Last month, Governor Shapiro announced Pennsylvania’s first-ever Housing Action Plan.
We applaud Governor Shapiro and his administration for taking action to help more Pennsylvanians become homeowners and increase and preserve the Commonwealth’s housing stock by 2035.
The need for a statewide housing plan is clear. Today, Pennsylvanians face many barriers to homeownership. Housing costs continue to rise faster than incomes and more than 1 million Pennsylvanians are spending over 30 percent of their income on housing. Our housing stock is aging. More than half the state’s stock is over 50 years old and in need of repairs and preservation. And housing instability and homelessness are on the rise throughout the state.
The Housing Action Plan was formulated through a data-driven process including survey responses from almost 2,500 Pennsylvania residents statewide, 15 regional roundtable and listening sessions, direct input from homeowners, renters, developers, lenders, housing advocates, labor leaders and local officials, and cross-agency collaboration spanning economic development, housing finance, human services, and budget priorities. Habitat for Humanity affiliates from throughout the Commonwealth, including Lancaster Lebanon Habitat, participated in the survey and the regional roundtables and much of the input from Habitat was integrated into the plan.
The Plan is broken down into five goals:
- Build and preserve Pennsylvania’s housing supply: To meet the projected demand by 2035, Pennsylvania needs to build 450,000 new housing units (the state’s current construction efforts fall nearly 185,000 homes short of that projection).
- Expand housing opportunities for all Pennsylvanians: Rents are rising faster than wages across the state. Strengthening renter protections and preserving affordable rental housing to prevent loss of lower-cost inventory is crucial.
- Provide pathways to housing stabilization and sustainability: Connecting Pennsylvanians to resources and support systems that prevent displacement during times of crisis protects the residents who are most vulnerable and provides stability.
- Modernize Pennsylvania’s housing development regulations: Cutting through the red tape to lower building costs and updating land-use, zoning frameworks and permitting processes to ease current building constraints is essential to growth.
- Achieve operational excellence across State and Local Government: Success relies on aligning state and local agencies to coordinate data and resource-sharing.
Much of the language in the plan echoes Habitat’s own mission to build more safe, stable and affordable housing so families and communities can have the opportunity to thrive.
Read the full Housing Action Plan and learn more about the future of affordable housing in Pennsylvania.