We need a holistic approach to York County’s housing crisis | opinion

Last month, data from real estate aggregator Redfin identified York County’s housing market as the fastest selling market in the entire nation, with homes lasting a median of just six days on the market before being snatched up.

That furious sales pace is just one data point of many suggesting that York County is in the midst of a housing crisis. Anyone who has attempted to buy or rent a home in the last few years can likely share horror stories of multiple offers, escalating prices and a scarcity of options. But the structural issues that have led to our current housing issues go much deeper—and with much more dire consequences—than we typically acknowledge.

Earlier this month, the York County Economic Alliance and a coalition of housing stakeholders released the county’s first comprehensive “Housing Needs and Conditions Assessment” to document the realities of the housing market. The study examines the state of the residential real estate market, the trajectory of housing prices, and the quality and location of our housing stock. The study goes further, however, in documenting who bears the burden of a tight housing market, how land use planning and zoning affect development, where housing is affordable and unaffordable in York County, the impact of these issues on our county’s economic competitiveness —and much more. This work is a direct byproduct of York County’s ten-year Economic Action Plan, developed and adopted by our county government in 2020.

The following are a few major findings, which in the coming year will inform the development of a housing “action plan” to help address some of the weaknesses and capitalize upon opportunities, in our housing market:

York County residents experience widespread housing cost burden

Nearly half of all renters and more than a quarter of all households in York County are considered cost burdened, meaning they spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent or mortgage. The increased cost of housing is pushing many York families to the brink of—or into—poverty, despite working full-time jobs.

This hasn’t always been the case. Median household income has increased 24 percent in the last decade, but during roughly the same period the median York County home increased 131% in sale price. This means county residents’ actual home buying power has decreased substantially, even before factoring in temporary mortgage rate increases. As a result, reaching homeownership status has consistently become more difficult for more York Countians, despite it being one of the primary means of wealth creation.

Housing cost burden is especially high for Black and Latino households. Today, York County residents need to make a household income of at least $74,000 to afford the average home in York County, which costs about $245,000. The median Hispanic or Latino household income is $47,527, while the median Black household earns $49,552. This means that inflated housing costs disproportionately affect people of color and low-income individuals, including the roughly 40 percent of recent migrants to York County who live at or below the poverty threshold. Attaining shelter forces these families to take on unsustainable housing burden at the cost of other basic needs.

We can’t blame Baltimore

Most inbound residential migration to York County comes from surrounding counties—not Maryland. In fact, we lose more residents to Maryland each year than we gain. We also found that the old trope of people leaving York for Lancaster is not true. More people have moved to York County from Lancaster County than vice versa in recent years. We lose more people to Cumberland and Adams counties and counties in northern Maryland than we do to our eastern neighbor.  Most movers to York County are heading to the City of York, Dillsburg, Hanover, New Freedom, and Red Lion, which has put pressure on the housing market in those areas.

Residential-zoned land is scarce

We have approximately 11,355 acres of vacant residential land (out of 223,500 total acres) but that available land is divided into 3,643 parcels. Only a handful of those parcels—representing just 149 total acres—are more than 10 acres in size. Furthermore, most of the available residential land falls outside of established growth areas, where jobs, transportation, infrastructure, and other services and amenities are available.

York County has ample agricultural land, including 6,848 parcels composed of 10 or more acres. This land could be rezoned for residential development, which is why many residents fear housing development will mean loss of the county’s rural character. Yet with more than 60,000 acres of preserved open space and farmland in the county—and a goal to preserve an additional 2,500 acres per year—there is ample opportunity for rezoning in a manner than creates opportunities for residential development while maintaining our open space and farmland.

Our county needs dense residential development within our boroughs and other growth areas

York County’s boroughs are our historic population centers. They have experienced decades of population decline, with the result that most have available properties and land to host new residential development. But a variety of factors conspire to prevent new residential development, including zoning, codes, and NIMBYism. Proposals for multi-unit residential developments—including several proposals within the past few months—have been met with a strong backlash, even though York County has far fewer apartment complexes than surrounding counties. York County lags Lancaster County in every type of multi-family housing—from apartment complexes with 20 or more units to two-unit duplexes. Similarly, we need to continue housing development and rehabilitation in the City of York. Over the past ten years, we’ve added more than 1,000 new residential units within York City, helping to drive population and commercial growth in our County seat. And yet, demands for new housing remains high.

Looking to the future

Ultimately, the perhaps unpopular truth is that we need more residential development throughout York County. The challenging opportunity is to develop that new housing in such a way that it provides residents with high-quality homes without sacrificing open space, agricultural heritage or our quality of life. We need an all-of-the-abovestrategy to support housing affordability and attainability across demographics, incomes and geography.

Our findings suggest the need for a holistic housing policy that reflects the links between supply and demand between the various housing segments and the implications for housing burden across the housing spectrum. While it may seem counterintuitive to address affordable housing by expanding the supply of single-family homes, our report suggests that what happens in single family home construction has a ripple effect across the rental market and has implications for housing access in general. Likewise, ensuring lower income households have access to high-quality, attainable housing lessens the pressure on other parts of the housing market and creates clearer pathways to future housing stability and potential homeownership.

Our stakeholders in this study represent the diversity of the housing market, including affordable housing advocates, market-rate developers, realtors, planners, mortgage brokers and government at all levels. We will continue this cross-market collaboration through the second phase of our work, which will unfold over the course of the next year and begin to develop specific actions to address troubling findings in the report.

There are complex challenges ahead, but at the heart of all housing work is a focus on providing real people—our friends, family, coworkers, and fellow community members — the dignity of safe and secure housing that meets their needs. And when that happens with more regularity, it benefits all of us.

To view a copy of the countywide housing report and the York County Economic Action Plan, visit www.yorkcountyeap.org.

Silas Chamberlin is chief strategy officer at the York County Economic Alliance.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: We need a holistic approach to York County, Pa.'s housing crisis