PHILADELPHIA—At the City Council session on Thursday, Councilman Kenyatta Johnson introduced a bill to extend access to the city's Longtime Owner Occupants Program to people who live in government-subsidized housing.

The program, which limits annual property tax for qualified homeowners, is unavailable to owners who've already received a tax abatement of some kind, according to PlanPhilly.

“The bill I introduced today amends the Longtime Owner Occupants Program, and it will allow individuals who live in affordable houses, and who have received some type of abatement, to be included for the actual tax relief under the LOOP program,” Johnson says.

“Right now, individuals who live in affordable housing—obviously, they don't have a certain amount of income, their taxes may have tripled, and currently they don't qualify for the tax relief under LOOP because they have had some type of abatement in the past,” he says. "But also, they're in some type of a Catch 22, because they can't sell their homes because of a deed restriction, so the legislation that we introduced today will allow them to have the opportunity to participate in LOOP.”

Also at the Council session, Councilmembers Mark Squilla and Darrell Clarke introduced bills remapping portions of Center City and North Philadelphia. See story at PlanPhilly.