you said yeah good uh good afternoon everyone my name is Mark damy I'm CEO of Penrose and welcome to the Wind Theater uh wind senior residences and um it's exciting this is our third or fourth event we've had here we had Governor wolf here uh when he was governor and then we've had Senator Hughes here a couple times so uh thank you all for for coming here uh just a little brief uh before I introduce the governor uh Penrose was founded 50 years ago uh we have uh developed 45 communities throughout Pennsylvania uh delivering 25 200 units uh for uh homeless individuals families seniors veterans and lgbtq so we do the whole gamut and uh we've been uh fortunate enough to do a lot of business with the agency and the city phfa and city of Philadelphia and lots of folks here that we've done business with uh many more important people than I have to speak uh I want to recognize a few people and then I'll introduce the governor um first uh Senator Hughes is is Vince here I didn't see him yet he's coming oh he's R Okay so Senator Hughes representative cus uh Morgan so good to see you and uh I I don't want to jinx this but we we've spent a lot of time together and we've had a lot of developments we have Good Shepherd right around the corner and uh you've been wonderful and you're always so gracious in thanking everyone else for their participation uh n saval Senator Senator we we were just uh spent a moment in the back talking about the hot program and how successful that was and uh that's a program that you were very instrumental in in in the revitalization dollars available for properties coming out of compliance that uh to maintain them is Affordable and really really critical so thank you for your work there uh Council uh member Jamie gother G Council thank you secretary Rick Seager Rick secretary Akbar I say I just met Akbar we're on transition team and uh he led that very well so that was exciting uh shamine Matlock uh Turner the CEO of urban Affairs Council good to see you um my my camaraderie uh comrade uh Jacob fiser is in the back Jacob Jacob's uh he's our regional vice president and responsible for all of our business in Pennsylvania Delaware and New Jersey and then of course the great Kelvin Jeremiah where's Kelvin there you Goin secretary and secretary Val Arash Val thank you Val was kind enough to drop me a quick text this morning uh it's great to see you and uh thank you for your support back when you're a commissioner and one of the things I mentioned uh that that we really need to work on is a wraparound services for our residents um you know when when we we develop these uh communities uh lots of our residents have have needs uh in terms of services so you've been gracious enough to to meet with us and talk about that so hopefully uh this announcement today will come with some services so that we can provide them to our residents uh I don't think the next gentleman needs any introduction obviously uh we we've seen you in and about for a while uh but I've had the pleasure of knowing uh the governor since he was a uh State Rep uh going back many years ago I had hair his color then uh and then uh then when governor was was a County uh council person uh county is not coun commiss commissioner commissioner in montgomer county and and Josh has always been a supporter of affordable housing and uh obviously he supports a lot of different things uh but he's been a real proponent a real advocate for it and I won't steal any of his Thunder but he's going to talk a lot about what he was able to accomplish in the budget uh which was really really impactful for Robin and and all of us practitioners uh and so with no further Ado introduce Governor Shapiro thank you thank you thank you thanks everybody good to be here um I'm reminded of something Vince Hugh says I'll never say it because I don't want to get in trouble anywhere else but what do you say West is best it's good to be here West I didn't say it Vince said it I didn't say it don't worry um I I have a lot I want to share with you today but I I want to start with um just two separate comments on two lives that were lost here in the city of Philadelphia in the last few days um and I'm in a somber mood because of both and I think it's important that we honor their memory with um just a few brief comments we lost officer Jamie Roman of the Philadelphia Police Department this week um he battled since June when he ran toward danger so everybody else could stay safe in Philadelphia uh he battled really really hard to save his life and he was unable to and he succumbed uh to the injuries from gunshot when he was on duty just a couple days ago I know the mayor and the police commissioner have been with uh his family I called his wife Jasmine yesterday and I want you know Philadelphia is better off because of Officer Roman's service we're going to miss him and may his memory forever be a blessing and a reminder to all of us that policing is a noble profession and those who put the uniform on to keep us safe deserve our respect and our appreciation especially when they put their lives out there for all of us I also want to take a moment um to just try and lift up our colleague Jordan Harris a member of the State House of Representatives a leader in the State House of Representatives his wife Tiff left us way too soon um she lost her battle to cancer a few days ago I I hope we can all join Jordan in this moment of morning and try and lift him up and let him know of the love that is there for him in All corners of this city and all across the Commonwealth um he's a wonderful man uh and Tiff didn't deserve this he didn't deserve this no one deserves this um but I hope he feels the strength from all of our prayers and all of our love and I appreciate you joining me in a moment of prayer and silence for each of them for officer Roman and for Tiffany thank you Tiffany and Jordan and officer Roman and his wife Jasmine will they dedicated their lives to Public Service they would want us to continue our work in public service and so today I'm here in West Philly to talk a little bit about the service to others when it comes to making sure we have more housing and more affordable housing not just here in the city of Philadelphia but all across the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and it is wonderful to be here um at one of Mark Dam's properties where we are providing affordable housing access to people who otherwise wouldn't have it I've had the chance to work with Mark in Montgomery County and across the state I appreciate what you and your team build and I know you appre appreciate others in the industry that do that work and I think you and others understand that it takes all of us to make sure that there is Affordable acceptable uh habitable housing all across Pennsylvania and so to be here with these lawmakers to be here with these Advocates not just from the Philly I see our mayor of Pittston here and others from across Pennsylvania it