BUSINESS & COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
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Photo Credit: HDC MidAtlantic
Left: Heatherwoods by the Housing Development Corporation near Denver Above: Senior multi-family project by Community Basics in Marietta
to find and keep a decent place to live. Working in a high demand profession and being unable to save enough money for a down payment on a home. Not only having to provide for yourself, but also having to provide dayto-day needs for your family. This isn’t just a hypothetical scenario. For one fellow Lancastrian this was a reality. In the end, through the guidance of local services and resources, she was able to buy a home for her and her three children. Veronica’s story helps shed light on the stark reality that anyone can be impacted by the lack of affordable housing.
WHEN ‘AFFORDABLE’ IS OUT OF REACH
46 | LANCASTERTHRIVING! | Fall/Winter2016
This article highlights and supports the work that’s being done in the community to satisfy the Well Being dimension of our Prosperity Indicators Initiative. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Indicators.
Nearly one in three families (28%) in Lancaster County struggle with finding and keeping affordable housing, which means that those families spend more than 30% of their income on keeping a roof over their heads. [The data in this article is provided by the Coalition for Sustainable Housing, a collaborative initiative comprised of representatives from local organizations, such as Lancaster County Planning Commission, Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership, HDC MidAtlantic and The Lancaster Chamber. The Coalition’s goal is to accomplish an increase in the supply of housing (market rate & affordable) as part of a diverse housing market that contributes to the economic vitality of Lancaster County.] This 28% may be your employees, coworkers or even you. Many of us take for granted having a roof over our heads. It’s not just the unemployed who struggle. Imagine needing to take on a second, or even third job
Lancaster County’s housing stock, characterized by a large number of single-family homes and a scarcity of multifamily rental housing, matches neither the current nor the emerging trends in the marketplace. A countywide Housing Market Analysis (HMA) completed in 2013 found that because of this mismatch of supply and demand, housing costs are increasingly unaffordable across the income spectrum. A Lancaster County resident affected by a lack of affordable housing had this to say, “Affordable is a relative term — what I think is affordable may be different from what other people deem as affordable. It may fit your budget, as limited as it is, but it’s a far cry from where you really want to move to if you had a choice. You wind up being somewhere you have to be, not somewhere you want to be.” The fact is, we are at a critical juncture in our community’s history and we have the ability to choose what type of community we want to be moving forward. The Prosperity Indicators, a partnership between The Lancaster Chamber, Lancaster County Community Foundation, United Way of Lancaster County, County of Lancaster and LNP Media Group, monitors indicator data that will help reach the vision
LancasterChamber.com
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