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Friday, November 20, 2009

Councilman Clarke wants to put more money into the Housing Trust Fund; should he?

A few weeks ago, in the inaugural (and thus far only -- but not for long!) installment of our "Follow the (lack of) money" series, Anthony detailed the circumstances and potential ramifications of a reduction in funding for Philly's Housing Trust Fund.

To oversimplify the matter: Mayor Nutter came in to office and committed $15 million over five years to the fund, which leverages the money to bring in state and federal grants that finance affordable housing work (both rehab and new construction). When the city's finances went south, Nutter reduced that commitment, and then reduced it again. The projected five-year city commitment now stands at $6 million.

This reduction is exacerbated by the fact that the fund's other source of revenue, real estate transfer taxes, are also way down.

At the same time, the reduction is mitigated by the fact that affordable housing in Philadelphia (though not the trust fund) received a bump this year from stimulus money.

Part of the idea behind "Follow the (lack of) money" is to give you, dear reader, a sense of the cuts being made to the city budget, so you can assess the damage and the city's approach. Implicit in the Housing Trust Fund piece was the question, "Is this cut a reasonable thing for the city to do?"

This morning, we see that Councilman Darrell Clarke doesn't seem to think so. From the Inquirer:

Councilman Darrell L. Clarke proposed an increase in the percentage of recording fees that go to the city's Housing Trust Fund. The fund has sunk from $13.8 million in 2007 to $8.3 million. Funding of affordable housing has been an issue between Clarke and Mayor Nutter since Nutter became mayor in 2008.

This isn't the same thing as restoring Nutter's cut -- it's upping the fund's other source of revenue. But it is trying to make up for it.

If you have strong feelings about the Trust Fund cut Anthony detailed, this seems like a good opportunity to try to make your voice heard about it. Council's going to be considering a bill to re-commit city money for this purpose; contact your council person and let him or her know what you think. And by all means, tell us in comments, too.

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Posted by Doron Taussig @ 9:20 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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Every year, city government spends slightly more than $4 billion. Where does all that money come from? More importantly, where does it go? Are we getting the most bang for our tax buck? “It's Our Money” is a joint project between Philadelphia Daily News and WHYY, funded by the William Penn Foundation, designed to answer these questions.




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