Chester County officials pledge more funding for affordable homes in one of Pa.’s wealthiest counties
Apartments scheduled to begin construction this fall will be affordable to households making 20% to 60% of the area median income.
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Like communities throughout the country, Chester County struggles to offer enough homes that people of all incomes can afford. The problem hits households with low and moderate incomes particularly hard, especially in high-cost places such as Chester County, one of the wealthiest in Pennsylvania.
The county is chipping away at the issue by committing $3.4 million toward the construction of two apartment communities that will target households making 20% to 60% of the area’s median income. That’s between about $19,000 and $56,940 for a household of three.
Construction of the apartments is scheduled to start this fall. Willows at Valley Run in Caln Township will start its first of two phases with 60 units. Phoenixville Senior Housing in the borough of Phoenixville will have 50 apartments for residents 62 or older.
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The apartments are part of a plan to build 350 affordable housing units in Chester County through a federal initiative to help local and state governments house more people, according to county officials. A lack of housing that people can afford is a national problem worsened by years of high demand for homes and still-rising prices to rent or own. Although developers built a record number of homes in Chester County in 2021, most units were market-rate and unaffordable to lower-income households.
Last year, the median sales price for a home in Chester County hit a record of $420,000. And many of the apartments being built are at the higher end of the market.
Funding toward the construction of the apartments in Caln and Phoenixville comes from the county’s housing trust fund — which gets money from fees whenever the county records a mortgage — and a federal grant to develop housing for people with low incomes.
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“The awarding of this funding underscores our commitment to families and seniors struggling to remain a part of this community that we all love,” Marian Moskowitz, chair of the Chester County Commissioners, said in a statement.
In an interview in May, Brian O’Leary, executive director of the Chester County Planning Commission, said that in order for households with low and moderate incomes to afford to live in the county, more homes need to be built that are smaller.
The new units starting construction this fall will range from one to three bedrooms.