not, if L&I comes out and writes up a violation, if they write up a cease operations order, they don't know what their next move is going to be. They're limited in what they can do, they don't have the resources to move, they don't have the resources to quickly find new, safe, stable housing, and that directly impacts older adults the most, it impacts disabled tenants the most, it impacts families with young children the most, the most vulnerable in our society. So in addition to that, I want to quickly also address, right now, currently, one of the big things that we are strongly in favor of this package of bills is it addresses the question of what happens when a landlord doesn't make repairs, and they're not maintaining the property. The truth is, right now a tenant has few options for what they can do to get their landlord to actually do those repairs. If they withhold the rent as they're legally entitled to do, their landlord is likely to respond by filing a case in municipal court that permanently stains their eviction record, or their tenant record, that it shows an eviction filing, and then once they're in court, it's anything but certain about what's going to happen to them at that point, even if they've legally withheld the rent. " We know, of course, one of the biggest reasons people stay is they have nowhere else to go.
There is a shortage of safe, stable, affordable housing in Philadelphia. I want to quickly address that is why the good cause expansion in this bill is so critical, because good cause provides specific protections for tenants that they know if they call L&I, or if they ask for repairs to get done, that gives them an extra protection from their landlord turning around and saying, you know what? I just don't want you here anymore. That is one of the biggest issues that tenants face and one of the biggest fears that they have that this bill would address. And I want to go -- and I want to thank Councilmember Jones, thank you for addressing, again, bringing up the tenants of Brith Sholom. At Senior Law Center, we've been really passionate about fighting for those tenants. We appreciate your, and the rest the Councilmembers, dedication to this as well. But I think that's raised a lot of issues of the lack of specific enforcement mechanisms for those tenants in those circumstances. Councilmember Landau, I think you said, that is one example. We're never going to hear about the extent of these problems throughout the city. It doesn't make the news all the time. We wish it did, but this package of bills gives tenants options that will actually create some kind of incentive for their landlord to make these repairs. And last, I just want to say good landlord, bad landlord, we don't care what you call them. If a landlord doesn't make repairs and doesn't keep their rental unit habitable and safe for a tenant to be in, I don't care what you call them, they're not doing their job, they're not meeting their obligations to their tenants, and they're causing as the -- as the -- as the tenants who testified on the panel before us said, those actions, especially for tenants who are older, who are disabled, those who have children, those are creating irreparable damages to people's lives, to their health and safety, that -- that's the end of it. So we strongly urge the Council to advance these bills and pass them on. We are strongly in support of any technical amendments, we're prepared to work with the sponsor, and with the Council overall, on ways to tighten these up, make them more practical, make sure there's funding attached to it to make sure L&I can do what they need to do, and we are absolutely dedicated to that work. So thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your testimony today, and more importantly, your work. Any brief comments from members? Okay. We are going to actually recess the hearing for minutes or so. So we 4 will recess until 3:55. Thank you. ) 6 CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Good 7 afternoon, everyone. Good 8 afternoon, everyone. 9 Thank you so much for 10 sticking around. Thank you for your 11 participation in this process. I'm 12 going to make an announcement that 13 is a consensus of the committee, and 14 the bill sponsor, and then I'm going 15 to move to Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke to -- for him to have comments. And I'm going to ask, I know it's hard, this has been a spirited process and it deals with real life, so people are very passionate about it. But I'm going to ask that I have the space to get out my full comments. Okay. As a committee, and along with the bill sponsor, I think there's a consensus that we all think these are very important vital bills. No one is satisfied with the status quo as it relates to our city's ability to make sure that we have safe housing for everyone, and as it relates to L&I's ability to hold landlords accountable. And so we appreciate the bill sponsor for bringing forward this package, because it's needed and necessary. Particularly, as we embark on a historic investment in housing in the city of Philadelphia. But I also think that there is a consensus that some of these bills need more time.
We need more time to talk through the amendments, we need more time to work with the administration to make sure that they can implement these bills, because they're so important that we want them to happen in the right way. It's critical that they happen in the right way. So what we want to put forward, and then I have more comments after that, if you will allow, we would like to move forward on Bill No. 250331. That is the bill to create a relocation fund for tenants that are being displaced from properties that are not habitable. We would like to hold bills 250329, and 250330. Those are the bills that deal with having L&I create the proactive rental inspection program, which we really want to get, right? And the other bill deals with having the city be able to fight against retaliation if tenants are making complaints. And I know that's not what people wanted to hear today, but I do want to put out there that the legislative process is complex, right? And you don't always get everything you want in a particular moment. I'll also put out there that, you know, I started talking with Renters United about a proactive inspection program a couple of years ago. I've never seen this discussion move forward in this way. Nick has done that better than I did, and it's because he has all of you. This is the furthest that this discussion has ever gotten to, and it's because you are so invested in it, and you're so passionate about it. And so what I'd like to also say is that, you know, we want to move forward with the one bill to show you all how important we think this is, and how committed we are to get the whole -- to getting the whole package done. The other thing that there's consensus on, the whole housing committee has agreed to communicate to the Council President and to the Mayor that we support Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke's budget request that is connected to this legislative package. That's another way that we want to show you our commitment. We also are going to tell, you know, tell the Council President that we want the $10 million for L&I, that we want to put the funding into this relocation fund. So what I'm trying to convey to you is there is consensus among the committee that we want more time to get this right, but there's also a great sense of commitment, and we are so grateful to Councilmember O'Rourke for moving this discussion forward, for making sure that it's been informed by the real life stories of people in our communities, and for being here at such a strenuous time for his family. And so with that, I'm going to move to the bill sponsor for comments.