Which are also tax exempt, that could be used for land acquisition activities which result in the conveyance to a private developer or CDC. There, however, the requirements of that type of financing means that the land has to be transferred at fair market value.
If we were to use that type of bond proceeds, it would constrain our ability to subsidize the acquisition or the land for affordable housing projects. So what we envision is, throughout the year of getting -- And that type of bond financing also requires an allocation from the state.
Because it's a private 76 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance activity bond.
So what we envision during the year, so as not to have to first figure out the right financing for the project and to tie our hands that way, we go forward using taxables or lines of credits, and then refinance it out; if a project can support fair market values, then go to the State for a qualified redevelopment bond. So we'll be working closely with the Director of Finance, the Redevelopment Authority, to put those packages together.
That will depend on when declarations of taking are filed, with respect to the acquisitions that are coming through Council now. I would say probably by the fall, sometime late fall, for taxable, as opposed to tax exempt.
Again, we don't know at 77 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance this point in time. It really would look --
Once we finalize the declarations of takings and what resources are being supported by that project, we're in a better position to state that type of information.
Let me ask this question: You borrowed $142 million. That was last summer, right?
Okay. 14 taxable, 122 tax exempt. It was just those two 15 categories? 16
Based on the third 20 quarter report, which I believe is in the book...
So would that be $21 million, $22 million dollars? 78 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance
Yeah. As of the third quarter, we were totaling about 9... about 23.
(Nods head in the affirmative.) And then we're projecting drawing down for expending about in this last 9 quarter -- 10
That means that 14 you will not have spent $24 million of the 15 approved budget for FY'03 of $68 million; is that 16 correct? 17
That's correct. And 18 most of that is driven by what our projections in 19 the original budget was, with respect to -- 20
I'm sorry. Is the bulk of the unspent $24 million from demolition? 79 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance
I would say that and the stabilization activity. And then a number of the new programs that were designed are just coming on line, so e haven't drawn down those funds from the trustee.
Okay. And the FY'04 budget is 106. So you borrowed 142; you expect to spend 44; that leaves you 98. And you've got a budget of 106.
That's correct. But that budget of the 106 also includes our budgeting the entire remaining money, $60 million for land acquisition. And again, in an effort to provide the most amount of flexibility on reviewing acquisition requests, working with Council as projects come forward, we're asking for the budget authority all in this year. It does not mean those dollars will be spent all in this year.
No; I understand that. But I think what I'm trying to understand is, you only have $98 million left. You've got a 80 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance budget of 106. How are we going to make that work?
Well, again, as we need the resources to support land acquisition in particular, that's when we would go to the market. We don't want to go to the market too quickly because it would result in us, you know, paying the interest rate on the issuance before it's expended.
So we want to try to time it much more closely particularly to the declarations of taking.
All right. But I guess by default, somewhere in the course of the year you're going to have to have another bond offering.
Because you don't have enough money left to fund the FY'04 budget.
Yes. Yes. But we're going to try to time it so that... 81 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance
Okay. The other issue that was raised was the change, I guess, from the Preliminary Plan to the... This is probably not yours. We're now switching in the testimony. This is more of a CDBG issue. The preliminary plan apparently had some amount of decrease in administrative costs, and then some funding was found. Those numbers were changed. And now it's $2.8 million higher in administrative costs than it was in the preliminary plan as submitted. I guess that was a couple months ago. Why is that?
Again, my name is Kevin Hanna. The preliminary plan... The difference, the $2.8 million difference between the preliminary plan and the Plan that's presented to you today has everything to do with the fact that --
-- has everything to do with the fact that in order to accomplish that 82 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance $2.8 million administrative savings, we'd have to essentially renegotiate with the unions because it will require relatively significant cutbacks, and we're not at this point in position to do that.
All right. So the actual reduction in administrative costs on the CDBG side is going from $30.8 million in Year 28 to $28.8 million in Year 29; is that correct?
All right. So that's a $2 million reduction. Okay. That's all I would do for now, Madam President. I'll have some additional questions later on.
I think you know your five minutes has been up a little while.
Really? Oh, my. You know, time just flies when you're up here asking these questions. I'm sorry. Thank you, Madam Chair. You've been most accommodating.
You're welcome. Councilwoman Tasco. 83 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance
I lost my notes. I guess you want to know if we were asking you questions, right. In your testimony you talk about, Miss Sierra, you speak about providing job training or placement for over 10,000 neighborhood residents. What kind of job training, and what number of jobs have you placed people on, and the kinds of jobs?
I'm afraid that I don't have very detailed answer to that question, Councilwoman. That number comes from totaling up the responses of our members to a survey of their accomplishments over the past decade. And I know that in that survey, organizations provided somewhat greater level of detail than what they had been able to do. But I'm not as familiar with those responses as I am with the total number. I know that our members have done a variety of job training and placement work. And that includes -- For example, Universal Communities has a program that focuses on training 84 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance neighborhood residents to participate in construction jobs. Different... Impact Services does a great deal of work on job training for its residents, so a number of CDCs do that work. But I'm afraid I can't... It's difficult for me to respond more specifically to your question. I could certainly get you more detailed information after.
