advanced a revised version<\/a> of Parker\u2019s plan that would limit 90% of BSRP funding to households earning 60% of AMI or less \u2014 $48,180 for an individual and $68,820 for a family of four.<\/p>\nParker told congregants Sunday that the stricter limits would exclude thousands of homeowners. According to a flyer the Parker administration handed out on Sunday, many city employees including sanitation workers, social service workers, librarians, police officers, firefighters and paramedics, earn more than 60 percent of AMI.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We cannot penalize working Philadelphians,” Parker said. “It’s important to help those city residents who most need our help, absolutely. But we cannot and should not do so by excluding all those working Philadelphians who are just over that 60 percent AMI income restriction.”<\/p>\n
Local clergy echoed the mayor\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies cannot wait,” said Pastor Jonathan Mason of Northeast Baptist Church. “I urge Council to correct this … so Philadelphia can move forward with a plan that restores our communities and provides real, affordable homes for our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pastor Lonnie Herndon of the Church of Christian Compassion said homeowners who wake up before dawn to work, pay taxes and maintain their neighborhoods should not be disqualified \u201cbecause they make five dollars over the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other faith leaders, including Bishop J. Louis Felton of Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ and Pastor James Moore of Second Mt. Zion Baptist Church, also voiced support for Parker\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
A final vote on the one-year H.O.M.E. plan is expected Dec. 11, Council\u2019s last session of the calendar year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tH.O.M.E. initiative,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Cherelle Parker,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t City Council\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Metro Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker visited churches across the city on Sunday, urging congregants to back her proposal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9537,990,20424,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-56845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-cherelle-parker","tag-city-council","tag-h-o-m-e-initiative","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56845","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=56845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}