PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — One bill introduced into City Council on Thursday would ban demolitions in a rapidly gentrifying part of South Philadelphia. Another related bill would try to get more affordable units in areas undergoing rapid change.
The demolition ban would apply to six blocks of Christian Street, going west from Broad to 20th streets in the quickly developing Graduate Hospital area.
One hundred years ago, those blocks were home to Doctors Row, where Black professionals, including lawyers, doctors and musicians, defied the forces of Jim Crow laws and attitudes working against them to enter the middle class.
One prominent resident was architect Julian Abele, who designed the Parkway Central Library building and other famous buildings. His house is a historic landmark, but the house next door was recently torn down to make way for a four-story condominium in what is now a hot real estate market.
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District Councilman Kenyatta Johnson proposed a ban on teardowns for a year, to give the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia time to get the area designated as historic.
"We want to make sure we’re preserving the historical fabric of the African American landmarks that are along the Christian Street corridor," said Johnson.
"Philadelphia’s first historic district based primarily on the history of Black Philadelphians," added Alliance Director Paul Steinke.
The reason the house on Christian Street was torn down for a condominium project involved a developer taking advantage of the Mixed Income Housing Program.
Under the program, residential construction can go extra stories high if developers do one of two things:
- Include affordable housing units
- Pay into the Housing Trust Fund
The Christian Street condominium developer did what most developers have done with the program: Pay into the Housing Trust Fund. That move led to a higher-story building that included no affordable housing units.
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Because of that option, only four affordable units have been constructed through the program.
Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez's bill would eliminate the payment option for many developments. Under her bill, developers could either build affordable units, or forgo additional stories on the building.
"We have a housing crisis, and we need the units. Otherwise, developers are capturing the value [of the bonus], but communities impacted don’t see the benefit of long-term affordability in their neighborhoods," said Quiñones-Sánchez.
She and co-sponsor Jaime Gauthier are considering making the program mandatory in parts of their districts, where gentrification is pushing long-term residents out.
Both bills need to have committee hearings before being considered in Council.