Last year, developers in Philadelphia built hundreds of new row houses on vacant, city-owned lots. The houses would sell to new homeowners at affordable prices. Many housing advocates say it’s not nearly enough. While new, luxury apartments charge record-high rents in neighborhoods around Center City, other streets in Philadelphia are still lined with vacant lots strewn with trash. As rents rise across the city, Philadelphia’s new mayor, Cherelle Parker, has promised to produce 30,000 new units of affordable housing over four years. That’s more than 8,000 units of housing per …
