COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON HOUSING, NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT, AND THE HOMELESS Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, May 29, 2024 10:18 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBER JAMIE GAUTHIER, CHAIR COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMEMBER RUE LANDAU COUNCILMEMBER MARK SQUILLA BILL 240060 - An ordinance amending Chapter 9-1100 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Fair Practices Ordinance: Protections Against Unlawful Discrimination," to clarify and enhance protections against housing discrimination for housing assistance program participants..." - - 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060
Hello, everyone. I now note that the hour has come and this hearing is called to order. This is a public hearing of the City Council Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless. The purpose of this public hearing is to hear testimony on Bill No. 10 240060. Ms. Jones, would you please call the roll.
Present. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 I note for the record that a quorum of this Committee is present and this hearing is called to order. Good morning, everyone. I'm grateful that today our Committee will be considering Bill No. 240060, which clarifies protections against housing discrimination for housing assistance program participants, particularly voucher holders. When my childhood best friend became a teenage mom and needed somewhere to live on a tight budget, she applied for and received a housing voucher. Being housing secure allowed my friend to focus on her future. She earned multiple master's degrees and has been a longtime public school teacher. This story isn't an anomaly. It's just one example of the tens of thousands of Black and brown Philadelphians, many of whom are single Black mothers, who lifted themselves out of poverty because they had affordable 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 housing when they needed it the most. But today, illegal but tolerated discrimination undermines housing vouchers. A quarter to one-third of voucher holders cannot put their voucher to use. This means working families have no choice but to surrender their voucher, along with hundreds of dollars in rental assistance each month that they're entitled to by law. Philadelphia landlords overwhelmingly ignore the law and openly discriminate against voucher holders, preventing our neighbors from accessing the safe, stable, and affordable homes that are crucial for a successful life, healthy communities, and a vibrant city. The City of Philadelphia cannot turn a blind eye to this injustice. We must tighten existing protections and get needy families into housing. The bill we are considering today does just that. It amends Philadelphia's Fair Practice Ordinance as 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 it relates to source of income discrimination, which I understand was a pioneer as one of the first of its kind in the nation, and it brings our Fair Practices Ordinance in line with others nationwide by providing important clarity and updates. The bill does not actually change the anti-discrimination law, but rather makes what is already illegal clearer, which is that property owners and managers cannot discriminate against residents using housing vouchers, whether we are talking about explicitly advertised discrimination or landlords intentionally slow-rolling repairs and paperwork to prevent a voucher holder from renting a unit. The bill also changes when private right of action kicks in if aggrieved households are working with legal assistance. I also have an amendment this morning that clarifies that these 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 proposed changes only relate to housing discrimination matters specifically. My amendment also adds a three-month effective date to allow the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations additional time to make any necessary modifications to their current implementation practices, and it aligns the private right of action procedure to be more akin to that in the Renters' Access Act, which does not require PCHR review if aggrieved residents obtain legal assistance. This bill is necessary because, sadly, we know these practices hurt voucher holders -- we know that these practices that hurt voucher holders are very real. A recent local study found that 67 percent of landlords citywide refuse to accept housing vouchers. In low poverty neighborhoods, this number jumps to 83 percent. This legislation is a direct result of some of the recommendations that came out of an exploratory hearing I 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 held in this Committee last year. We cannot sit on our hands while literally thousands of families who are entitled to this precious financial resource are illegally prevented from accessing safe, stable, and affordable homes.
These vouchers represent some of the largest and most direct needs we have to combat our city's affordable housing crisis, and we know that cities with strong source of income discrimination laws see higher voucher utilization rates. In a climate where we are losing hundreds of low-cost apartments every year and gaining hundreds more high-priced ones in their stead, vouchers are one of our best tools to level the playing field for working families. While I know that any government program can come with challenges, vouchers provide property owners with consistent and sometimes higher than market-rate payments, making 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 them a win-win-win for government, property owners, and families alike. Thank you, and I very much look forward to the discussion. Do any of my colleagues have any opening remarks?
Thank you, Chair Gauthier. This is just the second time in the same month where my worlds have come together in such a great way, where as a former housing lawyer at CLS where I represented low-income tenants, all subsidized tenants, for ten years and then oversaw the Human Relations Commission for 12 years. This is exactly the way in which our laws need to work and that our legislative body needs to step in to make things more explicit at times when it's not crystal clear to landlords that you cannot discriminate against people based on source of income, including having vouchers. If you look back to the time 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 when I was a lawyer at CLS, there were many more public housing units than there are now, but times have changed from the way HUD works and what they want to fund and the Housing Authority itself that there's more people that are getting vouchers now and are allowed to go out, shop around, and go find their own place to live, their own subsidized housing no 11 matter where it is in Philadelphia. But we have seen time and time again landlords turning away people with vouchers, saying that they don't rent to people with vouchers, and that is just wrong, it is illegal, it is unfair, it is discriminatory, and it's for the -- for our city that tends to be segregated by race, it is also extremely discriminatory and underscores and underlines the segregation that has occurred. Vouchers should be people's passes to move from one neighborhood to another, to rent to wherever they can within that income guidelines. It should 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 be a place where they can flee harm, where they can find a new beginning or where they can establish their roots, but if we have landlords saying no illegally to people using their vouchers, we can't ever have tenants have the freedom that they should have, that they deserve, that this is just a small subsidy for low-income folks when we know that the City's wages have not risen throughout -- for workers in Philadelphia, the wages have not risen to the point where people can just feel like they can rent wherever. People need vouchers simply to subsidize their rent so they can keep on with their jobs, keep their kids in their schools, keep staying a fabric -- a part of the fabric of the community. We cannot have landlords doing this anymore. And, again, all this law does is make what was implicit more explicit and making sure that we're sending a clear message that we can't have this anymore 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 in Philadelphia. So thank you so much, Chair, for bringing this bill. Thank you for the partners who are going to testify today, and looking forward to it.
