Ethan Demme

Thoughts and Policy for Building a Better Pennsylvania

Affordable Housing Keeps Republicans Politically Active

As an elected Republican in Lancaster County, I spent a lot of my time thinking about regulatory reform. I work hard to strip back burdensome government regulation and restrictive zoning, allowing the market to respond to the needs of buyers and developers while still providing accountability and oversight to keep people safe. As it turns out, not only is getting rid of restrictive zoning a bipartisan solution to the housing crisis, it can also strengthen political engagement and keep Republican voters loyal to the party.

Citylab reports on a study by Stanford University political scientists Andrew Hall and Jesse Yoder which finds that “homeownership is a significant factor in political participation, both national and local.” More specifically, after analyzing detailed local and national election data for more than 18 million voters in Ohio and North Carolina, the researchers found that “owning a home causes a striking 35 percent increase in turnout in local primaries.” The effect of homeowning on voter behavior is even pronounced when tied to specific policy issues: for example, “zoning issues have the largest effect, increasing turnout by roughly 75 percent.” In addition to zoning, aggregation issues also drive civic engagement: Citylab explains: “these are votes on whether the community should negotiate rates for public utilities, like electricity, collectively.” And of course, “homeowners are also more likely to turn out for measures that are related to public safety, schools, kids, and seniors.”

Unfortunately, the political stances that homeowners take are often a leading cause of the affordable housing crisis. Yet another study found that homeowning voters in the Boston area “overwhelmingly (and to a much greater degree than the general public) oppose new housing construction.” And it is noted that “these participatory inequalities have important policy implications and may be contributing to rising housing costs.” In other words, while it is praiseworthy that homeowners are civically informed and active, it is concerning that the restrictive zoning they often seek to implement creates artificial barriers on the market and drives up the cost of housing.

Restrictive zoning doesn’t just lead to housing inequality: it also turns red-voting regions blue. A study published in the journal Political Geography has found that places with restrictive land-use regulation tend to become more Democratic. A CityLab article explains that “the study, by political scientist Jason Sorens of Dartmouth College, finds that land-use restrictions gradually tilt places leftward—not just by attracting more highly-educated Democrats, but even more so by repelling non-college-educated workers who have become more Republican over time.”

I think the research is clear. If we want strong civic engagement in our local elections, we need to make home ownership a possibility for more people. And if we want to retain the Republican vote, we need to retain the Republican voter by removing unnecessary zoning regulations and allowing developers to build more affordable housing.

(To read more about affordable housing in Lancaster County, click here.)

Affordable Housing in Lancaster County

One of the biggest economic challenges facing Americans is the increasing lack of affordable housing. This challenge is present nationwide but the root causes can often differ by location because both state and local policy can have a direct effect on the availability of affordable housing.

In an editorial for LancasterOnline, Tom Baldrige, President & CEO of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, addressed the lack of affordable housing in Lancaster County. Baldrige noted that “permits for multi-housing developments and vacancy rates for homes and rental units are way below the national and state averages, while single-family housing permits only mirror national averages.” Baldrige explained that “these factors show the making of an incredibly tight housing/rental market that could render affordable housing all but impossible” which would “significantly impact our ability to grow our population and meet the workforce demands of the future.”

The lack of affordable housing in Lancaster County is particularly challenging for renters. LancasterOnline analyzed a 2018 report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition which paints a dismal picture for most locations in the US, including Lancaster County. LancasterOnline reports that “The estimated average wage for renters here is $13.24 an hour. But a person would have to earn 44 percent more — $19.12 — to afford a typical two-bedroom apartment in the county.” To give an even more micro-scale snapshot of income/living costs, MIT has created a free online tool called the Living Wage Calculator. This calculator allows you to select both state and county and then to see what wage is needed under a variety of household conditions, including the number of working adults working (and whether full time or part-time) and the number of children. For example, this calculator suggests that a household with two working adults and two children, the living wage would be $15.47.  

