Indicators 2024: Assessment examines housing needs in Luzerne County

WILKES-BARRE — Jill Avery-Stoss, director of operations at The Institute, said this week that The Institute’s Housing Task Force conducted a needs assessment in response to the changing housing landscape in Luzerne County.

According to Avery-Stoss, rising costs and a growing population are putting pressure on the existing housing stock, which is also quite outdated. In addition to a market analysis, which examines home values ​​in communities where most sales are concentrated, the study focuses on issues such as ownership, vacancy and zoning.

“Tenure refers to owner occupancy and tenant occupancy,” Avery-Stoss said. “Forecasts for each property type indicated that there will be — at a minimum — 288 more owner-occupied units in demand by 2027. The maximum forecast exceeded 1,000 new units. At least 756 additional rental units will be needed, and that demand could grow exponentially.”

Vacancy rates vary by property type. Avery-Stoss said detached single-family homes are much less likely to be vacant than attached and other homes, accounting for 67.6 percent of occupied homes but only 44.6 percent of vacant homes. Luzerne County’s abandoned property rate is significantly higher than the state’s, at 52.7 percent compared to 43.55 percent.

“When we looked at the age of the county’s housing stock, we saw a rural-urban divide,” Avery-Stoss added. “Homes in the county’s four cities tend to be older than homes in other areas. The percentage of homes built before 1960 in the cities ranges from 63.9% to 67.8%, while homes in the county as a whole built before 1960 make up only 26.6%. The county’s smaller and most rural communities have the lowest percentages of older homes.”

Zoning and planning codes also add complexity to the housing situation. Of the 76 municipalities in the county, 56 have adopted their own zoning ordinances, leaving the remaining 20 under the county ordinance. This means that the county has 57 zoning ordinances and systems. Each of these codes has different districts and permitted uses in each district, which creates confusion and can deter developers. For this reason, zoning reform could be beneficial.

One possible solution is for local municipalities to repeal their ordinances and return to county ordinance to reduce the number of ordinances. Elected officials in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties could also form a Regional Planning Commission (RPC). This RPC could standardize zoning and land use in the region. In addition to reducing the number of ordinances, standardization could be helpful. Currently, district designations vary widely.

Adaptive reuse is another possible solution. Due to the region’s important industrial past, there are many empty factories, warehouses, and other facilities. Several communities have had success converting buildings like these into residential or mixed-use spaces that can provide housing while also fostering business development.

“Funding for the success of these alternative housing projects can be generated by entities such as public banks and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs),” Avery-Stoss said. “They function as investment funds, which can offer loans and other financial products and services, but operate as nonprofit organizations that serve specific missions. As such, they can fund projects that may not have the revenue potential that private organizations desire.”

The Luzerne County Housing Study was funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.