In the 2020 race, Democratic candidates are finally beginning to speak deeply about the housing crisis. Community organizer, educator, and Philadelphia City Councilmember Helen Gym, however, believes that housing is actually one of the most central issues in today’s cultural dialogue. And the longtime advocate for public education, as well as workers’ and renters’ rights, isn’t sparing people responsible—and failing—the most vulnerable among us.
“We've got Ben Carson in the White House at HUD [Department of Housing and Urban Development], and so cities like ours are having to pick up the pieces,” Gym, a former teacher, tells Daily Kos at Netroots Nation, the nation’s largest conference for progressives. “We're not gonna be able to do it alone, which means that this presidential race around housing, and how housing needs to be centered within the presidential dialogue, is an extremely important issue for us.”
“We need to reign in developers who feel like the city is their playground,” Gym continues, “and are treating it as such, and we've gotta make sure that our public resources go to those who are most in need.” While Gym is referring to Philadelphia, the sentiment could be applied to pretty much any city in the nation—and that’s got to change.
“There are conditions that allow giant corporate entities to not only perpetuate poverty but to profit from it,” Gym stresses when discussing minimum wage and fair pay. “We're gonna be devoted to building unions, supporting unions, and unionizing as many different organizations. Private businesses, we're coming for you.”
In speaking to Daily Kos for our Making Progress interview series, Gym talks about housing, rights for domestic workers, public education, and what advice she would give her teenage self. Gym shines in highlighting that these are national issues, and what’s more, that they’re issues every single progressive should hold close to their heart—and take action on.
Question 1: You've been one of Philadelphia's most effective advocates for public education since before you were elected. In three and a half years in office, you've had some big wins on that front—but how much more would you say remains to be done to strengthen Philadelphia's public schools?
HG: Philadelphia is the poorest large city in the country in a state which is the worst in the nation when it comes to the funding gap between the poorest and wealthiest school districts. And those two things, poverty and inequality, for our youngest residents here in the City of Philadelphia is what defines us, it's what we're going to be defined by and we have to change that.
Clearly, funding is a major issue. It means that our school buildings are 70 years old and that they're toxic. We don't have air conditioning in most of our schools in the middle of late summer or early summer when temperatures can get up to 90 degrees. We have led paint that pours down upon our kids' heads, exposed asbestos, and lead in our drinking water.
So, there's a lot that needs to be done to ensure that our schools come up to the standards that are even acceptable or safe. And that's some of the things that we've been driving on: that it's not enough for us to make changes around governance. We are successful in ending a 20-year state takeover, but we have to prove that local governance means that children's education changes in the classrooms and for the teachers who teach in them.
Question 2: You've been a longtime advocate for workers' rights, including passing the Fair Workweek law. As the economic landscape continues to shift, what unique challenges do you think workers in Philadelphia face, and how do you plan to address them?
HG: Pennsylvania inexplicably is one of the worst states in the nation. It's at $7.25 an hour, the absolute federal minimum, it's the lowest wage of all surrounding states around us, and for tipped workers, it's even worse, it's $2.83 an hour. It's an absolute disgrace, it promotes poverty. Last year, more than 300,000 Philadelphians reported going hungry or being food insecure and 80% of them have jobs.
So clearly, we need to do something about the conditions, not just poverty in the sense that people are poor, but that there are conditions that allow giant corporate entities to not only perpetuate poverty, but to profit from it. And that's what we're going for, that's why we passed a fair work week law here in the city of Philadelphia that demanded that we could establish staple schedules. We're working against preemption, which is a big issue, not only here in Pennsylvania, but all across the country.
So, we've gotta be unique and creative. That's why we're looking to expand labor rights for the new and modern economy. We're looking to our domestic workers and to other gig workers who are seeking to expand their organizing rights and working together to build a real union and establish a meaningful civil and human rights protections. We're gonna be devoted to building unions, supporting unions, and unionizing as many different organizations. Private businesses, we're coming for you.
Question 3: You say ‘housing is a human right.’ How do you put that into practice in a city as large as Philadelphia?
HG: Housing has been one of the central issues of our city. On any given night, six thousand people seek shelter in our city. It's more than just being a symptom of poverty, it's something that actually perpetuates it. It means that, likely, people can't hold on to jobs. They're not likely to find better housing, for example, if they're evicted from a house. Their children have to switch public schools and they struggle for stability in their lives. We are trying to figure it out.
We've got Ben Carson in the White House at HUD [Department of Housing and Urban Development], and so cities like ours are having to pick up the pieces. We're not gonna be able to do it alone, which means that this presidential race around housing, and how housing needs to be centered within the presidential dialogue, is an extremely important issue for us.
But here at home, we're looking to expand tenant protections. We have not traditionally done this in a city that is almost 50% renter. We established a right to counsel, or we established a legal defense offend for renters facing eviction, and we're making sure that we'll seek to pass right to counsel by the end of this year.
We're exploring rent control. We have to. In a city in which rent far exceeds people's means, we're looking at things like that, and we're going to be piloting housing subsidies for our lowest income residents, but the reality is is that our city can't do enough around housing. We need the federal government to be involved, we need unique and creative and aggressive aspects.
We need to reign in developers who have … who feel like the city is their playground and are treating it as such, and we've gotta make sure that our public resources go to those who are most in need.
Housing is a human right, and we deserve it here in the city of Philadelphia for every child, for every family member, and for every working family.
Bonus Question: If you could give advice to your teenage self, what would it be?
My advice to my teenage self would be to take everything in, to learn that the alienation and isolation that I felt as an immigrant, as a daughter of immigrants growing up, feeling alienated from language and culture, that those would ultimately become our strengths, and that it will take time to learn that. It will take other people around you to remember to raise yourself up, and that when we do tap into the power within ourselves and within our own communities, then everything becomes possible.
Want to catch up on other Making Progress interviews? Check out the Daily Kos YouTube channel to find every video so far, or get started with advice on how to be a good ally to Native American communities, find out what Julián Castro wants to tell Congress, and how Elizabeth Warren imagines a Warren presidency.