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, echoing what the Chair has lifted up. A consensus was brought or agreed to and I believe that we have responded to some of the concerns that were lifted up throughout the course of this hearing. But a consensus has come that we need more time as it relates to Bill No. 250329, that's the Right to Repairs, and Bill No. 250330, Right to Safety. But that there is consensus to move forward with Bill 4 No. 250331, the Right to Relocation. As we know, as I shared in the previous line of questioning with Panel No. 3, I believe, there is no one law that magically resolves all the issues. That is the whole point of having a legislative process. That having been said, there is no one legislator who is able to move any particular one thing through, they don't have that kind of power. As we all know, the real power is not in this building, the real power is in the streets. The real power is in your homes, the real power is amongst all of you. So as these things, and then we have a commitment from folks to make -- to take these things seriously, there's an agreement that we want to address bad landlords, and that we do want to be able to get these other two bills. 250329, 250330 correct, that you continue to make your voices heard. I am one voice, you are many. And the more that you continue to organize, the more, I believe, that we will win. So that having been said, thank you for your advocacy. Let's keep our pedal to the medal, so that we can see a brighter day, and have the ability to live better in the city of Philadelphia because every single one of you deserve it. Thank you for your advocacy today. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: So from a process perspective, this is what's going to happen. We need a quorum in order to vote the bill 22 that we all agree on out of committee. So what we're going to do -- and some councilmembers are going to have to start moving on to other events, meetings. So what we're going to do, we're going to move into the public meeting to take action on the bill, and then we're going to move back into the public hearing, and hear everybody who signed up for public comment. So if you're signed up for public comment, you will get a chance to speak, but we need to be able that we -- to take legislative action as a committee before members start to leave. We will now go into a public meeting to consider the action to be taken on Bill No. 19 250331 today. The other two bills, 250329 and 250330 will be held. Can the clerk please call the role?
And Chair Gauthier? CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Present. The Chair recognizes Vice Chair Landau for a motion on the amendment to Bill No. 250331. Sorry. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: Thank you, Madam Chair. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 250331. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 250331 be approved.
Second. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 16 250331 be approved. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. Councilmembers: Aye. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Those opposed? The ayes have it, and the motion carries. And the amendment to Bill No. 250331 has been approved. The Chair recognizes Vice Chair Landau for a motion on Bill 4 No. 250331 as amended. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill 7 No. 250331 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation as amended. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Start over again. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: We just take a moment to say, we love you, Councilmember Nick O'Rourke. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill 16 No. 250331 as amended be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation, and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. Councilmember BASS: Second. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 250331 as amended be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation. And further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. Councilmembers: Aye. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Those opposed? The ayes have it, and the motion carries. Bill No. 250331 as amended will be reported from this committee with the favorable recommendation. With the request that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading at the next session of Council. Okay. We're going to go back to the public hearing, and hear our -- from our public commenters. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: Let's do this for a second, please. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Okay. Will the clerk please call the first set of public commenters?
Okay. Malik Carter, Dennis Drust, Sheryl Sitman, Lori Peterson. No, excuse me. Is Lori still here? No. Okay. Pam Kane. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Good afternoon. It's been such a long day, and we're excited to hear from everyone, but I am going to request that you try to put your public comment within two minutes. We, at a certain point, folks are going to need to take a break and, kind of, we've been here for a long time, so thank you. And please help me to move the conversation along. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your comment.
Good afternoon, Chairwoman Gauthier, Sponsor Councilmember O'Rourke, and members of the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and The Homeless. My name is Dennis Lee Drust and I'm the Director of Community Support with Scully Company. We're a multifamily housing provider with approximately 2,100 units among 11 communities here within the city. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I want to focus specifically on the good cause requirement for lease non-renewals outlined in Bill 19 250330. This provision, though well intended, risks creating serious challenges for housing providers and unintended consequences for the very communities it aims to protect. Leases are more than legal documents. They represent the foundation of a social contract between neighbors. Within them are reasonable expectations, quiet hours, cleanliness, safety protocols, and respectful behavior. They're essential to creating stable, livable communities. Most residents understand and follow these expectations. Unfortunately, some do not. And when those norms break down, the entire community can feel the impact. I'm not referring to minor inconveniences, but to behavior that makes others feel unsafe or interferes with their right to peacefully enjoy their homes. Just recently, we had a resident who after multiple documented incidents of unsafe behavior, physically assaulted a staff member when we asked to stop throwing waste from her balcony. This is not a hypothetical, it's a real situation. And in cases like these, our residents look to us to ensure that their homes remain safe, respectful places to live. We try every approach first, documenting violations, issuing notices, fostering dialogue, and engaging in mediation. Most often that works, but sometimes it does not. And when it doesn't, our final and often only remaining tool is to non-renew a lease when it expires. We support efforts to protect tenants from retaliation, discrimination, and unjust displacement. But these protections should not come at the expense of our ability to ensure safe and respectful living environments for all residents. Under the proposed framework, even when a housing provider issues a non-renewal based on documented serious behavioral concerns, there is nothing to prevent a tenant from filing a retaliatory complaint, effectively reversing the roles and casting the landlord as the wrongdoer. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you. Please summarize.
A rigid good cause only requirement risks locking everyone, tenant, staff and management into unsafe or untenable situations with no clear path to resolutions. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much. I do want to just state for the record before we move on, there's nothing in good cause or eviction diversion that would allow for physical violence against a landlord. So I just want to be very clear about that. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your comment.
