Opinions Divided On How Best To Provide Affordable Housing In Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia city council committee held hearings Monday on a bill promoting affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents -- but opinions were so divided on the measure, the committee postponed a vote until next week.
Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez sponsored the bill, which would require that ten percent of every new large-scale residential development be reserved for low and moderate-income renters or buyers.
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"These folks are now spending more than half of every paycheck on housing, at the expense of food, clothes and medicine," she said.
While every one of the 30 witnesses agreed this is a crucial issue and they support affordable housing, there was disagreement about how best to provide it.
Developer Carl Dranoff says more housing, in general, makes for more affordable housing and this bill might unintentionally work against it by making new projects unaffordable.
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"And it would discourage development," he said, "not promote development."
The bill has already been extensively amended since it was introduced in June, but many witnesses asked that more changes be made before it's voted out of committee.