Philadelphia's Eviction Prevention Program Hailed as a National Model—But Funding's In Jeopardy

In a typical pre-pandemic year, according to research from the Reinvestment Fund, landlords in Philadelphia filed around 20,000 evictions. Between 2010 and 2019, that number shrank a bit, as employment, wages, and access to health insurance all inched upward, according to the group’s analysis. But rather than spiking when Covid-19 shut down the U.S. and put millions of people out of work, the eviction rate dropped. In 2020, landlords filed 4,500 evictions against tenants, according to the Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project (PEPP), a coalition of legal aid and tenant advocacy groups.

The drop is thanks to a combination of federal moratoria on evictions, emergency rental assistance, and sustained local commitment to programs like eviction diversion, says Rasheedah Phillips, managing attorney for housing policy at Community Legal Services, one of the groups that coordinates PEPP. But Philadelphia is still one of the poorest big cities in America. And as the moratoria begin to expire this year, Phillips says, “The eviction rates are going to go right back up.”

The Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project was launched at the beginning of 2018 with a $500,000 budget. Among the services the group provides are a tenant hotline for tenants to access legal services, a “lawyer-of-the-day” program providing free legal representation to tenants in eviction court, and frequent tenants’ rights workshops from the Tenant Union Representative Network. In 2019, PEPP had a budget of $2.1 million, and last year, after some budgetary negotiations during the pandemic fallout, it worked with $1.8 million, according to Phillips. This year, according to a report in WHYY, Mayor Jim Kenney’s proposed budget includes $931,000 for the project. (The city’s press office did not respond to questions about the proposal.) Advocates are now fighting to have at least $2.1 million restored for PEPP in the budget negotiation process between the mayor and city council.