COUNCIL HOLDS HEARING ON RENTAL HOUSING CONDITIONS, LANDLORD ACCOUNTABILITY

PHILADELPHIA — This morning, Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke (At-Large) joined a joint hearing of the Committees on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless and Licenses & Inspection (L+I) about rental code enforcement, inspections, and repairs.

“It’s on this Council … to hold the line on setting a legal standard for safe, healthy homes,” said Councilmember O’Rourke, opening up the hearing. “Otherwise, it turns into a race to the bottom for the least responsible bad-actor landlords.”

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (3rd District), Chair of the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless, chaired the hearing, stressing that rental repairs are “essential for achieving the Mayor’s goal of building and preserving 30,000 homes.”

“At today’s hearing, we discussed how the City can use a carrot-and-stick approach to uplift those who want to do well by doing good and hold greedy corporate landlords accountable for taking advantage of vulnerable renters,” said Gauthier.

Theresa Howell, a lifelong Philadelphian, and member of OnePA Renters United Philadelphia, clarified the kind of “stick” her organization is seeking: proactive, pre-occupation inspections.

“We need our city to be proactive in protecting us by inspecting properties before families move in. That’s why we are asking for $10 million in the budget for L&I to implement a pilot proactive inspection program.”

Howell shared a personal story of the devastating consequences when unsafe conditions slip through the cracks, revealing that a child in her care contracted lead poisoning despite the property holding a lead-safe certificate. Bridget Collins-Greenwald, Licenses + Inspections Commissioner for Quality-of-Life, testified about the agency’s interest in proactive rental inspections, as part of a suite of new proactive programs.

“We have established proactive fire inspections, we do these auto repair stops … we are proactive on business corridors,” said Greenwald, describing changes made since L+I split in 2024. “Next on our list is proactive rental inspections.”

After questioning, Commissioner Greenwald made it clear that Council can expect to learn more about a proactive rental inspection program in about four months.

Daisy Cruz, District Leader for SEIU Local 32BJ, highlighted the devastating impact of the city’s housing crisis on working-class families. Cruz, who represents over 10,000 workers, shared the hardships many of her members are facing as tenants due to rising housing costs.

“People used to be able to afford reasonable spaces in reasonable neighborhoods, but they aren’t affordable anymore,” said Cruz. “We believe it shouldn’t be a privilege to live in Philadelphia that only the wealthy can afford. Housing instability is a significant hurdle to the physical and mental well-being of our communities’ residents.”

Last month, OnePA Renters United Philadelphia and Philly Thrive launched their Safe, Healthy Homes Campaign. The campaign includes a city budget platform calling for proactive inspections of rental properties, which has already shown positive results in other cities.

Keith David Parsons, Strategic Enforcement Administrator for the District of Colombia’s Department of Building, highlighted how a peer city ties proactive inspections to licensing.

“More than half of the residential units in the District … are licensed multi-family apartment buildings with three or more units,” said Parsons. “As a condition of their licensure, these properties must participate in the proactive inspections program.”

Multiple councilmembers raised the incredibly high stakes of maintaining healthy homes, with Councilmember Anthony Phillips (9th District) referring to fires in his district, Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. (4th District) recounting the crisis at Brith Sholom, and Councilmember O’Rourke reading the story of Jah’Nae Campbell into the record.

“This race to the bottom is costing lives and degrading the quality of life,” said O’Rourke. “We’re only going to raise our baseline if and when the bad landlords out there feel some heat.”