Residents and housing groups press council for millions in home-repair and rental-inspection funding

Affordable-housing advocates, community developers and residents told Philadelphia City Council on Tuesday that the city's proposed FY26 budget underfunds critical home-repair and tenant-protection programs and asked for specific increases to prevent displacement and unsafe living conditions.

Speakers representing the Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities, neighborhood groups and nonprofit developers urged council to boost funding for programs that help low-income homeowners repair aging properties and to pilot proactive rental-inspection efforts to hold problem landlords accountable.

"People want to keep their homes in the family and pass it on to the next generation. Without assistance, how are they going to repair their homes?" said Mark Clinchy of Philly Thrive, who testified in support of a $10 million request for the Philadelphia Energy Authority’s Built to Last home-repair and clean-energy program and an additional $10 million for a proactive rental-inspection pilot.

Multiple residents recounted long waits for repair programs or repeated code failures in rental housing. "My landlord had over 26 violations," testified Rasheeda Turner, who said she faced retaliation after calling the city's Licenses & Inspections (L&I) office. "We need proactive rental inspections to hold these slumlords accountable."

Nonprofit housing developers asked council to increase allocations that would leverage federal and private financing. "For every Low-Income Housing Tax Credit dollar, we can leverage at least $5 in private capital," Maria Gonzalez, president of ASE CDC, said as she urged council to use the HOME initiative to scale production and preservation. Consultant Suzanne Stone recommended raising per-project city subsidies from $3 million to $5 million to speed deal closures.

Advocates also pressed for larger Basic Systems Repair Program (BSRP) funding. Witnesses said BSRP had thousands on its waiting list and argued that expanding eligibility without increasing overall funding would worsen delays. "Basic Systems has approximately 7,000 individuals on the waiting list," one advocate said during testimony.

Council staff and other officials did not make formal responses during the public comment period; several council offices indicated later that they would follow up with individual witnesses on specific complaints and program applications.

Requests made during testimony included:

- $10,000,000 for the Philadelphia Energy Authority Built to Last program and other clean-energy home-repair initiatives; - $10,000,000 for a pilot proactive rental-inspection program administered by L&I; - $40,000,000 for the Basic Systems Repair Program (requested by coalition testimony) and increased funding for HOME initiative production and preservation lines.

Speakers said timely funding increases were essential to prevent displacement, address health and safety hazards, and leverage larger state and federal housing investments. The public hearing is part of council’s record; budget decisions will be determined during committee review and final votes later in the budget calendar.