Lebanon County Housing Needs Assessment Report
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, increasing access to affordable housing correlates directly with economic growth. Research shows that the shortage of affordable housing costs the American economy about $2 trillion a year in lower wages and productivity. Additionally affordable housing is the most cost-effective strategy for reducing childhood poverty, Stanford economist Raj Chetty found that children who moved to lower poverty neighborhoods saw their earnings as adults increase by almost 31%. Children in stable affordable homes are more likely to thrive in school and have greater opportunities to learn inside and outside the classroom. It is important we begin to understand how affordable housing strategies can be made in Pennsylvania.
The Lebanon County Coalition to End Homelessness retained Bowen National Research in September of 2022 for the purpose of conducting a Housing Needs Assessment of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. With changing demographic and employment characteristics and trends expected over the years ahead, it is important for the local government, stakeholders and its citizens to understand the current market conditions and projected changes that are anticipated to occur that will influence future housing needs. Toward that end, this report intends to:
Provide an overview of present-day Lebanon County.
Present and evaluate past, current and projected detailed demographic characteristics.
Present and evaluate employment characteristics and trends, as well as the economic drivers impacting the area.
Determine current characteristics of major housing components within the market (for-sale/ownership and rental housing alternatives).
Evaluate ancillary factors that affect housing market conditions and development (e.g., commuting/migration patterns, transportation analysis, community services, housing conditions/blight, development costs, and special needs populations).
Provide housing gap estimates by tenure (renter and owner) and income segment.
Collect input from community members including area stakeholders, employers, and residents/commuters in the form of online surveys.
By accomplishing the study’s objectives, government officials, area stakeholders, and area employers can: (1) better understand the county’s evolving housing market, (2) establish housing priorities, (3) modify or expand local government housing policies, and (4) enhance and/or expand the county’s housing market to meet current and future housing needs.