Cashing out?: how small-scale landlords in Philadelphia perceive big development and tax policies

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the perspectives of small-scale landlords in Philadelphia regarding tax policies intended to incentivize big development and revalorize the housing stock. Drawing from 71 in-depth, semi-structured interviews collected between 2017 and 2019 with landlords and property managers in Philadelphia, we find that the city’s small-scale landlords perceive the implementation of tax policies which incentivize big development to be negatively impacting them. Landlords utilize varying approaches for coping with tax increases and other economic pressures, and for some small-scale landlords, the tax policies and heightened competition from big developers are pushing them to reevaluate their position among Philadelphia’s housing providers and cash out. This trend could exacerbate the lack of affordable housing options and adversely affect economically vulnerable tenants.