ICE Out, Safe Healthy Homes packages win final City Council approval

“Thank you, Council.”

Progressive activists, who have not always been aligned with City Council, chanted that refrain after lawmakers passed a series of measures Thursday associated with the “ICE Out” and “Safe Healthy Homes” legislative packages.

Council’s minority wing — Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke, both members of the liberal Working Families Party — played a major role in both efforts. In a joint statement, they said the bills “are the most significant and far-reaching legislation to pass through City Council this year.” All of the proposals passed with minimal opposition.

“These bills are a monumental victory for Philadelphians,” Brooks remarked following the votes. “Ultimately, today is a historic day for our movement, our party and people here in Philadelphia.”

ICE Out

Brooks and Councilmember Rue Landau introduced the seven immigration bills in January, after federal officers killed Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Among other provisions, the ICE Out legislation:

• Makes it a criminal offense for law enforcement officers to wear masks, conceal their badges, don plainclothes or use an unmarked car, with limited exceptions.
• Bars federal immigration officers from entering municipal buildings, libraries, recreation centers, schools and other facilities, unless they have a signed judicial warrant.
• Generally prohibits city employees from asking about a resident’s immigration status or requiring them to show a U.S. passport or state driver’s license, instead of a City ID, which can be issued to undocumented immigrants.
• Formally forbids the city from entering into a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, does not allow municipal contracts to be awarded to entities that do business with immigration authorities and bans police officers and other city workers from complying with immigration detainers and administrative warrants.
• Stipulates that no city property, including parking lots, be used as a staging area, processing location or operations base for federal immigration agents.
• Prevents the sharing of personal data maintained by the city for the purpose of immigration enforcement.
• Adds citizenship and immigration status to a law banning employment, housing and public accommodation discrimination.

Representatives from Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration testified at an April 14 hearing that they believed that all but one of the bills contained “legally problematic language.” The warning suggests the laws could be challenged by the Trump administration.

“Philly is now on the map,” Landau said Thursday. “The entire country and possibly the world is watching us as having some of the strongest ICE out protections in the entire country.”

Safe Healthy Homes

O’Rourke’s legislation expands ‘good cause’ eviction protections beyond month-to-month leases; codifies the right to organize and join a tenants association; authorizes a proactive rental inspection program; and requires landlords to notify renters that they are not obliged to pay rent if a property is deemed imminently dangerous or if maintenance issues are not corrected in a timely manner.

Organized landlord groups have fiercely opposed the two Safe Healthy Homes bills, saying the regulations would be too onerous on ‘mom and pop’ property owners.

Tenants, meanwhile, have recounted their experiences with rodents, mold, gas leaks and other building issues that were reported to property owners and went unaddressed for months or even years.

A pair of landlords sued Council and its housing committee following an initial hearing, alleging that the body violated the state’s open meetings law and the city charter. Council redid the meeting; however, the legal case remains open in federal court, with a hearing scheduled in June.

“This is a major move,” O’Rourke said. “It’s not something happening in a vacuum. Around the country, we’re seeing a resurgence in tenant organizing.”

A third piece of legislation associated with the Safe Healthy Homes Act that passed in June established a relocation fund for renters who are displaced due to a city inspection. The two bills approved Thursday are set to go into effect in November.