really matters that we have built this entire team who are focused on the issue of affordable housing this is work that I know many people in this room have been doing for quite some time and this is work that is not new to me there are many in this room I partnered with back in 2018 when I served as your attorney general and I got a tip from then a young state senator named Vince Hughes who told me um that he feared that there was redlining going on in our community I heard from others in the community with similar concerns and we spent a couple years investigating in it we listened to people all across Philadelphia who brought their tips and brought their thoughts to us who just wanted to be able to pursue a dream of owning their own home but then we're hit with discrimination we're hit with shut doors we're hit with efforts to make it harder for them to be able to buy a home I promis to hold those mortgage companies accountable when I was attorney general and that is exactly what I did about two years ago when I stood with some of you over in Malcolm X Park just a couple miles from here down I think down 52nd Street if I'm not mistaken and there we announced a major settlement with that forced discriminatory mortgage lenders to stop their predatory practices and reinvest $18 million back into this community to help people afford homes in their neighborhoods of their choice I stood up for your rights to to have safe affordable housing as your attorney general and I'm continuing that work today as your Governor because listen having a home that you can call your own raise a family in where you can build a productive life and chart your own course and have more freedom well that's a key part of the Pennsylvania dream a key part of our American dream and let's be honest we can't expect people to be healthy productive and capable of giving back to others if they don't have a stable housing situation if they don't have a safe roof over their head but here's the thing right now across Pennsylvania we don't have enough safe affordable housing for pennsylvanians we're not building enough new housing to keep up with demand and right now we believe we need 100,000 additional housing units all across Pennsylvania just to keep up with the current rate of demand since 2010 the rate of home ownership has fallen in Pennsylvania and the number of people who rent has gone up by nearly 200,000 households from 1.47 million households to 1.64 million renters at the same time the cost of housing has really significantly increased so you've got more people needing to rent and those rents Rising across Pennsylvania and for folks who are in homes or seeking a home it's important to note that our housing stock all across Pennsylvania is aging not the people in them the actual houses that uh they are trying to live in consider this 60% 60% of all housing in Pennsylvania was built before 1970 look I have visited many of those homes in Dolphin County recently where their 50-year-old windows need to be replaced in that senior citizen's home uh I visited a mom right here in Philadelphia not too long ago that needed structural repairs and renovations to her home just so she could stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter she wanted to be here in this neighborhood in Philly but the house was getting so old she needed extra help to be able to stay there so all told what does this mean for us as pennsylvanians we don't have enough housing the cost of housing is going up and the housing that we do have is getting older and is in need of more repairs now I want to be clear about something this is not a need that is unique just to Philadelphia or just to Pennsylvania states all across the country are grappling with but Pennsylvania well we are falling behind some of our fellow States including some of our neighboring states consider this Michigan recently invested $1.6 billion dollar toward affordable housing in Michigan Massachusetts set aside $5 billion doar for affordable housing there and our neighbor in New York is investing $ 25 billion dollar to solve their housing crisis it is time we catch up here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania I want us to be able to lower cost for pennsylvanians I want to attract more pennsylvanians to come here because there's more work here and we are well on our way with our investments that we've made in Economic Development and education and we've got to grow our economy and housing is a key piece to that housing stability is critical when you want to help people be able to have the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed so that is why I'm here today to focus on the housing piece of helping people have more freedom and more opportunity in Pennsylvania together many of the lawmakers in this room have worked on a bipartisan basis to begin addressing some of the challenges that we Face alongside the general assembly we've invested about $300 million since I took office as your Governor to focus on housing let me give you some specifics when I took office the fair program those are the tax credits that are relied upon in order to build affordable housing across Pennsylvania the cap on that program stood at 6060 million the day I took office thanks to the bipartisan work we did with with the general assembly that cap is being raised to $100 million by 2026 that's a big deal we have for the first time invested State dollars to help those who are experiencing homelessness $5 million to start in our budget that was an important down payment I see representative KUSI nodding that was something he insisted on in this budget we appreciate their leadership and we know so many people who are at risk of losing their homes are seniors seniors who are getting priced out because they just need a little bit of extra help being able to afford their homes and being able to deal with Rising property taxes across Pennsylvania for 20 years lawmakers talked about raising increasing the property tax rent rebate we came together and we got that done we nearly doubled we nearly doubled the property tax rent re debate and nearly doubled the number of seniors who qualify for it so now seniors have more money in their pocket we've cut costs and we're helping them be able to stay in their homes we've been able to drive out together $125 million in whole home repair money that came from the federal government but is helping people fix up their homes 10 15 $220,000 makes a huge difference to allow someone to be able to live with dignity in the community that they love unfortunately some of the Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania state senate refuse to reauthorize that with State money but here's the thing we're not done we're going to continue to push to make sure that we have those dollars and much more available to people who need that help now those Investments they matter one of the things I have certainly come to realize during this process