Ms. Jones, will you now read the title of the bill.
Bill No. 240060, amending Chapter 9-1100 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Fair Practices Ordinance: Protections Against Unlawful Discrimination," to clarify and enhance protections against housing discrimination for housing assistance program participants, to modify certain procedures for investigation of housing discrimination complaints and conciliation, appeal and election of civil action of all complaints filed with the Commission, and to make related technical changes, all under certain terms and conditions.
The 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 Clerk will please call the first panel of witnesses to testify on the resolution.
Mimi McKenzie, Vilna Waldron Gaston, Tamar Hoffman, and Sherry Thomas. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good morning. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. MS. McKENZIE: Good morning. I'm Mimi McKenzie, the Legal Director at the Public Interest Law Center. Thank you to the Committee for allowing me to testify today in support of Bill No. 17 240060. In our housing practice, the Law Center seeks to stop discrimination and to promote healthy, affordable housing for people in the neighborhoods of their choice. As members of this Committee are well aware, the City of Philadelphia has an affordable housing crisis. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 Fifty-four percent of Philadelphia renters are cost-burdened. That means they pay at least 30 percent of their income on housing costs. The problem is most acute for renters with incomes below $30,000 per year, 88 percent of whom are cost-burdened and 68 percent are severely cost-burdened, meaning they spend at least 50 percent of their income on their rent. The Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly referred to as Section 14 8, is the federal government's program for providing financial assistance to low-income families to enable them to afford decent, safe housing in the private rental market. Administered by the Philadelphia Housing Authority, there are about nearly 20,000 voucher holders in Philadelphia, 84 percent of whom are Black and 70 percent of whom earn less than $20,000 per year. But as you have heard, Philadelphians with a voucher face a 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 steep challenge finding landlords who will accept their subsidy. The study was previously mentioned showing 67 percent of Philadelphia landlords refuse to accept vouchers. More recent data tells the same story. As of May 27th, 2024, nearly 30 percent of Philadelphia households who received an emergency housing voucher failed to secure housing within six months of voucher issuance. This discrimination occurs with disturbing frequency notwithstanding Philadelphia's Fair Practice Ordinance 15 which explicitly prohibits landlords from refusing to rent to individuals based on source of income. Since 2019, the Law Center has been working to increase enforcement of Philadelphia's Fair Practices Ordinance. Bill No. 240060 strengthens the ordinance's enforcement scheme; namely, giving a complainant the option to immediately file a private right of action in a court of competent 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 jurisdiction. Currently any source of income discrimination complaint requires administrative exhaustion at the Commission, meaning that a complainant must first file their allegations of discrimination with the Commission before proceeding to court. The Commission then has a full year of exclusive jurisdiction while it investigates or otherwise contemplates the complaint. Philadelphia's ordinance is actually an outlier in that of the top 15 most populus cities in the country that 16 have source of income protections, only 17 Philadelphia and Denver require 18 administrative exhaustion. But more 19 importantly, the Commission simply does 20 not have sufficient resources to timely respond to and investigate complaints of source of income discrimination in housing. Administrative exhaustion, which is intended to promote an efficient system of justice, ends up being a 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 barrier to justice under the ordinance. By way of example, for four complaints our office filed, the Commission took between months and two 6 years to complete its investigation. 7 That's just too long. For starters, 8 tenants have a limited amount of time in 9 which to use or lose their Housing Choice 10 Voucher. At the Law Center, we had two 11 recent cases where our clients' vouchers expired after filing their complaints and before they found a place to live. Although we were able to obtain extensions from PHA at the last minute, tenants who are unable to find a landlord to accept their voucher can permanently lose that voucher.
