PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia City Controller said spending on the mayor’s HOME plan for 30,000 units of housing has been slow off the mark.
Controller Christie Brady said the Parker administration has spent just $38 million of the $278 million budgeted for the HOME program (less than 15%), and all the spending has been in just four of the 29 programs under HOME.
“And those four programs were actually already in place, and those four have been reclassified under the HOME initiative,” Brady said.
The $278 million budget for the first 15 months of the initiative was approved in the spring, and Brady concedes it’s difficult to spend such a large amount of money in a short time. But councilmember Kendra Brooks was less understanding. She called for a hearing on the spending.
Council was told it was urgent to approve, and when the city commits to investment bonds, the goal is to do big things and get the money out the door faster.
The Parker administration said it’s doing what it promised — getting help to neighborhoods that need it most through the four programs, which are for repairs and eviction prevention, and that it expects to spend at a faster pace through the rest of the fiscal year.
The Parker administration declined an interview request, so it’s not clear why the controller and administration differ on money spent for new housing.