While the Coalition’s report is a helpful resource, much of the media coverage has not been duly critical of it. Christian Britschgi, writing for Reason.com, highlights a few shortcomings of the report. For example, Britschgi draws attention to how the report “measures the price of units by looking at units priced in the 40th percentile of rents.” The report fails to mention, however, that minimum wage earns “have the option of shopping for the 40 percent of units that costs less than that, however.” In addition, the report assumes one worker per rental arrangement but doesn’t recognize that many people often split rent with a partner or roommates.

The most important point in Britschgi’s analysis is that an often overlooked cause of the housing shortage is burdensome zoning laws. “In Los Angeles, some 57 percent of residential areas are zoned exclusively for single-family homes. In growing Seattle, it’s 69 percent. In San Jose, three-quarters of residential land is restricted to just single-family homes.” The key point to recognize from each of these case studies is that “preventing the construction of cheaper, multi-family units predictably raise prices.” In light of this, Britschgi recommends that policymakers “focus on deregulating land use as much as possible so that a wide variety of housing options can be built as quickly and inexpensively as possible.”

One possible solution to the challenges detailed above is to encourage the building and usage of Accessory Dwelling Units. ADUs, which include models like turning a basement or garage into a fully furnished apartment, allow everyday homeowners to supplement their income by renting to those in need of more affordable housing. As I argued in this article on tiny houses and regulation: “the market tells us that people want more options. When demand goes up, people could monetize empty space on their property. Let’s remove some of the government regulations and let people choose what they do with their own properties.”

If you want to learn more about Accessory Dwelling Units and my vision for how ADUs can help us usher in opportunities for homeowners and renters, check out this article.

I’ve also written a policy brief designed for lawmakers which you can access here.

The Case for Accessory Dwelling Units

CC BY 2.0 by @paytonc

Accessory Dwelling Units have gotten a lot of publicity in recent years, due in large part to the Tiny Houses movement. Often valued for their trendiness and novelty, ADUs are becoming an important alternative to standard housing. And while Tiny Houses are one form of ADUs, they are not the only or even the most important one. Common models for ADUs include turning a basement or garage into a fully furnished apartment or building a cottage in a spacious backyard. ADUs allow renters to find more affordable housing options and allow homeowners to generate additional revenue by charging rent.

One significant reason that ADUs have become more popular is that demographic shifts have created a market demand for multi-generational housing. Pew Research Center reports that as of 2016, 1-in-5 Americans live in a multi-generational home, for a record-setting number of 16million people. This report notes that “the number and share of Americans living in these households increased sharply during and immediately after the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Since then, growth has slowed a little but has remained much more rapid than the growth before the recession.” An especially dramatic finding of this report is that “young adults have been the age group most likely to live in multigenerational households” whereas previously it was adults age 85 or older. Pew found that “among 25- to 29-year-olds in 2016, 33% were residents of such households.” Even more strikingly, “among a broader group of young adults, those ages 18 to 34, living with parents surpassed other living arrangements in 2014 for the first time in more than 130 years.”

Another important reason that more attention is being paid to ADUs is that our economic situation in the United States presents us with some challenges. Here’s a quick snapshot of where we are as a nation: affordable housing is increasingly hard to find in some locations; the Boomers are retiring without adequate savings; public funding is being stretched as the workforce producing tax revenue shrinks, and all the while a new generation of school children are in need of education funding. It’s worth exploring this impending crisis in more detail.  

A Nationwide Housing Crisis:

You’ve likely seen headlines like these: “A minimum-wage worker can’t afford a 2-bedroom apartment anywhere in the U.S., report finds.” The report in question, Out of Reach 2018, was published by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and it has generated a lot of buzz in local and national newspapers. The report details how across the United States “renters with the lowest incomes face the greatest challenge in finding affordable housing.” (To read my analysis of the housing crisis in Lancaster County, click here.)

An article in Curbed.com explains that this lack of affordable housing is leading to less geographic mobility, less creation of new businesses, an increasing concentration of wealth and opportunities in a select few regions of the country, and an increasing burden on young adults attempting to begin their adult life. In other words, the affordable housing crisis functions as a vicious cycle of cause and symptom in a broader economic emergency.