is there is not one initiative there is not one program there is not one line item notwithstanding how important all those things are they're going to help us comprehensively address our housing challenges here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania what we need is a coordinated comprehensive Statewide housing solution one that is grounded in Pennsylvania's unique challenges but also takes advantage of our unique opportunities and that is what brings me here today in a few moments I'm going to be signing that EXE itive order directing the Department of community and economic development under secretary Rick saiger's leadership to create the first ever housing action plan here in the Commonwealth of [Applause] Pennsylvania this makes us one of only a handful of States across the entire country looking at housing through this comprehensive lens I want you to know that dced under secretary siger's leadership will be tasked with bringing together stakeholders to identify Pennsylvania's unique needs and build this comprehensive strategic plan for how to address our housing shortage we'll create a road map for building more affordable housing in more communities across Pennsylvania we are going to lower costs in order to give pennsylvanians more affordable housing options we will give real concrete suggestions on how to repair older homes and help our aging neighbors stay in the homes and communities that they love so much on top of that this executive order also requires the Department of Human Services under the leadership of secretary Val Aros who joins us today to bring together stakeholders from across multiple state agencies local and federal government Partners as well and our Community Partners to have finally a comprehensive effort to address homelessness across Pennsylvania now I want to be really really clear I think you all know me to be an impatient government governor who wants to get stuff done yesterday these leaders have one year to do this work only one year A lot of times folks come up with strategic plans and then like 30 years later you wonder what happened with that strategic plan this is an action plan that we are going to move on I know this is a big task and no one person or governmental group or nonprofit can solve it alone it's going to require all of us coming together working together taking each other's best ideas and lifting them up I want you to know that we recognize the challenge here in Pennsylvania and we are committed to doing something about it that's why we have so many Community leaders who are here with us today Senator saval Senator Hughes representative cus great Advocates like former Representatives have to call you like CEO executive lady Donna bulock uh councilwoman Jamie gothier we have people from all different levels all different branches of government all different walks of life working with us on this because we understand that in uring pennsylvanians have affordable housing to to live in is going to take a coordinated effort by all of us listen I know mayor Parker takes this very seriously she's been leading on this effort I know vice president Harris has big plans in this area imagine that local government state government and God willing the federal government working together in order to address homelessness in order to address the housing challenges we face all across the United States of America our state government is going to be a lynchpin in that effort and we are going to work together with all of our partners to get this done listen um my track record is pretty good when I see a problem and set my mind to addressing it our Administration as you know lives by three simple letters GSD we focus on getting stuff done so we don't sign executive orders and write reports just for the sake of it we do this because these are con rete actions that lead to Concrete Solutions and help lift up our fellow pennsylvanians take a look at what we've done on Aging together we signed an a aging master plan first time ever in Pennsylvania and now the dollars are flowing toward those needs that have been identified by secretary kavulich and the good Folks at the Department of Aging we've known for years probably decades until a court told us a year ago officially that we had an unconstitutional education system here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania yet we all came together on a bipartisan basis we didn't study the issue we didn't appeal the Court's ruling we didn't say we were going to talk about it for a few years and appoint a commission no in the next possible budget we came together to invest in historic amount in public education and a brand new formula that drives those dollars out to the districts that need it most we know how to solve problem we've known for years we've had a problem with higher education we put together a team we said we'd work on it for one year and in this budget we reformed our higher education institutions our budget our plans going forward and ways to connect our higher education institutions into the communities that need it most and our employers that need us most my point in raising this with you is when we identify a serious problem and we put the best Minds around the table with the legal requirements that they act in an executive order like I'm about to sign stuff gets done in Pennsylvania and that is now our next mandate to address housing here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania I want you to know we take this very very seriously and we're going to continue to do this work together it is critically important that we address this challenge along with others and I'm grateful to everybody in this room who has made housing affordability and housing in general a priority of their work I want you to know now you have a state government who are going to be partners with you in that effort we care deeply about this work and I believe here in Pennsylvania we have shown that when we come together we can solve problems together and this is our next big problem to address to solve and to meet the needs of our fellow pennsylvanians so I want to thank all of you for being here today and with that I want to invite up a former colleague of mine someone who's doing incredible work um leading project home continuing the great work that Sister Mary has done in this community making sure that people have a roof over their head and the care they need in their places where they live and that is our good friend representative Donna [Applause] bulock thank you Governor Senator Hughes and I were sitting there I think we agreed on an executive lady executive lady we you call her a good time we'll stick with CEO all right executive lady I'll call you whatever you want just don't call me late to dinner I am honored to be here with you all today as the president and CEO of project home did you see that side project home is an organization at the Forefront of development in solutions to