Stoneleigh Fellow Vincent Reina and his Housing Initiative at Penn colleagues wrote an article for The Philadelphia Inquirer about the need for long-term solutions to Philadelphia’s housing crisis.
Housing insecurity continues to grow as fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic compounds it. In Philadelphia — which has seen more than 30,000 coronavirus cases and 1,900 deaths — the pandemic has left many households uncertain that they can pay rent.
But this uncertainty is not new. Census data shows that rents were already unaffordable for half of renters in Philadelphia before COVID-19. Rent is traditionally considered unaffordable when it consumes more than 30% of a household’s monthly income, which can leave residents unable to pay for necessities like medical costs or child care.
