West Philadelphia community activist group Neighbors Against McPenntrification rallied against the Partnership Community Development Corporation Thursday afternoon, complaining that the low-income housing the Partnership CDC maintains is too expensive.
The group, led by Rev. Larry Falcon, stood outside of the corporation's office at 4020 Market Street, handing out flyers and speaking out against the Partnership.
Falcon and his fellow activists argue that Partnership CDC fails at its mission of working towards community redevelopment, particularly with its low-income housing.
"Our main beef is that the houses are not really low-income houses," Falcon said.
Beyond that, the group protested the eviction of squatters in the West Philadelphia area by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. One of those squatters, Hannah Virginia, is member of Neighbors Against McPenntrification.
The Redevelopment Authority holds vacant and dilapidated properties and gives them to development agencies, such as the Partnership, to renovate.
Virginia currently lives in one of the properties of which the Redevelopment Authority has taken possession.
Falcon said that Virginia and the person she lives with "are squatters, but they've been [in the house] for a long time, and they've fixed it up."
Falcon added that the Neighbors have collected a large number of signatures from Virginia's neighbors supporting her in her fight to stay in her current house and have filed that petition.
Blane Stoddart, the executive director of the Partnership CDC and a 1987 Wharton graduate, believes that the protest by the Neighbors Against McPenntrification has very little to do with the low-income housing prices and much more to do with Virginia's eviction.
"It's the city evicting [Virginia], there's nothing we can do about that," Stoddart said.
"Our job is to rehabilitate the houses, and that's what we're trying to do," he added.
Virginia's eviction is currently under a 30-day appeal, which will end on Feb. 4. Virginia plans to repeat her appeal once the date arrives.
Stoddart strongly disagreed with the claim that low-income housing is not being provided.
"We absolutely fulfill our mission," Stoddart said. "We provide low-income housing, which is what we're supposed to do."
Community development corporations like Partnership are created nationally to promote urban development.
Federally, the groups are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which dispenses its funds to local offices in Philadelphia and other cities. In Philadelphia, the Office of Housing and Community Development receives that money and passes it on to the local CDCs.
According to the annual HUD report, CDC partnerships are "neighborhood-based offices which evaluate a community's development needs and design programs to meet those needs."
CDCs can provide both housing and economic programs to area residents. The Partnership does both.
According to the federal requirements for eligibility for low-income housing, a low to moderate annual income is below $33,650, including any Social Security, child support or welfare received by the applicant.
Federal requirements stipulate that 30 percent of any income is used towards paying for the resident's home.
The low-income houses the CDC offers in the West Philadelphia area range in sale price from $56,000 to $90,000, a price which the Partnership and the OHCD believe is below retail value.
"The prices may be higher, but they're higher [than in other areas] because of the area," Stoddart said. "And they're definitely below the rest of the real estate values."
Beyond that, Stoddart said that he feels the anger is misplaced.
Neighbors "sees us as an appendage of Penn, and that's just not true," Stoddart said.
Stoddart added, "We're committed to our mission."
