Hapco Philadelphia has advocated keeping the city’s PHL Rent Assist program beyond the COVID pandemic.
Originally created to help landlords recover lost rent from the eviction moratorium, emergency rental money was something desperately needed long before the pandemic.
Rental property owners have struggled for years with city regulations, fees, and cost that make it difficult to stay in the affordable rental housing market. And the eviction moratorium simply pushed more landlords to sell and get out, adding to Philly’s affordable housing crisis.
PHL Rental Assist’s former director, Greg Heller, told Hapco Philadelphia in a newsletter article that he hoped City Council would maintain the landlord-tenant funding infrastructure he created.
Whether it becomes permanent will depend largely on whether councilmembers can lobby state lawmakers and Congress for permanent funding.