The Progressive, October 7, 2020, Philadelphia Activists Fight for Housing—and Win
Protests in Philadelphia have been taking place for months during this past spring and summer of 2020. Two large protests camps were conducted outside of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, over the escalating homeless epidemic occurring in Philadelphia. The Protest demanded more than fifty vacant homes be reduced and given to aid the homeless pandemic to allow them to build wealth, and equity in the community. The Protests also called out the great deal of gentrification taking place in the city, and denouncing the vacant homes governed in the community trust to these wealthy businesses.
Two protest camps had sprung up while unhoused people moved into vacant properties owned by the huge Philadelphia Housing Authority, Pennsylvania’s largest landlord. Critics say the PHA, a public housing provider, has boosted gentrification by selling some lots to private investors while keeping others vacant for years, despite a ballooning houselessness crisis in the city.
The agreement calls on the city to transfer fifty vacant homes out of PHA ownership into a community land trust, a land-use model where tenants may buy and sell homes on land that remains controlled by a nonprofit land trust. Homeowners can build equity, but the retention of land rights by the trust allows affordable housing to remain affordable in perpetuity.
Community land trusts have appeared across the country in response to an overwhelming demand for affordable housing. They are designed to be community-controlled, non-governmental organizations—as opposed to public housing provided by authorities like the PHA, which isn’t actually controlled by its tenants. The Philadelphia Housing Authority even has its own law enforcement branch to police these properties.