end and prevent chronic Street homelessness in our city what our co-founders knew in 1989 and what we still know today is that homelessness is solvable and it takes all of us that is why I'm so grateful to go to join Governor Shapiro members of the House and Senate my former colleagues Senator saval Senator Hughes representative cus representative KUSI Senator Haywood I don't think I missed anyone in the room but many others um who have worked in the House and Senate and particularly on this issue across the Commonwealth our speaker Joanna mclinton um representative out of Lancaster is Izzy Smith wayel and even um in her freshman year out of Pittsburgh representative Lindsey Powell they have all been working diligently on this issue along with housing advocate and community members and I want to thank you for having the will and vision to work together on this important issue housing costs are rising and the housing need is growing we need to focus on a comprehensive solution and policies that address these Rising costs and the complex root causes of homelessness 54% of Philadelphia's renters are spending 30% or more of their income on housing cost one out of five households are spending 50% or more of their income that's shocking and honestly is simply unacceptable more permanent affordable housing with supports for recovery and mental health with Pathways to employment and education these housing options Empower individuals to break the cycles of homelessness and poverty every Pennsylvanian regardless of their station and life deserves a safe and affordable place to live and Thrive governor in these last two months at project home I can't tell you how many times one of our residents proudly wanted to show off their unit to me proudly wanted to share their journey home with me with over 1,000 units of housing across the city at project home we believe that none of us are home until all of us are home it's a simple but profound charge we are in this together and we all have a part in the solution Governor you get that you told us that sitting on the sidelines was not an option you told us we had to get in in the game and since the start of your Administration Governor you have been in the game for affordable housing this Administration has been laser focused on working across the aisle to deliver practical Common Sense solutions to cutting housing costs and to create real opportunities for pennsylvanians to build an economy and a government where all can succeed together Governor Shapiro and the general assembly has delivered major Investments that will help folks folk stay in their homes address homelessness and build more affordable housing by expanding the property tax rent rebate nearly doubling the funding cap for fair increasing the homeless assistance program thank you representative KUSI doubling State Investments for the neighborhood assistance program increasing dollars for historic preservation and and the whole home repair programs and lastly for the first time ever investing in access to counsil for those facing eviction model after pH model modeled after Philadelphia councilwoman Ru landal councilwoman Jamie gotier thank you for your work in this space these are historic investments in housing historic investments in our people and today Pennsylvania is taking yet another historic step toward long-term solutions that will get everyone in the game by bringing the Commonwealth agencies together to address the housing shortage Governor Shapiro's executive order will create the First State Child Statewide housing action plan as I heard in Pennsylvania's history under this new executive order the Department of Community Economic Development dced and Department of Human Services will work together together and with the governor's office to create a comprehensive plan to address housing our success at project home is only possible thanks to the commitment of our partners like Governor Shapiro like Robin Weissman at phfa and so many other Advocates who are here as well together with more collaboration at the state level under this executive order and with more State resources invested in housing and invested in homeless Services we at project home and many other housing providers will be able to do so much more to continue our life-saving work and to continue our fight for fair affordable housing until every Philadelphian every Pennsylvanian has a place to call home thank you thank you it is now my honor to introduce the gentleman that knows how to ask for more and a pleasure to work with over the years Senator Vincent [Applause] Hughes thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you wow so there's a lot of context to this um a lot of context to this representative cus would understand this uh in a in a very deep way for us to be in this space what's up Kelvin J stay away from Kelvin Jeremiah right sayway cuz he's gonna get in your pocket I'm telling you right now for real I just saw him and it's like bam all right and I guarantee you before you leave you'll wind up making a commitment all right I guarantee you with Kelvin all right uh before I I have to mention this um uh governor the the the context of having this conversation now and this historic announcement now in this location uh is extremely important uh um our good friend and colleague councilman Jones um this used to be a dance hall this used to be a party facility used to come in here and have a lot of fun some of you are around long enough to appreciate that some of you will appreciate it but not acknowledge it because you don't want to be exposed okay uh but councilman Jones drove us hard hard am I right representative okay hard to transform this into this incredibly uh important space that it is right now uh and I want to make sure that um we acknowledged his hard work to get us here absolutely absolutely just ju just like last week at at bris Shalom okay it was his hard work that drove that that process um so I there's three words that I want to just to leave leave us all with uh bias for Action having a bias for Action is is how we need to be in this F first of all being here with the governor he kind of went a little bit through the history but it might kind of like just go on over top of folks head but I want I want us to understand that um his spirit and work ethic about having a bias for Action that whole incident uh about redlining that we addressed 2017 2018 around that time frame yeah we enjoyed the the Eagles winning the Super Bowl that was fun but we didn't get distracted from doing our work okay we had a bias for action we called out and saw red lining and Philadelphia unfortunately had one of the highest rates of red lining um in the country we saw that he was the Attorney General then and um we had Appropriations hearing then and you know we raised this issue and and he said you know what I'm gonna make I'll never forget this I don't and he this was this was the the Attorney General Shapiro's