Rent Control Hearing Postponement At Philly City Hall Angers Pro Rent Control Group
A reasoned and evidence-based request from a rental coalition of HAPCO Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Apartment Association, and others, to postpone a hastily-scheduled rent control hearing with City Council has apparently forced a pro rent control group into propaganda mode.
The Philly Rent Control Coalition, a group of tenant advocates and rental owner opponents, issued a press release rife with misstatements, partial truths, and wishful thinking.
City Council rent control proponents Kendra Brooks, Jamie Gauthier, and other councilmembers had quietly scheduled a rent control hearing for February 8th with little public notification. That is an often-used tactic when dealing with rental owners to give them no time to mount a defense.
Fortunately, Council President Darrell Clarke realized such a rushed hearing would not be in keeping with required Council protocols for notifying the public. and would be unfair and detrimental to HP members who provide the majority of rental housing for low-to-moderate-income tenants.
As the largest advocacy group in Philadelphia representing small, independent Mom and Pop rental property owners, HAPCO Philadelphia has warned City Council for years that rent control will drive even more rental owners out of the affordable housing market. The pandemic created an exodus of affordable housing rental owners and Darrell Clarke likely realizes Philly can’t afford to lose any more.
To fight the economic dangers of rent control, HP partnered in a rental owners coalition with the Pennsylvania Apartment Association and other organizations.
HAPCO Philadelphia President Greg Wertman says the ongoing partnership with the PAA and rental owners coalition to oppose rent control is just one of many examples of HP advocating for its members at the city, state, and federal levels.
“HP members provide the majority of affordable rental housing in Philly, as well as Housing Choice Voucher properties,” Wertman says. “City Hall knows the economic plight facing its affordable rental housing owners and Council needed to respond to the concerns of rental owners’ coalition.”
Wertman adds, “I wish the rent control coalition would understand that the people who provide their low-to-moderate-income rental housing are in real financial trouble. They need to stop being adversarial. They should partner with us instead. They can us help find ways to maintain the affordable housing we have and incentivize investors to build more affordable units.”
HAPCO Philadelphia is issuing a press release to the media to lay out the facts that study after study has shown. Rent control doesn’t work because it makes it financially impossible to stay in the affordable rental housing market.
PA Suspends Applications For Troubled Mortgage Relief Program
The State of Pennsylvania has been forced to take over the PA Homeowner Assistance Fund from a struggling private company that was hired to manage it.
As a result, the state will stop accepting applications on a temporary basis.
THIS JUST IN: City Council CANCELS Rent Control Hearing Scheduled For February 8th
The short notice public hearing on rent control originally scheduled for 1pm February 8th by Councilmembers Kendra Brooks, Jaimie Gauthier, and others HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
HAPCO Philadelphia and its rental coalition partner had complained to City Council that the hearing on a possible rent control bill was never properly posted and promoted to the public.
As a result, City Council President Darrell Clarke cancelled the meeting and will presumably announce another meeting date.
HAPCO Philadelphia has been fighting rent control in the city for years. We’ve warned councilmembers it will wipe out affordable housing by pushing more rental and investment property owners out of the industry. Rent control simply makes being a rental owner unaffordable.
HP’s legal counsel, Paul Cohen, argues that in order for a rent control ordinance to be passed, City Council has to demonstrate there is some sort of rental housing emergency. And Cohen says study after study shows the Philadelphia rental market to be the cheapest among the major U.S. cities.
HP’s rental coalition partner, the Pennsylvania Apartment Association, is commissioning a study to examine the detrimental impact of rent control on rental and investment property owners in Philadelphia. The results will likely be presented to City Council at the rescheduled public hearing.
HAPCO Philadelphia will post breaking news on a new public hearing date once it’s been rescheduled by the City. And once it is, HAPCO Philadelphia will still need all rental owners to SIGN UP AND SPEAK OUT AGAINST RENT CONTROL!
WHAT: City Council Rent Control Hearing
WHEN: Wednesday February 8th CANCELLED & TO BE RESCHEDULED
TIME: STAY TUNED!
WHERE: Online
HOW TO TESTIFY: Email Laila Khalil in Councilmember Brooks office at Laila.Khalil@phila.gov