PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council has canceled a hearing on Mayor Cherelle Parker’s affordable housing initiative, delaying the program indefinitely.
Several council members wanted changes to the mayor’s spending priorities, but administration officials showed little flexibility during a sometimes contentious five-hour hearing on Wednesday. Several members want more spending on housing for the very poorest residents and less on home purchase assistance for those with moderate incomes.
With no agreement, Council President Kenyatta Johnson recessed the hearing, rather than call a vote on the plan.
“We’re just still doing our due diligence, still reviewing the proposal. Obviously, you saw there are a number of questions the members want to see answered,” Johnson said.
The hearing was supposed to resume on Monday, but a council source says discussions with the administration on the changes members wanted were going nowhere, so reconvening appeared pointless.
This is a setback for the mayor, who campaigned on affordable housing and made the $2 billion HOME initiative the centerpiece of her second year in office. She had hoped to sell bonds for the program this month, but another delay is likely to push the sale into next year.
The mayor sent the plan for phase one of her HOME initiative to council in September. In late October, council finally got the legislation needed for the HOME initiative.
This is not the first clash of wills between council and the mayor. The mayor has generally prevailed, but this is more resistance than council usually puts up.