PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council has approved hearings on a state law that allows nonprofits to address blight in their communities. That was among more than a dozen resolutions council passed on Thursday, the first day of its new four-year term.
The law, known as Act 135, permits community groups to take control of decaying properties to sell them or demand repairs.
“Although it is well-intentioned, in practice, this law has become predatory and strips the equity away from disadvantaged communities,” said City Councilmember Jeff Young.
Linsey Franklin thinks the Fishtown Business Improvement District (BID) improperly took control of her deceased grandparents’ home, which was occupied by her aunt. When her aunt was moved to rehab, it invoked Act 135 and sought a court-ordered conservator for the property.
“They said, ‘Well, your house checks all these boxes. The house is abandoned. She doesn’t live there.’ But she was in the hospital while we took care of it,” Franklin recalled. “My aunt could do nothing but cry and say they were taking her home at the first hearing and she wanted to go home very badly.”
Franklin testified in favor of Young’s resolution to hold hearings on Act 135.
“I can tell you that there are hundreds more out there like her,” said Young, the new councilmember of the 5th District. “I have represented multiple clients in court defending their property rights, trying to maintain what little wealth they have, which has been passed down by a family member or a loved one.”
The Fishtown BID said it welcomes a full, fair and open discussion of the act, but it sees things very differently from Franklin. Its lawyer, Mike McIlhinney, said the home was uninhabitable because it had a collapsed wall, and such properties harm their neighbors by decreasing property values.
“You want to lose generational wealth?” McIlhinney said. “Live next to an abandoned home.”
Correction: a previous version of this story incorrectly stated Jeff Young's district. The current version reflects that change.