Advocates, Lawmakers Plan for a Busy Year Ahead in Housing

In the company town once known for its employer-provided housing and self-sustaining community, housing advocates and professionals gathered in Hershey last week for the annual Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania’s Homes Within Reach conference. 

A myriad of panels, breakout sessions, and luncheons featured a range of topics and organizations, including the Pennsylvania Land Bank Network, Lehigh University’s Small Cities Lab, and YIGBY (Yes, in God’s Backyard), as well as strategy sessions on messaging and policy. 

Rev. Lindsey Altvater Clifton, associate pastor for Justice and Community Impact at First Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem, speaks about their vision for housing on a church site.

The current housing market is a far cry from Milton Hershey’s company town model, evidenced by recent figures that have become all too familiar: 

• Street homelessness is up 18 percent over last year, according to the Point in Time count. 

• In Pennsylvania alone, an estimated 50,000 students lack a regular, safe home. 

• A million and a half Pennsylvanians are paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing – a figure that has doubled since 1960 (according to Pew). 

• In York County, for example, 1-out-of-3 residents between ages 20-34 are neither renters nor homeowners. Many continue to live with their parents. 

Yet, we have opportunities: 

• An estimated 250,000 parcels of abandoned or blighted properties exist across our 67 counties (there is no official inventory). 

• Governor Josh Shapiro is expected to release a Statewide Action Plan on housing, possibly in January. Secretary Val Arkoosh, a former Montgomery County Commissioner and current head of the PA Department of Human Services, said the plan will be able to “move the ball forward in a very impactful way.” 

• Advocates, developers, and leaders in government are working with the PA Housing Choices Coalition on a package of reform bills to create more housing for all income levels by creating statewide, consistent standards that will allow more homes to be built. According to Gov. Shapiro, our state needs at least another 100,000 homes and apartments just to keep up with demand. 

In 2026, Harrisburg will certainly have housing-focused legislation to bring to the floor to help ameliorate this crisis. In the House committee on Housing & Community Development, there are currently 51 bills on their table (another 20 have been voted on at the committee level since the 2025-26 session began). Several of these bills address standardizing land use and zoning regulations. For instance, one idea from Rep. John Inglis III would allow duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes across the state wherever land is zoned for single-family detached dwellings. 

Sen. Tim Kearney, a trained architect from Delaware County, said during one conference panel: “The housing shortage is everyone’s problem to solve.” 

Future legislation also addresses matters that are typically seen as falling under “local municipal control.” The commonwealth has approximately 2,560 townships and boroughs. 

We simply cannot afford to be “waiting for the neighboring municipality to do the right thing,” Kearney said. His colleague, Lancaster’s Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El (who joined Montco 30% at our 2023 kickoff rally), agreed and noted that the “iron is hot” to take action in 2026. Republican Rep. Tim Twardzik, of Schuylkill County, joined the panel and noted that he is working on forming a bipartisan housing caucus. 

From left: Sen. David Argall, Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El, Rep. Tim Twardzik, and Sen. Tim Kearney spoke during a lunch panel on Dec. 4, 2025 in Hershey.

Citizens should call and email their representatives about housing challenges they are facing, Smith-Wade-El said. Out of all the constituent contacts his office receives, he estimates about 10 percent pertain to housing – a figure that should be much higher. 

“You need to force their attention,” Kearney added. 

The effects of people leaving the state for better affordability elsewhere should appeal to all lawmakers’ sense of “naked provincialism,” Smith-Wade-El said. Losing college graduates and other people could cost Pennsylvania a congressional seat or two in the future. 

Typically, the process of reapportionment takes place following the decennial Census. In a state with a governor that may have eyes on a presidential bid in 2028, declining population would not be a good look. 

Later this week, we will report on a new strategy for managing homeless encampments. The Housing Alliance recently publicized a “Comprehensive Strategy for the Safe and Dignified Closure of Encampments.”