“When we think about a plan, we do not actually think about it like a thick binder of stuff that we email out, and it sits on a shelf,” said Rick Siger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. “This is really a blueprint for action.”
According to a state analysis of Pennsylvania’s housing market, the state needs to build 690,000 new units by 2040 while keeping its existing housing stock in good condition; a quarter of residences in Pennsylvania were built before 1940, Mr. Siger said.
In Pittsburgh alone, city officials are grappling with hundreds of broken down or abandoned homes, and have estimated that there is a deficit of 10,000 affordable units citywide.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called for the development of a new housing action plan in an executive order last year. The state has since sought input from residents, holding 15 roundtable meetings and sending out a survey that has elicited over 2,500 responses, with every county represented.
In the feedback, residents said they wanted more affordable units in livable communities — one of several focus areas of the new plan. Other priorities include building more units, renovating existing homes and helping vulnerable residents find housing, Mr. Siger said.
“Housing at all levels — market rate houses, workforce housing, affordable housing … more housing is needed in Pennsylvania,” Mr. Siger said.
The plan will be finalized once the state approves its 2025-2026 budget in June.
In his proposed budget, Mr. Shapiro has called for major housing investments, including $50 million toward a new program to help homeowners repair aging homes and $10 million toward another program to help first-time homebuyers with closing costs.
Mr. Shapiro is also pushing to change a policy that permanently tags tenants with an eviction record, even if the tenant wins or the eviction case is dropped.
In a video address during the annual meeting, the governor said he plans to create an interagency council on homelessness and increase the staff of the state’s planning board, which helps communities amend permitting and zoning laws to build homes faster.
“By taking these common sense steps, we can cut housing costs and help more Pennsylvanians pursue the American dream,” Mr. Shapiro said.
In Pittsburgh, Action Housing has helped drive a push for more affordable housing.
The group now operates 47 buildings and owns 2,000 units, CEO Lena Andrews said on Friday. They are working to develop and preserve another 460 units covering 490,000 square feet, she said.
As the primary for this year’s mayoral election draws nearer, affordable housing has become a flashpoint in the race. Mayor Ed Gainey and his opponent, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor, have sparred over the mayor’s push to expand inclusionary zoning citywide and claims about the city’s housing stock.
The mayor has said that his administration has delivered 1,600 units of affordable housing in his first term. But a Post-Gazette investigation this month found that the city has completed just 201 new units during his time in office.
Still, affordable housing remains a central component of the city and state’s $600 million plan to revitalize Downtown, announced last October. Several of the seven residential projects included in the 10-year plan will contain new, affordable apartment units.
And earlier this month, county Executive Sara Innamorato introduced a new program to assist first-time homeowners, while Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has invested $5.3 million to create or preserve 85 affordable housing units this year, including at least five projects approved this month.
Officials at Friday’s meeting celebrated local and state achievements in the past several years, such as increasing state funding for property tax relief and breaking ground on the Penn Lincoln Apartments in Wilkinsburg, a new, five-story affordable development.
“As a region, we can come together to create solutions to ensure everyone has access to a safe and stable place that they can call home,” Ms. Andrews said.