Shooting of Girard Court Tenant by LT Officer

The shooting today of a Philadelphia Tenant by an LT Officer serving an immediate eviction notice, can only be described as a tragedy. Many of this city’s most vulnerable tenants; single parent headed households, people of color and the working poor, who on a daily basis face a similar fate as that of today’s victim. Excessive rents are choking those marginalized tenants most on need of affordable housing. The eviction rate in Philadelphia, bears the truth! Families are being displaced daily.

If we are to save our city and its most marginalized renting public, now is the time to act. The Philadelphia Rent Control Coalitions goal is in securing the assurance of safe and affordable housing for all of Philadelphia’s tenants without discriminatory practices. Rent Control (Rent Stabilization) represents the most sensible courses of action to ensure that horrific events such as today's do not happen again.

Karen Harvey,
Director, Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition