To Philadelphia City Council members,

We are writing to you to urge you to pass an updated Good Cause law to increase renter protections and ensure that renter protections are not based on the type of lease a person has.

In March 2019, Philadelphia City Council passed Bill No. 170854, establishing good cause legislation for leases of less than one year. Under the current Good Cause law in Philly, landlords must give tenants with leases less than one year, such as month-to-month leases, a Good Cause reason to end a tenant’s lease. For example, habitually late rent payments qualify as Good Cause to terminate a lease.* Landlords are required to give tenants a thirty days’ written notice stating the Good Cause reason to end the lease. Tenant advocates, like the Philadelphia Tenants Union, OnePA, and Community Legal Services, fought hard for the protections. The version that passed was a compromise between tenant advocates and the landlord lobby.**

Philadelphia’s Good Cause law must be expanded to cover all lease agreements. That is why it is time for Philadelphia to enact Good Cause 2.0, which would build off of our current Good Cause law to ensure that all tenants are protected against unfair evictions.

Gentrification in neighborhoods primarily inhabited by people of color, single parents, and low income citizens has increased exponentially in the past two (2) years. But the median income of those same individuals has not increased. In fact, because of an increased rate of job loss (or the decrease of paid work hours) in this population due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently the onset of the Delta Variant, these tenants do not have the ability to pay the ever escalating rents in their communities, thereby increasing greatly the probability of homelessness.

The Amended bill makes good sense, as a natural progression, given the original bill does not offer protections to those tenants whose leases cover periods of one year or more. We are asking that Philadelphia City Council afford the Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition and their partnering organizations listed below the opportunity to present the bill in conjunction with testimony of the most marginalized tenants, which will affirm the need for the protections that this updated Good Cause legislation will bring to fruition.

Good Cause 2.0 will fill in the gaps in Philadelphia’s current Good Cause law by applying lessons from cities and states that have stronger tenant protections. Under Philadelphia’s current Good Cause law, landlords are prohibited from evicting tenants with month-to-month leases unless they have a “Good Cause” reason.*** Importantly, tenants with leases that last one year have no Good Cause eviction protections under the current law. One of the reasons that Philadelphians need Good Cause 2.0 is to expand these important protections to all renters, regardless of what kind of lease they have, like other cities and states already do.

We have seen several articles in local newspapers as well as online publications which clearly point out the need for Good Cause housing protections for Philadelphia tenants. If you will allow us to present the testimonies of those most adversely affected by the lack of laws protecting the right to fair and equitable housing, you will hear how their children are adversely affected by the uncertainty of a safe home to return to at the end of their school days. These children represent the future of this city. Many of our best and brightest are unable to realize their fullest potential because they reside in substandard housing and the city’s homeless shelters.

By passing Good Cause 2.0, Philadelphia legislators can better support Philadelphia renters. Philadelphia has made great strides in increasing renter protections in recent years. We call on City Council to introduce an amended Good Cause bill that protects all tenants.

*Other examples may include: causing a danger to others on the property, causing substantial harm to the unit, or the owner or immediate family member plans to move into the unit. For a complete list of Philadelphia’s Good Cause reasons, see The Philadelphia Code 9-804 (12), available at: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-195317.
**Jake Blumgart, “Renters win new protections at City Hall with passage of ‘good cause’ bill,” WHYY (December 7, 2018), available at: https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-renters-win-new-protections-at-city-hall-with-passage-of-good-cause-bill/
***Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission, “Good Cause Eviction,” available at: https://www.phila.gov/FairHousingCommission/Pages/GoodCause.aspx#:~:text=The%20law%20amends%20the%20City's,the%20lease%20should%20be%20terminated.