Members of POWER Interfaith and participating congregations gathered at the press conference. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)
“It will cost the city $2.8 billion over 12 years,” said Sharon Weinman, a member of Mishkan Shalom Reconstructionist Synagogue, referring to an analysis of recent business tax cuts following the City Council’s $6.8 billion budget approval.
“We fear this decision will result in cuts in services and increase the burden of regular working people in our city, and it will deepen the affordability crisis.”
Weinman is one of many representing congregations across faiths throughout Philadelphia this week, calling on elected officials to end the affordability crisis through a week-long series of press conferences.
These are an effort, organized through the POWER Interfaith, whom have been gathering folks over the year around the issue. The conferences aim to showcase the sentiments of those closest to the problem of affordability within our city. They are presented in response to the City Council’s June 2025 vote on the Business Income and Receipts Tax (BIRT), which sets a long-term plan to eliminate the gross-receipts portion and significantly reduce the net-income portion by 2039.
BIRT is one of the city’s major business taxes and helps pay for things in Philly, like trash pickup, parks, and libraries. Now, with the city slowly rolling it back over time, people are worried there won’t be enough money for those services unless it comes from somewhere else.
This week of action will lead to a Citywide Affordability Summit on February 1, 2026, where hundreds of people of faith are expected to gather to share their vision for an affordable Philadelphia and call on elected officials to help create long-term solutions.
Weinman was one of five speakers at FUMCOG’s on Wednesday, November 12, an afternoon conference, which saw two other Northwest Philly congregations coming, standing alongside the Germantown church: Mishkan Shalom in Roxborough and the Unitarian Universalists of Mt. Airy.
She also underscored that the BIRT decision has larger implications in a time when there have been cuts and more rigorous guidelines placed on public benefits for food and healthcare.
Weinman called it the “perfect storm.”
Other speakers at the conference underscored this point, uplifting the experiences of people living through harsh conditions and what faith leaders are seeing even within their own congregations.
“[People] actually come [to Philly] because they perceive we have a little bit more affordability than other cities,” Rabbi Shawn Zevit of Mishkan Shalom shared.
“And yet, we are [one of] the largest cities in the United States of large cities that has the greatest amount of people living in poverty or below poverty.”
The Rabbi said in recent days, he’s seen shifts in members of the synagogue, saying some have scaled down the size of their dream weddings while others have become more open about receiving SNAP benefits to support needs.
According to him, it all has come at the hands of the instability crisis Philadelphia faces, and to begin to prevent harsher outcomes, elected officials need to reconsider their priorities.
“If we want to feel the fullness of our humanity and flourish and afford — even if we can’t afford it — then we need a different direction, and we want to call on our politicians to rethink this direction, and at whose costs will the costs be made?” the Rabbi shared.
Self-proclaimed “devoted member” of FUMCOG, Tamia Walker, gave testimony about her personal experiences, looking to appeal to the moral sensibilities of the city’s politicians in power.
“You might ask, why share such personal details? For me, the answer is simple. I want change,” Walker said, telling gatherers that change starts with speaking up about uncomfortable things.
Walker shared that she’s experienced “a full spectrum of housing insecurity,” including being on the streets with her son, and rarely being able to afford a hotel room. And she said that though she has more than what she did, “can [she] truly call it stability?”
After a small settlement and a new job, she shared that she was able to make a payment on a rental home, which felt like a turning point. But not much long after, “reality hit,” according to the FUMCOG member.
She shared her testimony of what wasn’t just a lifestyle of dodging instability, but something far more taxing.
“The cost of living, rent, electric, it all adds up. I had to work 80 to 100 hours a week just to make ends meet. I was exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I was working 12 to 16-hour shifts nearly every day. I had no time for myself and, worse, no time to truly be present with my son when I was working. When I wasn’t working, I was sleeping. Only to wake up and have to do it all over again. This kind of life wasn’t living. It was survival. And survival should never be the standard for anyone, especially those raising children.”
Before closing, Walker made her utopia, for all, clear.
“I want to live in a city where people like me don’t have to choose between their child and their livelihood. Where we are supported not just with short-term fixes, but with long-term solutions that allow us to thrive, not just survive.”
Walker closed, asking that her story be a reminder to folks of what folks really are going through, and how it could get worse if change isn’t made.
On behalf of Reverend McKinley Sims, Catherine McCoubrey, moderator of UU, filled in to share the minister’s remarks. He recalled the landscape of the Mt. Airy neighborhood when he started at UU, eight years ago, through what he sees now.
He talked about how the COVID-19 crisis gave homeowners an advantage at the time, but made it hard on renters, saying, “Many saw their rent double or triple as investors swooped in to buy up houses left empty from COVID deaths or rising property taxes.”
Bringing it back around to the long-term effects on homeowners, he shared, “The tax abatement helped us for a few years, but that support is now gone. My tax assessment alone has doubled in the past three years.”
Like Rabbit Zevit, Rev. Sims said he’s gotten weekly requests for rent assistance, particularly from single moms or immigrants. But with limited resources and existing outstanding asks for other things like food and utilities, “rent is often a hard ask.”
The minister said that housing justice is in the DNA of his congregation, as the founding of East Mount Airy Neighbors in the 1960s was in direct opposition to predatory real estate practices, which helped to “successfully integrate [the] neighborhood.”
“We practice putting love into action. And justice is what love looks like in the public sphere… I believe housing is a human right, as part of our right to flourish.”
FUMCOG’s Pastor Alisa Lasater Wailoo echoed sentiments of the other faith leaders who spoke at Wednesday’s conference, saying she’s seen more needs for support in the most disheartening ways.
“I’m a pastor that does funerals regularly… sits with families that are divorcing… enters into hospitals and [hears] terrible diagnoses. I see tears. Do you know who the most regular tears I’ve seen in the last few months? People who are afraid that they won’t be able to feed their family.”
She said when she started at FUMCOG, three years ago, calls for support used to be more like two per week. Now, they’re about a dozen.
Pastor Wailoo denounced the social stigma and moral judgment against low-income families and folks who work tirelessly to make ends meet, and said these folks shouldn’t have or share shame about the conditions they survive under.
“That shame is with the leaders, or any of us with power…”
Tamia Walker returned once more to close the conference, asking what plans the City Council has to fix this and ensure the city’s residents receive what they “righteously deserve.”
She invited city council members, name-dropping Councilmember Cindy Bass, to join them and others on Feb. 1, 2026.
For more information on these calls to action, visit POWER Interfaith’s website.
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