Moreover, tenants who contact us are desperate to find housing. They're often not interested in spending time pursuing a complaint against a property owner who discriminated against them unless it helps them secure housing. The option for a quicker process that 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 could result in a tenant securing a place to live would better serve the ordinance's purpose and provide a more meaningful outcome for the tenant. This is often the case when a prospective tenant has a physical disability and finds a unique unit that accommodates their needs, like a first floor apartment with a wide enough door to allow a wheelchair to pass. In the last year, the Law Center had a client with disabilities who was rejected from an accessible unit because of their voucher. Although we filed a complaint on their behalf, it took our client ten additional months before they found another accessible unit. In the interim, they were homeless. They were forced to couch surf with family and friends. Given the City's severe lack of affordable housing for people with disabilities, especially those with physical impairments that require accessible units, our client needed 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 injunctive relief to change the landlord's behavior in the immediate term. Specifically, our client needed an order requiring the housing provider to process the application in a non-discriminatory manner so the client did not lose the opportunity to secure housing. Although Section 9-1110(2) of the ordinance contemplates that the Law Department can seek an injunction at the Commission's request if the Commission believes that the unit could be rented before a final determination is made, we've learned that the Commission is not set up to do that. Bill No. 240060 would allow a tenant to bypass the Commission and immediately file a complaint in court and, among other things, seek immediate injunctive relief. Fair housing laws realize their objective when they're accompanied by this type of robust enforcement. At the same time, the ability 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 to pursue a private right of action will not help tenants who do not have access to a lawyer. Therefore, it is also critical to allow complainants to have the option to pursue an administrative complaint with the Commission, and to that end, a strong, well-resourced Commission is invaluable for ensuring compliance with the law. We urge City Council to not only pass Bill No. 240060 but to ensure that the Commission has sufficient resources to promptly investigate and resolve complaints concerning source of income discrimination in housing. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of this legislation.
Thank you for that great testimony and for your work. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Vilna Waldron 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 Gaston. Thank you for this opportunity to present testimony on the proposed legislation. I'm a staff attorney in the Tenant Rights Project at the SeniorLAW Center. At SeniorLAW Center, we seek justice for older adults by using the power of the law, educating the community, and advocating on local, state, and national levels. Our Tenant Rights Project provides representation and advocacy to tenants facing various landlord-tenant issues, including evictions, ejectments, Fair Housing Commission complaints, as well as providing advice to tenants regarding the Renters' Access Act. The Philadelphia Code already prohibits housing discrimination, including based on source of income. Such discrimination would encompass, quote, "refusing to sell, rent, or lease or otherwise discriminate in the terms, conditions, or privileges of the sale, 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 rental, or lease of any housing accommodation" on the basis of source of income. The City Council already took action to enact legislation to outlaw discrimination against both current tenants and applicants for rental housing where such discrimination was based on their status as recipients of housing financial aid. But notwithstanding the clear prohibitions, discrimination continues against both applicants for housing and existing tenants based on their source of income. SeniorLAW Center is on the front line of the housing crisis, and we often engage with older tenants while they're looking for housing either as part of the eviction process or because of other problems they are experiencing with their landlord. These tenants regularly report that they are having trouble finding a landlord who will accept their rental subsidy. We also 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 have cases where the landlord seeks to terminate the lease after having received direction from PHA to make repairs to the property to address habitability issues found at the rental premises. Based on our experience in representing tenants, many landlords either do not understand that the discrimination prohibitions of Section 11 9-1100 extend to the Housing Choice Voucher Program and all rental assistance programs or simply indifferent to their violation of the law. The exclusion of tenants from eligibility for housing based solely on the source of income, and in particular the receipt of the Housing Choice Voucher Program, has a profound negative impact on tenants, especially older tenants. Housing choice vouchers and other rental subsidies, as indicated before, are lifesaving for tenants, particularly for older tenants on fixed incomes who we represent. They guarantee 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 that a landlord can get paid a market price for the property, which means that they can maintain the premises. It also ensures that while nationwide households are spending more and a greater percentage of their income on rent, that voucher holders are guaranteed to only spend about one-third of their income on rent. For an older adult on a fixed income, this usually means the difference between being safely housed and being homeless. However, in order for tenants to be able to take advantage of the program, they must find a landlord who will rent to them. Given the current environment of increasing rents not keeping up with incomes for the older population we serve, the pool of available affordable units for rent is already limited. Discrimination based on source of income only further restricts availability, in turn reducing the housing opportunity of voucher holders as compared to 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 non-voucher holders. Consequently, voucher holders may be forced to accept less desirable units, move outside their current communities or face homelessness. The risk and immediacy of homelessness increases as a tenant is also in the eviction process.
