{"id":324581,"date":"2026-11-10T02:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T02:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/324581\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T02:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T02:26:11","slug":"democrats-sweep-in-pennsylvania-expected-to-boost-multifamily-hinder-data-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/324581\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats’ Sweep In Pennsylvania Expected To Boost Multifamily, Hinder Data Centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a> and his fellow Democrats who swept the Pennsylvania Legislature last week believe they have a broad mandate to enact his policy agenda.<\/p>\n

Data centers appear to be in the crosshairs after the sector\u2019s artificial intelligence<\/a>-powered development boom became a political third rail. Multifamily players may have scored a victory as supply-side solutions to the housing shortage bubble to the top of Pennsylvania Democrats\u2019 nascent agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight the people have spoken,\u201d the governor said in his election night victory speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want us to build more housing and strengthen our infrastructure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/p>\n

Shapiro soundly beat his Republican opponent, Stacy Garrity, with more than 60% of the vote and a 22-percentage-point margin.<\/p>\n

Democrats also took control of the Pennsylvania Senate, where they have a two-seat advantage, and grew their lead in the House from three representatives to 13. This is the first time all three branches of the state government in Harrisburg have been blue at once since 1993. The single-party control is expected to grease the legislature\u2019s wheels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do expect policy to move quicker than it has in the past,\u201d Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Public Policy Denise Maiatico said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBills that passed in the House and stalled in the Senate would have the opportunity to resurrect themselves,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Spurring More Housing Supply<\/p>\n

Some of the new and revived proposals are expected to address the state\u2019s housing shortage. Pennsylvania is slated to be short 185,000 units<\/a> by 2035 after it ranked No. 44 out of the 50 states<\/a> for new home construction between 2017 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Multifamily players said there is a consensus among Democrats that Pennsylvania\u2019s residential pipeline needs to expand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state will pass legislation reforming zoning, which will override local zoning code,\u201d said Philly Office Retail<\/a> President Ken Weinstein<\/a>, who described himself as a longtime supporter of the governor.<\/p>\n

Shapiro’s February Housing Action Plan<\/a> called for updates to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code to increase speed and certainty in the entitlement process.<\/p>\n

Bills could also advance that increase density by allowing accessory dwelling units<\/a>, mixed-use projects and apartments to be built by right in more places, Pennsylvania Apartment Association<\/a> Vice President of Government Affairs Steven Chintaman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHousing supply preservation, infrastructure, regulatory modernization\u00a0\u2014\u00a0those are things that our industry can work on constructively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chintaman also said he expects funding to help repair and preserve Pennsylvania\u2019s existing housing stock, nearly half of which was built before 1980<\/a>, and legislation to facilitate the adaptive reuse<\/a> of the state\u2019s underutilized historic buildings.<\/p>\n

Weinstein predicted there will be proposals to subsidize rents and the development of workforce housing<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s going to be a logjam of good legislation now that there\u2019s a clear path to getting it through the state legislature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial
\n Philadelphia Housing Authority<\/a><\/p>\n

But at the municipal level, Pennsylvania Democrats haven\u2019t always gotten along well with multifamily developers.<\/p>\n

That is particularly true in Philadelphia, where concerns about affordability and landlord-tenant relations have led to an array of new post-pandemic renter protections<\/a> and an affordability overlay<\/a> for new development in West Philadelphia, both of which multifamily players see as cumbersome.<\/p>\n

On some points, Shapiro and these Philly officials are on the same page. The Housing Action Plan called for additional eviction protections, a ban on denying tenants using public assistance to pay their rent, and caps on how much landlords can charge for security deposits and rental application fees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Days before the election, Shapiro made an appearance at a Berks County manufactured housing community to stump for lot rent increase restrictions<\/a> in those communities, which have soared in recent years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PAA is concerned about these proposals, Chintaman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRent stabilization may sound like an immediate solution, but policies that restrict rents can have unintended consequences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur concern is that if you make it more difficult to invest in rental housing, you risk reducing the availability and quality of housing over the long term,\u201d Chintaman added.<\/p>\n

But he and Weinstein said they believe that state Democrats are a different breed than their Philly counterparts and that supply will remain at the center of their statewide plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, Philadelphia City Council<\/a> is not committed to providing more housing. They\u2019re still fighting over how many parking spots there are on the street,\u201d Weinstein said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hearing a very different tone from state reps and state senators than I am from Philadelphia City Council members. They are fully committed to seeing more housing provided and driving down the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Data Center Outlook Suffers<\/p>\n

Just a year ago, Shapiro was a major proponent of the data center industry, even appearing at an event<\/a> featuring President Donald Trump<\/a> and Pennsylvania\u2019s Republican U.S. senator, Dave McCormick<\/a>, to promote its presence in the Keystone State.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Public opinion has shifted dramatically since then<\/a> in a manner that transcended the partisan divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a bipartisan issue, and that course was charted closer to the beginning of this year and has been consistent,\u201d Pennsylvania Data Center Partners CEO Igal Feibush said.<\/p>\n

After a wave of distaste for data centers swept the nation and Pennsylvania over the past year, Shapiro pivoted and issued a relatively restrictive executive order<\/a> on data center development.<\/p>\n

Some players in the space weren\u2019t particularly fazed by the new rules, which barred the sector from the governor\u2019s signature Fast Track program and incentivized tighter power and water standards. Commentators have suggested Shapiro\u2019s past stance on the sector remains a polling vulnerability<\/a> for the rumored presidential hopeful.<\/p>\n

But Feibush said the order contributed to some developers walking away from projects in the state, and his firm is planning to snatch up at least three of them.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n Unsplash\/\u0130smail Enes Ayhan<\/a><\/p>\n

More restrictions could be on the way. A bill allowing municipalities to pause all data center decisions for up to 180 days<\/a> while they draft new zoning ordinances for the industry already passed the House with bipartisan support in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An outright three-year moratorium<\/a> on hyperscale projects was proposed the same month by state Sen. Katie Muth, a Democrat from Chester County.<\/p>\n

Feibush said he believes there is still a lane for the industry in Pennsylvania and that Shapiro and other politicians understand its importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor recognizes the benefits of artificial intelligence and what it takes to get there and the benefits of the build-out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians will do what they need to do to get elected. Data centers have been at the top of the issues list. They had to be very cognizant of their constituents being concerned about that,\u201d Feibush added. \u201cThey also have to ensure that there\u2019s economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro\u2019s rumored presidential aspirations still haven\u2019t amounted to a campaign announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s greatly discussed, and there\u2019s nothing public about it,\u201d Weinstein said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe he can multitask and, if he were to run for higher office, could still be actively engaged as governor. I also believe Austin Davis as lieutenant governor will have a greater role in the second term.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Josh Shapiro and his fellow Democrats who swept the Pennsylvania Legislature last week believe they have a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3145,131440,103307,33,2628,57583,28,131441,131442,30,29,2629,368,131443],"class_list":["post-324581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-dave-mccormick","tag-denise-maiatico","tag-igal-feibush","tag-josh-shapiro","tag-ken-weinstein","tag-lehigh-valley-chamber-of-commerce","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-apartment-association","tag-pennsylvania-data-center-partners","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-philly-office-retail","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-steven-chintaman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324581","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=324581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}