The Council of the City of Philadelphia has determined that:
(1) Numerous long-established residential areas and areas of deteriorated, vacant or abandoned homes and properties located throughout the City of Philadelphia have been targeted for redevelopment and, as a result, are particularly vulnerable to the process of neighborhood change known as gentrification.
(2) Longtime owner-occupants of principal residences throughout the City face the real threat of losing the financial ability to remain in their homes by virtue of the rising market values and consequent property tax assessments which are the hallmarks of a gentrifying neighborhood.
(3) Properties that experience a threefold increase or higher in certified market value, from one year to the next are deemed to have experienced an increase in market value as a consequence of the refurbishing or renovating of other residences or the construction of new residences in the area surrounding the property.
(4) Beginning with assessments performed in calendar year 2018 for tax year 2019, because of changes in market conditions, properties that experience a fifty percent (50%) or greater increase in certified market value, from one year to the next, or that experience a seventy-five percent (75%) increase within a five-year period, are deemed to have experienced an increase in market value as a consequence of the refurbishing or renovating of other residences or the construction of new residences in the area surrounding the property. 718
The Council of the City of Philadelphia therefore deems it to be a matter of sound public policy to provide a Real Property Tax exemption program to relieve the economic burden that gentrification brings to Longtime home owners, thereby enabling them to remain in their homes and neighborhoods.
Notes
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