Virtual Sheriff Sales: Contested Narratives on Tax Sales in Philadelphia, PA

This thesis describes a qualitative overview of tax foreclosure auctions in Philadelphia, PA, otherwise colloquially known as sheriff sales. As the rate of displacement of long-term residents has increased in the past few years, greater attention has been called upon official city processes of land acquisition and disposition. By analyzing city council meeting transcripts, reports, news articles, and interviews with key stakeholders in the city, I use the emerging debate on sheriff sales’ permanent shift to virtual in 2021 as a lens to interrogate how various stakeholders view tax foreclosure sales overall. Through this qualitative analysis, I identify five main factors that outline the impact of the increasing privatization of a city sanctioned tax enforcement and collection tool: reduced accountability, transparency, accessibility, a disproportionate social impact on marginalized residents, and the discounting of vacant land. Exchanges about tax sales have been grounded in a much larger conversation in the city about neighborhood change and displacement. As homes, community gardens, and gathering spaces have been sold in sheriff sales, many community members have questioned its impacts on their neighborhoods and challenged the city’s conceptualization of tax delinquent land. Official categorizations of land as abandoned by the City contrast with how residents have materially cared for the land and staked claims to it. Recognizing land beyond property involves understanding land as a site for people's experiences, aspirations, memories, and visions for different futures. Understanding the land as such calls for a reexamination of sheriff sales as a dominant tool used by the City to collect delinquent taxes and activate land. As displacement in Philadelphia intensifies, the land question is once again gaining urgency.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Mana, Soad

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Steil, Justin

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152798

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/152798