PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council meets Thursday after a week off for the election. Members may get a do-over on a bill they passed two years ago that imposed the strictest residency requirements for employment of any big city in the country, with legislation expected to restore previous requirements.
Councilmember Helen Gym plans to introduce a bill that would give new civil service employees six months to move into the city after being hired, thus ending a requirement that applicants must live in the city for a full year before the city hires them.
The residency requirement was passed in June 2020 amid Black Lives Matter protests, in hopes that it would produce a more diverse police force, in particular.
Instead, Gym says, it has hindered hiring and led to staff shortages all over city government.
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“The City of Philadelphia currently has over 4,000 vacancies, which is almost 15% of the workforce, and we need to deliver on basic city services and public safety,” said Gym.
“It’s had a profound impact on our ability to hire police officers, paramedics, our library staff ... it makes it more difficult to open a library, patrol our streets, pick up trash if our agencies are stretched this thin.”
The bill has six co-sponsors and the support of all the city unions. Mayor Jim Kenney is likely to look favorably on it, too. He did not sign the 2020 residency bill, but let it become law without his signature.