The city’s mandatory Eviction Diversion Program, which requires landlords to try to resolve disputes with tenants outside of court, sunsets at the end of June. Philadelphia City Council’s Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless advanced a measure that would make the diversion program permanent. Housing advocates say the pandemic-inspired initiative is still needed in a city that continues to experience an affordable-housing crisis, where thousands of residents are cost-burdened by rising rents and there is a limited supply of affordable units. Since 2020, more than 7,000 landlord-tenant pairs have participated in mediation during various versions of the program, according to the city. Approximately 70% of them have reached an agreement without an eviction filing. While eviction filings have returned to pre-pandemic levels in cities around the country, that has not happened in Philadelphia, largely because of the diversion program, now considered a national model. “When coupled with rental assistance, the Eviction Diversion Program is one of our city’s most effective anti-displacement programs ever,” said Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who co-introduced the bill in April. “We cannot standby and let the eviction floodgates reopen.”
Source: WHYY; 5/22/2024