Boomers are Retiring, The Workforce is Shrinking, and the K-12 Population is Expanding:

The Boomers are retiring, but they are worse off financially than the previous generation, a phenomenon that upends recent history and recalls the days of the Truman presidency. The Wall Street Journal reports that “more than 40% of households headed by people aged 55 through 70 lack sufficient resources to maintain their living standard in retirement.” That 40% designates approximately 15 million American households. At the same time, there is a dearth of working-age adults to support the entitlement programs (Social Security and the like) to support the retiring Boomers.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, sobering analysis from the Foundation for Excellence in Education details how this surge in retirement is dovetailing with an uptick in the K-12 population, portending fierce funding battles between retirees and school districts at the local, state, and federal levels. The boomers are retiring, many of them don’t have the financial resources to support themselves in their retirement, and there simply won’t be enough public funding to address the shortfalls.

Given both the demographic changes and the economic challenges, the market demand for ADUs will likely continue to increase. This article explores the benefits of ADUs and the obstacles preventing their development and argues for why we should promote ADUs as a viable housing option.

The Benefits:

The White House toolkit on ADUs explores several broad economic benefits from ADU development including:

  • Housing regulation that allows supply to respond elastically to demand helps cities protect homeowners and home values while maintaining housing affordability.
  • Regions are better able to compete in the contemporary economy when their housing
  • development is allowed to meet local needs.
  • Smart housing regulation optimizes transportation system use, reduces commute times, and increases use of public transit, biking and walking.
  • Modern approaches to zoning can also reduce economic and racial segregation.

In addition to these macro-scale benefits, ADUs are beneficial to everyday homeowners and renters. These benefits include the following:

  • Homeowners can:
    • provide aging adults with living space that is nearby but that still maintains the standard of independence they have grown accustomed to.
    • provide their adult children with a living arrangement that allows them to experience independence and autonomy without crippling them financially.
    • increase equity in their property and generate additional income by renting to non-related individuals and families.
  • Renters can:
    • Choose housing that meets their changing needs; smaller households, increased housing cost, availability of work
    • Choose environmentally friendly housing options with a smaller average space per person and a lighter ecological impact.
    • Find affordable housing, including rent that is at below-market rates.
    • Have the opportunity to interact with neighbors that they might not otherwise have regular contact with, for example, if the homeowner is a family, an older couple, etc..

In addition to the quantifiable economic advantages of ADUs listed above, there are important qualitative benefits as well. For example, I am a huge advocate for inter-generational learning: I think that grandparents and older adults have a lot they can teach younger generations, and also a lot they can learn from them. ADUs can allow multiple generations to live and close proximity with each other, facilitating opportunities to bond and to learn from and with each other. (Check out my blog series on intergenerational learning.)

The Obstacles:

In Coppage’s report which I cited earlier, he lists a number of obstacles that hinder the creation and use of ADUs. These obstacles include:

  • Structural regulations (including parking space requirements)
  • Size regulations
  • City service fees and regulations, including for extending utility services like electricity
  • Local government barriers, including prohibitions on kitchen facilities
  • Occupancy restrictions, whether mandating owner occupancy or prescribing who or who cannot rent a unit.

Conclusion:

At a time when our nation faces severe economic challenges and a dire housing crisis, support for ADU development is blossoming into a bipartisan cause. States like California and cities like Portland and Seattle are already seeing the benefits of removing outdated zoning law and overbearing regulation. As I stated in an interview with Lancaster Online, “the market tells us that people want more options. When demand goes up, people could monetize empty space on their property. Let’s remove some of the government regulations and let people choose what they do with their own properties.”

The future of ADUs in America looks promising. ADUs can aid multigenerational families, provide affordable rates to renters, and let homeowners leverage their biggest asset for revenue. By working together on the local and state level, we can build more flexible housing markets, more diverse communities, and a more resilient American economy.

