March 25, 2025
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Mayor Cherelle Parker introduced her extensive housing plan Monday. She hopes the proposed initiatives will help grow homeownership in Philly.
Mayor Cherelle Parker on Monday unveiled her comprehensive, $2 billion housing plan, which includes providing rental assistance to middle-income workers, a new fixed-rate mortgage program and changes to the sale process for city-owned land.
A portion of initiatives would be paid for by the sale of $800 million in city bonds. Adding affordable housing has been a key objective for this administration, which last year set an ambitious goal of 30,000 housing units. On Monday, she said that campaign would be split into 13,500 newly constructed homes and 16,500 preserved units.
Parker, who outlined the housing plan during a special meeting with Philadelphia City Council, also called for changes to Philadelphia Land Bank sales, money for repair and beautification efforts, and removing barriers to home ownership. Her plan must be approved by council and be adopted alongside her budget by June 30, when the fiscal year ends, before it can move forward.
"This plan also calls for and welcomes the partnership of labor, the philanthropic and private sector community," Parker said. "This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for Philadelphia, and there is no time to waste."
A proposed increase to the Real Estate Transfer Tax would be used to offset the $166 million in debt service to borrow the $800 million. Parker didn't detail which federal grants would be providing additional funding or if that money would be in danger as the Trump administration proposes cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Here are some key initiatives Parker is proposing:
The Philadelphia Land Bank is a quasi-governmental agency that manages most public land in the city, and among its responsibility is acquiring vacant and tax-delinquent properties for various types of redevelopment. Earlier in March, the Inquirer reported on "operational issues" the Land Bank was having with the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office that was preventing if from buying properties at sheriff's sales. This issue was resolved over the weekend.
The Land Bank will play a significant role Parker's housing plans, and said a new website that will simplify property acquisitions would go live later this week.
Currently, every time property is sold or transfered through the Land Bank, City Council must introduce legislation and it needs to be voted on, which Parker noted on Monday can hold things up for months. She proposed preauthorizing sales of Land Bank properties and creating a list of preapproved developers that parcels could be sold to in the hopes of streamlining builds.
"We need to develop an expedited process where it doesn't take a piece of legislation to move land out of the Land Bank," the mayor said.
Other proposals for development include funding apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship training programs with the building trades and considering tax abatements targeted at neighborhoods with the highest need for housing.
The proposed One Philly Mortgage Program would offer 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans with a 3% down payment, competitive interest rates and remove the need for private mortgage insurance. Parker said she thinks this will help lower the costs of mortgages, increasing accessibility to homeownership.
She also called for creating a Curbside Appeal Program, providing matching grants for block beautification at the front of houses, and the Facade Improvement Program, offering one-time funding for the repair of housing facades. Plus, she suggested expanding and increasing the eligibility guidelines for the Basic Systems Repairs, offering free emergency fixes, in the hopes that residents won't be forced to sell their homes when they can't afford repairs.
In late 2023, Parker said the city secured $163 million in federal funding to support people impacted by Hurricane Ida. Those funds will be put toward programs for rental repair, rehabilitation and construction, as well as home repair and hazard mitigation to help communities be more resilient to natural disasters.
She also suggested additional investment in Turn the Key, which helps low-income, first-time homeowners buy affordable housing. Since it started in 2021, she said 195 homes have been sold through the program, and she wants to put it "on steroids."
About 52% of Philadelphia residents are homeowners, Parker said, and she hopes this plan will help remove some barriers to owning a home in the city.
"While that percentage is high compared to other cities in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and has remained stable for nearly a decade, my hope is that this new plan can continue to stabilize or even grow our homeownership rates," Parker said.
Parker said the city would test a new version of the Shallow Rent Program that would extend the program to middle-income essential workers, such as teachers and nurses, helping them move into developments where rentals were overbuilt and haven't been sold. The Shallow Rent Program currently provides up to $500 of assistance to residents living in affordable housing who spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
She also called for additional investment into the Rental Improvement Fund, which offers money to help landlords with less than five properties repair their buildings if they commit to keeping rents low.
Parker proposed providing households in high-crime areas with security cameras in partnership with the Philadelphia Police Department.
