Tag: Philadelphia
Six Steps to Ensuring a Strong Right to Organize for Tenants
Getting solid legal protections in place will help tenants stick up for themselves more safely and effectively.
Appraisal Bias Is the Fair Housing Issue of the Day
Newly released data on home appraisal practices is a step forward in the fight against racially biased appraisals. There’s still a long way to go.
Three Ways AFFH Has Advanced Housing Justice
Grassroots organizers have used the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule to strengthen communities in the past. These examples show what we should advocate for in a new AFFH rule.
NCRC Claims KeyBank Broke Promises, Failed Black Homeowners
Who is responsible for evaluating whether groups adhere to promises made in a community benefits agreement (CBA)? Is there any recourse for those who don’t get what they were promised? And what lessons can we take away from the KeyBank CBA?
New Philly Land Trust Was Promised Dozens of Homes; How’s It...
Two years ago, Philadelphia officials agreed to give 59 vacant buildings to homeless advocates. The historic deal has faced several setbacks, but is still moving forward.
Sealing the Cracks in Weatherization and Home Repair
Deferred home maintenance can lead to serious structural, safety, and health issues. A new program in Pennsylvania aims to fill the gaps in home repair and weatherization programs.
Residents Owning Their Local Economy
In the face of extractive "investments," communities are exploring creative models that let them both exert control and earn returns themselves.
How Tax Assessments are Racist
Between biased property appraisals that undervalue Black-owned properties and biased tax assessments that levy an unfair burden, homeowners of color are flanked by a double-whammy of racism.
A Home’s True Worth—Getting Beyond Appraisal Bias
Homes owned by people of color are appraised for less than identical homes owned by white families. Nationwide, that’s led to more than $150 billion in lost equity. How can we stop appraisal bias?
Philly’s 1970s Fight to Revive Rent Control
As rent control reemerges as a strategy to address an intense housing crisis, we go back 50 years to examine the lessons learned from past struggles in Philadelphia.
A Homeownership Program that Takes Health into Account
A 10-city initiative to boost homeownership also aims to align required fair housing and health needs assessments. Can it be done?
Getting Competitive Health Care Systems to Work Together For the Community
Although they were serving the same communities, Philadelphia’s nonprofit hospitals weren’t coordinating with each other. A yearslong process aimed to change that. How did the hospitals eventually come together and what lessons can be drawn to inform hospital collaborations elsewhere?
Paying Community Members for Their Time
Community development organizations are recognizing that community expertise is valuable and that residents should be compensated for it.
Community Engagement Can’t Be a Checklist
Are we engaging communities meaningfully, or are we just checking off boxes?
During the Pandemic, Community Development Organizations Prioritize Relief and Assistance Work
While rent relief might not be their mission, organizations are focusing on the immediate needs of residents. But with all of their staff and monetary resources being used to plug holes, some organizations believe they’re a few months or another crisis away from financial disaster.
Activists Win Control of Vacant Philadelphia Buildings: Now What?
The city and the activists involved have referred to the organization that will receive the properties as a community land trust, but as of late October it was not yet clear how the group will be structured.
‘We Need Those Houses’—Activists Take Over Vacant Housing Authority-Owned Homes
About 50 people—mostly single mothers and their children—have been living in vacant Philadelphia Housing Authority units since March. The move-ins are both acts of necessity and a political protest against the PHA.
Parks, People, and Inclusive Collaborative Planning
A Philadelphia park conservancy develops arts-based partnerships within the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood to strengthen the community's cultural identity.
Greening Vacant Lots: Low Cost, Big Effect in Philly
A Philadelphia program is cleaning up abandoned lots, helping formerly incarcerated residents get jobs, and improving the overall health and well-being of neighborhoods.
Shelter Shorts, The Week in Community Development—Oct. 5
News from—and affecting—the community development world. This week: a new kind of library lending, Amazon's wage raise, life for Philadelphia's poor, bipartisan work on the opioid epidemic, and more.
