WHEREAS, There is a critical shortage of affordable and accessible housing in the City of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS,
It is incumbent on the City of Philadelphia to explore appropriate methods of ensuring the availability of affordable housing for its residents; and
WHEREAS,
To provide affordable housing, some jurisdictions make use of what is known as “inclusionary zoning,” a term for a variety of measures enacted into law that require affordable housing efforts as part of certain residential developments. For example, in some jurisdictions, subdivisions beyond a certain minimum size must include a certain percentage of affordable units. In other jurisdictions, projects that require zoning variances, receive any type of governmental financial assistance, or that receive publicly owned land must meet affordable housing requirements. In other jurisdictions, developers may receive certain incentives if they make provisions for affordable housing; and
WHEREAS,
“Inclusionary zoning” may require developers to include a certain percentage of affordable housing units in a proposed development, or to develop affordable housing elsewhere, or to contribute to an affordable housing fund; and
WHEREAS,
In recent years, “inclusionary zoning” has been successfully implemented in other large cities such as Boston, Denver, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco; and
WHEREAS,
Council’s consideration of inclusionary zoning would be better informed if hearings were first held to explore the experience of other municipalities with inclusionary zoning, and to hear from affordable housing advocates, developers and the public at large as to whether and how such measures could best be implemented in Philadelphia; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,
That the Committee on Rules is hereby authorized to hold public hearings to explore how “inclusionary zoning” could be used to address the critical shortage of affordable housing in the City of Philadelphia.
End