The Philadelphia City Planning Commission revealed results of their Renter and Landlord Housing survey at their monthly meeting this week. The William Penn Foundation funded the survey and the Milliard Group conducted it. The survey questioned both renters and landlords about their situations, needs, and desires.
PCPC staff member Olivia Howell explained that the surveyors contacted renters throughout the city using social media and contacted 250 landlord property owners directly. They received 21 responses from the landlord contacts and much more from the renter contacts. Forty-three percent of the respondents were from Center City and University City, which constitutes 22% of the city’s renters. Ms. Howell presented results from the downtown responses and then the results of the rest of the city’s renters next. The least number of responses came from North Philadelphia, which the PCPC estimates has 12% of the city’s renters in the area that they designate as North Philadelphia.
Not surprisingly, the Center City and University City respondents were younger and wealthier than the rest of the respondents. They were more transient and far less involved in their neighborhood than the rest of the city’s respondents. The two most common reasons the downtown renters gave for living, and renting, in the city were that they wanted to live an “urban lifestyle” and they wanted to be near their jobs. And, their jobs were paying well enough for those renters to feel that they could afford their apartments, despite the fact that they were spending a higher percentage of their household income on rent than the citywide average. The citywide average of household income going towards rent is 41%. The average rent in Center City and University City combined is $1,200, more than the average of $800 outside downtown. Homeownership would be more difficult for downtown renters, if they want to stay in their neighborhoods. Sixty-six percent of downtown residents would need to move to a more affordable neighborhood in order to own a home. Most downtown renters say that they would maybe, or would not, buy a home in the city anytime soon and the reason cited by far was “lack of financial readiness”. Renters in the rest of the city cite a desire to be with family and childhood friends as the number one reason why they stay in their neighborhoods and they are much more involved in their neighborhoods. One third of renters outside of downtown could afford a home in their neighborhoods.
The 21 landlords who responded are largely renting out whole houses or rowhomes. The vast majority of them are renting out property to make a profit, not because they moved and haven’t been able to sell their home yet. Landlord property owners prefer gentrifying neighborhoods, with rising rents, by a large margin. Most of the landlords avoided Section 8 renters and most of the landlords felt that evictions were too difficult in the city.
By, Gabriel Gottlieb