The resulting housing insecurity is detrimental to the tenant and his or her family and to society as a whole. There is a particularly adverse impact on older tenants who are deprived their opportunity to age in place and who must uproot themselves in search of a landlord who accepts housing choice vouchers. Many of these tenants are afraid of moving to unfamiliar communities. Some of these tenants are on waiting lists for senior housing but must find some housing in the interim. Others prefer to continue living in the same communities where they know their neighbors and pharmacists and are closest to their doctors. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 For these reasons, the SeniorLAW Center applauds the step being taken by City Council to clarify that the prohibitions do apply to the housing choice vouchers. Housing is a fundamental right, arguably a human right for all individuals, and no individual should be denied housing simply because the rent payment is coming from one source rather than another. In addition, the SeniorLAW supports the changes that prohibits the landlord from negatively impacting the voucher eligibility of tenants simply by refusing to cooperate. Landlords sometimes fail to submit paperwork, leaving tenants at risk of losing their housing. In addition, sometimes landlords can refuse to make required repairs so that the property can fail inspection, ultimately leading to removal of the property from the voucher program and, in turn, the eviction of the tenant. Newly proposed Sections 9-1108(m) and (n) 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 address these situations involving a landlord's non-cooperation by specifically requiring landlords to cooperate in completing and submitting required information and documentation. Clearly, we also support the streamlining of the private right of action, the right to sue against landlords who violate the law. This is a major improvement that recognizes the critical nature of housing in a person's life. One year is far too long for an aggrieved tenant to wait for relief given their continuing housing insecurity. We also think that it will add some teeth enforcing the anti-discrimination laws and holding landlords accountable. We strongly support the enactment of this legislation to both clarify and enhance existing housing discrimination prohibitions. The goal is to ensure non-discriminatory housing access and enjoyment for all Philadelphians regardless of the source 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 of the rent payment. This clarification will make it easier to enforce existing law and hold landlords accountable for any non-compliance. We look forward to the enactment of amendments and, where feasible, we will continue to work with Council on future legislative improvements to this and other laws, especially as they impact older Philadelphians. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony and your great work. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning. My name is Tamar Hoffman. I'm a staff attorney at Community Legal Services. Thank you for the opportunity to address the Committee in support of protections against source of income discrimination in housing. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 Each year, Community Legal Services represents over 3,000 families facing unfair housing practices and eviction. Many of our clients rely on housing subsidies, including vouchers and other forms of housing assistance, to stay in their homes. As part of our work, we often bear witness to the constant indignity and insecurity that families face when they are told over and over again by landlords that they will not rent to them because they have vouchers. For example, I recently represented a tenant, Ms. W, who was forced to remain in unsafe housing with a severe rodent infestation, leaks, and mold for over a year because she was unable to sign a lease elsewhere due to discrimination. Another tenant who I represented, Ms. R, struggled with deepening depression and even suicidal ideation related to the prolonged housing search and challenges that she faced trying to lease up with her voucher. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 Ms. W and Ms. R's experiences are unfortunately all too common among voucher holders in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, the Fair Practices Ordinance has included source of income discrimination as a protected class since 1980. This means that tenants whose rent is either fully or partially paid by the Philadelphia Housing Authority in the form of a voucher are protected from discrimination. The PCHR -- sorry; the PHRC currently accepts these complaints and has long upheld these protections. Despite this, the reality is that landlords still routinely and often publicly refuse to rent to tenants with vouchers. For this reason, we are grateful that this bill further clarifies what we already know to be true, which is that it is unlawful to deny rental housing to tenants based on their status as voucher holders. This law will also increase the ability for tenants to 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 exercise their rights and protect their ability to find safe and stable housing using their vouchers for their families. Obtaining a rental subsidy is very challenging. The voucher waiting list in Philadelphia last opened last year for the first time in over years, 9 and at that time, fewer than one-third of 10 eligible households who applied were 11 selected for the waiting list, not for 12 the voucher, just for the waiting list, 13 which closed again three weeks later. Many tenants have been on that waiting list since then, facing housing insecurity in the meantime. And unfortunately, many families who have somehow cleared the hurdles of receiving a voucher remained precariously housed due to pervasive source of income discrimination. Landlords across Philadelphia decline to rent to voucher holders, often failing to respond to low-income tenants who are forced to spend substantial portions of 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 their limited income on application fee after application fee after application fee, and as a result, some tenants are unable to utilize their vouchers at all and lose them, which is just a heartbreaking conclusion to what is often a multi-year saga of trying to fight for housing stability. Many tenants, in an effort to lease up before their vouchers expire, end up steered towards the only properties that will reliably accept vouchers, and those properties are often substandard housing and they are riddled with repair issues and health hazards, including mold, lead, and inadequate cooling and heating. Voucher holders are also steered away from wealthier and whiter neighborhoods and towards neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of poverty, reinforcing segregation. In the years to come, Philadelphia is likely to see a rise in 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 voucher holders.
As a result of decades of federal housing policy development, thousands of subsidized housing units in our city are slated for conversion from unit-based subsidies to voucher programs that end up following the tenant. As a growing proportion of Philadelphia's tenants come to depend on housing choice vouchers and rental vouchers for use in the private market, these protections against source of income discrimination in housing are particularly important. Community Legal Services is thankful to all of you for this opportunity to testify and for hearing -- and for this hearing, and we look forward to continued collaboration with partners and City Council in building towards a future in which all tenants regardless of their source of income can access safe and affordable housing. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 you for your testimony and for your work and partnership. I wanted to ask of any or all of you what value do you think this bill 6 would bring in protecting against large companies intentionally filtering out voucher tenants?
Voucher tenants. MS. McKENZIE: The ability to have more robust enforcement in all different forums I think is critically important, and I see at the Law Center as we start to challenge large landlords who are turning away voucher holders, there does eventually start to be a domino effect. When landlords understand that there are consequences for ignoring Philadelphia law, that has a huge deterrent effect. This law already has great bones, if you will. It has all the 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 hallmarks of important enforcement. It provides for compensatory damages. It provides for attorneys' fees and costs. It provides for injunctive relief. So now we just need to use that law to hold landlords accountable, and I think the more that that happens, the more compliance you'll see, and frankly academic studies bear that out.
Thank you. Just as a follow-up, where have you seen this type of law when effective have sort of that deterrent effect? MS. McKENZIE: Sure. So if you look at examples like in New York City and in Washington, DC where they have robust enforcement of their source of income discrimination prohibitions, the rate of voucher utilization is significantly improved.
