The affordability of rental housing and tenants’ rights were among the primary topics as City Councilmember Cindy Bass attended the Northwest Tenants meeting on April 7 at Grace Baptist Church in Germantown. 

The group, organized by East and West Mt. Airy Neighbors (EMAN and WMAN), held its last meeting in November, seeing a much larger turnout this time around, with 40 tenants. Their purpose is to inform tenants of their rights, provide resources and information, build community and share experiences. 

“For a cold and rainy weeknight in April and with everything going on in the world, the turnout exceeded my expectations. The tenants who showed up were engaged and asked great questions of the resource groups,” Josephine Winter, the executive director of WMAN, said.

Attendees and local organizers introduced themselves and spoke about some of the common issues tenants in the Northwest and greater Philadelphia area deal with. At the start of the meeting, Bass spoke about developers and “by right” projects that are “completely unaffordable” for many of the renters living in the Northwest, particularly in Germantown. 

“By right” housing development projects do not require approval from the Zoning Board of Adjustment or from Registered Community Organizations. At best, community input is limited to the Civic Design Review process, which is only advisory. Bass’ office is currently working with WMAN’s zoning task force to look at potential zoning changes in Mt. Airy.

“We want to make sure that people have living-quality housing in Northwest Philadelphia and throughout the entire city of Philadelphia, so I'm excited to work with West Mt. Airy Neighbors to help make sure that that's the case,” Bass told the Local. “There's so many of these apartments that are ranging from $1,700, $1,800 to almost $3,000 a month for apartments that are exceptionally small. I think that there's going to be a reckoning for some of these apartments that are being built. Some of them are going to end up coming down on a price point that's much more affordable because they won't be rented.”

Bass told the attendees that she was interested in hearing their concerns, and as the meeting progressed, more and more people shared their experiences. 

Due to participants fear of landlord retaliation, the Local is not identifying tenants who spoke at the meeting. 

Another focus of the meeting was the city’s Office of Licenses and Inspections (L&I). Several attendees discussed instances where they’ve contacted L&I over potentially unsafe conditions in their buildings, only for nothing to be done about them. 

Organizers handed out packets to tenants, directing them to resources they could use when dealing with housing issues. The packets linked to the Philadelphia Tenants Union and Fair Housing Commission, informing attendees of their basic rights as tenants and what to do when facing unfair treatment. 

The tenants' group got its start two years ago when conditions at Mt. Airy's Cresheim Valley Apartments allegedly got so bad, residents banded together to take legal action against the owner. 

Their work led to then-state Attorney General Michelle Henry announcing the filing of a civil lawsuit in 2023, alleging widespread negligence and retaliatory behaviors by the owner and management of the Cresheim Valley Apartments, SBG Management. 

They also caught the attention of Winter and Steve Kendall, WMAN’s board president. It was during the 2023 primary race, and their civic group had just hosted an eighth district forum between Bass and her election opponent, Seth Anderson-Oberman. WMAN had money left over – and decided to use it to host the tenants’ forum. 

“I was grateful that Councilperson Bass and her staff attended, spent one-on-one time with multiple tenants, and agreed to partner on actionable next steps,” Winter said. 

Look for updates on the next tenants meeting in our newsletter. To sign up for the newsletter visit chestnuthilllocal.com.

Tommy Tucker can be reached at Tommy@ChesntutHillLocal.com.