(Mid-rise housing in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood | Photo: Jon Geeting)

City Council this week announced a package of affordable housing bills on the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act that together hit much closer to the mark than other recent Council initiatives, from the perspective of promoting both continued housing growth and more equitable access to housing.

(Image: Neighbors for More Neighbors)

The Wall Street Journal might have chosen a more sympathetic protagonist for their article about rising home prices in Philadelphia, but there's been a surprising reaction to the article by some of the online commentariat that reveals the true roots of the budding middle-class housing affordability issues in greater Center City.

(The Granary)

One of the more under-discussed moments at Monday's inclusionary zoning hearing was when Anne Fadullon, the Director of Planning and Development, testified that the Kenney administration has been doing pre-preparation work for a comprehensive Housing Plan for Philadelphia.

(A dreaded mid-rise building in Seattle | Photo: Jon Geeting)

The Mixed-Income Housing Bill in City Council is being touted by its supporters as a way to preserve racial and socioeconomic diversity as Philly neighborhoods continue to appreciate. But it's gotten so watered down and off-track at this point that it would be a mistake to continue on with the amended bill as the baseline. In fact, the original bill wasn't that far off the mark. 

(Rendering: Women's Community Revitalization Project)

Claudia Vargas's piece on how Councilmembers reserve city-owned land for favored developers and projects is both a great lens into why Philly continues to have more vacant land than any other large city, and a frustrating example of how nobody cares about the city tax base.

(The Claridge | Photo: Al Shapiro)

In Philadelphia, discussions about affordable housing tend to assume a binary world with "affordable housing" on one side, and "market rate" housing on the other. "Affordable housing," as the term is commonly used, assumes some form of public subsidy is going to be required, while "market rate" housing is assumed to be too expensive for the average person to afford, just by definition.