Local Policy:
The League of Women Voters of Philadelphia supports programs and policies to provide a decent home and a suitable living environment for every Philadelphian.
It further supports policies and programs that protect the right of all people to secure residential and commercial housing, housing financing and insurance regardless of race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, age, source of income, familial status, and the domestic or sexual victim status. These protected bases are the City of Philadelphia’s civil rights housing law which is part of the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance.
State Policy:
N/A
National Policy:
The LWVUS supports policies to provide a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family. The responsibility for achieving national housing goals rests with the federal government, which should assure that our economic system is functioning to produce and maintain sufficient decent housing for citizens at all income levels. The LWVUS also supports policies to provide equal opportunity for access to housing without discrimination.
League History:
The LWV of Philadelphia has a long history of supporting equal opportunity housing. Such positions date back to 1970. Since approximately 2000, we have periodically had a contract with the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) to be the Independent Third Party to assist in conducting fair elections for Resident Councils in conventional and scattered PHA sites. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires local PHAs to contract with an independent third party to monitor the nomination committee activities, planning meetings, voting and ballot counting for resident council elections at least once every three years. The League was awarded a subcontract with the Urban Affairs Coalition to coordinate and monitor 40 PHA Resident Council elections, commencing October 12, 2012 through October 11, 2013. The contract was extended through 2014 to include additional sites.
Action Items:
2) The League will support all housing initiatives of the LWVPA and the LWVUS.