That would be very helpful. I'd like to know the kinds of jobs. And how many places -- 10,000 people is a significant number of people to find employment for. I'd like to have some more information on that. And you have a question. I had just sent around the... Oh, let me ask you about the housing trust. Could you explain how that would differ from the goals from OHCD, in providing housing. What is a housing trust?
Well, the housing trust would be finding a way for the City to make an ongoing commitment of a dedicated local revenue source to the housing needs of the City. 85 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance So it would be different from CDBG, because that's our reallocation of money that comes to us from Washington. One of the -- As these housing trust funds have become more popular -- and that's happened because housing resources from Federal Government have been going down dramatically over the past decade as I know you know. Different jurisdictions have been finding ways to raise local resources to meet the housing needs of their communities. And one of the things that's happened, as these have become more popular, is that some programs at the State and also the Federal level have begun to be set up to match these local housing trust funds. So, for example, there's a State program in Pennsylvania called Brownfields for Housing which matches local housing trust funds that Philadelphia is not able to get any resources from because we don't have a local housing trust fund. So our belief is not only that the housing needs of this community require creative ways to come up with more resources to meet those 86 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance needs, but also that it will have a benefit, in terms of being able to leverage outside resources that we're currently not able to get.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Because we have a affordable housing coalition that has been formed, will you tell me what is the definition of affordable housing?
Well, it's a sort of a... As you know, a lot of people... It's defined different ways for -- I'm not going to give you a formal definition. I'm going to say it's housing -- It's making housing available for folks that wouldn't be able to afford it on their own. I mean, the Affordable Housing Coalition, I believe, is making demands that center around meeting the needs of people who are at the lowest income levels, families that are 87 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance earning under $20,000 a year. And we're in the process right now of developing a more detailed proposal about what we believe the City should be doing around this proposed Housing Trust Fund. And part of that is going to be making recommendations about how the City can best meet the housing needs of its residents.
And through PHA and the demolition of the Towers, we have eliminated about how many low income units?
I don't know the exact number, but I know there's been a significant net loss in the number of low income housing units that are available through the Housing Authority.
And those units that were eliminated really haven't been replaced or even planned for; is that not true?
So we have eliminated units. And we are planning to build some, but those units that have been eliminated -- What happens to the families that resided in those 88 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance units are that are not planned for?
Well, there's a lot of -- There's a huge amount of housing need in the City and --
I understand that. I didn't ask you that. I know that there's -- From your testimony, it doesn't reflect that. Okay. So what I'm asking is: What happens and where is the planning within this Plan for those families? Because, you know, there's a lot of PHA housing being built, and that's PHA. I'm not talking City. That is PHA. We're talking here about the NTI which is City. So PHA has a lot of housing that is being built, and a lot of housing that it needs to build for those units that it eliminated. We, the City, are now left with trying to find housing for those families that PHA did not plan for.
The Affordable Housing Coalition, there are studies that they have just come out with estimate there's about a 60,000 unit 89 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance gap between the need for affordable housing and then the available supply. And part of the solution to that has to be creating more affordable housing. The Neighborhood Transformation --
But how do we do that? That's what I'm saying. We're in the plan here of NTI. Not talking PHA. PHA has a different plan. But there are units that have been eliminated. And I want your expertise as to point out to me where in this plan of NTI are we seeing that.
Well, I think part of that has to be increasing housing for funding production. I don't know how the Neighborhood Transformation is going to be able to meet its goals of producing affordable housing without increasing funds.
You know, I'm a big supporter of the CDCs. And all of those subsidized housing that we've done and all of the anecdotal, and after talking to a lot of the Directors of the CDCs, other than laborers -- other than laborers, Latinos, blacks, and other 90 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance minorities in this City have not been employed in building those homes. Has that been your experience?
Because I talked to Guerillimo, I talked to Jesus, I talked to everybody. And they all admit that is one of the key parts of the problem. So, producing jobs through construction has not been part of the plan.
I would hope that we... I would hope that that would be something that would happen. As you know, there's a lot of political interest around that.
We've been hoping for that. We've been hoping for that for 40 years.
I would also say that that's something that really would need... would need City leadership on. I mean, I think you know that CDCs are extremely interested in providing jobs for neighborhood residents, and also in working with the building unions, to make 91 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance flexibility possible in producing the housing. But that's an issue that probably needs to hear from City government to be able to --
Well, but it's a big part of what Neighborhood Transformation is all about. I mean, because if you don't have a job, you can't preserve the neighborhood.
I would certainly think that would be... I would agree with that.
