Across the political spectrum, Pennsylvania\u2019s leaders have repeatedly identified the ongoing housing shortage as one of the biggest hurdles for the commonwealth\u2019s economic growth.<\/p>\n
A recent study<\/a> from George Mason University\u2019s Mercatus Center specifically identifies state and local regulations as a factor adding \u201ctime, cost and uncertainty\u201d to the homebuilding process, which were the topic of a Thursday hearing before state House Republicans. <\/p>\n MORE:\u00a0Atlantic expected to see below-average hurricane activity this season, NOAA says<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHousing prices are rising, inventory remains tight and the cost of building new homes has increased significantly over the last decade,\u201d said Rep. David Rowe (R-Union). \u201cAnd part of that challenge is supply, but a lot of it is also the process.\u201d<\/p>\n The state\u2019s more than 2,600 municipalities each have different zoning rules and permitting requirements, adding to a process that put Pennsylvania near the bottom<\/a> of a national ranking for new homes built between 2017 and 2023. <\/p>\n According to Pew, which created the list, housing costs \u2014 including rent \u2014 rose faster in the commonwealth than in New York City and its suburbs, though the overall price tag is still lower. Outside of single-family homes, zoning restrictions on denser options like apartments, townhomes and accessory dwelling units were identified as a hurdle. <\/p>\n House Democrats have advanced their own measures tackling the issue<\/a>, sending some proposals to senators earlier this month for further consideration. Republicans, on the other hand, have lasered in on regulatory hurdles.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like you\u2019re going to put a tiny home in everyone\u2019s backyard,\u201d said Rep. Tom Jones (R-Lancaster). \u201cWe can allow for it \u2026 but there are so many other factors that are going to come into play.\u201d<\/p>\n Builder Randy Hess, the president of Lancaster-based Hess Homes, LLC, identified problems with getting \u201capprovals from up to 11 regulatory bodies,\u201d saying \u201cif a project is approved in under two years, that is currently considered a win on the development side.\u201d <\/p>\n A focus on stormwater infrastructure<\/p>\n And while Hess pointed to consultant use at the municipality level as an added cost burden, he said navigating stormwater management was more costly for homebuilding. <\/p>\n \u201cIn some cases, storm water infrastructure costs exceed that of all core utility and paving costs combined,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifies stormwater runoff<\/a> as \u201ca major cause of water pollution in urban areas,\u201d describing the need for engineered collection systems to discharge water and prevent flooding on surfaces like roads and parking lots. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) oversees state laws related to stormwater management, attempting to control the amount of pollution sent into the commonwealth\u2019s rivers and lakes.<\/p>\n Critics say that DEP has the option to waive permits for projects up to five acres if certain requirements are met under federal law, but instead has a lower threshold of one acre. Meeting permitting requirements can take months and cost more than $35,000, according to a legislative memo<\/a> seeking to implement the five-acre minimum.<\/p>\n Hess said requiring each site to meet water quality standards, rather than at a common offsite location, pushed costs up, making it prohibitively expensive to build.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been a fairly harsh critic of DEP over the stormwater management requirements,\u201d he added. \u201cWe all want water quality. There are ways to do it much more efficiently that I think DEP should examine, rather than trying to achieve their water quality standards on site \u2014 which I would argue (have a) minimal, if any, environmental benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n He went on to praise the agency\u2019s floodplain restoration program, which he described as a replacement for traditional stormwater management for some projects. After completing his first one, he called himself \u201ca huge fan\u201d of the alternative. <\/p>\n Reducing \u201coverly burdensome construction regulations\u201d and reforming permitting, including stormwater oversight, is a pillar of the commonwealth\u2019s new Housing Action Plan<\/a>, and DEP has been a target for fast tracking its processing. <\/p>\n Last year, a concentrated effort<\/a> reduced the agency\u2019s permit backlog to zero, and leaders launched the Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) program to reduce waits. The first approved SPEED permit for a new housing development in York was approved in November and took 51 days, according to the agency.<\/p>\n That 51-day period included 30 days for public comment and was \u201cless than half the time\u201d allotted for reviewing a specific type of stormwater management permit.<\/p>\n More challenges ahead for homebuilding<\/p>\n Long term, builders identified staff recruitment as a concern.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest bottleneck that I see \u2026 is being able to have construction expertise \u2014 general contractors, subcontractors \u2014 while maintaining the goal of attainability for these structures,\u201d said Mario Mascioli, owner of Acorn Built Homes.<\/p>\n Acorn Built Homes specializes in additions and accessory dwelling units, which Pew notes are either forbidden or made cost prohibitive<\/a> in Pennsylvania by local zoning rules. Lehigh County, for example, has a 1,000 square-foot minimum while Cambria County\u2019s limit is 800 square feet.<\/p>\n Standard models can be as small as 240 square feet, Mascioli added, or as large as 1,200 square feet, depending on a number of factors.<\/p>\n Mascioli said he got more than 200 inquiries per month, but that his company could grow \u201cif the regulatory environment were more pragmatically favorable.\u201d <\/p>\n But the state, and the rest of the country, has a shortage of construction workers \u2014 1 in 5 workers are over the age of 55<\/a>, and the percentage of aging professionals is increasing. Nationwide, the crackdown on undocumented immigration has hurt the industry<\/a>, with more than 126,000 people leaving the field between 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n A 2022 statistic from the National Association of Home Builders found that immigrants made up 9% of Pennsylvania\u2019s construction labor force<\/a>.<\/p>\n To reverse the trend, the state and smaller communities have made a dedicated effort to shore up technical and trades education, but demand for workers is only growing. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen some progress, but is it really enough to make a dent?\u201d Hess wondered.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania Capital-Star<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Across the political spectrum, Pennsylvania\u2019s leaders have repeatedly identified the ongoing housing shortage as one of the biggest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1085,7985,4375,28,30,29,1081],"class_list":["post-201203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-building","tag-development","tag-new-homes","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}