{"id":217062,"date":"2019-03-21T06:04:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T13:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=217062"},"modified":"2022-04-03T16:03:46","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T23:03:46","slug":"maps-help-ensure-equity-in-philadelphias-journey-to-curb-blight","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/maps-help-ensure-equity-in-philadelphias-journey-to-curb-blight","title":{"rendered":"Maps Help Ensure Equity in Philadelphia\u2019s Journey to Curb Blight"},"author":5152,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[461441],"tags":[327152,361,341,327142],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478532],"esri_blog_department":[478192],"class_list":["post-217062","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-equity-social-justice","tag-affordable-housing","tag-blight","tag-economic-development","tag-equity","esri-blog-category-analytics","esri_blog_department-gis-for-good"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"The Philadelphia City Council uses GIS to understand the impacts of pro-growth policies on the city\u2019s vulnerable long-term residents.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<em>This story is part one of a two-part series that examines the impacts of Philadelphia\u2019s renewal policies. The next installment explores the impact of tax abatements and the growing interest in economic opportunity zones.<\/em>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Key Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Councilmembers explore the makeup of residents in their district using GIS to provide accurate representation.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The Philadelphia City Council examines policy decisions to balance growth with equity for its vulnerable populations.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>City Council benefits from the strong GIS foundation the mayor established in the Office of Innovation and Technology.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The City of Philadelphia declared itself blighted in the year 2000, after decades of population decline and increasing property abandonment. At that time, many city neighborhoods had been designated redevelopment areas, but little redevelopment was taking place.\r\n\r\nThe city shares a similar path to other northern industrial cities that have seen dramatic population declines since the 1950s. Deindustrialization and globalization triggered widespread relocation and those who stayed faced economic hardship.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe good news is we didn't suffer like Detroit where when the auto industry tanked it almost killed the city,\u201d said Herb Wetzel, director of Housing and Community Development, Philadelphia City Council. \u201cIf we didn't have the meds and the eds, that might have been our fate.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe city made a bold move to revitalize itself by passing a tax incentive that exempted commercial and residential property owners from having to pay property taxes for 10 years if they completed major renovations or new construction.\r\n\r\nBy the year 2007, this and other policy decisions began reversing the city\u2019s steady population decline.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe were a city that lost population for decades and now we have an opportunity to consider the redevelopment paths to take,\u201d Wetzel said. \u201cWe\u2019re in a unique position to manage growth rather than decline.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":216992,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Visualizing Impacts<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn 2012, then-Mayor Nutter asked the City Council to authorize the Actual Value Initiative (AVI), the first citywide property tax reassessment in 20 years. This measure was the first step to realize higher property tax returns from a visibly transforming city.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe knew that properties had been significantly underassessed for years,\u201d said Darrell L. Clarke, president of the Philadelphia City Council. \u201cBefore we implemented a new tax assessment, we needed an idea of the impacts AVI would have neighborhood by neighborhood.\u201d\r\n\r\nBecause parts of the city had gentrified, some properties were facing a 300 to 500% increases in property tax.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe used GIS to map where property taxes doubled, tripled and quadrupled,\u201d Wetzel said. \u201cWe also looked at the median household incomes in those areas.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe City Council concluded the city couldn\u2019t implement AVI fairly and efficiently in 2012. It authorized a number of relief measures to ease the transition for homeowners and prepared to implement AVI in 2013.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur work was informed by GIS, and it was not long after this that we added a full-time GIS analyst to City Council staff,\u201d Clarke said."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":216932,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Avoiding Displacement<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe City Council enacted different measures to buffer the impact of the updated tax assessment for its vulnerable populations.\r\n\r\nIn sifting through the data, the city was surprised to learn that 40 percent of Philadelphia homeowners don\u2019t have a mortgage. Many of them purchased their row homes in the 1970s when the prices were $8,000 to $10,000, and they have since paid them off. These same people are now elderly and on fixed incomes and don\u2019t have the resources to pay the taxes on what their homes are now worth.