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** 1. Rooming houses could help with Philly’s overpriced housing market ([link removed])
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By Thom Nickels

On Craigslist I also noticed a lot of temporary room requests, something that was common when I was a student in Baltimore and lived in a rooming house on the wrong side of town.

Across the hall from me in that house was a man who lived in a closet with a glass door labeled, Fire Escape. He had a static AM radio that played day and night. The entire house smelled like stale cinnamon buns and old tobacco. My little room included a hot plate which smelled like burning rubber whenever I turned it on. Later I lived in a boardinghouse where the landlady would sort through my mail and read the letters and the papers on my desk and then gossip about what she read to a neighbor friend of hers. One day I came home from work to find her going through my underwear drawer. What was she looking for in there?

Rooming houses in the old sense of the word don’t really exist today but there is a call for their return. In the 1970s, the Philadelphia Inquirer had daily listings of rooms for rent. Apartment buildings like the Adelphia at 13th and Chestnut had efficiency apartments — a small refrigerator, sink and stove — for $400 a month. People — students and others — coming into Center City for the first time could quickly rent a room here until they “seasoned” and were ready to upgrade.

Why It Matters. Philadelphia Citizen reported in 2016 that the median city rent was somewhere in the $1,200/month range, “thereby imposing an annual $14,400 cost on the median Philly household income of $41,233 — which means the average Philadelphian is spending nearly 35 percent of their annual income on rent, and rent alone. That’s less money for a lot of essential things.” Average rents in Center City in 2024 began at $1,099 (and these were humble apartments) but skyrocketed near and above the $2,000 range, depending on the neighborhood. For a furnished room in Chinatown (again, from Craigslist) you can expect to pay $750 per month.

The lack of affordable housing in Philadelphia is daunting. Way back in 2017, Curbed Philadelphia reported that, “Philly needs to build more than 38,000 apartments by 2030 to meet its rising demand, and they need to be made available at all price points.”
At all price points? Really?

For the last ten years or so a typical 25-year old cannot afford a newly constructed apartment in Center City. If Center City prices are off the charts, then the solution is to move further away from the center of the city.

Continue Reading ([link removed])


** 2. Despite federal reversal, PA continues to allow boys to compete against girls in school sports ([link removed])
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By Beth Ann Rosica

Last month, the Biden administration quietly abandoned its plan to force school districts to allow boys to compete against girls in sports. Before that about-face, districts across the country had been threatened with a loss of federal funding if they failed to comply with yet another revision of the Title IX regulations — further gutting the original protections for girls and women.

However, as a result of widespread criticism, the U.S. Department of Education ([link removed]) announced, “in light of the comments received and those various pending court cases, the Department has determined not to regulate on this issue at this time.”

Approximately half the states in the country have regulations or laws preventing boys from competing in girls’ sports.

Why It Matters. Despite the elimination of the federal mandate, the commonwealth has no intention of changing its policies.

When asked whether the state would change its stance on boys competing against girls as a result of the federal rule withdrawal, Amanda Brothman from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC), doubled-down on their position.

“Regardless of what happens federally, protections on the basis of sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics exist for students in Pennsylvania. In 2023, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission released new regulations more clearly explaining the definition of sex. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act protects students in ‘kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, high schools, academies, colleges and universities, extension courses and all educational institutions under the supervision of this Commonwealth’ unless the schools are ‘in their nature distinctly private.’”

The PHRC does not require legislative approval to promulgate new regulations. The agency operates under eleven commissioners appointed ([link removed]) by the Governor and confirmed by the senate.

Continue Reading ([link removed])


** 3. Lightning Round
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* Jeff Hurvitz: Bob Dylan’s movie and self-determination ([link removed])
* Delco prison employee with felony drug record now under investigation for smuggling contraband ([link removed])
* Paul Davis: Schools need metal detectors to prevent classroom shootings ([link removed])
* Rural schools find security in armed educators ([link removed])
* David Reel: The consequences of America’s broken moral compass ([link removed])
* Michael Thomas Leibrandt: My Philly Snow Bowl bash ([link removed])


** 4. What we're reading
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It is hard for us on the East Coast to wrap our heads around the enormity of the destruction caused by the fires in Los Angeles. California always has fires, right? But no, this one truly is different, with a sweeping destruction that many of us thought belonged to an earlier age. London had its great fire in 1666, San Francisco in 1906, but surely such things could not happen again, here in 2025? But it has happened and continues to burn. Peter Savodnik of the Free Press tells the developing story in heartbreaking detail ([link removed]) . All of our hearts must go out to those who lost everything in an instant.

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With gratitude,

— The Editors at Broad + Liberty
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