Hi. My name is Sheryl Sitman. I have an initiative called Real Landlording to help landlords navigate through the complexity of Philadelphia. Thank you to City Council. Sorry, I'm not very formal, so, I don't know how these things go. The reason I started this initiative in Philadelphia is because it is so complex to be a landlord in Philadelphia. I happen to invest in other states and other areas in Pennsylvania as well, there is nothing like Philadelphia. It is very, very complicated, and it costs landlords quite a bit of money to do this. The results are not better or safer housing, the result is higher rent. And I had prepared a whole statement, but a lot of the things were already discussed. Just another thing that I want to address is the atmosphere in this room, which is very, very anti landlord. I think that -- I don't have anything to be ashamed about. My tenants are very happy. They live in safe housing, they get answer, you know, every kind of issue that comes up, they're responded to, and landlords, because they own property are not villains. And to villainize landlords is a very dangerous thing to do. It comes from City Council, it comes from the media, it comes from different kinds of advocacy groups, and I think it's something that doesn't serve anybody. Like Paul Cohen had said, "We want the same things." It's really true. I want good things for Philadelphia. My family came from Philadelphia, It's -- it -- my grandparents had businesses in Philadelphia, and I think -- I invite -- my -- again, my name is Cheryl. If any tenants want to speak to me and explain to me what it is do you think that landlords are doing wrong, then I'm happy to listen. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you. I think we --
And I'm happy to help. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: We've heard a lot of conversation today. Thank you so much for your --
I don't know why these things are funny. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: -- for your comment.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Cheryl, thank you for giving your testimony. As I've iterated several times in public columns, in this hearing today, as well, this is not legislation that is focused on any willy-nilly landlord, it is focused on bad landlords, which Paul Cohen also agreed we all want to get rid of. So thank you for addressing that. It is a misconception -- it is a misconception that is continuously being perpetuated online, as well as in this hearing that we are trying to get go-out for all landlords, half the city rents. That means landlords are per supplying that housing. What we want to make sure is that all of those landlords, not some of them, not a couple of them, but every single one of them are supplying safe, healthy homes for our residents. Thank you for your testimony. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you, Councilmember. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
Good afternoon and thank you to all the Councilmembers, and I think especially to Councilman O'Rourke. MALE VOICE: Bring the mic closer to you, please.
My name is Pamela Kane, and I'm here as both a small landlord and a nurse midwife to urge you to pass the Safe Healthy Homes Act. I've lived in West Philadelphia since 1995, and have been a small landlord since 2013. My partner and I own one rental property located on the same block where we've lived for almost 30 years, and where we've raised our family. We know that it's our responsibility as landlords to provide a safe and healthy home for our tenants, and I strongly support this legislation to make sure that all landlords take that responsibility seriously. I also know firsthand the impact that it has when landlords neglect their properties and maximize profits at their tenant's expense. As a midwife in Philadelphia for over two decades, I often care for people and their families who do not have a safe, decent place to live. On one occasion, I cared for a woman who was completely covered in bedbug bites, her landlord was not addressing the situation, she had no recourse, and she had no other -- nowhere else to go. We see mothers and children with elevated lead levels, asthma exacerbated by infestation or allergic triggers in the home, respiratory illness from mold, high levels of stress from living in substandard housing. Poor housing conditions put families at higher risk of both physical and psychological harm. A person's sense of stability flows out of having a decent place to come home to. The state of disrepair of rental properties in Philadelphia, some rental properties, is a public health crisis, and no landlord should -- in this city should be able to rent a property that they themselves would not feel safe living in. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you. Thank you for your comment, and for sharing that perspective. Thanks to all of you. May the clerk please call the next set of public commenters.
Mo Rushdy, Ben Altman, Todd Abney. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Please state your name and proceed with your comment. Just a reminder, two minutes.
Mo Rushdy, representing 420 companies through the Building Industry Association. But before I start, I have twin girls that were born premature, a pound each, and they stayed in the NICU for three months, so I understand what you're going through, and my heart goes out for you. Congratulations, and I hope to God everything goes fine. To that effect, I think we heard a lot of testimony today on behalf of tenants, on behalf of landlords, on behalf of the administration and L&I, and I think that there is a general consensus that there is a problem that we need to tackle landlords, or I'd like to call them property owners, I don't like the word landlords, but property owners that are neglecting their properties. And I think that when we say that there is work to be done, I think the work needs to be done so that we can actually target these landlords that are neglecting, or property owners that are neglecting their properties. I saw some of the pictures that are out here, or some people are -- have -- the advocates have some of the pictures of what they're going through, and it's sickening to tell you the truth. It is very sickening, and we don't advocate for that. So when we say we oppose the bill, this is not us ever coming in and saying that we accept this, okay? If this was one of our members, they would be kicked out of our association, period, before anything happens, okay? So we agree -- don't interrupt me, I never interrupted anyone. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: That's okay.
Do not interrupt me. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Let's continue the conversation respectfully. Proceed.
So -- and if they're a member, we address it. When something happened with Odin Properties, and that article came out in the Inquire, the first thing we did was we called Phil. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Speak into the mic.
