Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro unveiled a plan Thursday to boost housing construction and affordability over the next 10 years.
“For too many families in Pennsylvania, housing prices are rising faster than their paychecks and the American dream of owning a home no longer feels possible, but it doesn’t have to be this way,” Shapiro said.
The governor’s 52-page housing plan says more than a quarter of Pennsylvania’s households are overburdened by housing costs, with 1.4 million households spending over 30% of their income on rent or mortgage payments, utilities and related expenses.
More than half of Pennsylvania’s existing housing stock is over 50 years old, making those homes increasingly more expensive to maintain.
And a housing shortage has driven up demand and, in turn, prices. A March report by Pew Charitable Trusts said Pennsylvania’s number of households grew 5.1% from 2017 to 2023, but local governments issued only enough permits to boost the number of housing units by 3.4% in the same span.
Between 2014 and 2023, the median home price across Pennsylvania has risen $75,600 to $240,500 while the median monthly rent has gone up $330 to $1,162, according to Census data cited in the plan.
“This plan meets Pennsylvania’s housing needs head-on — building more homes, cutting red tape, protecting renters and homeowners, and ensuring our commonwealth remains the place for people to put down roots, live with the dignity they deserve and build a future of real opportunity,” Shapiro said.
A cornerstone of Shapiro’s housing plan is a proposal to create a $1 billion critical infrastructure fund with bond money to support construction of new housing and preservation of existing housing.
Money from that fund could also be used to bring new energy onto the power grid and to upgrade schools and municipal facilities, Shapiro said.
If new home construction remains at current levels, Shapiro said Pennsylvania would face a shortage of 185,000 homes by 2035. The plan calls for building 450,000 new housing units by 2035.
“The Critical Infrastructure Fund is a borrowing program outlined by Gov. Shapiro that checks the necessary boxes with progressive members of his party,” said state Senate Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Hempfield. “It does not immediately address housing affordability as it kicks the cost and implementation of the program down the road to a time when we don’t even know if Shapiro will be governor.”
Shapiro is seeking reelection this year and has been widely mentioned as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.
As for the $1 billion price tag, Ward said, “Debt is debt no matter if you borrow it or spend it, and we need to consider what this borrowing program would mean for the bottom line of our Commonwealth.”
The plan also calls for further protections for renters by, among other things, establishing a statewide cap on rental application fees and reforming how and when someone’s criminal history can be considered in rental decisions.
It also would look to limit annual lot rent increases in manufactured home communities, where many residents own their homes but rent the land beneath them, and authorize transfer-on-death deeds for primary residences so property can be passed directly to heirs without a potentially costly and lengthy probate process.
The plan also would create a new position — deputy secretary for housing at the Department of Community and Economic Development — to oversee implementation of the housing plan and would aim to update the Municipalities Planning Code to reduce regulatory hurdles to housing development and improve permitting processes.
