PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two bills designed to ease the cost of renting an apartment in Philadelphia passed a City Council committee on Tuesday, over the objections of landlords.
The bills seek to help tenants afford the upfront costs of renting. One bill would eliminate application fees and cap the credit check fee at $50. The other would allow tenants to pay their security deposits in up to four installments, if the security deposit is more than a month’s rent.
The bills’ sponsor, Councilmember Rue Landau, called them “small tweaks,” saying renters too often are locked out of decent housing not because they can’t afford rent, but because they can’t amass the upfront costs of fees and security deposits in addition to first and last month’s rent.
However, landlord Ryan Spak didn’t see it that way. He said just as tenants face an accumulation of costs, landlords have faced an accumulation of regulation in Philadelphia that overwhelmingly favors renters.
“If it was one item, no big deal. If it was two, not a challenge. The challenge is when all these things stack on top of each other it becomes untenable,” he told the committee. “Right now, Spak Group feels this is death by a thousand cuts.”
Spak said his Philadelphia-based affordable housing company doesn’t even build in the city anymore.
Several landlords echoed his sentiment, but Marcella Joe of the Tenants Union lamented that Landau had amended the bills to make them more palatable to landlords. Originally, application costs were capped at $20 rather than $50. What’s more, renters could have avoided the fee altogether by supplying their own credit check.
“I just wish that you guys would have just kept that part in where they could just pay their credit report to the next landlord and not have to pay $50 dollars every time they go,” said Joe.
However, Joe enthusiastically supported the bills, as did numerous tenants and advocate groups who testified in their favor. The legislation passed unanimously.
The committee also passed a bill fast-tracking city approvals for affordable housing to help Mayor Cherelle Parker’s housing plan move ahead more quickly.