words in that Appropriations hearing uh Mr chairman uh I don't usually use these formats to make his to to make news but we're going to make news today uh and he announced an attorney G an investigation at the Attorney General's level in his office on the issue of redlining and that led to the settlement $18 million settlement for yes bias for Action bias for action and what I want to encourage enourage all of us um is to operate with that mindset a bias for Action we know what the problem is we have the we have across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania some of the best housing Advocates but some of the best individuals who know how to make housing happen all right we have some of the greatest talent in the country here in Pennsylvania we just have to have the bias for Action okay and then we have to go turn around that bias into real units and real housing OPP opportunities for more people I can say comfortably uh Governor that our foundation Community having talked with many of them are on board ready to go I can say Governor comfortably um our private sector is on board okay I can say comfort L that our elected officials are on board now some of them need to be more on board than others if you know what I mean okay but we're working on it all right and we will help them be their best selves that's a phrase that we like to use Robin certain utilize that phrase on a on a regular basis we're going to help them be their best selves because we want to implement in the spirit of a bias for Action is build more it's preserve more and it's own more I'll let you take you can run with that phrase right build build more I mean you the go you are the governor all right build more preserve more and own more and fortunately fortunately we have a situation where the governor believes in it most of the general assembly believes in it the private sector believes in it in Philadelphia the mayor certainly believes in it and if we do what we're supposed to do the next president will make it happen and in case you hadn't heard we've got Surplus dollars in Pennsylvania in case you haven't heard why not utilize those Surplus dollars for housing why not why not we we we have we have enough we have enough to touch a number of different areas and when we we put our mind to it as the governor showed us especially in the education space especially in the K to2 education space we can get stuff done so let's have that bias for action and I know Governor the the executive order calls for a one year we got one year why can't we get the work done in six months do with me I mean I mean for I mean for real for real I mean for I meaner like for real yeah well you know you know I we have the money we have the infrastructure we have the talent yeah let's push the envelope because the need to build more to preserve more and to own more is all across the Commonwealth and it is at a very high level so I just want to thank the governor for continuing in that spirit that was demonstrated when he was attorney general and we went to court uh and we settled on a major uh piece around red lining But continuing that all the way through to this executive order that he's signing today Governor thank you thank you thank you thank you this was this was a bill this was a bill that get languished in the legislature it was introduced in in 2022 but the legislative process would not allow it to become law the governor his team said you know what that's a good idea I'm gonna turn into an executive order and we thank you Governor we thank you very much joining us now we want to we he is our guy he is our guy I have you heard of a program whole home repair I have you heard everybody all right okay I I just want to make sure okay I just want to make sure uh a bunch of folks came together uh to make that a reality the whole home repairs program but he is probably the loudest voice most focused voice uh all across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania please bring up Senator nille SA [Applause] thank you so much Senator Hughes thank you for welcoming me to your District um again I'm nille saval it's my honor to represent the people and communities of Pennsylvania's first senatorial District I'm so grateful to Governor Shapiro and his team for bringing all of us here together today and for uniting the time energy and might of our Commonwealth in addressing the one thing that is most important to all of us which is home all of us without exception deserve homes that are safe and healthy our ability to secure employment to take part in our government to obtain an education and to secure an adequate standard of living for ourselves and our loved ones are dependent first and foremost on our ability to access a stable place a home from which we can base and build our lives our Commonwealth is experiencing as we've heard a decades long housing crisis transcending all Geographic and political boundaries many of the problems we see now have deep roots in rining as we've heard the practices by which governments policy makers the real estate industry sought to suppress black and brown people and communities by dictating where they could live what access to resources they could have or not have and their ability to care for their neighborhood hoods as well as in chronic disinvestment that has left rural and urban communities alike with a severe lack of affordable homes for their residents and little support to preserve and protect the homes they have across our Commonwealth our neighbors are struggling under depressed wages high energy burdens and extreme weather that our homes were never designed to Bear the housing crisis in turn fuels other crises housing insecurity leading leading to homelessness declining commercial activity Community violence and the continued collapse of our climate this is part of what makes Governor Shapiro's executive order so singular taking proactive steps to understand the scale of this crisis and the different tools our legislators and departments can wield inclusive of whole home repairs Fair pH faa's other programs the HOP program as well as existing Federal initiatives and extending far beyond to incentivize supply of all housing types and support those who are experiencing homelessness at those at risk who are losing their home homes all of this is one of the highest goals our Commonwealth can devote itself to Investments made in housing and keeping people safe in their homes will pay themselves repay themselves tenfold in revitalized Commerce growing communities in rural areas high quality construction and Energy Efficiency jobs and increased Transit use investments in housing are investments in the health and sustainability of our Commonwealth this action could not be more timely as the housing crisis reaches New Heights we hear of states and local governments struggling with what to do and failing the people who depend on them not here this executive order shows the commitment of our