Housing Justice Budget Demands!
Mayor Kenney’s budget would prioritize police and corporations over people and housing. We need to change it.
As Philadelphia strives to recover from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic and learn from last year’s uprisings for racial justice, we have a unique opportunity to work towards a new vision for our city. In the future Philadelphia we envision, everyone has what they need to thrive, including the guarantee of an affordable, accessible, and good-quality home.
Kenney’s Budget Prioritizes Police and Wealthy Corporations
To make this vision a reality, Philly residents need a budget that does not keep the city in a broken status quo. But Mayor Jim Kenney’s proposed budget for the upcoming year would do exactly that. His budget would leave the police department’s funding virtually unchanged, at $729 million, while cutting housing-related programs or leaving them completely unfunded. Kenney may claim that keeping last year’s policing budget represents a kind of compromise between communities and cops, but it is clear what side he is on: his budget would provide the department with more than six million dollars of extra revenue to be distributed through the Managing Director’s Office. This, along with much of the $100 million-plus increase in the police budget since Kenney took office, is money that instead could be directly invested in care-based programs in our communities.
Kenney’s budget also prioritizes corporations over Philly residents. Kenney recently announced his decision to use federal money intended for pandemic relief to offer $180 million in corporate tax breaks over five years. His administration has openly acknowledged that these tax cuts will benefit businesses and employees living in local suburbs, but will not directly benefit Philly residents. Let’s be clear: it is our community members who deserve City support to recover from the devastation caused by the pandemic, not wealthy out-of-town corporations.
Critical Eviction Prevention Programs Face Huge Cuts
Despite Philadelphia’s impending eviction crisis, Kenney has once again refused to invest in the City’s main eviction prevention programs, slashing the Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project (PEPP) in half and leaving Right to Counsel unfunded. PEPP was a groundbreaking program when it launched in late 2017. Borne out of growing public awareness that evictions cause profound, lasting harm, that landlords disproportionately evict Black and brown renters, and that there is such a clear and unjust power imbalance between a landlord and tenant in court, PEPP was the first time the City, Council and six tenant advocate organizations partnered to offer comprehensive services for renters facing eviction or having issues with their landlord.
PEPP includes a live hotline (267-443-2500), legal advice and representation, community-based trainings, weekly tenant’s rights workshops, a website (PhillyTenant.org) used by over 100,000 people each year, and financial counseling. PEPP also provided courtroom navigators and a help center in court before these services were temporarily halted by the pandemic.
At the same time, Kenney still hasn’t invested a single dollar towards the city’s Right to Counsel (RTC) program. This program guarantees legal representation to low-income renters in eviction court, but has remained completely unfunded since unanimously passing in City Council in 2019. And yet, the research is clear: legal representation is an effective tool against displacement. Tenants have better outcomes with an attorney. With the right to an attorney, tenants are more protected when organizing against their landlord. Legal representation for tenants also saves money in social service costs, such as emergency room visits and shelter stays.
With PEPP, Right to Counsel, and the Eviction Diversion program all fully funded, Philadelphia could change the landscape of evictions in the city. All these programs work together: the Eviction Diversion program allows landlords and tenants to work out less complicated disputes, such as money, outside of court, saving the tenant from having an eviction filing forever on their record. For more complex issues, such as substandard housing conditions, PEPP and Right to Counsel provide information and legal representation to make sure tenants have more power to organize, fight their case, and assert their rights.
We Need a People’s Budget
The People’s Budget takes a radically different approach to the Mayor’s proposal, one that understands a budget is a moral document and embraces long-term investment in Philly residents and the communities we have built. Our platform consists of three central demands:
No raise for the Philadelphia Police Department
Tax the Rich
Commit to 10 Years of Investment in Local Communities
To us, investment in local communities does not look like costly new anti-riot gear for police to weaponize against peaceful protestors, or like unnecessary tax breaks for wealthy Center City corporations. Instead, it looks like $100 million for critical housing programs; $100 million for much-needed gun violence prevention; $50 million for healthcare over current spending levels; extra support for community caregivers; and funding to implement trauma-informed practices, with none of that money passing through the police.
Even on its own, our proposal for a $100 million investment in housing has the potential to transform this city. That much money could be usefully spent in many different ways, but here are our ideas: First, instead of cutting key programs, we must fully fund essential housing resources and agencies, including the Eviction Diversion Program, PEPP and Right to Counsel and should use $55 million to do so. Next, we must radically change our approach to emergency shelter, using $20 million to convert facilities into safe, welcoming spaces where individuals and families could stay until they are able to find permanent housing. Finally, we must be proactive in preserving our existing affordable housing assets as well as thinking about future development, and use $25 million for saving current affordable housing and acquiring vacant, abandoned, and auctioned-off land to develop as permanently, deeply affordable housing.
We Demand a Budget that Works for All of Us
Right now, City Council is considering how to amend Mayor Kenney’s budget before they give it their final approval in June. That means we still have time to win a budget that reflects our values by investing in health, housing, and our collective care instead of violent cops, corporate tax breaks, and cuts to essential programs.
Here are a few ways we’re organizing across Philadelphia to get our voices heard. Join us by:
Signing onto this letter that supports funding PEPP and Right to Counsel
Calling and emailing in on May 27th for Reclaim the Budget! Call In & Email Day
Calling and emailing on June 2nd for Reclaim the Budget! Call in & Email Day