Authored by Angela D. Brooks, FAICP, Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer, Philadelphia Mayor’s Office & Immediate Past President of the American Planning Association
Key Takeaways
- Philadelphia is facing a severe housing crisis that threatens the city’s economic foundation, with many renters severely cost-burdened and homeownership increasingly out of reach.
- Mayor Parker has responded with bold action through the $2 billion H.O.M.E. initiative, aiming to build, preserve or restore 30,000 housing units.
- The H.O.M.E. initiative (PDF) is a data-driven and targeted plan that utilizes housing gap analysis to direct resources to the neighborhoods with the greatest need.
- The $2 billion investment combines city bonds, public land contributions, federal HUD funding and partnerships across the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
- Transparency and accountability are central to the implementation of the initiative, with progress tracked through public dashboards to ensure trust, oversight and measure outcomes.
- Mayor Parker’s leadership matches the scale of the crisis, with a sustained commitment to making housing attainable for all Philadelphians.
Philadelphia faces a housing emergency. When nearly 30 percent of renters (PDF) spend more than half their income just to keep a roof over their heads, and 9 out of 10 the lowest-income residents can’t afford both rent and other basic necessities, we’re well past talking about a housing challenge. We’re confronting a full-scale crisis that threatens the economic foundation of our city.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker recognized this harsh reality during her campaign and made an unprecedented promise to build, preserve or restore 30,000 housing units.
That promise has transformed into concrete action through the Housing Opportunities Made Easy (H.O.M.E.) initiative (PDF) — a $2 billion investment in the most ambitious housing plan in modern Philadelphia history.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Philadelphia’s Housing Market is Broken
The statistics (PDF) paint a devastating picture. For renters (PDF), 52 percent are cost-burdened, with 28 percent classified as extremely cost-burdened. But the crisis runs even deeper: according to recent research from the Housing Initiative at Penn (PDF), 70 percent of extremely low-income renters and 63 percent of extremely low-income homeowners spend more than half their income solely on housing costs, leaving virtually nothing for other basic necessities. Among all lower-income renters earning $35,000 or less, a staggering 68 percent are extremely cost-burdened, and another 20 percent are cost-burdened. This means 88 percent of Philadelphia’s most vulnerable residents are drowning in housing costs.
The numbers reveal a stark shortage: Philadelphia faces a deficit of over 64,500 housing units (PDF) that are both affordable and available to extremely low-income households, according to Penn researchers. This shortage drives the broader rental crisis across income levels.
Homeownership has become equally elusive. The median home sale price jumped 37 percent between 2019 and 2024, from $175,000 to $240,000. Even more shocking, the cost of the lowest-quartile homes — typically the entry point for first-time buyers — surged 56 percent to $145,000. Penn’s analysis (PDF) shows that while a household at 30 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) could afford a typical mortgage in 2018, by 2022 buyers needed incomes of 50 percent AMI or above — effectively putting homebuying out of reach for income groups in Philadelphia that have historically owned their own homes. The monthly cost of homeownership has increased by 61 percent, with down payment requirements up 37 percent. What once required $17,500 downpayment and a $1,169 monthly mortgage now demands $24,000 downpayment and $1,880 monthly — pricing out entire generations of potential homeowners.
These aren’t just numbers — they represent families forced to choose between housing and healthcare, parents working multiple jobs to afford rent and young adults unable to build wealth through homeownership.
H.O.M.E.: A Data-Driven Response to Crisis
Mayor Parker’s response isn’t based on political rhetoric or wishful thinking. H.O.M.E. relies on a rigorous housing gap analysis conducted by Moody’s, PolicyMap and Reinvestment Fund’s Policy Solutions group. This analysis identifies where Philadelphia has housing shortages by comparing current vacancy rates to normal market equilibrium rates. When vacancy rates fall below equilibrium, it signals a housing shortage requiring urgent intervention.
The results are revealing while downtown and trendy River Ward areas have housing surpluses — with thousands of new units sitting vacant — vast swaths of Northeast and Northwest Philadelphia face acute shortages. These underserved areas are home to Philadelphia’s stable Black middle-class communities and growing immigrant working families who have been systematically underserved by private markets.
This geographic precision allows H.O.M.E. to target resources where they’re needed most, rather than subsidizing developments in areas already oversupplied by market forces.
Unprecedented Financial Commitment Matches the Scale of Crisis
H.O.M.E.’s $2 billion investment reflects the magnitude of Philadelphia’s housing emergency. The financing structure includes $800 million in bonds — issued in two strategic $400 million tranches to maximize investment efficiency — plus $1 billion in public land contributions. Additional funding streams include federal HUD programs such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), Emergency Solutions Grants Program (ESG), the City’s General Fund and Housing Trust Fund and private investments.