\r\n\r\nA senior freeze was placed on property taxes for elderly residents that meet an income test. This program allows qualifying seniors to defer property tax completely until their home is sold.\r\n\r\n\u201cNot only are the taxes deferred, but there\u2019s no interest or penalty on it if you\u2019re in one of these programs,\u201d Wetzel said.\r\n\r\nA long-term owner\/occupant program freezes taxes at the current level for those whose property tax more than tripled. Taxes won\u2019t go up as long as the person lives in the house. Again, some income tests apply in order to qualify.\r\n\r\nGIS has become an important tool for these programs, analyzing the city\u2019s population against criteria to find those that qualify.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s all about zeroing into areas where we can do the most effective outreach,\u201d said Greg Kingery, GIS analyst with the Philadelphia City Council. \u201cIt\u2019s really helped us target our efforts to inform constituents who often don\u2019t know these measures are out there for them.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":216912,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Understanding Constituents<\/strong>\r\n\r\nTo help the City Council better understand the people facing tax foreclosure on their properties, Kingery worked with a developer and managed the creation of a data connection to the Sheriff Department\u2019s property auction site. The City Council now has a live link to this data to encourage those facing eviction to enroll in programs that will prevent them from losing their house.\r\n\r\nIn addition to the housing issue, GIS analysis helps councilmembers understand their constituents.\r\n\r\n\u201cCouncilmembers use GIS to help inform policy discussions and formulate legislation,\u201d Kingery said. \u201cThey have come to rely on a map-based report of key statistics of their constituents [such as population, racial makeup, mean age, median income] to gain a spatial intelligence about their district.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe effort of the City Council\u2019s GIS analysis builds on a strong central GIS team in the Mayor\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.phila.gov\/it\/Innovation\/OpenData\/Pages\/GeospatialData.aspx\">Office of Innovation and Technology<\/a>. This team helps Kingery gather the data\u00a0 necessary for the analysis as well as helping develop applications to support the City Council\u2019s work.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe have crafted and authorized a number of forward-thinking policies to support our goals of equitable development throughout the City of Philadelphia,\u201d Clarke said. \u201cThe addition of a GIS analyst has proven invaluable to this work.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLearn more about how GIS supports <a href=\"http:\/\/solutions.arcgis.com\/local-government\/planning-and-development\/\">planning and development<\/a>.\u00a0Affordable Housing is one of many topics addressed on the <a href=\"https:\/\/livingatlas.arcgis.com\/policy\/overview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Esri Maps for Public Policy\u00a0<\/a>site. Visit this resource to see how maps and spatial data help leaders make data-driven decisions."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"image","image_reference":217032,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<strong>A Series of Anti-Blight Policies<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWhile the 10-year tax abatement incentive quickly helped renew neighborhoods close to Center City (the core downtown area), the city\u2019s high poverty rate of 26 percent, and the high cost of urban construction, meant a slow start for other areas. A series of additional measures followed to proactively push for growth.\r\n\r\nIn 2010, a <a href=\"http:\/\/planphilly.com\/uploads\/media_items\/http-planphilly-com-sites-planphilly-com-files-econsult_vacant_land_full_report-pdf.original.pdf\">vacant land management report<\/a> put the city\u2019s blight in perspective. The report estimated that the city\u2019s 40,000 vacant parcels cause a combined $3.6 billion drop in property values. Maintenance costs on the vacant properties (waste clean-up, police, and fire services) totaled more than $20 million each year. In addition, those delinquent on their property tax owed Philadelphia's distressed schools at least $2 million in revenue each year.\r\n\r\nIn 2011, then-mayor Michael Nutter launched an initiative to hold vacant property owners responsible for blight. The program provided incentives for property owners to fix their properties or sell to someone who would repair it. The initiative set out to find the owners of the property, and it enforced an ordinance that fines owners $300 per day for building openings that are boarded up rather than having a functional door or window.\r\n\r\nIn 2015, Philadelphia went a step further by opening its own <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philadelphialandbank.org\/Property\/Search\">land bank<\/a> to streamline sales of vacant tax-delinquent properties to private developers. The land bank consolidates ownership into one city agency that sells vacant and abandoned property to buyers who are current on taxes, have no history of cutting corners on building codes, and have the resources to follow through on plans for renewal.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Maps Help Ensure Equity in Philadelphia\u2019s Journey to Curb Blight<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Philadelphia City Council uses GIS to balance the benefits of new growth with equity for those that have lived in the city through hard times.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/maps-help-ensure-equity-in-philadelphias-journey-to-curb-blight\" \/>\n<meta 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