It's always good to see you. I'm well. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
My name is Gloria Maria Cartagena Hart. I am well-known in the community as Smooches. Thank you for having me here to testify. Well, it was for good morning, but it's good evening. My name is Gloria Maria Cartagena Hart, and I am a long-time resident, 40-plus years of Kensington. I am also a community organizer at the Kensington Corridor Trust, a nonprofit organization committed to fostering community-driven development in Kensington. As the nation's first neighborhood trust, we currently store 30 assets along Kensington Avenue which has a total of 54 rental units at 30 percent/60 percent AMI. In Philadelphia, of every 3 household earns less than $30,000 a year in the Kensington neighborhood. The average income can be as low as 25,000 a year. This household incomes mean that residents do not qualify for many City housing programs, including those that help homeowners keep their property safe and sustainable over a long term. For those who are not homeowners and face challenges of aging infrastructure, finding clean and secure affordable housing to rent is becoming increasingly difficult. Private developers who (inaudible) on communities such as Kensington do not understand what developer -- I'm sorry, do not understand what affordability means or have an incorrect understanding of the citywide Average Median Income. Even if we follow the correct AMI for the city, people spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, which does not even account for other essential needs such as utilities, child care, food and other basic necessities. Philadelphia has an affordable housing crisis. Philadelphia needs to create better policies that clarify what affordable actually means, put safeguards in place to ensure residents can stay in their communities. Every Philadelphian should have the right to remain in their neighborhoods where they have built community without fear their rising costs will soon force them to start all over again. Stories of displacement are becoming more common. Yet we lack the policies to ensure that does not happen. Furthermore, without policy there is no 22 accountability for developers to promise affordability as a buzz word but do not intend to meet the needs of communities that need it the most. We are here because we know that this problem will grow if we continue operating under the assumption that everyone understands the true definition of affordability. City Council has the power to create better parameters that protect its constituents and ensure neighborhoods are not torn apart. Let's remove the assumptions and guesswork from affordability and create concrete policies instead. I want to give props to the CDCs and we need them in our community. Because as of today, I have experienced not being in the shelter but being homeless with my family. At the time, we were a family of nine and we had to live on the street. If it wasn't because I had a motor home, those vans that are used, we was in there for three months until I found a home that I've been in for years 4 that I'm now buying. 5 (Applause.) 6
And 7 I want to thank the CDC and NKCDC 8 for giving me that chance to buy 9 that home, which I am like two 10 months away from purchasing and 11 saying it's mine. I want to thank 12 you for your time and thank you for 13 having me and testifying. I urge you to support the critical gap in this policy space. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you, Gloria. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for sharing your story and for all of your advocacy and work. We appreciate you so much. And congratulations.
All right. So seeing no one else here to testify on the resolution, this concludes the business of the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and The Homeless for today. But before we end, I want to give a big thank you to Nora Lichtash and to PCAC. (Applause.)
Y'all are the fiercest fighters for housing justice around and I'm so proud to stand with you. Thank you for all of your work, and this concludes our hearing. Thank you so much. (Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and The Homeless concluded at 3:45 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL