Emily Scott
10 Jan 2022, 17:50 GMT+10
A devastating fire in a Philadelphia public-housing rowhome last week killed 12 people, eight of them children.
In the aftermath, advocates say government leaders need to address the city's affordable-housing crisis to ensure the tragedy doesn't happen again.
According to officials, 26 people were living in the duplex apartment at the time of the fire. The Philadelphia Housing Authority does not limit the number of people who can live in a single unit.
Jenna Collins, staff attorney for Community Legal Services, pointed out there are very few large affordable-housing units for multigenerational families. She said it is a symptom of inadequate funding for subsidized housing.
"If you look at the HUD budget for public housing today adjusted for inflation, it has gone down significantly since 30 years ago," Collins observed. "As families do grow, there's nowhere to transfer them and allow them to keep that subsidy that is often the difference between them affording rent and becoming homeless."
An investigation by Philadelphia Fire, the city's police department, and federal support from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is underway. The property, which is owned and operated by the Philadelphia Housing Authority, last received an inspection last April and May.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority said the cost of repairs to its buildings exceeds one billion dollars. It could receive some increased funding if Congress passes the Build Back Better Act. Collins said PHA struggles to keep up with repairs that do not appear immediately life-threatening.
"The housing authority is trying to respond to things that feel emergent in the moment like three inches of sewer water in a basement," Collins explained. "So they do not have the funds to update the really old housing stock, so we really are seeing the result of that lack of funds to improve infrastructure."
Some solutions PHA could implement to make older units safer include hard-wiring smoke detectors, which new public housing units in Philadelphia already have. All six smoke alarms in the building were inoperable at the time of the fire, officials said.
Source: Keystone State News Connection
Get a daily dose of New Jersey Telegraph news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to New Jersey Telegraph.
More InformationDUBLIN, Ireland: Following a month of record-breaking heat, a high fire risk warning has been issued by the Department of ...
ZAGREB, Croatia: Authorities have said that a weekend bus crash near Varazdin in Croatia killed 12 passengers and injured 32.The ...
DUBLIN, Ireland - More than fifteen million passengers have transited through Dublin Airport so far this year. The figure is ...
WARSAW, Poland: Julie, who preferred not to give her full name, booked a group of trips to Warsaw last year, ...
DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, California: Record rainfall on August 5 caused floods at Death Valley National Park that closed all ...
LONDON, England: British Airways has halted ticket sales for short-haul flights that depart before the middle of August from London's ...
ZAGREB, Croatia: Authorities have said that a weekend bus crash near Varazdin in Croatia killed 12 passengers and injured 32.The ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The U.S. will participate in a joint military exercise in mid-October with India, less than 62 miles from ...
SEOUL, South Korea: South Korea has launched a domestically manufactured lunar orbiter that took off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space ...
MOSCOW, Russia: A leading Russian scientist in the field of hypersonic flight, Dr. Alexander Shiplyuk, has been arrested on suspicion ...
LOS ANGELES, California: During a meeting that was disrupted by protesters this week, the Los Angeles City Council voted to ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The U.S. Justice Department announced this week that former Puerto Rico governor Wanda Vazquez has been arrested in ...