{"id":263777,"date":"2026-08-12T07:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263777\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T07:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:18:10","slug":"tenants-call-on-parker-admin-to-buy-affordable-homes-in-west-southwest-philly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263777\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenants call on Parker admin to buy affordable homes in West, Southwest Philly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tenants are demanding that Mayor Cherelle Parker\u2019s administration step in to prevent hundreds of subsidized homes in West<\/a> and Southwest Philadelphia from being sold to for-profit developers,<\/p>\n

Neighborhood Restorations alerted the city in July 2025 of the company\u2019s intent to sell its 925-unit portfolio, which is scattered across multiple neighborhoods. The move triggered a one-year waiting period, in accordance with a recent municipal law designed to give City Hall time to come up with a plan to preserve affordable housing.<\/p>\n

Latoya Burgess, who has lived in her Kingsessing home for 30 years, said the renters met with Parker\u2019s team last month but have not heard anything since.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy 13-year-old daughter is worried we may lose our home,\u201d she said during a rally Tuesday afternoon outside City Hall. \u201cNo child should have to worry about losing their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot stand and wait for our homes to be sold underneath us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker, in a statement, said her office\u2019s commitment to the impacted families is \u201cunwavering,\u201d but that they \u201cdeserve action, not misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neighborhood Restorations, formerly known as Prime Property, built out its portfolio using federal low-income tax credits, which require landlords to maintain affordability for at least three decades. Parker\u2019s team said the affordability limits have expired for 225 properties. The remaining 700 will continue to be subject to the restrictions for at least four more years, according to city officials.<\/p>\n

Acquiring all 925 units could cost more than $280 million, a price tag that is \u201cbeyond the resources of the city or any one agency alone,\u201d Parker added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no simple or immediate solution at this scale,\u201d the mayor continued. \u201cMy message to everyone who cares about these families is simple: come to the table. Join these talks. Bring your ideas, your resources, and your solutions. We welcome everyone who is serious about working together to find a path forward that protects these families and preserves these homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tenants and advocates from One Pennsylvania<\/a> favor a solution in which the city purchases the portfolio and provides a pathway for renters to buy their homes below market rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these homes are sold to the wrong person, I would be losing my community, where I live and raise my children as well as memories,\u201d said Christie Davis, a 22-year resident of a home owned by Neighborhood Restorations.<\/p>\n

Three City Council members \u2013 Jamie Gauthier, Curtis Jones Jr. and Nicolas O\u2019Rourke \u2013 joined tenants at Tuesday\u2019s rally. They are pushing the Parker administration to use funding from the Housing Opportunities Made Easy program, an $800 million bond initiative<\/a> to create or preserve 30,000 units of affordable housing, to save the Neighborhood Restorations properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my mayor. I\u2019m for the H.O.M.E. program,\u201d Jones remarked. \u201cBut if the H.O.M.E. program isn’t for the people you see right here, then who’s it for?\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: Can modular technology solve Philadelphia\u2019s affordable housing crisis?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tCherelle Parker,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t affordable housing,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Neighborhood Restorations,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t West Philadelphia,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Southwest Philadelphia,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philadelphia City Council,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t H.O.M.E. program,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t housing\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tenants are demanding that Mayor Cherelle Parker\u2019s administration step in to prevent hundreds of subsidized homes in West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2313,9537,28946,4736,111422,69,5648,71,70,2653,877],"class_list":["post-263777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-affordable-housing","tag-cherelle-parker","tag-h-o-m-e-program","tag-housing","tag-neighborhood-restorations","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-city-council","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-southwest-philadelphia","tag-west-philadelphia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}