Councilwoman Tasco asked you about these claims about jobs. Has the unemployment rate in North Philadelphia and other poverty areas in the City gone down in these last five years?
I don't know the numbers, but my guess would be no. I mean, there's a difference... I think it's --
And what type of jobs would be produced? And what is the wage that is earned by those individuals?
I think we both agree that the -- that the jobs that are available aren't as good -- say in North Philadelphia aren't as good as the jobs that -- which were 92 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance available --
-- and what I'd ask you to consider is not necessarily have we been able to transform the economies of Philadelphia's neighborhoods into what ideally they should be, but are those neighborhoods better places, with stronger economies, and residents who are better off through the job training work of CDCs, and --
I don't know whether they are or not. I don't know whether they are or not, because if they don't have the jobs and the unemployment rate has not gone down, you know, I don't know... If jobs are not being produced, good-paying jobs, living wage jobs, and you know, I... We give sort of the false impression of what the reality is. And I'm a big fan of CDCs. And I think a lot of the answers lie in making them stronger. But we have to be able to be realistic and understand that the impediments to economic development are very real, and we have to look at that. That's all I'm saying. 93 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance
No; I absolutely agree with you. And I think that... I think that we both agree that most neighborhoods and most community development groups are up against forces that are a lot bigger and a lot stronger than them. I mean, talking about the economic disinvestment from the City over the years and the loss of manufacturing jobs --
I don't know whether we're addressing the aspect of affordable housing and job development within the plan that is in front of us.
Are you talking about my testimony or are you talking about the City's --
I'm talking about -- Well, I thought your testimony was on what this hearing is all about.
The hearing is about the Plan. And witnesses, I would hope, you know, were informed about what the Plan is so that they were able to testify about the Plan, and whether that conforms to their vision of what we should be doing in the next five to ten years; that's all. Thank you, Madam Chair.
You're welcome. Councilman Clarke. We need the Councilman's mike on, please. Thank you.
I want to ask you a question about your organization. Do you have a lobbying entity within the organization, a lobbyist?
We're a 501 C-3 95 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance corporation, if that's your question, and we don't engage in lobbying per se. We do... You know, we have a certain amount of expertise in community development policy. And as you know, my position is to do -- has to do with policy and with its analysis, so we testify before Council as to our beliefs as to how the City should be using --
That can be construed as lobbying. But I'm not necessarily talking about some high-priced individual in one of those $7,000 suits.
No. I think my suit would look a lot nicer if I were a lobbyist.
Some of the best lobbyists, frankly speaking, are people in neighborhoods who are talking about the needs of their particular community. Reason I asked you that question is that we've continually received a decrease in our federal allocation under CDBG and block grant dollars. And my concern that although the focus should be in this particular forum, because we're having a hearing on the Plan, I'm concerned that 96 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance too often we don't focus our attention in Washington when a substantial amount of these decisions are made, in terms of allocation of dollars. And I know some of it is generated by the Census and the population, but I know that if there are -- if you happen to have a powerful Federal legislator, sometimes they can get above the baseline allocated to their particular District or their particular City. And my question is: Does your organization or some of its affiliates lobby on the Federal level to attempt to bring me more resources to be allocated among the City's organizations.
Yeah, we certainly do do that kind of advocacy. I think you know that the national trend and the people that are in charge of making policy decisions at a big level in Washington don't necessarily have urban issues at the top of their agendas. That's a pretty uphill battle. But we've certainly done our best to try to raise the need for resources that we have 97 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance here in the City with our delegation in Washington. I know that I personally have spoken with all of them or with their staffs recently about that issue.
Have you been involved in this initiative that was actually, I believe, a Republican initiative, on the home ownership tax credit?
We're definitely... We are interested, in that we think that it has the potential -- The low income housing tax credit, which is a tax credit supporting affordable rental housing development, has done a great deal of good for our neighborhoods.
And we think that the home ownership tax credit has the potential to do a similar amount of good. And we're certainly -- We're interested in seeing that happen. And I think that, you know, we have expressed that to people in Washington, and certainly I think that our members also have. That's the one -- That's the one program that I can think of that has a potential to bring 98 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance significant new resources from Washington to Philadelphia.
Is there anyone from the City, any of the City's agencies that can tell me the status of that Bill or what we're doing from the City to get that passed? Because I would think that it's an initiative sponsored by the party that's in the majority. And from all accounts, most of the Philadelphia delegation should be supportive of that Bill. And I'm just trying to understand why isn't that moving in Washington, not to suggest that you will be able to explain the Washington politicians' rhyme or reason. But if you could just kind of tell me what we're doing from our end to bring in additional resources above and beyond what we currently get.