Recommended Resources:

  • Jonathan Coppage’s report for R Street: link
  • The Urban Land Institute’s case study exploring ADUs in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver: link
  • The White House ADU toolkit: link
  • The City of Santa Cruz’s extensive ADU How-To Manual: link

Public Events Announced for the Lancaster Active Transportation Plan

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Here is some information about upcoming public events in Lancaster from a press release regarding the Lancaster Active Transportation Plan. 

The Lancaster County Planning Commission, the City of Lancaster, and the Lancaster Intermunicpal Committee announce a series of upcoming events for the public to review, comment, and learn more about plans to encourage cycling and walking throughout the county. The Lancaster Active Transportation Plan is a joint effort by all three entities to work together to build a network of offroad and on-road cycling facilities as well as expand the system of sidewalks and trails in urban, suburban and rural areas. The network would be designed for both recreation purposes and commuting to and from work. In addition, the plan will seek to coordinate bike and pedestrian facilities with mass transit service provided by RRTA to provide flexibility and alternatives to driving automobiles for short trips.

Active transportation has enormous impacts on both personal health and the quality of life in our communities. Walking and biking reduces the levels of obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stress levels and depression. This results in lower healthcare costs for everyone. Active transportation cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change. It can be financially beneficial too. On average, it costs $6,000-$8,000 per year to own and operate a motor vehicle, but only $150 per year for a bicycle. It reduces air pollutants, noise pollution and congestion. And finally, active transportation can help build stronger communities by increasing contact between neighbors and having more “eyes on the street.”

There are three upcoming events for the public to participate in the planning process. All three events will include general information about the Active Transpiration Plan, but each will have a different focus. The events are as follows:

  • Proposed “Goat Path” Trail Open House – Tuesday, April 25th, from 3-5:00 PM, at the Upper Leacock Township War Memorial Building (54 W. Main Street, Leola, PA 17540). This event will focus on the “Goat Path” trail section of the proposed Greater Lancaster Heritage Pathway. This proposed trail project runs from Bareville to Lancaster General Health’s Suburban Pavilion.
  • Trails and Greenways Open House – Tuesday, April 25th, from 5-7:00 PM at the Lancaster City Council Chambers (120 N Duke Street, Lancaster, PA 17603). This event will focus on some of the featured trails and greenways in the Active Transportation Plan such as Lancaster City’s NE Greenway section of the Greater Lancaster Heritage Pathway and the Engleside Greenway.
  • Lancaster Active Transportation Plan Open Studio – Wednesday, April 26th, from 9:00 AM – Noon, at the Lancaster City Council Chambers (120 N Duke Street, Lancaster, PA 17603). This event will focus on the process of developing the Lancaster Active Transportation Plan and its status.

For more information about the Lancaster Active Transportation Plan, go to www.LancasterATP.com

Pedal to Preserve 2017: Farmland Preservation Trust

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Did you know that Lancaster County is home to 425,336 acres of farmland spread out over 5,462 farms? According to the Lancaster Farmland Trust, “Lancaster County’s farmland and the industry it supports provide more than 51,000 jobs and contribute more than $4 billion to our local economy each year.”

On June 3, 2017, the Trust will host the Pedal to Preserve, a bike ride to raise money in support of the Trust’s conservation work. The event included three marked routes allowing participants to choose between 6, 20, and 51 mile rides through Lancaster County’s pastoral countryside.

The Trust was established in 1985 and its mission is to “preserve and steward the beautiful, productive farmland of Lancaster County that reflects our heritage, supports our economy, protects our environment, nourishes our health, and enhances our quality of life.” The Trust website explains that:

Land conservation offers many benefits to the community, including attracting jobs, enhancing property values, safeguarding a valuable way of life for future generations, ensuring an adequate, fresh food supply, and protecting the quality of the environment.

To learn more about preserving Lancaster County’s farmland, and to sign up for this years, Pedal to Preserve, visit the Trust’s website here.

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