PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier plans to introduce a package of bills at Thursday’s meeting aimed at increasing access to affordable housing.
Gauthier is proposing several measures. One would beef up the language in the Fair Practices Ordinance to specify that landlords cannot discriminate against renters using housing vouchers.
It already prohibits “source of income” discrimination, but she said that hasn’t stopped landlords from refusing to accept vouchers. Her bill would not only clarify that vouchers are included but would make it easier for renters to seek a legal remedy if they’re denied.
Another bill involves the money paid by developers so they can build more densely than zoning allows. Gauthier proposes that it get redistributed to parts of the city seeing the biggest increases in development, to provide funds for affordable housing.
A third proposal would freeze property tax increases for people making under $33,000 a year. That, though, would hurt the School District of Philadelphia, since it receives most of the property tax revenue and is already facing a $400 million deficit next year.