H.O.M.E. is where the heart of Philadelphia’s 2026 legislative session is

Philadelphia City Council’s agenda is hitting home in the new year. 

On the first day of legislative session in 2026, the legislative body gave the go-ahead on a measure that stipulates how bond funding will move forward for Mayor Cherelle Parker’s broader housing initiative. 

Soon after receiving legislative approval, Parker held a press conference with council members and local officials to celebrate the $2 billion investment plan and tout her housing-related announcements this week.

“When we’re going to compete with any of our counties in the region, and people are choosing where they’re going to become a nurse, a teacher, a firefighter, a government employee … now we’ve given people a reason to choose our city,” Parker said to kick off Thursday’s press conference. “I know it’s a lot and we couldn’t do it all at once, but I hope you see the comprehensive nature of our plan and that we are not afraid to do what has never been done.”

Housing Day Pt. III

A week of housing news was capped off with Council moving forward with the financing of the H.O.M.E., approving the issuance of the first round of bonds. 

After ending the year pushing back against the mayor’s plan, Council unanimously approved an ordinance to authorize the issuance of $800 million in city bonds to fund her H.O.M.E. initiative.

“I think this is a win-win for the residents here in the City of Philadelphia when you talk about the issue of housing equity,” Council President Kenyatta Johnson told reporters Thursday. “This is only the first phase, but nevertheless, it gives us an opportunity to start borrowing the necessary funding that’s needed to start our program.”

The move comes during a week awash with housing news: The Parker administration unveiled plans for two separate housing plans, including the redevelopment of a senior housing complex in West Philadelphia and the proposal to create a modular housing manufacturing facility in North Philadelphia. 

“It’s been three days of magnificence,” a laudatory state Sen. Vincent Hughes said during Thursday’s press conference. “I want people to truly understand and place an appropriate perspective on what is being done today: $2 billion of new money – not money that was already moving through the system – new money to address every level of the crisis.”

Trash talk

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier made a last-minute decision to pull her “Stop Trashing Our Air” bill, a measure that would prevent the city from shipping its trash to a plant in Chester for burning.

The city currently ships roughly a third of its trash to the Reworld trash incinerator in Chester, and waste-disposal contracts are set to expire later this year. Gauthier’s legislation – which would specifically prohibit contractors that provide solid waste, recycling and composting services to the city from incinerating discarded matter – remained a hot topic on Thursday among public commenters, who highlighted the environmental and health concerns stemming from Chester’s facilities. 

Chester Mayor Stefan Roots was among dozens of public commenters who spoke in favor of the bill, asserting that Delaware County as a whole produces less trash than what Reworld alone burns. 

With strong opinions evident on both sides of the issue, Gauthier pulled the measure, stating that her colleagues wanted more time to consider the topic. 

Gauthier, who remains committed to the bill, said the environmental impacts from incinerating in Chester “would never happen in a community that wasn’t populated mainly by Black people and mainly by poor Black people … The people that are lobbying otherwise – they know that they would never accept this where they live.”

Planned Parenthood

On the anniversary of the repeal of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood advocates delivered more than 2,500 petitions to city officials requesting funding for sexual and reproductive health care at Planned Parenthood’s two Philadelphia health centers.

Advocates, already critical of city officials for failing to backfill Title X funds last year, expressed concerns about federal funding cuts during Thursday’s meeting – including a provision in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill that bars any Medicaid coverage for the organization’s health services – and maintained that that the city must do more to invest in and support reproductive health centers during a time of uncertainty. 

That uncertainty was underlined by that morning’s announcement that the organization’s affiliate, Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, will temporarily shutter three of its four clinics due to financial and workforce challenges.

“The 20,000 patients of Planned Parenthood health centers in the City of Philadelphia have been abandoned by not only the federal government – but also the leaders closest to them right here in Philadelphia,” Signe Espinoza, Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania’s vice president of advocacy and public policy, said in a statement. “Without immediate support, care will become dangerously inaccessible – life-saving care that spans from contraceptive care to cancer screenings. It is the poorest Philadelphians who will be the most harmed from this preventable crisis of health care access. 

“We are asking our city leaders to stand up to protect public health by restoring funding for  Planned Parenthood to the City budget,” she continued. “The Medicaid defunding of Planned Parenthood is an additional attack on our communities’ access to basic and critically needed health care.”