I called Phil, and I said, what is going on with that? He gave me a rundown of the violations. And I said, I'm working on it to get it done within the next coming 10 days, and we have inspections that are scheduled. My -- the -- what I'm trying to say here is that we're not on opposite sides. We want to be sure that we are not considered to be on opposite sides. We want to just make sure that we are surgical, strategic, and making sure that we are going to be targeting these guys that are out there that don't have licenses, and people who are out there that have repairs that need to be done. The Mayor has $44 million as part of her $800 million bond that goes towards repairs for small landlords. We've got to give this bold mayor a chance. She's the first in, I don't know what? Twenty years, 30 years that came in with a bold plan to fix things. We got to -- we got to just let it play out. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you.
So, again, we're not against the bills in intent. We want to work with Councilman O'Rourke, and we are committing meetings over the summer, if you would allow us to, kind of, go through it, and we work together where we're actually we'll be happy to get these bad landlords out. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much.
Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: We look forward to continuing real conversations and to work to push this initiative forward. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your comment.
Dear Councilmembers, my name is Mark Roche. I'm a -- I'm a small landlord. I had a five-unit -- five houses with nine units. I'm down to seven units now in four houses, I sold one. And I had good talks with tenants in the back here, and we agreed, yeah, on what the issue, yeah. Many arguments have been made. I want to remind you of the big picture, and I want to quote Councilmember Bass and Councilmember Landau, "This and other -- those bills have the chance to really worsen the housing crisis that is definitely here, and we need to partner on this." If a small landlord like me, I know all my tenants. No tenant leaves my houses, they love me, yeah. They recommend me to their friends, yeah. When a tenant lives through conditions that have been phrased here, you should have other options. You should just be able to move somewhere else and have a good house, but that will not happen if the small landlords are driven out of the city. And look at the big picture, what happened the last 10-15 years, people like me, they don't go to Philadelphia anymore. They go to Upper Darby, they go across the river, they go somewhere else where they don't have to deal with all those regulations. You give us two choices, to leave the city, or if it's too burdensome, to increase the rent. In Upper Darby, we have proactive inspections, yeah. And the inspector asked me right away there, "Are you going to increase the rent from whatever I write down here?" That is what happens there. Let's weed out those terrible landlords. I'm fully on board with that, but there's better ways to solve this housing crisis, yeah, than what's have been presented today. Let's cooperate, and this is solvable. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you for your comment. Vice Chair Landau. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: Thank you so much. Thanks for coming here. Again, I just want to clarify, I didn't say that I thought the bills would make the housing crisis work -- worse, but --
And you said we need to talk about this. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: You said both of us?
You said you need to partner this and Ms. Bass said it could make this bill worse, if we don't do it right. And that is true. It could make the situation way worse. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: I'm sorry, this time was for the Vice Chair Landau to make a comment. But thank you for your comment. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: I clarify. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Please state your name for the record, and proceed with your comment.
My name is Todd Abney, and I'm a renter in the city of Philadelphia. I've been living in Philadelphia off and on since I was born, and I became a resident in 1998, and I currently live in Frankford in District 7. I'm also a gas worker, and a proud union member of Local 676, excuse me 686, sorry. And a proud member of OnePA Renters United. I'm here to support the Safe and Healthy Homes Act. I am very much in support of the city creating a displacement fund for everyone who has been -- who has to leave their home because of uninhabitable conditions that are out of their control. I live through it myself. In 2005, I was at 18th and Erie in an apartment building and something was causing us to get sick. And we had -- we were having headaches and we were feeling sleepy all the time, and we also were waking up exhausted. One of the tenants called the gas company, the gas company came out and they discovered that there was a carbon monoxide leak in the building. Next, L&I came out to the building and we found out that our landlord did not have a suitable rental license. The landlord told L&I that we were squatters, and L&I told us on a Friday that we had to be out of the building by Monday morning at 6:00 a.m. The -- there were five of us in the -- in the apartment building. And we all were -- we were all being kicked out with nowhere to go. L&I offered that we could go to a homeless shelter and didn't have any other options for us. I managed to stay in the building for another week, and miraculously, I found a room at 15th and Erie to stay in. This is why I'm in support of the City creating a displacement fund for anyone -- for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation and why we need stronger enforcement for landlords who don't do the right thing. Thank you for your time and please vote for the Safe and Healthy Homes Act. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much for coming here to share your experience today. May the clerk please call the next set of public commenters.
Matt Wolf, Lev Kavinsky, Nitin Kulkarni, Craig Summers. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Good afternoon.
Good -- CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Please state your name for the record and proceed.
Good afternoon, Council. My name is Matthew Wolf. I'm with AFSCME International, speaking on behalf of our L&I employees, not management, and nearly 10,000 members of District Council 33. Our members are city employees and the lifeblood of this city. We represent the enforcement officers and inspections teams that would be acting in accordance with this legislation. This bill is a step forward for union members, working families, and renters across our city. Nearly 40 percent of Philadelphia's rental homes are in dire need of repair, while avaricious landlords and property management companies get away with their malicious negligence. This status quo is unacceptable, and Councilman O'Rourke's Bill would grant the much needed right to repair, right to relocation, right to safety, and right for tenants to unionize. This will provide every Philadelphia tenant with the dignity that they deserve. This bill would give the Office of Licensing and Inspection the proper and necessary resource it needs to do its job. Our office is understaffed and fiscally restrained from doing the full scope of unnecessary duties to protect Philadelphians. The $10 million allocated from this bill is a drop in the bucket for what would be revolutionary savings and protections for Philadelphians, while also holding landlords fiscally accountable. We would see new jobs and opportunities for inspectors and show the people of Philadelphia that the city truly works for them. Now is the time for Philadelphia to take the step forward and protect its citizens while bolstering its essential city services. This is a bill for unions, tenants, and ultimately the people of Philadelphia. I implore you all to please support this legislation. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you. Thank you for your comment and for your work. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your comment.
