PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia officials on Wednesday announced a program to give small landlords interest-free, forgivable loans for repairs on their rental units, in exchange for promising to keep rents affordable.
Steve Hawkins teaches literacy, but nearly 25 years ago he made an investment in a West Philadelphia rowhouse and became a small landlord — too small to do the kinds of major repairs the home was starting to need. Then he heard about a pilot program that would provide financing for those repairs.
“When I first heard about this program, it was disbelief,” he recalled. “‘Yeah, right, I’m going to get all these things fixed at no cost.’”
But there he stood, across the street from the newly refurbished house, as Mayor Jim Kenney, City Council members and state legislators announced the launch of the Rental Improvement Fund citywide.
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The $7 million fund is overseen by the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC). CEO Dave Thomas says the city’s older housing stock creates a hardship for small landlords, those with one to five units. “This program, designed to provide much-needed capital at 0% interest and/or forgivable loans, will address the need we face here in Philadelphia,” he said. Landlords must agree not to raise rents more than 3% a year so that tenants ultimately benefit.
Kenney says the program is one strategy for keeping housing affordable. “Affordable housing is critical to our vision of a Philadelphia with thriving neighborhoods and equity and opportunity for all,” he said.
Applications are available on the fund’s website. The money comes from the city’s Neighborhood Preservation Initiative and the state’s Whole Home Repair program. State Sen. Vincent Hughes says he hopes to see the fund grow, since there is a budget surplus of $8 billion. “It is a public policy crime to have those kinds of resources sitting around,” he said, “and not moving into communities that deserve to have it.”
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