More Housing. Better Jobs. Lower Poverty.
Get Involved Learn MoreSupport new housing construction across all neighborhoods to lower rents and give every Philadelphian access to affordable homes. The research is clear: building more housing makes housing more affordable for everyone.
Reform Philadelphia's job-killing wage tax to create tens of thousands of new jobs and lift families out of poverty. Our high taxes have cost us jobs for decades. It's time for change.
Create economic opportunity through housing abundance and tax reform. When we build more homes and create more jobs, poverty declines. It's that simple.
The evidence is clear: increasing housing supply reduces rents. A comprehensive 2023 review by NYU's Furman Center analyzing the latest rigorous research found that increases in housing supply lead to modest decreases in city-wide rents, and new housing moderates rents or slows rent growth in surrounding areas. This isn't just theory. It's documented fact from cities across America and around the world.
Source: NYU Furman Center, "Supply Skepticism Revisited" (2023)
When 100 new market-rate apartments get built, they don't just help 100 wealthy people. Research tracking address histories across 12 major U.S. cities found that building 100 new market-rate units opens up the equivalent of 70 units in neighborhoods earning below the area's median income, with 40 units freed up in the poorest neighborhoods. Most of this effect occurs within three years. That's fast enough to provide real relief to struggling renters.
Source: Evan Mast, "The Effect of New Market-Rate Housing Construction on the Low-Income Housing Market," Upjohn Institute (2019)
Worried that new construction in your neighborhood will raise your rent? The opposite is true. Research on large apartment buildings found that new market-rate buildings lower nearby rents by 5-7% within a roughly two-block radius, even in low-income areas. Contrary to common concerns, new buildings slow local rent increases rather than initiate or accelerate them.
Source: Asquith, Mast & Reed, "Supply Shock Versus Demand Shock: The Local Effects of New Housing in Low-Income Areas," Upjohn Institute (2021)
When we prevent new housing construction, wealthy newcomers don't go away. They just outbid existing residents for older housing. Research tracking migration patterns found that new buildings cause more people to move to neighborhoods from low-income areas, supporting what researchers call "a simple story of supply and demand": blocking home construction will not keep rich people from moving to a neighborhood; instead, the rich will just outbid residents for existing housing.
Source: Asquith, Mast & Reed, "Supply Shock Versus Demand Shock," Upjohn Institute (2021)
A single unit of structured parking adds an average of $50,000 in per-unit costs, with costs increasing significantly when parking is underground or requires multiple levels of structure. Estimates show that a single parking space costs approximately between $24,000 to $34,000 to provide. Through minimum parking requirements, these costs are first transferred to developers and push up the construction cost, then transferred to the market in the form of increased real estate prices.
Source: Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies & UCLA Professor Donald Shoup
The average American renter with garage parking spends $1,700 per year, or an additional 17 percent of the housing unit's rent, on garage parking. Approximately 708,000 renter households in the U.S. without cars pay an average of $621 per year, or a 13 percent premium, for garage parking. These carless renters pay the equivalent of $440 million per year for garage parking that they may not need or want.
Source: Pierce & Gabbe, Housing Policy Debate, UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (2017)
In Buffalo, New York, after eliminating parking minimums in 2017 through its Green Code, researchers found that 68% of new homes permitted since the Green Code was implemented would have been illegal under the previous zoning code, demonstrating that eliminating parking minimums allowed for housing that otherwise could not have been built. Cutting minimum parking requirements would likely boost housing construction in Denver by about 12.5%, translating into roughly 460 more homes per year
Source: Reason Foundation & Terner Center for Housing Innovation (Denver Study, 2025)
After Minneapolis eliminated parking mandates, apartment developers proposed projects with fewer parking spaces, lowering the cost of construction. New studio apartments, which typically went for $1,200 per month, were being offered for less than $1,000 per month. A Minneapolis planning commissioner noted: "There's definitely a new type of residential unit in the market that we haven't seen much before. Outside of downtown, there's been a lot of infill development with cheaper, more affordable units."
Source: American Planning Association, "People Over Parking" (2018)
Donald Shoup, a prominent urban planning researcher and author of The High Cost of Free Parking, found that required off-street parking increases construction costs by an average of 53% for underground parking and 37% for above-ground parking. These significant cost increases make it harder to construct affordable housing, particularly in areas with high land prices.
Source: Donald Shoup, "The High Cost of Free Parking," UCLA (2005); Reason Foundation analysis (2025)
Across developments studied, 37% of parking spaces remained empty during peak demand periods, and on average, developments had 20% more occupied apartments than occupied parking spaces. No development in the sample collected enough parking fees to recover the full estimated costs of building, operating, and maintaining on-site parking facilities. This indicates that car-free households subsidize parking for drivers.
Source: Victoria Transport Policy Institute, "Parking Requirement Impacts on Housing Affordability" (2024)
Philadelphia's high wage tax has been a documented drag on job growth for decades. According to Professor Robert Inman of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, about half of the 300,000 jobs Philadelphia lost between the 1960s and 1990s are attributable to the City's tax system, which Inman described as "a primary contributor to the city's decline" over that period. Inman estimates that Philadelphia lost 172,889 jobs between 1971 and 2001 because of wage tax increases.
Source: Robert Inman, University of Pennsylvania Law Review (2016); Philadelphia Inquirer analysis (2021)
Philadelphia's tax burden doesn't just affect individuals. It makes the entire cost of doing business significantly higher. According to Professor Robert Inman, taxes alone make operating a business in Philadelphia 19% more expensive than in the suburbs. Philadelphia has lost about 28 percent of its jobs since 1970, and Wharton economist and tax expert Robert Inman has shown conclusively that the city's high taxes on wage and business are responsible for many of those lost positions.
Source: Robert Inman, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania; WHYY analysis (2012)
The connection between Philadelphia's tax-driven job losses and poverty is clear. Philadelphia's economy is underperforming, driving many residents into poverty. The city has the highest poverty rate among the nation's ten largest cities, with many residents in deep poverty. Center City District head Paul Levy explained the link: "We have the highest poverty rate because we have the slowest job growth and the lowest density of businesses. When we grew jobs in the last decade, poverty declined".
Source: Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission (2025); Center City District State of the City Report (2022)
Experts across the political spectrum agree that reducing the wage tax is essential for Philadelphia's economic recovery. A 2025 Tax Reform Commission concluded that with a more fair and equitable tax structure, Philadelphia can create tens of thousands of new jobs in the city over the next five years. Business leaders argue the city should "rely more on real estate assessments and cut wage taxes. It's more stable for the city financially, and it will help more of our small Black and brown business owners".
Source: Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission, "Jumpstarting Jobs" Report (February 2025); Philadelphia Inquirer (2022)
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