Hi. My name is Nitin Kulkarni. I have a -- actually active eviction going on. I would just like to state that the system -- the court system has really made a mockery of the municipal court system. And I'll tell you -- explain what has happened. We had an eviction in place, and we went through it. The -- actually, it was a JBA where both parties agreed that this is the settlement and we went through with it and I did go through it and gave the tenant enough time to move on. And the tenant, in the last minute filed an emergency petition in a common police court, and the common police court allowed her, you know, violated the JBA and allowed her to stay for another couple of weeks. And I -- I'm saying that once this agreement is made, when all parties agree to it, I as both -- I am on Social Security because not only do I have a liver transplant and a kidney transplant and I'm on Social Security. This tenant, actually $17,000 she owes me, and that is a travesty. It's a travesty because we made a mockery of the municipal court system, because everything was in place and I didn't get justice for it. And I hope -- I hope this Council -- because of all these laws and things that you want to do, which are good things, but would actually be burdensome for somebody like me. I mean, I just have only one unit, just one unit in Philadelphia. So thank you for hearing me out and I appreciate it. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you for your comment today.
Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Please state your name for the record and proceed with your comment.
My name is Craig Summers and I'm here to let you know that I used to be a former tenant of Brith Sholom House and it's worst experience I ever had in my life. So much tragedy happened in that apartment complex. Senior citizens, mostly they weren't -nothing went right in that building at all. I guess you -- I'm sure you know most of the stories, but there are horror stories where people died from heat exhaustion, but they wrote off as natural causes, stuff like that. Now I'm at a different apartment complex that's only 11 years old, and I'm looking at the same situation happening all over again. Beautiful building but, man, landlords are out of state, they don't care. Management companies out of state, they don't care. They have a few local people that work there that live in the area, but they're not doing what they're supposed to do. Maintenance, no clean crew, it's terrible. No smoking building, they're smoking in the building. Tenants complain about it, they get harassed, they get eviction notice. They get, like, they're going to get kicked out if they say anything else about it. You can't smoke in the bars in City of Philadelphia, but you can smoke in a senior citizens' complex. This is -- this is -- this is -- I'm done with it. Tell you the truth. I'm really done with it. And, Councilman O'Rourke was here, we had a protest in December. They're retaliating on us. They won't let us use our community room. That's supposed to be one of the amenities that we need. It's like kitty -- it's like, get set or something. We can only use it between the hours of management being there, Ms. Manager being there, from 8.00 to 4:30. It's like they live there. I don't get it. But we need to change and the bill needs to be passed. And I thank you for doing what you do brothers, so much for that. Also, we need to change into the guards. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much. MR SUMMERS: We need a new Council President. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much for your comment today. May the clerk please call the next set of public commenters.
Excuse me. Seneca Grant, Kiana Markum, Jesse Silverman. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Good evening. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your comment.
Good afternoon, Madam -- Madam Chair, Council, and our bill sponsor, Mr. O'Rourke. Thank you very much, sir. My name -- my name is Seneca Grant and I'm a resident at Bentley Manor, which is an Odin Property in West Oak Lane. And unlike the representative from Odin Properties that just came up here and disrespectfully lied to all your faces and everybody in this room, I'm going to tell you what my and the other resident experiences have been like at this Odin property in West Oak Lane for the last two years that I've been there. While living there -- while living where I'm at now is safe in terms of crime, repairs have been abysmal. Twice in the first year, my bedroom ceiling had a huge leak in it. They came to fix it one time, did a -- like a patch job. Next time it rain, it happened again. It took them three months to fix these leaks both times that it happened. In the two winters that I've been there, there have been basically no heat. You come out and bleed the radiators twice. Both winters, radiators still get like lukewarm. The radiators in the hallway get hotter than the radiators in the units. They probably had to use space heaters and that just blows out the wall sockets. So in addition to that -- in addition to that, L&I came to inspect my building and the other building adjacent to my building, Mount West last November. They failed them for an unsafe building. It was all kinds of bricks in the wall, or facades in the wall. They were -- they were falling off. They failed them for that inspection. And yet for the next three months and until the work was done, they continued to collect our rent and we were -- we were under the impression that they had lost their license. Everything that I've talked about -- and we've also had issues with roach infestations, mice. Mice that coming from other apartments for me because I have a cat. And we ask for proactive extermination and they haven't done it. They only come in like spray the common areas, but we get to put in work orders constantly for them to come to our apartments and sometimes they don't do that. Everything I just talked about today is why we need the Safe Healthy Homes Act to protect renters, improve L&I and improve the properties that large corporate slumlords like Odin maintain. I would like to thank the Councilmembers and your -- and representatives for hearing me out as well as my fellow residents, as these are very serious issues that concern us on a daily basis. We appreciate your concern and hope that you will pray -- hope and pray that you will pass this bill out of committee on June 3rd. Please vote -- CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you.
Please vote yes for Safe Healthy Homes. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: May the clerk please call the next set of public commenters.
Igor Iben, Martin Finkelstein, Ms. Sandra Bryant. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Good evening. Thank you so much for being here today. Please proceed with your comment. Just a reminder, try to stay within the two-minute limit. Whichever one of you can start. Whoever's ready.