governor and our government to meeting the real needs of our neighbors throughout Pennsylvania once again Pennsylvania is showing itself as a model for our nation and I look forward to the work to come thank you [Applause] and with that it is a great honor to bring up my colleague and friend uh representative for this area and chair of the Philadelphia house delegation representative Morgan cus good afternoon so as he stated I am Morgan cus I represent the 192 legislative district and I want to give you a a nice welcome thank you for coming to the district make sure you spend some money while you're here um I'm also the Philadelphia delegation chair and in my role I am responsible for carrying the priorities of my colleagues but also the priorities of the city of Philadelphia and housing is very much top of mine I also want to recognize my colleague representative KUSI so all of the Amazing Ideas that I'm going to talk about today are all of his ideas I'm stealing them just for the marks um but first and foremost I want to thank our governor for being intentional on selecting this site um as our Senator mentioned um this site was deteriorating um at a time where myself and uh councilwoman Jamie gatier we were born and raised in this community we were not old enough to go to the parties that you were talking about um but we do remember this building being vacant it you know deteriorating at the time uh causing blight attracting uh criminal activity but working with Partnerships like our governor um city council as well as pinrose we were able to bring on F 50 units for senior housing here in this Winfield Community when in um 2017 but we were also a couple of blocks from here able to bring an additional 50 units in the Windfield Community where it was an old Refinery site just a couple of stone blocks away and just this past August um I guess you're going to hear a theme that we want to keep keep building and building when it comes to senior housing because we cannot build them fast enough but just in August we broke ground in the Overbrook Community again with pinr of 50 new units for our seniors in that community that is going to be transformative not just for that neighborhood but for those that are interested in using at that as a place of housing but one of the key things is that for every unit that we build we have over 50 applications that are needed so again we cannot build that housing fast enough and you know I tell you those stories because those are some of the success stories that are happening in West Philadelphia there's also a different housing story that's happening across the city of Philadelphia that I want to uplift in this moment um Senator Hughes mentioned it very briefly but the situation over at Bru Shalom where we saw a property owner look to that property in that section of Phil Philadelphia just using it as an opportunity to pull out Equity had the potential of displacing hundreds of seniors because of the lack of Maintenance at that property but working collaboratively they were able to save it with PHA and making a significant financial investment in that area to keep our seniors in that building also want to uplift the University City town homes in councilwoman galer's District which I know she's going to talk about where a HUD contract was being cancelled with the potential of displacing 70 families in that area but again thankfully to councilwoman gatier she was not only able to save those 70 units but able to connect those individuals to other opportunities when it comes to housing so I thank you for your work in that but that is yet another story in the city of Philadelphia you also had that high-profile case last year when a young woman was harmed by a landlord tenant officer due to rent due to a rent payment dispute and in the city of Philadelphia renters account for 46% of the households with evictions increasing Statewide with over 300 renters facing eviction filings every single day we also know about the backlog when it comes to whole home repair program that we uh just talked about additionally we're seeing 6,000 students ident identified as unhoused in the 2022 and 2023 school year which is a 46% increase from the previous school year alone so our young people are dealing with this crisis as well and last but not least there are over 10,000 Tangled titles equating to 1.1 10,000 Tangled titles in the city of Philadelphia representing $1.1 billion do in equity for the city of Philadelphia that if not managed we see generational wealth losing so many of our communities now I raise all these issues and I tell these stories to reinforce that housing is a complex issue and we need Common Sense Solutions which is why I am excited and fully committed to the governor Shapiro to realize this housing action plan that will outline goals recommendations initiatives for over the next five years because we know if it's not measured it is not managed and we know we are not going to be able to do this alone I know we talked about a lot of the investment that we're making on the state level but I do want to commend the city of Philadelphia for also stepping up to the plate where sometimes the state falls short we've seen just with our mayor her commitment to building 30,000 affordable luxury units across the city of Philadelphia and she's been racing to ribbon cuttings since she got in office so she is making her way but we've also see our city C Council create both a mortgage forclosure diversion program and a landlord tenant diversion program both which are National models that people are adopting across our country yes thank you we've also seen our colleagues on a local level um create make sure that evictions will now be publicly accountable and handled by the Sheriff's Office following the failure of the landlord tenant officer and the violence that so many are amilies are experienced and I want to thank city council for stepping up in that moment we've also seen increase all increases for our local Homestead to bring down property Co property tax costs as well as adding additional money to the Housing Trust Fund and I raised the the issue of what city council is committing because again we cannot handle this burden alone on the city and in the state level we have to incorporate our federal Partners when we talk about infrastructure we can't just talk about roads and bridges even though I know you hit a pothole or two coming you know to today's ceremony but we have to ensure that our housing stock is a part of that conversation when it comes to infrastructure because in urban communities that is a part of our infrastructure when we're talking about housing when we're talking about Alleyways and driveways I'm going to throw the the retaining walls in there because I have a budget request um but these are the things that we have to be committed to and you know I'm beyond excited to see so many levels of government so many partners coming to the table to really