Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker<\/a>\u2019s administration as of last month had spent only $38 million of the $278 million it was budgeted for the first phase of the Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., initiative, according to a new report from Philadelphia\u2019s top fiscal watchdog. <\/p>\n The city is budgeted to spend the remaining $240 million by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2027, under legislation approved by City Council in January. <\/p>\n But as of Sept. 30, the program\u2019s spending was \u201conly a little over 13%\u201d of the way there, City Controller Christy Brady said in an interview Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do want to see more spending, because it is important. It is a great program,\u201d Brady said. \u201cAffordable housing is what keeps our communities strong.\u201d<\/p>\n Parker first proposed H.O.M.E. in February 2025<\/a>, with the goal of building or preserving 30,000 units of housing in her first term. The initiative is primarily funded by $800 million in city bonds that Council approved in June 2025<\/a>. <\/p>\n After delays caused by negotiations with lawmakers over how the bond proceeds would be spent, the administration issued the first of two planned $400 million bond issuances in early 2026, budgeting to spend $278 million of the proceeds by the end of the current fiscal year. <\/p>\n \u201cThe programs the Controller reviewed are on pace to use their full budgets and then some, because demand for home repairs and accessibility modifications is very strong,\u201d Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer Angela Brooks said in a statement. \u201cBased on current projections, we expect to spend at a faster pace for the rest of the fiscal year.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooks said the initiative\u2019s \u201cfirst-phase budget supports new programs and housing production, such as new construction, preservation, homeownership, and land disposition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat work is designed to spend on project milestones, not on a calendar,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Any money left unspent at the end of June will still be available for the city to spend on H.O.M.E. programs in the following fiscal year. Although there is no direct cost to the city for delays in spending bond proceeds, there are drawbacks. <\/p>\n One purpose of debt-financing programs by issuing bonds and repaying them with interest \u2014 as opposed to allocating money for the programs each year out of the city budget \u2014 is for the city to get more money quickly to fund important priorities that can be paid back over time. As delays in spending the bond proceeds drag on, the real value of the borrowed money goes down over time due to inflation, undermining the purpose of taking out new city debt. <\/p>\n Delays in spending down money for major bond-financed programs have become commonplace in City Hall. <\/p>\n Former Mayor John F. Street\u2019s anti-blight Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, former Mayor Jim Kenney<\/a>\u2019s Rebuild program to renovate parks and recreation centers, and former Council President Darrell L. Clarke\u2019s Neighborhood Preservation Initiative all involved debt financing, and all, for varying reasons, also saw spending delays. <\/p>\n Four of 29 programs get funding<\/p>\n The city, as of Sept. 30, had spent money on only four of the 29 housing programs and strategies approved for funding through H.O.M.E., Brady\u2019s report found. <\/p>\n All four were preexisting programs now getting additional support from the mayor\u2019s initiative. The Basic Systems Repair Program, which provides free repairs for critical projects to income-qualified residents, has received the most funding at just under $26 million, according to the report. <\/p>\n \u201cThe four longstanding repair and eviction programs \u2026 have already put more than half of their first-year budgets to work, nearly $38 million,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cMost of that went to emergency home repairs and accessibility modifications for Philadelphians in North, West, and Southwest Philadelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n The remaining 25 approved H.O.M.E. projects \u2014 for which the controller found no related expenditures \u2014 will largely involve creating new programs. The administration, for instance, has said it intends to launch the One Philly Mortgage<\/a>, which will help first-time homebuyers earning up to 120% of the area median income, later this year. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Here\u2019s how Mayor Parker plans to spend $800 million on housing<\/a><\/p>\n Although many of the programs tied to H.O.M.E. have yet to launch, Parker\u2019s administration has already claimed to be more than halfway to her goal of building or preserving 30,000 units of housing. <\/p>\n