One of the things that we do routinely is meet with the City's lobbyist 99 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance with the housing agenda, which basically follows the recommendations of both the National Low Income Housing Coalition, as well as another national organization that really follows housing policies. So, we make that information available. We talk with the delegation. One of the things that -- It's interesting. Sometimes it's hard to be on the offensive because you're always doing a defensive. And one of the things that happened during this past year is that a lot of the national advocates expended a great deal of resources from National Congress for Community Economic Development to, in fact, try to stop the capital gains cut that was proposed by the Republican Administration, primarily because they felt that that capital gains cut will take away the incentive for corporations who invest in the existing low income housing tax credit, let alone creating a new tax credit program which, of course, has an impact on the budget. I think going forward, the projected deficits; you know, the defense spending; the budget; and the word is it's just incredibly 100 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance difficult to move that type of legislation through.
It is a proposal. I think a lot of times the legislation is introduced but not necessarily moved. It was also the recommendation of the Millennium... Housing Millennium Commission, which was a bipartisan organization. I mean, it's something that has broad-based support, both with Democrats and Republicans. But I think it comes down to budgetary issues, particularly, you know, since 9/11, the impact that that has had.
Okay. Is there a particular -- What's our lobbying entity in Washington or locally who focuses on those types of initiatives?
I'll get you the names. We have two programs we work with in... Joyce Wilkerson. We have two firms that we work with in Washington lobbying on Federal issues. And I'll get Pat and Bob. I 101 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance forget the other. I'll get you that information.
Yes. And I've been working most closely with Pat and Bob. I routinely send them, you know, position papers that are generated by other national housing advocacy organizations. They routinely organize briefings for the, you know, Federal delegation. I always raise the issue, particularly number one, as the home ownership tax credit, but, everything -- I mean, they're barely getting the budgets, the Federal budgets, through Congress these days, so...
Okay. If you can get me that information, I'd like to lobby that lobbying entity, and hopefully some of our Federal legislators.
The City also works with Whitten & Diamond, has in the past worked with Whitten & Diamond. In addition, there's very aggressive advocacy work that's done through the Housing 102 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance Authority. The Housing Authority has a very effective national network that has been working. At one point HUD had proposed a cut of 30 percent in PHA funding, so we've been working trying to, you know, get that challenge addressed. But it has been a very, a very challenging year in -- in Washington. The Administration is also -- You might be interested -- in working with the delegation in Harrisburg, there have been a number of pieces of legislation that have been proposed in Harrisburg or are under consideration in Harrisburg, that would bring additional resources to the City. And so, on an ongoing basis, we're engaged with our delegation through subcommittees, working to help them understand Philadelphia issues and hopefully deliver support for legislation if it actually does move. We understand that if this is going to be successful in the end, we have to increase the resources that are available. And we're taking every opportunity to do that.
Yeah. I mean, 103 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance our ability to provide additional affordable housing is in fact only going to happen if we bring additional resources to the table. I mean, the current allocation, there's only so many pieces to the pie. And we have to figure out a way to increase the pie, to provide additional support for affordable housing.
One of the things that we get out of working with some of the lobbyists is, we've begun looking at non-traditional resources. You know, we always know that you can go to Washington. You can go look for HUD money. But we are beginning to look at the... You know, the Forestry Department and other places for possible sources of money. We're working in Harrisburg getting money from the State EPA. That's how we fund some of the housing developments that are going on. If they have subsurface conditions, you know, we're always looking to pull those resources in, too. So we've cast the net fairly broadly, trying to increase the pool of money out there.
Okay. Thank 104 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Are there further questions for this witness? We would ask the next witness to identify herself, if you're speaking.
Good afternoon. Please pull the mike close. We can barely hear you.
