The city of Philadelphia is facing a $649 million budget shortfall, and Mayor Jim Kenney is proposing to cut deeply from the city's housing budget to make up the difference.
Despite federal funding coming to Philadelphia through the CARES Act, the city could be facing budget cuts that will "leave a major gap in housing assistance programs in the coming year," reports Meir Rinde.
The federal money targeted to help with housing costs — a portion of the $276 million Philadelphia received from the federal CARES Act — totals $26 million. But due to budget cuts proposed by Mayor Jim Kenney, along with projected drops in fee collections and the expiration of a bond measure, the amount of money going to two of the city’s main housing programs — the Housing Trust Fund and the Basic Systems Repair Program — is still set to drop by nearly $45 million in the new fiscal year that starts next month.
The Philadelphia City Council's Finance Committee held a public hearing on the subject earlier this week, and encountered impassioned please from the public to restore funding to the Housing Trust Fund.
Anne Fadullon, director of the Department of Planning and Development, is cited in the article discussing the Kenney administration's focus on core priorities of education, public safety and economic development.
FULL STORY: Making a ‘hard situation even worse’: Philadelphians ask mayor to rethink housing cuts
The Messy Politics of Saving Lives from Drug Overdoses
Philadelphia was on the verge of approving a key harm reduction strategy to prevent fatal drug overdoses until the city council all but banned supervised injection sites, overriding a mayoral veto. A New York Times report explores the controversy.
Opinion: Philadelphia Mayor is Failing Transit Riders
By staying conspicuously absent from the controversy over the closure of the Somerset El station, the mayor has avoided involvement in an issue that affects the whole city, according to Philadelphia's leading architecture critic.
Report Makes 'The Case for Social Housing'
The economic disruption of the pandemic has strengthened public support—even among Republicans—for an ambitious social housing program at the federal level, according to the findings of a recent report.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
5 New England states march closer to 800 megawatt wind energy project
Securing federal approval for the project may be complicated under the Trump administration, which has historically been hostile towards domestic wind power.
Baltimore to break ground on $50 million Transit Priority Project
The project will bring faster bus trips, safer streets and better bike connections to Baltimore.
Airbnb launches $250 million 'last-dollar financing' housing accelerator, makes first investment in Austin
The company will put $6.4 million towards affordable housing development in Texas’ capital.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association