How Safe is Owner-Occupied Housing? An Exploration of Philadelphia's Basic Service Repair Program

Owner Occupied housing is generally assumed to be safe and of reasonably high quality in the United States. Prior research on housing quality using the American Housing Survey generally finds housing quality is good. Recent research critiquing housing quality measures found in the AHS and offering alternative measures complicate this assumption by showing housing quality is more variable than usually assumed and the costs of housing repair needs are worth billions of dollars a year. In order to better understand the state of housing quality in owner occupied housing we present information from Philadelphia's Basic Systems Repair Program (BSRP). BSRP is an emergency repair program that offers grants to low income homeowners. From 2009-2019 the city has spect a little over $98 million in repairs helping nearly 11,000 households. Comparing AHS derived estimates of housing quality to the BSRP we find that housing quality for owner occupied homes in Philadelphia may be more severe than is often assumed and that severe housing quality issues disproportionately affect Black homeowners in the city. Planners concerned with stabilizing neighborhoods, protecting property values and the racially disparate costs of homeownership should pay closer to attention to housing quality issues and look at the feasibility of emergency home repair programs in affected areas.