Good afternoon, Councilwoman Blackwell and Members of Council. My name is Sandy Salzman. I'm the Executive Director at the New Kensington Community Development Corporation, and I did bring some copies of my testimony, if somebody wants to give it out. I brought with me today two members of our community who actually received benefits from the CDBG grant. Debbie Kincaid here, who was 105 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance Debbie Trautz when we were dealing with her, received one of our fee developed houses. We did a substantial renovation of a property. So Debbie two years ago received one of our houses. There were two vacant houses left on the 2600 block of York Street that New Kensington renovated. The block was in real disarray. There was a factory across the street that wasn't being kept up very well. And the residents on the block really weren't taking care of her block. Debbie moved in, along with a neighbor in the adjoining house that we renovated. And the block has changed dramatically. But Debbie also received a number of programs under our housing counseling. She was able to get the $800 settlement grant to help her with the... with purchasing her house. And we're very happy that the Office of Housing and Community Development is bringing back that program this year. She was able to also work with our housing counselors to learn how to prioritize her bills and to do debit counseling. 106 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance But one of the things she didn't need was the home inspection because her house was being completely renovated. However, we have a number of people that are buying older houses in our neighborhoods and other neighborhoods that are not being able to take advantage of this program any more because it stopped about a year ago. We would like to see some kind of an innovative way of having the City bring back the Housing Inspection Program. As you know, most of our housing stock is well over 50 years old. In our neighborhood, some of it is a hundred years old. So, we really need that program. Because what happens is people -- We're able to work with them to get them a good interest rate and get them into the house. But if they get a house that has problems, what's going to wind up happening is that, you know, they're going to have to take out a loan to have a basic system repair made, which they'll probably be able to do. But then the next year if the roof goes, they're not going to be able to keep taking 107 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance out these loans. What happens then is, they fall pray to some type of predatory loan where they'll try to roll everything together for them. And before you know it, you have somebody that's dealing with percent interest rate, trying to keep their 8 homes together. 9 And ultimately they wind up losing 10 it, or they come to us -- You know, if they come 11 to us early enough we're able to help them with 12 the full delinquency. But if they come to us too 13 late sometime we can't help them at all. And we 14 would like to not see that happen. So we feel 15 that the home inspection is a really big important 16 part of this. 17 We also are happy that the City is 18 accelerating the demolition of long-term vacant 19 properties. We know that this is the first step 20 in transforming our neighborhood. 21 However, we are concerned that once 22 the properties are demolished and before a plan is 23 put into place on how to renovate them, that they 24 be upkept. In New Kensington you all might know 108 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance that we had a very aggressive program to take care of vacant land. But we recognize that this is something that takes a lot of organization, a lot of time, a lot of money. And we think that people need to -- You know, NTI is really coming up with a lot of plans around this, but we just want to be assured that when we have thousands of lots and hundreds of acres around the City, that there is a plan in place that will take care of these.
Any of you that have been out in the last month have seen, with all the rain we got in May, most of these lots have three and four feet weeds in them. Once that starts happening, trash gets there, you know, and they really need to be maintained. We would like to see the City have a program where community organizations could get contracts to take care of this land in the neighborhoods. Mr. Ellis is with me, and he has been working on one of our community gardens. And because of all of our wonderful volunteers, we've been able to do a lot of work in the neighborhood 109 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance around that. But, you know, it still needs -- we still need help from the City on this. We also need -- We also recognize the need to get the vacant land and properties into the hands of developers and community development organizations. Housing is a priority. With all the properties as Councilman Ortiz was saying, being demolished, we need to start replacing these houses. And New Kensington is in the process of doing units this year, 27 units in a high 14 rise apartment building in eight scattered site 15 units. 16 But that's not enough, and we 17 recognize this. We need to be able to come up 18 with ways to get more housing production in the 19 pipeline and happening throughout the City, you 20 know. 21 And then finally, we really want to 22 thank the City for the economic development, 23 especially Councilman Goode and other Members of 24 Council. 25 New Kensington was able to take 110 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance advantage of the Business Privilege Tax. And that is really going to allow us to work with our commercial corridors. We're working with Girard Avenue Coalition to bring back Girard Avenue as a commercial corridor, and then also working with the Department of Commerce to work on Frankford Avenue. So, we have a lot of dreams in New Kensington, and a lot of hope. And we would like to thank you all for your support. And we need to figure out how to deal with housing. Thank you.
Thank you. You mentioned that you would like L & I to do more inspections. You're talking about at any time before a property is purchased? At what point? I don't have a copy of your testimony yet, so I'm not sure at what point you thought L & I should do more inspections.
Oh, I'm talking about the home inspection program. OHCD had a home inspection program for people that were buying a home, where an inspector would -- It wasn't L & I. It was a home inspector that would go in and check 111 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance out the home, to find out what problems were existing, so that before a person purchased their home they would know whether or not this was something that they should be buying, whether they would be able to afford to make the necessary repairs. And in some cases they wouldn't -- you wouldn't even be aware of the repairs that were needed unless you were a home inspector. I mean, you know, piping; you know, sometimes there's cracks in the soil pipe that you wouldn't necessarily see that a home inspector would see. But within a year that could be exacerbated and really cause a problem that you would then have to have a plumber and take out a loan for hundreds of dollars to have this repaired.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It was actually in that area that I wanted to ask a question. I recall the issue of the settlement grants and the... I don't want to 112 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance so much say controversy, but the problem around the issue of the inspections, which I think was triggering some issue with the Federal Government and use of funds. And the issue, I believe, was lead paint, which had some excessive costs associated with it, which may have caused the settlement program initially to be terminated. Now I'm understanding we've brought it back, but we're not using Federal funds, which then don't trigger the Federal requirement. And Miss McCollock, is that the short version of the story? MS. McCOLLOCK: (Nods head in the affirmative.)
Okay. as long as it's right, I don't need to go into that. MS. McCOLLOCK: Yes.