Thank you. Councilmember Landau. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060
Yeah. I wanted to know especially from those areas of New York and DC, is there also a normalization of using vouchers? To me, we all come to rent housing with a variety of different income sources. It could be from work, it could be from child support, it could be from public benefits, it could be a Section 8 voucher. These are just ways in which we have money or subsidies in order to rent a space. And so is there any kind of normalization of the voucher use? Is it still feeling so fraught and so "other" in those places? MS. McKENZIE: I don't have at the top of my fingertips like a study that shows that, but I do know anecdotally as you start to talk to landlords who become familiar with the program's requirements, that many landlords actually end up really appreciating the benefits of the program. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 You know, you have a direct payment that is guaranteed, that's paid by the federal government every month. So there are actually a lot of positives when you talk to landlords. But I can follow up and I'm happy to send you anything from those experiences from other cities.
To me the most amazing part out of all the other income sources I was saying, having a Section 8 voucher as a subsidy, 70 percent of your rent is guaranteed by the federal government every month, every month. I know landlords who love this, say this is great. Even if the tenant had a hard time, falls behind, it's still only 30 percent of harm to catch up. Seventy percent of your rent is guaranteed by the feds. It sounds like a good deal to me. MS. McKENZIE: Yeah.
And another, I think, pro is that for landlords, as long as you have a good landlord who is acting 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 in good faith on the law and who is keeping up their property, as they should be, there's also obligation for the tenants to keep up their side of the bargain. Certain repairs are actually assigned to the tenants. So it goes both ways. So both the tenant and the landlord have obligations under the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
Great. Thank you all for your testimony. Were you going to add something?
Thank you so much. Will the Clerk please call the next panel to testify.
Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
All right. Good morning. My name is Kia Ghee. Good morning, Chairperson Gauthier and members of the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless. Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to testify in support of this bill. I am Kia Ghee, the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. As the City's official civil rights enforcement agency, our office administers and enforces the Fair Practices Ordinance, which protects Philadelphians from unlawful discrimination in housing. I am here today to testify in support of Bill No. 240060, which aims to strengthen protections against source of income discrimination, particularly 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 concerning Housing Choice Voucher programs. As the Executive Director of the agency that enforces Philadelphia's anti-discrimination laws, I have seen firsthand the insidious ways in which this form of discrimination and all forms of discrimination perpetuate inequality and hinders social mobility. Source of income discrimination occurs when a landlord refuses to rent to individuals based on their lawful sources of income. This includes income derived from public assistance, disability benefits, Social Security, child support, and Housing Choice Voucher programs. Such discrimination is unjust because it denies individuals and families the basic right to secure housing. We live in a time when the cost of living continues to rise and affordable housing becomes increasingly scarce. In Philadelphia, the Housing Choice Voucher Program serves 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 approximately 20,000 families. For many of them, Housing Choice Voucher programs are the lifelines that ensure their ability to keep a roof over their heads. It also provides these families with essential financial assistance that allows them access to decent housing in Philadelphia's private rental market. Despite the undeniable benefits of this program, as the other panelists have said, many families still face far too many barriers when seeking a place to live simply because of how they pay their rent. This bill provides greater protection for renters using housing choice vouchers by explicitly prohibiting landlords from communicating or advertising that they do not accept Section 8 housing choice vouchers and prohibiting them from refusing to make repairs or refusing to comply with minor administrative requirements of the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 bill, importantly, also offers an expedited private right of action for renters whose rights are violated. Changes like those proposed in this bill have been shown to substantially reduce the number of landlords who refuse to accept vouchers, and it also increases access to higher-opportunity neighborhoods. In Philadelphia, we are known for our diversity. Source of income discrimination, however, undermines the City's goal of enhancing fair housing practices across all neighborhoods. Moreover, discriminatory practices disproportionately affect the most vulnerable members of our community, including people of color, women, individuals with disability, and those with lower income. It also exacerbates existing inequalities and perpetuates the cycle of poverty and instability. PCHR is committed to ending discriminatory practices and all forms of 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 discrimination. We support stronger legal protections that explicitly prohibit source of income discrimination in housing. This includes ensuring that landlords cannot refuse applicants based on lawful sources of income and that they cannot set different terms or conditions for tenants who rely on these sources. We recognize that many landlords do not fully understand the implications of their discriminatory practices or the benefits of accepting a diverse range of income sources.
We plan to continue to use the resources allocated to us to engage in more robust public education campaigns to inform both tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities. Furthermore, we will continue to seek additional resources that will allow us to strengthen our enforcement mechanisms to ensure that violations of these protections are met with appropriate consequences. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 In closing, we stand ready to partner with City Council to enforce these and other protections for Philadelphia's most vulnerable populations. Thank you for your time, and I am available for any questions you may have.
Thank you so much for your testimony, but thanks also for your collaboration in this work. A lot of the bill's key tenets came from your testimony at our hearing last year, and so we really appreciate you. I also want you to know that we're rooting for PCHR to get more resources, and we think that that's very important. I wanted to ask how in particular do you think that explicitly prohibiting written or verbal communication that a landlord does not accept housing vouchers will help PCHR's 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 work?
