October 07, 2021

The Philadelphia City Council passed a bill that changes an existing program to encourage developers to build more affordable housing units. The Mixed-Income Housing Bonus program allows developers to construct larger buildings than allowed under zoning regulations if they include affordable units or contribute to the city’s housing trust fund. Developers have generally chosen the latter option, raising nearly $20 million dollars for the fund since launching in 2018, but they’ve built fewer than two dozen affordable housing units. The changes to the program aim to shift developers toward building affordable units rather than contributing to the fund. “Having affordability in our neighborhoods should no longer be up to the whim and desire of developers. And we’re using policy to force that issue,” said councilmember Jamie Gauthier.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) revamped its flood risk assessment following a summer of devastating floods. The old system, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), provided a flat risk estimate for an entire floodplain, regardless of their individual risk, and costs to repair homes were not considered. The new system, Risk Rating 2.0, will estimate the individual risk facing each home, leading to higher insurance premiums and potential decreases in property values. “The new system confirms what we knew about the NFIP, which was that it’s a deeply unfair system—you had low-income homeowners subsidizing high-value homeowners,” said Joel Scata, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Metropolitan areas across the country have not experienced the eviction “tsunami” many experts warned about as the eviction moratorium ended. In many areas, eviction filings have decreased or remained flat since the Supreme Court ended the moratorium on August 26. Experts are hesitant to rescind warnings of an eviction crisis and suggest it might be more gradual as courts work through cases and more landlords file for eviction. “This may not take the form of a sudden spike in eviction cases all at once. It may be something that’s much more delayed and diffuse,” said Peter Hepburn, a research fellow at the Eviction Lab.

Western & Southern Financial Group plans to invest millions of dollars to develop affordable housing in the greater Cincinnati region. Investments in affordable housing are needed more than ever after the city rejected a charter amendment that would have required Cincinnati’s city government to set aside $50 million each year in affordable housing. However, Jeanne Golliher, CEO of Cincinnati Development Fund, argues that money “isn’t enough to solve the whole problem if you understand there are at least 40,000 households that are paying more than 30 percent of their income towards rent.”