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Anne Danahy
- adanahy@centredaily.comNew houses and apartments continue to pop up in Centre County, but a plentiful supply does not equal affordability.
CDT file photo
According to a county study, 54 percent of renters and 16 percent of homeowners in the Centre Region spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing — the limit of what is considered “affordable.”
The median price of the 44 State College area homes that were sold in October was $199,000, according to the Centre County Association of Realtors. The median sale price for homes in the Centre County area was $169,500.
Rent, driven up in part by 42,000 Penn State students who live on and around the campus, also can be pricey, particularly in the Centre Region. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimates, median rent in the county in 2006 was $702, with a $32 margin of error.
For some, that is too much. Jennifer Michaels, social worker at Centre Volunteers in Medicine, said the cash-strapped, uninsured patients the office sees are often struggling with affordable housing.
“What I see are a lot of people doubling up — adult children living with parents, or parents living with their kids,” Michaels said.
Observations by Michaels and other human service workers are in keeping with the findings of a 2005 housing study the county commissioned. It found, among other things, that the price of homes in the county is too high for many residents to afford.
Since then, the county, municipalities and private developers have been working to identify ways to tackle the problem — establishing a land trust and including work-force housing in
zoning — but it will be a long-term effort.
The county’s largest employers, including Penn State and Mount Nittany Medical Center, are in the Centre Region, where home prices and rent are the highest in the county.
According to a county study, 54 percent of renters and 16 percent of homeowners in the Centre Region spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing — the limit of what is considered “affordable.”
Although real estate prices may be lower in other parts of the county, many people face obstacles looking for affordable housing there as well.
In Penns Valley, for example, 27 percent of renters and homeowners are paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing, according to the county study.
Linda Marshall, county planner and housing coordinator, said the availability of rental housing for seniors, who often prefer renting to maintaining their own home, is a problem in many parts of the county. Some rentals are not in top condition.
“Rentals are important for a couple reasons,” Marshall said. “Not everybody can afford to buy, not everybody wants to buy and not everybody is really in a position to own a home.”
Danyel Woodring, basic needs care manager for the Community Help Centre, said housing costs force many of her clients to move far from their jobs in the Centre Region.
One couple with children, for example, moved to Julian. Rent is lower, but they face higher commuting costs because they can no longer take the bus to their big-box retail store jobs.
“The places around here were unaffordable,” Woodring said. “They can’t afford to pay $700 a month.”
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Centre County faces a similar challenge and often has to turn families away.
“We’ll receive on average 150 to 200 applications to partner with us. Unfortunately we only do about five houses a year. There’s a huge need there, particularly in the Centre Region,” said Tom Mesko, executive director of Habitat.
For people who work in the Centre Region, Mesko said, “having to drive in from Philipsburg or Millheim, especially with today’s gas prices, is a huge burden on today’s families.”
Habitat is working with Centre County Housing and Land Trust on a project that will put two duplexes in Patton Township. The duplexes are being taken away from a College Township lot where a hotel is slated to be built and will be rebuilt at the Mellott Mobile Home Park.
Other affordable housing projects are also under way. Marshall’s office and the Centre Regional Planning Agency are working on developing model regulations that municipalities could adopt to encourage affordable housing. They hope to get a state grant to help cover the project’s costs.
Marshall said several sets of model regulations will be developed to suit the different parts of the county: rural municipalities that are seeing growth, suburban areas and more urban towns such as State College.
One strategy could be letting developers build more units on a lot than they would otherwise be allowed if some units are set aside for “workforce” or affordable housing.
Anne Danahy can be reached at 231-4648. Chris Rosenblum contributed to this report.
