The reason is simple: Philly is broke. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the city was forced to plug a $749 million budget hole, mostly due to a shortfall in taxes, the commissioner told City Council Wednesday. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
Officials expect the project to create more than 200 construction jobs as well as more than 200 permanent jobs, of which 70% are expected to be made available to people who live in the predominantly Black neighborhood. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
The Travel and Hospitality Worker Recall and Retention Ordinance, to be introduced by Gym, would allow laid-off employees from city hotels, event centers and the airport first dibs to return to their old jobs if companies start rehiring. The order of recall would be based on seniority. | From: WHYY (Read more.)
The legislative body is mulling an extension of a raft of COVID-era tenant assistance bills from Councilmembers Helen Gym, Jamie Gauthier and Kendra Brooks known as the Emergency Housing Protection Act. Citing resurgent viral case counts, the new legislation would extend elements of these bills that contained sunset provisions while also reinstating a now-expired local eviction moratorium through the end of the year. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
The federal incentive allows investors to skip out on capital gains tax in exchange for making long-term investments in businesses or developments in certain low-income areas | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
In April, Neighborhood Bike Works started a program called Bikes for Neighbors to help, giving away free bikes to essential workers and people who needed them.
Eight months into the initiative and with over 500 requests for bikes, 77 bikes have been given out.
Jessi West, Executive Director of Neighborhood Bike Works, said that the program was a solution to multiple problems created by the pandemic. | From: Green Philly (Read more.)
A large number of millennials in Philly are people of color living on low incomes. What help is available to this generation, defined as people born between 1981 and 1996?
For folks who come up with ideas to answer that question, a new initiative will give out $50k in prizes and another $50k seed funding. Called the Well City Challenge, the social impact project is a sequel to 2018’s Full City Challenge — but instead of focusing on food and hunger, this focuses on health and wellness. | From: Billy Penn (Read more.)
Housing experts say this election could reshape the lives of millions of Americans who are affected in some way by federal housing policy — whether they live or want to live in federally subsidized housing, are finding themselves priced out of desirable neighborhoods and school districts, or are trying to stay rooted in gentrifying areas. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
The city’s Restore Kensington Action Plan aims to deter trash in the neighborhood, but residents want more effort. | From: Kensington Voice (Read more.)
It was a movement born out of the George Floyd protests for racial justice: Hundreds of people who had experienced homelessness camped out on the Ben Franklin Parkway, on Ridge Avenue and squatted in empty houses across Philadelphia to demand affordable housing. WHYY’s Susan Phillips says explains how this historic deal was struck, and whether it could make a dent in Philadelphia’s affordable housing problem. | From: WHHY (Read more.)
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