Good afternoon. My name is Igor Iben. I'm a small landlord in Philadelphia. I just want to agree with most of the panel from the L&I committee. I think we must be careful with the laws that we pass even though they sound good on paper. This won't be the first time a piece of legislation would have unintended consequences. Because of a few bad actors this bill would punish mom-and-pop landlords by giving them additional burden on top of what's already a heavy burden being a landlord in the city of Philadelphia. Taxes have went up, those costs are ultimately passed down to the renters. Rental license requirements have increased, ultimately those costs are going down to the renters. It takes six months to get a tenant out who doesn't pay. Ultimately, rents go up for good tenants to compensate for the bad tenants. I actually know hundreds of landlords in Philadelphia. A lot of my friends are in real estate, I'm in real estate. I'm part of organizations that are in real estate. Every single person that I talk to is thinking about the same thing, about leaving Philadelphia. And that would be terrible for the renters. It would be terrible in the long term. Because of small percentage of bad actors, I'm against ultimately punishing renters with higher end. I don't want the rents to go up, neither do the renters. So I urge you to please work with organizations like HAPCO to find the bad actors very strategically, very surgically. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you for your comment. Proceed.
Hello, everyone. Name is Sandra Bryant and I'm a domestic worker and a member of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. I recently rent a basement apartment -- SERGEANT AT ARMS: Ma'am, you have speak to speak into the mic, bring it closer to you.
Hello everyone. Name is Sandra Bryant and I'm a domestic worker and a member of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. I recently rent a basement apartment near 63rd and Market, and it turned out to be a nightmare. The apartment had a leak and mold growth on which the landlord refused to fix. And despite requests, he even made this criminal comment saying, I shouldn't complain because I'm from Jamaica and people in Jamaica live in huts. I took matters in my own hand and I stopped paying rent and put the money in an escrow account. However, he retaliated, he cursed me out and demand I leave. In eviction court, the judge ruled in my favor stating that the landlord shouldn't have rented the apartment due to past violations and revoke licenses. Luckily, I found a new place and I'm still shaken by the experience. The -- then it remain empty as too many of the landlord litigants. I'm speaking now to prevent this from happening to others, and we need a Safe Healthy Home Act to ensure every unit is inspected before rental and hold landlord accountable. No one deserves living in hazardous condition because they are vulnerable. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much. Thank you. Proceed.
Ready. My name is Martin Finkelstein. I'm a retired professor who has for the last -- I'm also a stranger from New Jersey. But for the last 40 years I have worked as a -- I functioned as a -- as a small landlord, renting one or two units within usually my large big old house. And I'm here to speak in support of the Home Safety and Health Home Safety Act. And I want to -- I want to make a point that hasn't been made yet. The -- I have been in a situation where my municipality has adopted a proactive inspection program, the last seven or eight years. So I have it -- you know, it's not a perfect experiment with pre and post, but, you know, and the world has changed in all kinds of ways over that -- over that period. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Speak into the mic.
Yeah. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Please speak into the mic so we can hear you.
But what I've observed is, it's changed a little bit my relationship with my tenants because we've actually sort of added a third party to this landlord-tenant thing, and that is the municipality. And in fact, the tenants know and have -- and see the results of the inspection, and know what has already been done. And when they come in, they're usually feeling pretty good, I mean, they feel like they -- there's almost a sort of a partnership between them, the landlord and the municipality, and that someone else has already sort of tried to look out for their interests besides the landlord. And I think that has led, in my experience, to fewer complaints, easier time with my tenants. So I wanted to make that point -CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you.
-- which I think needs to be made. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: And please summarize.
The one other point which I'll make quickly is that it's been a wonder for me and my insurance company because I have my municipality coming in almost annually to do some kind of inspection. And they inspect not only the unit, but they inspect the building. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Okay.
So I have all the -- and my insurance company understands that when I make a claim, they need to pay the claim. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you.
So I have -- I have found it to be advantage. And I will concede -- I will concede. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: And we're going to have to -- we're going to -- we're going to keep you close. We need to talk to you more, but I am going to have to move on with the comment. Before you leave, what municipality, just so we know.
East Orange. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Okay. We need to talk to you further. Thank you so much for being here today and sharing that important perspective. May the clerk please call the next set of public commenters.
Ryan Thomas, Shawmar Pitts, April Webb Short, if they're still here, Maria Yelverton. SERGEANT AT ARMS: Just state your name for the record. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Do you want to call one more? SERGEANT AT ARMS: I got one more coming. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Okay. Please state your name for the record and proceed. I'm just going to remind us, two minutes.
Hello. My name is Ryan Thomas. I'm a resident of Point Breeze and a small landlord, and I'm here to voice my support for the bills -- all three bills in the Safe Healthy Homes Act. I own -- I own one rental property, and owning that property has been a source of financial security for me, as I have weathered periods of unemployment and periods of graduate school. And I want tenants and all my neighbors to have the stability and quality of housing that I do. Those who have spoken against these bills, the landlord lobbies, do not speak for me as a small landlord. The -- these large lobbies are led by people with thousands of units, and companies with thousands of units. Their interests are not the same as mine or many other small landlords. My interest as a small landlord and a -- and a neighbor is to preserve Philadelphia's neighborhoods and communities, and that starts with providing stable, high quality housing. Of course there's paperwork and some risk involved in being a landlord, but the -- at the end of the day it's a privilege, not a burden to own rental property. And don't let anybody tell you different. I understand -- I don't understand why any landlord who maintains good living conditions would be concerned about these bills. I've read them in their entirety and I don't see any issues that would concern a landlord like me. I urge the committee to support all three of these bills and to fund L&I to increase staffing, training and improve city websites for city services. Furthermore, as a resident, I'm concerned about large corporate real estate companies that buy up the city and try to maximize their profits by maintaining poor living conditions, cutting corners, and retaliating against their tenants who speak up. These bills close loopholes that allow powerful real estate companies to push out small landlords who have invested in Philadelphia's neighborhoods and not property portfolios. These bills also recognize the important work that tenants do when they organize, and we should listen to tenants who helped create these bills and turned out today in support. So I just want to again voice my support for these bills as a small landlord, and I want to say that the lobbyists who are against them, are not really looking out for really small landlords who are invested in communities. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much for sharing that perspective. Proceed.