I remain concerned, though, about this issue regarding -- especially if the issue if the City is involved in some way, shape or form in a property transaction, whether it's a settlement grant side or if we're putting other money into a property, if we're 113 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance helping with the rehabilitation. This issue of a home inspection, I think, is a very serious issue; and, you know, many of us who may own a home, and if you have a mortgage the bank will usually insist, before they put their money into anything, that you get a home inspection because of any kind of buyer beware situation. But they also want to make sure their money is not, you know, going down some hole somewhere. I've not completely understood why, if the City is involved in the transaction, that we wouldn't insist, almost similar to a bank, that there would be a home inspection. Now, one, I assume the home inspection has some amount of cost in a transaction that every dollar is precious. On the other hand, if you go into the property and at least know -- and someone's willing to certify and they're a legitimate home inspection service -- what the deal is going into that house, and what it's -- you know, not only the beauty and wonder that attracted you to the property as well, but all properties usually have 114 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance some kind of problem or issue. I don't know why we're not insisting on a home inspection, build it into the price, and make sure the homeowner knows exactly what it is they're buying. Miss McCollock, why is that? MS. McCOLLOCK: I'm Deborah McCollock, the Director of Housing. The home inspection part of the Settlement Grant Program had two different pieces. One is the requirement, if it's federally funded, that there be a lead paint inspection; and then, if there is lead paint found, that that be treated.
Right. MS. McCOLLOCK: So that's a requirement if the program is federally funded. Separately from that --
If what program is federally funded? MS. McCOLLOCK: If the Settlement Grant Program were to be funded with Federal funds, the lead paint inspection is triggered, and then a treatment of that paint. It wouldn't necessarily have to be 115 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance done -- The work wouldn't necessarily have to be funded by the City, but the work has to be done. And it becomes a negotiation between the buyer and the seller. The second portion of that was the cost of the inspection that we were previously having carried out through a series of contracts with home inspection companies, as you just referenced, that went to a union arbitration that the City lost. And we were instructed that the only way we could continue to carry out those kinds of inspections was to have inspectors hired by the City, as in employees of the City, rather than having to contract out to inspectors. The cost of that is only going to increase our administrative costs, which as we just discussed we were trying to reduce, and we have reduced by four percent. So that the cost of hiring those inspectors, carrying out that program, and coordinating that through City employment became -- became too difficult for us to carry out. 116 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance So that confluence of events: The requirement for the lead paint inspection, and the union arbitration at the same time, caused us to suspend the program in January. We're now prepared to reinstate the program, using NTI funds, without the inspection component being carried out by the City, but continuing to encourage the housing counselors to help their clients get inspections and to work with the Housing Counseling Association to try to find an alternative funding source for those inspections, through a foundation or whatever way we can provide assistance.
But I think as I understood what you said, you said you encouraged the person to get the home inspection, but it's not required. MS. McCOLLOCK: That is correct.
And if they decide not to? MS. McCOLLOCK: They would still be eligible for the $800 grant, even if they didn't get the inspection. But we're encouraging them and the housing counseling agencies and housing 117 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance counselors all have continued to encourage them.
Well, how did you then resolve the situation that you mentioned earlier about the arbitration, that the home inspections had to be done by City employees? How is it now that the buyer, I guess, can go out and get their own? MS. McCOLLOCK: Because it's not being paid for by the City.
What's not being paid for, the inspection? MS. McCOLLOCK: The inspection is not being paid for by the City.
I understand. Have you given any thought to it -- I don't know what the impact of this would be -- of making it a requirement that if you participate in a program you have to get a home inspection? MS. McCOLLOCK: I'm sorry. To reinstate the inspection requirement?
No. What you said was, we're not funding the inspection. MS. McCOLLOCK: Mm-hmm.
We encourage 118 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance people to get one. MS. McCOLLOCK: Mm-hmm.
But if they don't get one, they're still eligible for the settlement grant. MS. McCOLLOCK: Mm-hmm.
And what I'm saying is, if you go the reverse and say: We'd love for you to participate in our settlement program but one of the requirements to participate is, you have to get a home inspection. MS. McCOLLOCK: The labor attorneys have suggested to me -- to us that that would be not an eligible way to carry out the arbitration award, that that would be contradictory to the arbitration award.
Thank you, Councilman. Any other questions for these witnesses? (No response.)
Thank you. 119 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance The Clerk will read the other witnesses on this first panel. MR. McPHERSON: That would be Steve Colbertson, Nora Lickish, David Koppisch, Stacy Moore, William Deberry, Juan Corone, Veronica Howard, Vivian Vanstory, Eve Lewis and John Mc Donald. Will they come to the table, please.
While they are assembling, we will break for five minutes for the stenographer. (Brief recess.)
We're back in session. Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, distinguished Council. My name is Vivian Vanstory. And I have an organization called Community Land Trust Corporation. I'm here representing the Cecil B. Moore Home Ownership Zone, which I have a group of people here with me. I would like for you to stand up, everybody here from the Cecil B. Moore Home Ownership Zone. 120 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance
We welcome you, and thank you for your patience.
