Housing for All

Every single person deserves a place to call home. In reality, people across our district and state are struggling to stay in their homes. Our community is being threatened by increasingly unchecked development that prioritizes profits over people. While some development means progress for our community and increases the availability of housing, other projects in our district, we are also seeing other development begin to push out long-term residents while also putting affordable housing out of reach for many working-class people.

 

As COVID-19 has brought to light — housing is a public health issue. Likewise, homelessness is a crisis of our own making and is not beyond our ability to solve. For an increasing number of residents living on a fixed income, the reality of homelessness gets closer every day.

I will: 

  • Fight for affordable housing, such as the PHARE Bill that I championed and helped pass in the PA House.
  • Fight to protect the freedom of speech for neighbors and community groups, such as the Anti-Slapp suit bill that I led and helped pass in the PA House. 
  • Fight for our elder community. Older adults are cornerstones of our community. They , should be able to remain in their homes, should not be taxed out of their own homes, and should not be harassed by developers to sell. I was proud to support the property tax and rent rebate expansion that is helping more people get more assistance to stay in their homes.
  • Support an end to exclusionary zoning practice as well as ending the 10 year tax abatement, as it benefits wealthier newcomers to Philadelphia, yet does not bring any new tax revenue into the city and back into our communities.
  • Fight for common sense housing regulations, such as reform of the landlord tenant officer, eliminating multiple staircase building requirements in residences less than six stories, and supporting gentle housing density by allowing duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes in areas zoned for single housing. I am leading the introduction of legislation to address each of these issues.