Committee of the Whole reports amended HOME initiative budget favorably after hours of public testimony urging deeper affordability

The Committee of the Whole of the Philadelphia City Council reported Resolution 250955, the HOME initiative annual program statement and budget, from committee with a favorable recommendation after hearing more than two hours of public testimony on the plan’s priorities and protections.

Advocates, tenants and community leaders used the hearing to press council to guarantee that the city’s $800 million bond and associated HOME funding reach the people they said are most at risk of displacement. "When we fund deeply affordable housing for households under 30% AMI, it frees up units at every other income level and stabilizes the entire housing market for everyone," said Melissa Mons, a tenant advocate and member of 1 PA, arguing the plan must codify protections for the poorest residents. Several speakers cited the administration’s 30,000‑unit production target and warned too much of the first round could flow to higher‑income recipients or private developers without enforceable guardrails.

Community legal organizations and housing counselors urged operational changes. Ben Clark, an attorney at Community Legal Services, told the committee that nearly 10,000 Philadelphians are currently on basic home‑repair wait lists and urged council to clear those lists before expanding program eligibility. "With the nearly 10,000 Philadelphians on the wait list, increasing income eligibility without first clearing the wait list only threatens further delays," Clark said.

Developers and financing advocates also testified in favor, saying HOME resources will leverage private capital and create opportunities for small, minority‑owned developers to scale projects. Moe Rushdie, chair of the Philadelphia Accelerator Fund and Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, described gap‑financing outcomes and argued the plan is capable of producing both preservation and new construction across income levels.

Councilmembers debated the plan’s balance between urgency and targeting. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, chairing housing committee deliberations during the process, said the city faces a housing emergency and that the amendment adopted at the hearing aimed to align the budget with that urgency. "Philly's housing crisis is also an emergency, and we need the home plan budget to reflect that level of urgency," Gauthier said, urging protections for those most at risk while acknowledging the plan also supports working families and public servants.

Councilmember Gilmore Richardson offered the amendment that was put before the committee; the motion to report Resolution 250955 as amended was seconded and adopted by voice vote, and the committee sent the amended resolution forward with a favorable recommendation. Council members who asked to be recorded as voting ‘‘aye’’ made that acknowledgement on the record during closing statements.

Supporters and opponents at the hearing converged on a central theme: the need to ensure city resources are used to preserve existing affordable homes and create deeply affordable units for households with the lowest incomes, while also preserving opportunities for working‑class households to remain in their neighborhoods. Testimony ranged from personal accounts of housing instability and unsafe living conditions to technical recommendations for program design, wait‑list management, land transfer transparency and community review seats on project panels.

The committee’s action does not itself appropriate funds; it reports the annual program statement and budget recommendation to the full council. The resolution as amended will move next for consideration by the full City Council. No date for that next step was specified during the committee meeting.

—Reporting from the Committee of the Whole on Resolution 250955; public testimony included tenants, nonprofit housing counselors, developers and community leaders urging prioritization of the lowest‑income Philadelphians.