AIA Philadelphia’s Summer 2023 Newsletter
By Sue McPhedran (Mission First), Kyla Weisman Bayer (Mission First), Carolyn Placke, and Daniel Swain

According to The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s (PHFA) 2020 Comprehensive Housing Study, there is an unmet need for nearly 72,000 affordable housing units for Philadelphia’s low and extremely low-income households.1 This has been made even more challenging in that Philadelphia has lost roughly 24,000 unsubsidized low-cost rental apartments, or “naturally occurring affordable housing”, with rents (including utilities) less than $750 per month.2 This problem has only deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic, with almost 21% of Philadelphia landlords putting a property up for sale in 2020, a more than 600% increase than the previous year.3

The worsening affordability gap and the loss of unsubsidized units has increased the urgency of preserving the nearly 34,200 units of publicly assisted affordable rental housing in Philadelphia as these properties age and/or rental assistance contracts expire. As a general rule, residents in publicly assisted affordable rental housing pay no more than 30 percent of income toward rent.

The map to the right illustrates the magnitude of Philadelphia’s publicly assisted challenge, and the nearly 4,800 apartments owned by non-profit owners.

Preservation of Existing Publicly Assisted Affordable Rental Housing Helps Solve Housing Insecurity & Builds Strong Neighborhoods.

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