address this issue of housing crisis in a more systemic way and I I can't I'm excited at the fact that we are going to bump up the year to about six months because we got to get prepared for Budget season and those budget ads both locally and on the state level but again this is you know the first time the state has ever put together a comprehensive plan and having all the stakeholders at the table we know we are going to get stuff done like the governor says so thank you so much and with that I would like to turn the program over to my city council person Jamie gartier Council good afternoon everybody our delegation chair did such a good job talking about City council's accomplishments that there's not that much more for me to add but but I'll still say a few things um and I'm really proud to be here today because in Philadelphia and across the country Americans have made it clear clear that bringing housing costs down must be the government's number one priority I'm glad that candidates for office at the highest level have started talking about the housing crisis with the seriousness that it deserves I'm not sure if anyone else noticed um but it was the first issue mentioned during the presidential debate the other night in every neighborhood across our city we hear the same story housing costs have skyrocketed and income isn't keeping up as the chair of Philadelphia city council's committee on housing neighborhood development and the homeless along with u my wonderful Vice chair council member Ru landow who was here a little bit earlier um I've been leading our local efforts to create and preserve the affordable housing that is essential for a successful life healthy neighborhoods and a vibrant City by cutting red tape and implementing new incentives we made it easier to build affordable housing especially on vacant public lands and we armed the city affordable housing providers homeowners landlords and tenants with additional tools and funding to keep vulnerable philadelphians in their homes because we know that the most affordable home tends to be the one that you already live live in um and as rep cus mentioned after the crisis at the University City Town Homes we implemented right of first refusal so that those most committed to affordable housing um the city of Philadelphia and our affordable housing providers and PHA um and tenant groups um can have the first opportunity to buy affordable housing units as they are coming out of compliance but the city cannot solve our housing affordability crisis on its own and we know that at the current rate it would take us more than two centuries and I'll pause and say that again it would take us more than two centuries at our current rate to meet Philadelphia's affordable housing need it goes without saying that this is time we simply do not have that's why I'm grateful that we have leaders like Governor Josh Shapiro and the others in this room who are putting Harrisburg to work on this issue today's executive order is the latest but surely not the last example of how the Commonwealth government is stepping up to the plate and working with the city of Philadelphia and municipalities across Pennsylvania to get and keep working families in safe stable and affordable housing and with everyone that you see up here today working together to solve our housing crisis I'm optimistic that we will finally be able to turn the tide so thank you so much Governor Shapiro for your steadfast commitment to achieving housing Justice thank you finally let me welcome one of the point people in my Administration who's been working on affordable housing through many administrations building units all across our Commonwealth with great skill and that is Robin Weissman the head of phfa thank you so you good afternoon and I am so excited about this entire initiative I want to acknowledge all of the very able capable public servants that we have who are action ready along with so many people in the private sector and all of you other stakeholders who are here today that are so important for everything housing I want to acknowledge some of my board members who are here we call them housers they've been around for a long time our board member Mark Schwarz John Pon Marquita Morris Louie and I think I think jenet Coppel is here as well so they are a dedicated group and they are fully committed to this initiative with the governor there's no question we are at an unbelievable inflection point in housing today in our country and closest to home for all of us in Pennsylvania so I am thrilled and really want to thank the governor for not just taking the leadership to do this but to harness Miss ing all of the resources and it will mean all of us getting together to get this done I want to tell you just a little bit about phfa so it'll be helpful to you as you are harnessing your resources to help us all with the initiative at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency our name suggests that affordable housing building it preserving it owning it and keeping it as been our singular Mission and just last year the agency uh celebrated its 50th Anniversary marking five Decades of creating and preserving affordable housing but there's so much more that needs to be done and given where we are at this point in time we can get done for half a century phfa has been responding to the evolving housing needs they're different today than they were even seven years ago and we provide tax credits that Builders use to help Finance the construction of affordable rental housing in all 67 counties we provide affordable home loans for low and moderate income families this year alone we're doing over a billion dollars for firsttime homeowners in Pennsylvania our Heap program which is the homeowner Emergency Management assistance program which is coupled with our extensive counseling agencies we have 60 more than 67 around the country help homeowners who are in danger of foreclosure to funding for addressing their needs these and many other programs we oversee including the most flexible one which the governor just discussed the fair program have had a singular focus on housing and they have made and will continue to make enormous difference differences on many of these efforts and looking forward we work cooperatively with dced the Department of Human Services and other agencies under the governor to maximize our impact there is a long history of productive inter agency cooperation among the agencies and the state Le Housing Programs but today so much more is needed the comprehensive approach the command center is really really important to getting this done our state as you've heard today has some of the oldest housing stock in the nation so compiling the data on housing resources availability of vacancies all of these things really need to get integrated at the state level to address all of our uh constituents as well as um people who want to just have a place to call home first the