Nissim Lebovits

Mayor Cherelle Parker ran for office promising to make Philadelphia "the safest, cleanest, and greenest big city in America." With her HOME plan, she proposes to expand access to affordable housing via a $2 billion investment. But after Mayor Parker took office, her administration quietly stopped collecting data on vacant land and buildings—a decision that imperils the success of those very goals.

In this piece for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Amanda Soskin and I argue that as many as 66% of Philadelphia's vacant properties are unaccounted for in the City's public data. This lack of data jeopardizes the City's ability to take action against illegal dumping and violent crime, to mitigate public health risks, and to build affordable housing. Restoring the collection of vacancy data is essential to the success of the Mayor's core promises.

Read the full piece: The Philadelphia Inquirer