We have been denied the right to participate in the decision-making process of our community. These people here are being displaced from their homes. They're being asked or they sent the letters asking them that they want to knock their houses down. We have not been a part of the decision-making process of this area. Since early 80s, Community Land 14 Trust became a corporation in order to form a more 15 perfect union in the area, to establish justice 16 and ensure domestic tranquility. 17 Today we're asking for a Federal 18 investigation concerning the 29 Consolidated Plan 19 because it is making people move from their communities without an input. Since the Empowerment Zone and the early '80s when they came in and gave money to Beach Corporation, the community has not been a part of that plan. The people in the business area have given their thoughts on what's going on 121 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance in the community. The community itself has not been a part of it. And we're here today to let you know that we are not happy with our Councilman, Darrell Clarke today. Personally I asked him to sit down and meet with me concerning this housing stock in the area. Because I got smart with him on the street, he says he cannot work with me. There are members of the City Council-at-Large that I have sent letters to concerning land acquisition. When you talk about NTI, Community Land Trust Corporation has managed land with no 15 City funding for over a period of ten years or more by using their own monies. And we have endowed our land management program with Philadelphia Foundation, so therefore what you see in North Philadelphia never happens again in the history of Philadelphia, that we depend on the City to take care of our housing stock and land, where now after years of neglect they sit and tell people that have been in their homes 50 years that they have to move and relocate. That is so ridiculous. 122 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance I wrote to Council. They said, well, you have to go to your Council. So I'm going to ask the HUD to have an investigation on this said matter. Also, we have to acquire a legal attorney to represent us before you pass this 29 Consolidated Plan of the Cecil B. Moore Home Ownership Zone here today, because the community has not been properly informed or have they been a part of the planning process. (Applause.)
We have to be a part of the planning process. You're using our taxpayers' money to get rid of us with poor leadership here. That's not correct. I would like to have another person speak here.
Are these relocations a part of tomorrow's hearings on condemnations?
Well, I think it would be more appropriate to discuss them tomorrow.
But I'm here on a testifying basis -- That isn't this the testimony for the proposed 29 Consolidated Plan that is proposed? Has it been passed yet?
This is what we're here today for to say that we do not want you to pass that 29 Consolidated Plan. We'll be here tomorrow, but they're here to show that they do not want this passed because they're being displaced.
Okay. Councilman Clark, your light is on. Is there something you would like to add?
Madam President, 124 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance my understanding is that there were two community meetings where information was disseminated on the process of relocation. It's not clear to me that all of the individuals -- As a matter of fact, I know for sure that all of the individuals who received letters will be asked to move either temporarily or on a permanent basis. My understanding, and at those meetings, there was supposed to be a discussion about the process, also the overall planning process that is in its initial stages, frankly speaking, and also any one-on-one discussion that needs to be had between the Redevelopment Authority and the individual homeowner or renter. This process will take some time. It is not an imminent displacement. There has not been an official entity selected yet or announced yet, in terms of the development structure. The development team will include a local non-profit corporation that will be representing the community, to whatever degree that that community determines that they should be. 125 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance And what we would like to do -- and tomorrow is obviously a more appropriate time -- and at any other time in a follow-up discussion, either in my office or in a forum in the community, we can have a very detailed level of discussion about the concerns of some of the residents, understandable concerns of some of the residents in that area. But I think it is premature for any individual to think that they will be moved imminently, because I just had a cursory discussion with some residents who are here. And I know that those blocks are not targeted for relocation. So, I think that we have to have some more detail and more discussion before people can raise to that level of concern, which I clearly understand at this point.
Okay. community Land Trust Corporation is a housing development organization certified with the City of Philadelphia, and do not get any notices concerning anything or input. So being a minority woman 126 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance organization that right today we're seeking Council on being denied the right to participate. National Temple was just structured in the '80s. Since National Temple, we have no 6 knack. You separate one block from another block and say now you're going to do housing in another block and this... You'll say that you're not a part of that. But then you get Empowerment Zone money. I happen to live in Empowerment Zone. I happen to have a business in Empowerment Zone. But then you create a mecca, the land lending institution, where they won't even lend me money. All I see when the board -- You say you're going to make a new organization. We have an organization called Community Land Trust. We're not a CDC, but we are Chodo. A decca law firm made us that. They said, Vivian, we'll make you a Chodo. Okay. But we get no respect from the City, as far as literature concerning who -- You said you're going to do a new other organization. We were told that you already formed that organization and named it already. How can you 127 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance name it without the participation of the community? Unless you were voted in, as you are, you can not make that decision without the participation of the community. And therefore, today we stand here to tell you that until we acquire legal counsel, we need for this to stop today until our legal attorneys represent us today. Thank you very much.
Thank you. And the Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.
