Delaware Progress Provides a Model

My parents, born in the 1950s, are pretty typical Americans. They purchased a home in the suburbs, helped put their four kids through college, and saved a little bit for retirement. And like so many Americans, they rely more on Social Security to get by than they probably thought they would when they were at their peak of earning potential. 

Mike with his parents in 2024.

As a result, their search for an affordable apartment – a place that doesn’t consume more than half of their income – has been elusive, until recently. As a nation, we are still digging out of a production shortage, with 2.5 million more homes/apartments needed every year, according to the Home Builders Association of Montgomery & Bucks counties. 

That is one reason why the average price of a new single-family home in this country is $721,600. My dad, a retired finish carpenter, used to help build many of the single-family subdivisions that dot Montgomery County – from Collegeville to Gwynedd Valley. The construction of multi-family apartments lagged behind for decades, which has led to the crunch for renters. More than half of Montgomery County’s renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing, according to a county report. 

“When people have a home they can afford, everything good flows from that” 

On an April evening last year in Milton, Delaware, the town’s planning and zoning commission took an action that will help reshape my parents’ “golden years.” The commission members approved a conditional use application for Cypress Grove to designate 36 apartments in the new development as “workforce housing.”

Located off Route 16, Cypress Grove will soon open 246 units of one, two, and three-bedroom apartment homes. Who is going to live there, you ask?

Besides my parents on the second floor, “It’s going to be teachers. It’s going to be policemen. Half the service-level employees that live in Sussex County, particularly in their younger years, are going to qualify for this housing. If you go to a restaurant and wonder why they don’t have enough cooks or have enough wait staff available, it’s because we don’t have housing like this available to them,” developer Preston Schell told the commission (as reported in the Cape Gazette). 

According to the newspaper, the workforce housing change has its roots in the Delaware State Housing Authority’s Mixed Income Market Fund, which the state established using $7 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The fund is intended to encourage developers to provide affordable housing units by providing financing for the development of those units. Projects must be approved by the local jurisdiction and already under construction, for which Cypress Grove qualifies in both cases. A developer must commit to having at least five affordable units with a maximum of 15% of the units being affordable.

In exchange, developers would be able to receive financing of up to $125,000 per one-bedroom unit, $135,000 per two-bedroom unit, and $150,000 per three-bedroom unit. 

Cypress Grove was already approved for 240 units comprising 144 multi-family homes and 96 townhouse units in 14 apartment-style buildings with 12 to 24 units in each building, along with 5 acres of commercial property fronting Route 16.

Density and Nimby 

Based on a quick review of local reporting in Milton, it does not appear that there was much organized opposition to Cypress Grove, although one resident stated that housing should not come at the expense of woodlands and farmland. The development has the political support of the council and mayor, who approved the annexation of land from just outside the town’s boundaries to make the development possible. 

Back in Pennsylvania, we know that local proposals for attainable/workforce/affordable housing are often met with pushback from the Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) forces. In places like West Norriton, Upper Gwynedd, and Lower Providence, arguments against include traffic, changes in community “character,” and density. 

Chris Canavan, president of WB Homes and a Lower Salford supervisor, joked at a recent HBA legislative breakfast that George Carlin's eighth “dirty word” is density. He said when he asks those in opposition to housing developments just how much density is too much, they give all kinds of answers. 

“One is too much (density),” in some cases, Canavan recalled. 

Sen. Tim Kearney pointed out during the breakfast that comprehensive zoning reform would help. The “missing middle” is a huge issue, he said, adding that we need to “shift the paradigm” of what is considered a quality home. Fellow Sen. Greg Rothman, a Republican, is working with Kearney on solutions. The Pennsylvania Housing Choices Coalition has grown in recent years and is supporting legislation to accomplish Kearney’s goals. 

PA Sen. Tim Kearney, a former architect, represents the 26th District (Delco) in Harrisburg.

Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) was the keynote speaker and stressed the importance of compromise to move the needle on housing, reminding listeners that “80 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing.” 

“When people have a home they can afford, everything good flows from that,” Fitzpatrick said. 

My parents would agree.