governor's proposed action plan will give us a snapshot of our available housing stock and its condition and the database will give us lots of tools to move forward to put people into housing and to site housing where it's most needed our individual efforts by state agencies have been considerable as I mentioned but just imagine how much more we will accomplish if we have this coordinated compreh comprehensive plan by unifying our efforts we'll ensure that all of our housing investments can accomplish the most good the to optimize the good so we are fully committed to working on this effort with the governor's office the administration we have so much work to do and we're so excited about it and I thank you again governor for making it happen thank you thank you all right so now it now is the time to begin that six to 12 month clock here right uh I'm going to sign the executive order and then we'll come back up and take some questions from the media kelvin's coming watch your pockets everybody [Music] the difference already my request okay Conor are we good okay all right that's for you Madame President [Applause] CEO Senator thank you very much appreciate all right I would give you this except I got to follow this with the lawyer so I'm going to keep this but why don't we head back over here and take some questions I'm happy to take a few questions from the median um I'll invite my colleagues up to answer them as well if there are issues uh that pertain to them so how we get started y I mean I got something off topic Governor how we start with this anybody on this yes uh governor joh Pennsylvania Capital star so beyond this executive action are there any particular pieces of legislation that's currently in the state legislature that's moving through that kind of dress homelessness the hilding look I know the house has focused a lot on this sent some bills over to the Senate um you know some of those bills haven't moved over there but we were able to secure $5 million in our state budget to begin to address uh homelessness I'm also working closely with the Parker Administration the gainy administration other Mayors who are leading on this issue across the state and look this is a big reason why this comprehensive housing action plan involves secretary arush and her team at HHS because we understand that homelessness those who are experiencing homelessness have to be part of the solution here we have to lift them up as well so while we've done some as we've acknowledged before we got a lot more work to do and this is the impetus for getting a lot more work done Rosie why don't you I can't uh got to switch up to se a little bit um let me I will come back to you and and see other anything else on housing Hugh I think suggested you use uh State Surplus money to do this are you willing to do that I'm Amazed by the way of all of what Senator Hughes said you're asking me about the Surplus and not him partying back in the day here come on Jeff you're losing your Edge man surpris by the senator party look I I uh I I will give you I it's a fair question and and a serious one and one that I've addressed many times I addressed it in the last budget cycle I'll address it again going forward I I know there are some politicians in Harrisburg who think it's a badge of honor to take money from the taxpayers and leave it in some banket account in our state capital I think we have to be fiscally responsible that's why we've cut taxes four times that's why we've had balanced budgets each time but yet we also have the ability to make significant Investments we really Target our our investments in a few dis distinct areas uh education Economic Development Public Safety we understand the need to invest and the need to be fiscally responsible and we've accomplished that and yet we still have a significant Surplus so what we want to do is make sure that we are investing those dollars at the tax payers sent to the capital for their benefit either by cutting their costs and putting more money in their pocket or by investing in critical areas that help lift them up and housing is one of those areas okay yep um Governor there's a$2 billion tax credit pass in 2022 that's been underutilized the P tax credit my understandings your Administration is looking to using this to encourage energy production including potentially reopening TMI is this uh accurate I'm just is like if so why that law is on the books and that law is something that uh we and many others are considering how best to use for the benefit of pennsylvanians sep the question um are you prepared to help um both Chambers when it comes to SEPTA uh funding um are you considering a special session and this Federal uh dollars an option for that let me make clear I consider funding sep and mass transit to be a significant need and a real priority of mine it is why I put it in my budget it's first time the governor has put it in their budget at that level I think in more than a decade it's why the House of Representatives under Democratic Leadership speaker mclinton in particular made sure that they passed what I put in my budget for SEPTA and other mass transit agencies across the state unfortunately the Senate uh refused to take that up before they left town in July however the leader of the senate for uh the budget negotiations leader Pitman has made clear that he is open to funding mass transit all across the state together with roads and bridges especially in some of our rural communities um by using dollars that could come from regulating and taxing skill gains he sort of married those two concepts together uh I am open to that dialogue what what I'm not interested in is nothing happening in this space because SEPTA needs help and our mass transit agencies need help across the state that's one of the reasons why after lawmakers left town we were able to flex about 80 and a half million dollar for a mass transit agencies across Pennsylvania SE I think got around $50 million of that I consider that not a solution but a bit of a stop Gap to get us to this fall and hopefully have a more permanent solution for SEPTA and other master Transit agencies across Pennsylvania listen mass transit is critically important whether you ride it or not our employers are banking on it um are are you know to get to a sporting event you need it to be able to take your kids where they need to go for their activities you needed in 2026 when the world descends on Philadelphia to celebrate our 250th anniversary people are going to be getting around on Septa when they want to go to the World Cup when they want to go to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game you name it this is going to be the center of the universe in 2026 I kind of think Pennsylvania is the center of the universe but anyway um folks are going to need to get around on mass transit and so it's important that we stabilize it and we invest in it for the future all right thank you all very much appreciate it