PACDC achieved a victory in our campaign Affordable Homes for a Growing Philly when Mayor Kenney signed Bill No 170678-AAA to create the Mixed Income Housing program in October, 2018.

The program allows developers to use density bonuses if they either provide affordable units on site, or pay a fee in lieu for the Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund.  Any affordable rental units provided on site must be available to households between 50% – 60% Area Median Income, and the affordable for-sale to households between 70% – 80% AMI.  A report from the Philadelphia Department of Planning and Development says that in the first year of the program, developers paid more than $2.3 million to the City in in-lieu payments, and another $5.8 million was projected for projects that received zoning permits but were not yet complete.  The program led to four homes for low-income families, with another four projected for projects in the pipeline that year.

This victory was the outcome of a multi-year effort by PACDC that also included our campaign Can’t Wait to Be Home: Double the Housing Trust Fund which led to legislation to create a Construction Impact Tax that passed Council but was withdrawn September 2018 in favor of an agreement to approve the Mixed Income Housing bill in conjunction with a commitment of more than $70 million for the Housing Trust Fund over FY19 – FY23.