Powell, Policy Committee focus on increasing achievable housing
Lawmakers discuss solutions to attainable housing, economic prosperity
Rep. Lindsay Powell February 26, 2025 | 1:33 PM
HARRISBURG, Feb. 26 – Housing has become out of reach for many workers and professionals across Pennsylvania. The competitive housing market, higher mortgage rates and a continued lack of residential options are all contributing to challenges to the state’s workforce and economic development.
“The lack of attainable housing is a complex issue, negatively affecting workers, businesses and families,” said state Rep. Lindsay Powell, who represents a portion of Allegheny County. “The lack of attainable housing means workers are sometimes unable to accept higher paying jobs because they cannot afford to move to a new geographic location, which heightens Pennsylvania’s workforce needs. It also means an entire generation of workers have been denied one of the basic tenets in building generational wealth through home ownership.”
Powell hosted the House Majority Policy Committee hearing on achievable housing, featuring experts from across the commonwealth on housing challenges.
Experts detailed just a few of the many challenges, including the unwillingness of residents to move because they locked in a lower interest rate for their current mortgage – which is no longer available in today’s housing market. The fallout from this includes households devoting more and more of their income to housing. Roughly half of all renting households are considered cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing – resulting in households with fewer dollars to spend on essentials and living expenses.
Powell has introduced legislation to address limited housing options by awarding grants for acquisition of properties that will add housing that is affordable. Powell, Reps. Tarik Khan and Andre Carroll have also offered bipartisan legislation to codify the SHARE Program into state law to improve housing for older residents.
Experts repeatedly affirmed housing solutions are necessary considering housing is no longer a side issue, since a growing number of people are negatively affected by the lack of achievable housing. NeighborWorks cited that the average household price point has moved to $198,000, skyrocketing from the average price point of $108,000 only a decade ago. Half of the nation’s renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing and 12 million of those spend 50% or more.
Wednesday’s House Majority Policy hearing featured testimony from James Eash, the director of real estate development at ACTION Housing; Craig Burkley, the COO and CFO at NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania; Angel B. Rodriguez, the executive director and senior vice president of land management at Philadelphia Land Bank.
Information about this hearing and other House Majority Policy Committee hearings can be found at pahouse.com/policy.