City has spent 13% of $278 million H.O.M.E. housing budget
Philadelphia has allocated funds for 29 housing programs, but only four have received expenditures as of September 30.
By Nadia Singh ·
Philadelphia City Council approved $278 million for the first phase of the mayor’s housing initiative in January 2026. The funds are part of a larger $800 million bond package intended to build or preserve 30,000 housing units during Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s first term.
As of September 30, the city had spent only $38 million of that budget. This figure represents roughly 13% of the total allocation. The administration is scheduled to disburse the remaining $240 million by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, 2027.
City Controller Christy Brady noted that the spending pace was slow. She stated that the program’s expenditures were only a little over 13% of the targeted amount. Brady emphasized the importance of the funding, stating that affordable housing keeps communities strong.
Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer Angela Brooks offered a different perspective on the timeline. She said that the programs are on pace to use their full budgets because demand for home repairs and accessibility modifications is high. Brooks explained that spending is tied to project milestones rather than a calendar schedule.
The controller’s report found that money had been allocated to only four of the 29 approved housing programs and strategies. All four are preexisting initiatives now receiving additional support from the H.O.M.E. program. The Basic Systems Repair Program received the largest share of funding at just under $26 million. This program provides free critical repairs to income-qualified residents.
Brooks said that these four longstanding repair and eviction programs have put more than half of their first-year budgets to work. Most of the spending went toward emergency home repairs and accessibility modifications in North, West, and Southwest Philadelphia. The remaining 25 projects have not yet seen related expenditures.
The administration plans to launch new initiatives such as the One Philly Mortgage for first-time homebuyers later this year. The city’s Philly Stat 360 website currently tallies 16,394 built or preserved units under the H.O.M.E. initiative. The administration has not specified how many of those units are directly funded by the new bond proceeds.
Delays in spending bond-financed programs are not new for Philadelphia. Previous administrations also faced spending lags with debt-funded initiatives. While there is no direct cost for delays, the real value of the borrowed money decreases over time due to inflation. The city can still use any unspent funds in the following fiscal year.
