EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Problem There are over 40,000 vacant properties in
Philadelphia. These properties lose the city
$20 million in maintenance costs each year, and owe a total of
$70 million in uncollected
taxes. They drive away investment, attract crime, and drag down
property values city-wide
by an estimated $3.6 billion, which further undercuts the tax
base for the public school
system, but there hasnt been a solution profitable enoughor
large enough in scale
to reverse the abandoned housing blight.
The Market Philadelphia recently became the largest city in the
country to pass land bank legislation,
which is aimed at quickly developing its nearly 10,000
city-owned properties. Previously,
the Department of License & Inspections paid demolition
contractors to remove about
1,000 blighted structures a year at an average cost of $13,000
per house, or $9.5 million to
demolition contractors each year.
The Solution By employing grant-funded job trainees for
structure removal, and volunteers for soft-
stripping, a nonprofit deconstruction organization could earn a
sustainable income
while addressing the citys abandoned housing blight and putting
wages back into the
communities from which they salvage materials.
Our Mission The Philadelphia Community Corps mission is to
revitalize blighted neighborhoods by
deconstructing abandoned housing and salvaging materials for
reuse in rehabilitating
existing low-income housing.