NTI is a program made up to feed the people in business already. Community Land Trust Corporation managed and owned land and managed other pieces of land. The NTI program is designated to support their own contractors, not the people, because we're in the Lower North Central Philadelphia, sir, abandoned housing exists. Housing is falling down. And only a few of the 128 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance monies have gone to that area, which that is the most suppressed area. We are not a third world country within the United States. We don't have to worry about them bombing North Central Philadelphia, because you go through there, it's a bomb hit it already. But it's an institutional bomb, political bomb, which Philadelphia is the most political state in the union. You can't get even a swing for the children to swing on without a lot of bureaucracy.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next witness is?
My name is Nora Licktash, and I work with the Women's Community Revitalization Project. I'm also a proud member of the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition and Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. And we support all of the recommendations that were made by Sue Sierra. I just want to speak myself and then 129 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance introduce some other people just for a minute. You can hear me, right?
I also want to thank Council for their support in the work that we do. We really, really appreciate it. We work primarily in North Philly. We've built about 130 rental houses, and we've worked with more than about 150 folks on home repairs. We've built other buildings, like child care centers, charter schools, things like that. But I don't want to talk about buildings today. I want to talk about people and the needs of people. I don't want to tell their stories for them. There are going to be some people telling their own stories real quickly, to speak to the need and the crisis of affordable housing in the City of Philadelphia. Many of you have seen a study that was done by the University of Pennsylvania, which documents that one out of every three people in Philadelphia -- I'm sorry -- households live on 130 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance income of less than 20,000. That means you earn $9.62 an hour or less. And one out of every five households is paying too much of their income on housing. So I don't want to give you a lot of stats, but the main message I have today is that we believe that in City Council you have the power and we believe the responsibility to really look hard at unused monies under NTI and make sure that they go to affordable housing production. I want to introduce Stacy Moore, who's the co-chair of my board. She's my boss and she's going to talk next.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Stacy Moore. I'm co-chair of the Women's Community Revitalization Project, which is also a member of the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition. Can you hear me?
I'm a full-time seasonal employee. I'm a mother raising a growing 131 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance 13-year-old young man, and I am a taxpayer. I'm also a low income person, grateful for my Section 8 voucher, which enables me to live in a nice decent neighborhood, which I would otherwise not be able to afford to live in. I'm speaking today because although I have affordable housing, there is still thousands in Philadelphia who do not. The Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition commissioned a study done by the University of Pennsylvania, which clearly documents the Philadelphia housing crisis. 130,000 households are living on incomes below $20,000 a year and pay more than they can afford for their housing. These are people who deserve affordable, accessible, decent, safe, permanent rental housing; people who live with other people in already overflowing homes; families who live with their children in substandard conditions; citizens who need decent affordable housing now, and feel that the clock is ticking because their children are in foster homes and can't come back to the families who love them until they can move 132 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance into a decent home; disabled taxpayers who need accessible, visitable, decent, affordable homes; and Philadelphia is failing to meet their needs. I'm here today to implore City Council to reallocate resources that will add an additional amount to the already proposed items, more money to the neighborhood-based rental production line item which would help finance the creation of additional units for affordable housing, more money to emergency repairs, preservation, and revitalization programs which could preserve and repair more currently occupied homes, and additional money to the adoptive modification line item which would allow more disabled individuals to remain in their homes and avoid costly institutional care. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam President. If this is a panel -- I know I've 133 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance been in and out of the room. I apologize.
There's been some fairly consistent testimony about a number of these programs. I can wait until the panel is done to ask a couple questions about these issues that have been raised in the course of this panel. I'll wait.
My name is Beatrice Smith, and I received a letter from the Philadelphia Housing Authority. I'm not a member of any board. I'm just the head of my household.
Your name is not on this list. However... 134 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance
I just wanted to same for the homeowners, we received a letter saying that we are being relocated. They're just taking our homes. We went to the other two meetings. They told us, in other words, we're taking your homes, and you have no say-so about it. You're going to be condemned. My home is paid for. They're not going to give me another home. This is a letter we all received. We received two letters. We only received them like around the 18th of the month. And now we have a meeting that we're to come to tomorrow that says and after tomorrow everything is done. And we have no say-so about our homes. They're just taking it away from us. We feel as though -- I'm a homeowner. I've been there for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Okay? Now it's becoming the beautiful and you're throwing me out. You're taking my taxpayer's money to throw me out of my home. Okay? You're not going to compensate me 135 6/02/03 - Whole/Finance for this. My home, I've made it secure; I've raised my children there. I am in the neighborhood. My job is in my neighborhood. They're going to take my home away from me, my livelihood away from me, with no 7 nothing. And it's not fair. And I'm not the only one. Okay? We can't get anything. We can't get a loan because I'm 60 years old. No one's going to give me a 20-year loan for a mortgage. I can't afford it. There's other ones that are the same way I am. We're on a fixed income, and we can not afford to have our homes taken away from us. If you want to do it, leave us there for the beautiful and do our homes up.