Single-room housing has made some headway among policymakers across the country who have revived such housing as a low-cost safety net. Philadelphia officials, meanwhile, are weighing a zoning change that could threaten the area instead.
The proposed law would ban “group housing” in high-density neighborhoods within the northeast Philadelphia region. The law, which was filed in October 2025, has been in the city council’s rules committee since last month.
Such a ban would come as interest grows nationally in renovating single-family homes, also known as single-family homes, to address housing affordability.
During the last century, cities across the country did not have this type of housing at all. A Pew research report last year shows a correlation between the increase in the homeless population and changes in areas that eliminate the type of housing.
Like many US cities, Philadelphia is facing a severe housing shortage. The city’s poverty is concentrated in low-income households.
Researchers at The Housing Initiative at Penn estimated in a report last year that the city has a shortfall of about 64,500 affordable housing units, available for very low-income households. According to research, this increases the pressure on rising rents.
Philly has a long history with one-room living
Philadelphia’s original tenements date back to the 1700s. Many of the Founding Fathers stayed in cabins when they attended the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention.
For them, it was temporary housing while they were writing the Constitution. The use of spread increased dramatically in the 19th century, becoming the backbone of Philadelphia’s housing system as population and industry expanded.
Such housing is now limited to densely populated areas of the city and universities. Former At-Large Councilman Derek Green is introducing legislation in 2020 for citywide adoption. He faced opposition from other members of the council, and since then, the backlash has not subsided.
Anti-SRO legislation is still in committee
So far, this new ban has attracted little attention locally. Council member Quetcy Lozada has not said anything about the law and did not answer questions.
However, national land rights advocates have taken notice of the proposed law. They are waiting to see what goes on in the Philadelphia City Council’s rules committee before they step in to fight it.
“We don’t want it to continue,” Sam Hooper, a legal adviser with the Institute of Justice, told The Associated Press. Builder’s Day.
In an effort to prevent further restrictions on SRO housing options and put them in place to benefit more municipalities, his organization drafted legislation and began lobbying states across the country as state legislatures reconvened.
Philadelphia’s new law, as you read now, will create “/SEV, the Seventh Circuit Supplemental Circuit.” This overlap would prohibit group organic use in RSD-1, RSD-2, RSD-3, RSA-1 through RSA-6, and RTA-1 in all areas of Lozada County, which includes large portions of the Lower Northeast and wards along the Delaware River.
The plan follows a pattern of special regional overlays in Philadelphia that tighten rules for other residential or care facilities, such as the recent Northeast Overlay proposal to ban nursing homes.
However, Philadelphia’s official definition of “group living” includes SROs. .
If the city council approves the overlay, it would impose stricter restrictions on a type of housing that many advocates view as one of the few remaining rungs on the shelter ladder accessible to the poorest tenants.
However, any movement on it could reopen the debate about where and how SROs are reinstated. That result will align the city closely with authorities now reviewing the types of housing that were banned as part of an affordability strategy.