Good afternoon. My name is Shawmar Pitts. I'm a lifelong resident of South Philadelphia, co-managing director of Philly Thrive and in coalition with OnePA United and Renters United, I would like to thank our Councilman O'Rourke for bringing these bills for the people. And I would like to let the people know we got to change the way we do business because we have to have an effect when we come to City Council. And the only way we going to have an effect is if we get more people to come out with us. Because there's no way in the world that you can tell me a reason for these bills not passing. There's no way you can tell me that these bills wasn't supposed to pass out of committee today. Because when we come down here for things that are of no benefit to us, that hurt us, they pass -- they pass. But when we come down here with this right here, nobody in this room can tell me how you passed legislation that says you have to do good is going to affect people that do good. Why would you be against that if you do good? How's it going to make it harder for you if something break in your unit, you fix it. So this bill ain't going to affect you because you don't have things wrong in your units. So I don't understand. I just know that it's us. We are responsible for what go on in here. We got to get more people to vote so that they understand they got to do the right thing because we don't come in here asking for things unreasonable and wrong. We don't do that. You not going to tell me these bills ain't right. They're right. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you.
We got to make them right. The only way we going make them right, we got to get people to come down here and vote the people in that's going to pass the legislation. Thank you so much. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much for your comment.
Good evening. My name is April Short. And I'm a resident. And I would like to say that July the 1st of 2024, I paid my rent, on the 15th of July of 2024, my landlord came and asked me why I was still here. He went outside in the backyard and cut my line to my electricity, pulled my electricity box out, and I thought it came from the storm. But when an electric company got there, they informed me that the line was cut and the box was pulled out. So what I did was I called Section 8, I called the police and I called the Home of the Aging because I'm over 65 and I'm on oxygen, and he knew I was on oxygen. I went in the hospital for three days, I came home, my neighbor said, let's run the line, you'll be in one room, but let's run the line so you can have air and your oxygen on. I called Licensing and Inspection, it took them three days to come out. Now that the police have gotten involved, they know his name, they know his picture. He lives in Florida. They can't get in contact with him. They have a warrant out for his arrest. By me being on Section 8, I went down to one of their open houses or whatever, and I thought that I was going to move in apartment building. And I found out it was for old people. I ain't old, but nevertheless, the building is nice but the only problem I have is that the owners are in California and they're passing a bill from California to try to affect Philadelphia. You can't do that. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Yeah.
They won't come to Philadelphia to hear our grievances, but they have office managers that work one day out of a week. They got these two little thoughts. That's what you would call them, two little thoughts that work in the office that have no clue what's going on. We can't barbecue in the backyard -- CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: I'm going to ask you to -- I'm going to ask you to summarize.
-- unless there's somebody from the office there. How can you have a barbecue with somebody from the office when there's never nobody there? CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much for your comment, and I concur you are young and spry. You even know the lingo. Okay. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: May the clerk please call the next set of public commenters.
Danielle Campbell, Uriah Bussey, Angela Woods. SERGEANT AT ARMS: If your name is called please come up. Thank you. You can begin. State your name for the record.
Okay. I'm Uriah Bussey. Okay. I didn't expect to get called, so thank you. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Oh. Proceed. Yeah.
So I'm a Philly native. I've been here 31 years. I'm from Cobbs Creek. Ever since the age of 10 years old, I've had unstable housing. I've moved every two to three years of my life. I'm looking to relocate because of the instability of negligent landlords. Thankful for my mother and Boyer, rest in peace to her. But she's taught me to advocate for myself, she's taught me to fight against landlords who are negligent. I've become basically a unpaid inspector, like, when I'm dealing with my homes. We have realtors who are lying to our faces to move us into these homes quickly. And then you are -- they're also building on top of poor foundations. So you have these new builds on top of very poor foundations where mold is creeping up from the basement into my very brand new renovated unit who my -- my landlord is a developer. I've snuffed out gas leaks on top three floors, I've snuffed out mold, I've snuffed out sewage leaks. I've become a cat in the ways that I detect problems. I'm severely disabled and my homes are continuously disabling me. It is not fair. And -- one second. Yeah, as a tenant, it's evident that many properties are even equipped with, like, very old HVAC units that have decades of, like, no maintenance, build up of mold, debris, dust, allergens. Like a filter change is not going to fix that. Like between -- I -- I'm -- I really hope that tenants also have mold protection rights because every home in Philadelphia most likely has mold. And we are building on top of a rotting -- a rotting city. Between the sinkholes -- because we are built on a dam or a creek or whatever, it's affecting all of our properties. None of our bones are good anymore. And so I'm really intrigued on what is going to really also protect tenants to relocate safely into actual safe homes and to be able to -- yeah just to -- to be able to have a better, longer life. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you. Can I say one more thing? Or summarize? CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Summarize, yes.