I think explicitly prohibiting advertisement and communication that a landlord doesn't accept a housing choice voucher is significant in a number of ways. First, it stops the signaling to prospective tenants that they cannot rent there. It also informs the landlord of their responsibility to not discriminate against other -- against tenants based on their lawful sources of income. I think that when it is clear that they cannot do that in advertising, they will not do that, and when you couple that with the remedy of having a private right of action where a tenant can seek immediate redress for any damages that they incur and you can enjoin those landlords from taking such actions, then I think you are in a better position to fully realize the benefit of this law.
Thank 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 you. Councilmember Landau.
Just one quick comment. First, thank you for all of your work, and second of all, thank you for committing to a public education campaign, because I think sometimes our work that we do, we're doing just in silos or are not as forward-looking as we need to be, and now in this post-pandemic time, we need to make sure that it is clear as day and we're sending the message really strong to landlords throughout the City, and you are the perfect agency to do it. Thank you.
Will the Clerk please call the next panel to testify.
Gianni Parente. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 (Witness approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Gianni Parente. My name is Gianni Parente. I'm the Northeast U.S. Multifamily Investment Officer for EQT Exeter, one of the largest real estate private equity managers in the world based in Radnor, Pennsylvania. I live in South Philadelphia and have been responsible for the development of over 1,000 units in the City of Philadelphia in three large projects. I have also been responsible for the developments and acquisitions in the DC area, Delaware, Boston, and Providence Rhode Island. Our latest project, The Clark, 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 located at 46th and Chestnut, is a 327-unit building with ten percent of the units reserved for residents earning 60 percent of the area median income or less. As we were opening the building late last year, we were approached to see if we might have the ability to house some of the residents of the University City Townhomes. I believe at this time there were about a dozen folks who had not found replacement housing and needed to be in University City for one reason or another. We had the units available that were being set aside as affordable, so that worked out well. The one wrinkle was that the UC Townhome residents were housing choice voucher holders and could not immediately income qualify if even for the affordable units. We had no experience as a firm with housing choice vouchers, but we were willing to give it a try. The process was relatively painless to become a first-time HCV landlord, with only a 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 minimal delay. We were required to submit some paperwork and take a training course and took approximately 30 days. In a brand new building with first-generation leases, there was not much capital expense work that had to be done for the units to qualify. While only a handful of the UC Townhome residents chose our building, we continued down the path to find HCV tenants to fill the remainder of affordable units. Mostly we were having trouble finding prospects that made enough money to qualify for income-restricted units but were also under the AMI threshold. The HCVs provided a good pipeline of prospects as we were introduced to several other organizations that place residents, such as the Veterans Multi-Service Center. Today, most of our HCV residents have come through either PHA housing fairs, the UC Townhomes or the VMC. We have had a good experience 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 as a landlord and we will continue to pursue HCV residents for future buildings and projects in Philadelphia. There is an obvious need for more units. The PHA has been a very willing partner, and it makes good economic sense for our investors. Of the 33 affordable units at The Clark, approximately 30 are HCV holders. The HCV program has allowed us the flexibility to deal with any issues and concerns that have arisen, though far and few between. Some other interesting feedback that we've gotten is that the needs of the residents differ slightly from our market-rate customers. HCV residents, especially ones with children, need game rooms and playgrounds, not pool tables and roof decks. We are taking this into consideration for future projects. Due to my good experience as an operator of apartments that accept housing choice vouchers, I'm here to 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 voice support of Bill No. 240060. Having very clear and consistent guidelines is important for the business community. So insofar as the bill clarifies any outstanding questions regarding HCVs, I believe it is useful. I am also supportive of having more landlords in the City accept HCVs as a means to produce affordable housing quickly and economically for those that need it so desperately. Thanks for your time.
Thank you so much for your testimony and for your efforts to rehouse the University City Townhome tenants. I wanted to ask you, do you see this bill as adding any new burdens to your operations?
Thank you. Vice Chair Landau, do you have 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 any questions or comments?
I just had a clarifying question. I want to make sure I heard you right. Did you say you built your development with tax credits?
No. It's a market-rate project. It was part of a remapping a while ago that remapped the property from RM-1 to CMX-3, and part of the agreement with the Spruce Hill Community Association was to include ten percent of the units set aside for affordable housing. So that's at 60 percent AMI. Sixty percent AMI is about -- Councilwoman Gauthier, you might remember off the top of your head better than me, but I'm going to say around $48,000 a year. So to afford the rent, if you only make $48,000 a year, even for an affordable unit, is still pretty tough, as you guys have talked about in some other properties. So the housing choice vouchers were used to fill up the 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 affordable units.
Great. Thank you. So it was a voluntary ten percent as part of this agreement that you were doing?
So you started using the program out of necessity to fill these affordable units, but you actually find that it works for your business model?
Yeah. I mean, to the credit of some of the hard-working folks in West Philadelphia and University City, I mean, we wouldn't probably have thought about it, except that this issue with the University City Townhomes arose, and there was a couple folks, I remember one is an elderly woman whose husband needed to have care at Penn Presbyterian, so she needed to be within walking 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 distance of the townhomes. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. So she actually was one of the residents that came and lived with us and resides at The Clark. So when we kind of heard that story, when it became more personal for here's the individuals we're talking about, it starts to kind of humanize the issue instead of making it kind of a stigma.
