Authorizing City Council's Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless to hold hearings on the issue of negligent landlords, absentee landlords, property managers, problem properties, foreclosed vacant residential properties, problem rental properties and their impact on the surrounding community and the opportunities and implications associated with limiting, banning or capping the number of rental properties within defined areas and neighborhoods, and authorizing the issuance of subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents to the full extent authorized under Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter.

WHEREAS, Philadelphia homeownership rates are decreasing; Since 2000, Philadelphia has lost over 48,000 homeowner units while the number of rental properties have increased by more than 36,000; and

WHEREAS, The neighborhoods with the sharpest declines in homeownership rates are responsible for more than one-third of City violations and, a large number of the City’s 270,000 rental units are unlicensed and in substandard physical condition; and

WHEREAS, Poor property maintenance, property maintenance violations and the prevalence of problem properties - properties with multiple notices of violation - affect community morale, destroy neighborhood quality of life, reduce property values, erode the community’s sense of safety and drain on the City’s Code and Law Enforcement resources and other City services; and

WHEREAS, Residents of Northeast Philadelphia continue to raised concerns about the perceived saturation of rental properties and the decline in homeownership in certain neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, Jurisdictions from around the country have considered rental bans and caps that range from limiting short term rentals and vacation rentals to limiting the total number of rental properties that are permitted within a defined boundary; and

WHEREAS, Banning, capping or limiting rental properties may have significant impacts on the availability of housing and on the wellbeing of Philadelphia residents and needs to be fully evaluated in a public forum; and

RESOLVED, By the Council of the City of Philadelphia, That the City Council’s Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless are nearby authorized to hold hearings on the issue of negligent landlords, absentee landlords, property managers, problem properties, foreclosed vacant residential properties, problem rental properties and their impact on the surrounding community and the opportunities and implications associated with limiting, banning or capping the number of rental properties within defined areas and neighborhoods, and authorizing the issuance of subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents to the full extent authorized under Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter.

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