Yes. But for example, the notorious William Ross III who owns properties all over Manayunk, Roxborough, Germantown, and furthermore, abusive, neglectful and racist landlords should have their licenses revoked. It should -- like tenants should be able -- tenants should be able to have options to have co-op ownership of their buildings and ethical ways of managing their property. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much for being here today and for sharing your comment. Proceed.
This one works? Okay. Good evening. My name is Danielle Campbell. I live in a Logan section of the city. I've been a tenant of Drew DeMarco for over years. I remember my 4 first apartment, it was a three 5 bedroom in Lindley Court, a building 6 that eventually got shut down by L&I 7 and boarded up because the elevators 8 were not the only things always 9 broken in those buildings. It was 10 drug infested and often the scene of 11 unreported crimes and illegal 12 activities. 13 We had 30 days to get out, 14 so it was by the grace of God I was 15 able to borrow the money to get into 16 the house that I'm in now. 17 The house I live in now is 18 a constant infestation battle, and 19 we can only get an exterminator once 20 a year, and anything more comes out of pocket. There was no basement floor when I first viewed the house, and they've had to dig up the floor twice more over the years since I've been there. I have wall to wall carpet and the wood underneath is so old that it's ashing. There are cracks in many of my walls, crumbling holes and others, and the winters are really harsh because lack of insulation makes it feel like there are no walls between us and the park across the street. However, I still consider myself fortunate in the shadow of some of the testimonies that I've heard from fellow renters who are living in really deplorable conditions. It's infuriating and it's unfair. I support the Safe and Healthy Homes Act because it may not only save lives, but provide people with the right to live in healthy non-toxic environments. Thank you. Thank you to all of the like-minded individuals here today who have come together to create change, because together is how we make change happen. Thank you. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: Thank you so much. Please proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. Thank you. My name is Angela -- My name is Angela Woods. This is the first time I've ever been in City Hall, so this is going to tell you some years. Councilman O'Rourke, as a NICU born, I know what you're going through. My son is now 28 with autism. He's been in NICU and he's thriving, same for your son. To the Councilmen and women, I think you'll have me to speak. I come from 61 West -- 6160 West Oxford Street, Monte Vista Apartment Complex. Wingate Apartments is the management -- is the landlord, but we've been mismanaged with different management teams. I'm here to make a statement that we are -- I live -- been living at -- but mismanaged multiple times. Repairs have been band -- band-aid jobs, not fully completed. The last landlord -- last management that we had, she kind of like scared our contractors away. I have -- I'm on the third floor, I'm disabled, my son's disabled. We have an elevator in my building, but it's not working. So three flights of steps up, three flights of steps down. Laundry, we had a fire in our laundry room last April, this past April. So we had to use the -- either the other building. We have seven buildings in the complex, I have to use, the other buildings apartment thing, but they're broken sometimes. So I go to the laundromat with my shopping card, which is around the corner about three blocks. And the -- it took a -- it took them six years to make a repair on my leak in my bathroom from the fourth floor that no one looked at inside of the wall because there's mold and mildew inside the walls where the water was coming down, flowing down from like a waterfall. So we're living in mold and mildew as we speak right now. We lived it for years. I am their 17 cash cow. I stayed here before -- I 18 sit here before you rather, falling 19 half asleep, but I'm here because 20 I'm tired of not being heard. I was 21 taking care of my son with his 22 autism in school, but not taking 23 care of my home because I didn't 24 know who to talk to. I've been hearing other stories about, Say something that might put you out. I have nowhere to go. It's me and my son. I've been a single mom for 28 years and I don't know where else to go. So I'm here with One Philly -- the Elections plus One Philly Renters. I'm here for a reason to get myself situated, to help other people out in my complex and all over the world. I want my voice to be heard too. Please vote for the Act. VICE CHAIR LANDAU: Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Can the clerk please call the next names.
Sean Fleming. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Any other names? That brings us to the end of -- VICE CHAIR LANDAU: I think we got Sean.
One more. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Oh, sorry. I'm so sorry. Say the name again.
Sean Fleming. Is that you, sir? Okay. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Good evening. Thank you for joining us. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your comment.
My name is Sean Fleming. I'm representing Renters' Rights and OnePA. I'm in favor for the Safe and Healthy Homes Act because I used to be a tenant from a slumlord named Brian Freeman, who works for SEPTA driving a 12 bus. He was the worst slumlord I've ever been with. He was also a peeping Tom for the record. And all I want to know -- I just want to let it be known that I'm in favor of -- in support of this bill. It's imperative that everyone takes part of it because it is crucial, not only for me, but for everybody. I wish it would -- 10 years ago when I was a tenant, I wish this was in favor back then, but like I said, it wasn't. So that's why I'm here to support and support of it right now. So, for the record, I'm in favor of it. I hope you Council people are in favor of it too. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you.
God bless you, Mr. O'Rourke. I'm so sorry for what you've been through and I hope everything works out in your favor. Like I said -- CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much.
-- take care. God bless. CHAIRWOMAN GAUTHIER: Thank you so much for being here today. That brings us to the end of our public comment list and also that concludes the business of the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless. I want to thank everybody for coming today. I want to congratulate the bill sponsor and the entire coalition, as well as Councilmember O'Rourke's team for getting the relocation fund pass out of committee. And for all of the hard work that you've done, you have our committee's commitment to continue this work over the summer and you have our commitment that we support your budget request. Thank you so much everybody for coming today. The work continues. Have a good evening. (COMMITTEE ON HOUSING, NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND THE HOMELESS CONCLUDED at 5:30 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the notes taken by me of the above case, and this copy is a correct transcript of the same. _______________ Samanda J. Rios