Yeah. You know, and just for the benefit of Vice Chair Landau and Councilmember Driscoll, this development is in University City close to transit, close to world-class healthcare systems, close to jobs. This is where we want to see affordable housing. This is where we want to see Section 8 vouchers be accepted. So thank you so much, Gianni. You're in a class by yourself today, but hopefully many other landlords will hear 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 your words and adopt the same type of approaches.
I have actually heard -- thank you for those kind words. I have actually heard of a couple other landlords that I've been talking to that have started to look into the program as a result, so hopefully good news.
Latoya Maddox, Garrett O'Dwyer, Tanja Carter. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. Good morning. My name is Latoya Maddox and I am grateful to be giving testimony on Bill 240060. So, again, good morning, Committee members. My name is Latoya Maddox. I'm a Senior Independent Living Specialist at Liberty Resources. Our mission at the Center for Independent Living is to ensure and support the rights of people with disabilities, enabling them to live and thrive within the community. I'd like to share an experience of one of our consumers, CS, who has been enduring voucher discrimination since July 2022. We assisted CS in obtaining a housing choice voucher, after which CS diligently searched for an accessible unit and a landlord willing to accept the voucher. She was unsuccessful. After much effort, CS found an accessible unit and pleaded with the landlord to accept 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 the voucher, but the landlord refused. Desperate for housing, CS took the unit at market rate and is now dependent on family support to pay the rent. This situation is unsustainable, and CS's story is all too common. In Philadelphia, housing is scarce and low-income individuals, especially those with disabilities living on Social Security, are in desperate need of subsidized housing. Obtaining a voucher is already a challenging process, but at Liberty Resources, we often find that even after securing a voucher, individuals face immense stress and fear because they cannot find landlords with accessible units willing to accept the voucher. Whether due to stigma or misinformation, we need landlords to be educated about housing choice vouchers and for the City to address the housing crisis by enforcing rules to protect our most vulnerable residents. The part of the proposed 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 legislation that excites us the most is the immediate private right of action. Currently, individuals who face voucher discrimination must file their complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which can take over a year to process. This timeline is impractical for voucher holders actively searching for housing. However, the proposed amendments would allow voucher holders to file discrimination complaints directly in court, enabling them to seek emergency relief. This change would be especially beneficial for those in need of accessible housing, allowing them to act swiftly when a landlord refuses their voucher. For example, a voucher holder needing wheelchair-accessible housing could immediately challenge a discriminatory landlord in court and secure a unit rather than waiting a year for the Commission's decision. Thank you for allowing me to testify today. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060
Thank you so much for your testimony and for your advocacy. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Garrett O'Dwyer testifying for PACDC. Good morning, Chairperson Gauthier, Vice Chair Landau, members of City Council's Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless. My name is Garrett O'Dwyer and I am the Associate Policy Director for the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, or PACDC. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the Housing Committee in favor of Bill No. 240060 that will enhance protections for housing voucher recipients by further clarifying landlord responsibilities and improving tenant remedies. We believe that housing is a human right and that all Philadelphians 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 deserve to live in safe, affordable homes in communities of choice. After water, food, and oxygen, housing is a basic human need. When we lack access to safe, affordable housing, we are unable to thrive in other important ways. Our health suffers and our horizons darken as life outcomes are greatly diminished. For a variety of reasons, the private market has failed to be able to meet the needs of our lowest income neighbors. The Housing Choice Voucher Program is a critical component of our social safety net and allows thousands of Philadelphia families to live safely while maintaining affordability in areas that have seen dramatic increases in values. Unfortunately, too many property owners ignore their obligations under City law to offer tenancy irrespective of source of incomes. As a result, too many voucher holders are burdened in finding accommodations, and 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 the value of the voucher program as a tool to combat this displacement is greatly diminished. It is our hope that today's bill offers a strong corrective to this problem by clarifying landlord responsibilities under the City code, increasing the range of prohibited activities surrounding source of income discrimination, as well as improving a tenant's right to seek remedy. I'd like to thank Chairperson Gauthier for her leadership in introducing this bill and other legislation as part of her Defying Displacement Campaign. Last year PACDC released our Equitable Development Policy Platform which we crafted with our 60 CDC members and with input from over 100 local and national experts. In it we identified the need to combat the risk of displacement that comes with rising property values in our communities. This bill offers a critical contribution to those efforts given the importance of the 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 problem presented by the refusal of some landlords to accept housing vouchers. PACDC is once again grateful to be able to offer our enthusiastic support for Bill No. 240060, and thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning.
Thank you so much for your testimony, but also for your support and partnership and advocacy. Ms. Carter, so good to see you.
Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Okay. My name is Tanja Carter. I'm the founder of It Takes A Village of Helping Hands, which is an organization in the West Philadelphia area. We don't limit our services. However, we offer a variety of services to individuals, and one of our most largest calls are individuals who 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 face this very problem with Section 8 vouchers. And after being introduced to the Bill 240060, I said finally this issue is being addressed. Becoming a client of the HCV program is a system within itself. However, the probability of finding landlords that doesn't discriminate against income is really slim to none, which sometimes forces clients to either lose their voucher or settle for properties in communities that doesn't fit their standards and unfortunately result in clients dealing with landlords who are only interested in the rent only, not the upkeep of the property or anything like that. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to support our Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier's Bill 240060. Once again, she is placing the needs of the people first and making a difference by doing things differently. The Bill 240060 singles out a 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 significant part of the Section 8 program is called the Housing Choice Voucher Program, and for a long time, the choice aspect had been removed from the process.
