Calling on the Mayor and the Office of Housing and Community Development to enter into the contracts necessary to make available the additional funds for the Basic Systems Repair Program authorized by Resolution No. 070405 (adopted June 7, 2007), Resolution No. 070588 (adopted June 14, 2007), Resolution No. 070595 (adopted June 14, 2007), and Resolution No. 070744 (adopted September 20, 2007), and authorizing Council to retain counsel to file suit should the Administration fail to do so.

WHEREAS, Pursuant to Bill No. 010694, as amended by Bill No. 020036, Council must approve, by resolution, an annual Program Statement and Budget for the expenditure of proceeds of Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (“NTI”) bonds; and

WHEREAS, Council approved the annual Program Statement and Budget for Fiscal Year 2008 through its adoption of Resolution No. 070405 (adopted June 7, 2007), which included an amendment to the NTI Budget to authorize additional expenditures for the Basic Systems Repair Program (“BSRP”) in the Fourth Councilmanic District; and

WHEREAS,

Resolution No. 070588 (adopted June 14, 2007), Resolution No. 070595 (adopted June 14, 2007), and Resolution No. 070744 (adopted September 20, 2007), amended the Fiscal Year 2008 NTI Program Statement and Budget to authorize additional expenditures for the BSRP in the Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Councilmanic Districts; and

WHEREAS,

The additional BSRP funds could be made readily available if the Office of Housing and Community Development (“OHCD”) amends existing contracts with the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (“PHDC”) for the administration of BSRP. However, OHNP to date has failed to enter into the necessary contract amendments, a failure that Council has found to be “a deliberate and reprehensible effort to deprive the needy homeowners of the [Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Council Districts] of these additional resources” (Resolution Nos. 070882 and 070890, each adopted October 18, 2007); and

WHEREAS,

Council wishes to take all action necessary to ensure that the additional BSRP funds it has authorized under the NTI Budget are made available at the earliest possible date to assist the people most in need of BSRP because of their financial condition, disability, and the condition of their homes; now, therefore,

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council calls upon the Mayor and the Office of Housing and Community Development, within one week of the adoption of this Resolution, to enter into all contracts necessary to expand the Basic Systems Repair Program in the Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Councilmanic Districts as authorized by Resolution No. 070405 (adopted June 7, 2007), Resolution No. 070588 (adopted June 14, 2007), Resolution No. 070595 (adopted June 14, 2007), and Resolution No. 070744 (adopted September 20, 2007).

FURTHER RESOLVED, That if the necessary contracts are not executed within one week of the adoption of this Resolution, Council is authorized to retain counsel to file suit to compel the Administration to make the additional BSRP funds available pursuant to the authorizing resolutions.

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