But money alone won’t solve this crisis. Through H.O.M.E., the city is partnering with philanthropic organizations, labor unions and a 50-member Advisory Committee representing every sector of Philadelphia’s housing ecosystem. This collaborative approach ensures that solutions address real community needs rather than top-down mandates.
The plan will create 13,500 new housing units and preserve 16,500 existing units (PDF), representing 78 percent of estimated need in both categories. This strategic approach recognizes that preservation is often more cost-effective than new construction while maintaining affordability in established neighborhoods.
The Preservation Crisis: A Ticking Time Bomb
H.O.M.E.’s focus on preservation addresses another urgent reality: Philadelphia’s housing stock is deteriorating rapidly. With 64 percent of housing units built before 1960 (PDF), the city faces massive repair needs. Penn researchers (PDF) found that over 38 percent of all Philadelphia housing (PDF) units need repairs, while more than 14,000 units lack complete kitchen or plumbing facilities. The lowest-income residents bear the brunt of these conditions (PDF), with 33 percent of extremely low-income renters and 20 percent of extremely low-income homeowners living in units with significant maintenance issues, outdated systems or structural deficiencies.
Even more concerning, conventional financing for essential repairs remains largely inaccessible to those who need it most. Only 15 percent of homeowners with incomes below $25,000 can access repair loans, according to Penn’s analysis (PDF), while even homeowners earning over $100,000 face approval rates of just 50 percent. This financing gap means that without public intervention, housing conditions will continue deteriorating, threatening both habitability and neighborhood stability.
H.O.M.E. doesn’t just build units — it dismantles systemic barriers to housing access. The Philly First Home and Turn the Key programs and the new One Philly Mortgage initiative, modeled after Massachusetts’ successful ONE Mortgage program, provide down payment assistance, reduced PMI requirements, discounted interest rates and comprehensive pre- and post-purchase counseling. These programs enhance “effective demand” by enabling families to compete in markets previously beyond their reach.
The City’s substantial land portfolio becomes a strategic asset under H.O.M.E. Rather than default to selling parcels to the highest bidder, the city will strategically deploy land based on housing gap analysis and market strength assessments. This ensures public resources support developments that serve community needs rather than subsidizing projects that would happen anyway.
Crucially, H.O.M.E. includes critical process reforms to reduce the time and expense associated with housing development. Through convening internal and external stakeholders, conferring with innovative peer cities and analyzing data, the city has developed more than 100 concrete legislative, regulatory and operational recommendations for reform and is working steadily to bring them to fruition. The recommendations are focused on removing barriers to development and accelerating residential construction and renovation by creating new housing opportunities, streamlining development approvals, increasing accessibility and predictability and improving data quality and transparency.
Market-Smart Strategy Maximizes Public Investment
H.O.M.E. recognizes that $2 billion, while substantial, must be deployed strategically to achieve maximum impact. The plan avoids the historic mistake of over-subsidizing developments in strong markets that don’t need public support. Instead, it matches subsidy levels to actual need, ensuring resources reach developments that desperately require support to achieve affordability targets.
For example, units serving Philadelphia’s lowest-income residents require deeper subsidies and different financing tools than workforce housing. By mapping housing gaps against income demographics at the tract level, H.O.M.E. can precisely target financial tools to maximize unit production across income levels.
Transparency and Accountability Drive Implementation
Mayor Parker has committed to unprecedented transparency in H.O.M.E. implementation. The city is developing public dashboards that will track HOME-funded activities against production targets, displaying progress in accessible map formats that give residents detailed insight into their neighborhoods’ housing investments.
This transparency serves dual purposes: enabling meaningful community participation in housing decisions and holding the administration accountable for its ambitious promises. Annual updates to housing gap analysis will provide objective measures of H.O.M.E.’s impact, ensuring course corrections when needed.
Bold Leadership for an Urgent Crisis
Philadelphia’s housing crisis demands leadership that matches the scale of the challenge. Mayor Parker’s H.O.M.E. initiative represents exactly that — a data-driven, strategically financed and collaboratively implemented response that treats housing as the fundamental necessity it is.
With 30,000 units in the pipeline and $2 billion committed, H.O.M.E. won’t solve Philadelphia’s housing crisis overnight. But it represents the kind of bold, sustained commitment necessary to restore housing affordability and accessibility for all Philadelphians. The question isn’t whether we can afford this investment — it’s whether we can afford not to make it.
The housing emergency is real. The solution is H.O.M.E.
Explore the Ultimate Housing Resource for City Leaders
The Housing Supply Accelerator Playbook: Solutions, Systems, Partnerships, a collaboration by the National League of Cities and the American Planning Association, is a comprehensive resource that focuses on how city leaders can accelerate locally driven housing solutions.