Thank you. Thank you for coming to give that testimony, and thank you for all of your hard work that you do in the community every single day. We're so grateful for you.
I wanted to ask any one of you who wants to answer, given everything that you've seen with people trying to put vouchers to use and having a hard time doing that, how do you think this bill will make that issue -- make things easier for people in the future?
As one of the previous folks giving testimony said, this will create a disincentive for landlords that are violating City code to 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 continue to do so. And I like the idea of the public education campaign Councilperson Landau was talking about, because I think that the more word gets out, then the more effective this will be. Solving the problem of affordable housing that faces Philadelphia isn't about a single tool that is going to get us out of the mess that we're in, but it's about using all of the available resources at our disposal, and this is an important one. It's one that because of landlord refusal to honor their responsibilities under the code has been a challenge to use in a way that benefits the voucher holders to the greatest extent as well as combats displacement as much as possible. So we're really excited that this will be able to move us forward on two important fronts.
It will take -- it feels like almost like the Amazing Race where you have to race to get the voucher to a landlord, and it will take that part off the individual's back, especially people who need accessible housing. If the property manager and the landlords are educated on it and they still refuse, you know, we now have a bill in place that will say, no, you can't do that no 12 more, you have to abide by these. And it will also help out the Public Relations Commission as well, because right now it takes, what, a year, when there will be other means in place for the individual looking for housing to say, all right, let's go about this a whole other way.
Thank you. We only like the Amazing Race when it's on TV, not when --
Not as simple for people looking for housing. So thanks. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 Did you want to add anything?
I think this bill 4 will build awareness, not only for just landlords but the clients as well, but more so for the landlords, because I don't think they get the concept of the fact that at least 70 percent of the rent is paid by Section 8 and 30 percent is paid by the client. And even if you don't meet those standards, the Section 12 8, they will pay 100 percent of the rent payment of the voucher, which gives some clients that opportunity to build themselves to become employed to reach the requirements that most landlords ask for when you do come to their properties. And one thing they do is ask about your employment and if you can meet the rent in case you lose the voucher.
Just a comment, Latoya, to the extra obstacles that people with disabilities sometimes 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 go through to find accessible housing. I think that maybe one part of the education campaign can be a partnership with Liberty Resources, PHDC, and the Commission on Human Relations to also advertise the programs of Adaptive Modification, trying to push PHDC. We can make it go a little faster, especially if somebody has a Section 8 voucher and there is a time on it, but there's also a small landlord loan program there now. So if you want to just do a small adjustment to your house, sometimes these are things that landlords aren't thinking about, they don't know about. They could be part of the campaign that we can go out and educate landlords, make sure more of the housing is accessible.
Thank 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 you, Chairwoman Gauthier and Vice Chair Landau, for bringing us to this moment. This is obviously important legislation that needs to advance. And to all the testifiers, thank you, Latoya, Tanja, Garrett. We can make the laws, but sharing the information with the community is -- you know, many times you're closer to the ground than we are when it comes to getting the word out. So I would just encourage all of the testifiers that were here -- and, Garrett, you'll have a big leadership role with all the CDCs that are in all our districts -- that we can let folks know that this is an opportunity, not a prohibition. So thank you.
No. I think that's important. I love the idea of the education campaign, but also leading up to having this hearing, we actually convened a workgroup with the BIA of landlords, directly with Kelvin 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 Jeremiah and his team at PHA, and I do think there are a lot of misconceptions about the program that landlords didn't know about, but I also think there was good information shared from the landlord community to PHA about getting more landlords to willingly participate. So I'm hopeful that over time as we do more engagement, as we do more education, and as we crack down on discrimination, that this will more be seen as a win-win-win, right, for tenants, for the landlords, and for PHA and other agencies offering vouchers. So thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. Is there anyone else that wishes to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Seeing no one else here to testify on the bill, this concludes the public hearing. We will now go into a public meeting to 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 consider the action to be taken on the bill heard today. And I think we need to get quorum back. (Brief pause.)
Present. The Chair recognizes Vice Chair Landau for a motion on the amendment to Bill No. 240060.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I offer an amendment 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 to Bill No. 240060. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 240060 be approved. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 240060 be approved. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries, and the amendment to Bill No. 240060 has been approved. The Chair recognizes Vice Chair Landau for a motion on Bill No. 240060, as amended.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 240060, 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. (Duly seconded.)
It has 10 been moved and properly seconded that 11 Bill No. 240060, as amended, be reported 12 from this Committee with a favorable 13 recommendation and further moved that the 14 rules of Council be suspended to permit 15 first reading of this bill at the next 16 session of Council. 17 All those in favor of the 18 motion will signify by saying aye. 19 (Aye.) 20
The 24 ayes have it and the motion carries. 25 Bill No. 240060, as amended, will be 5/29/24 - HOUSING - BILL 240060 reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation with a request that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading at the next session of Council. This concludes the business of the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless today. Thank you all very much for your attendance. - - - (Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless concluded at 11:28 a.m.) - - CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. -------------------- MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)