Rural Housing Affordability and Livability in Pennsylvania

Rural Housing Affordability and Livability in Pennsylvania

The availability and affordability of housing are critical issues in many communities across Pennsylvania. This webinar presents descriptive and economic analyses from a Rural Housing Affordability: 2013-2023 study to examine the variation in severity of these issues across the nation, with a particular focus on rural areas, which have been underrepresented in previous studies on housing livability. The study employs various measures of affordability, accessibility, and amenities to examine how levels of and changes in these variables differ across various USDA economic characteristics.

The Rural Housing Affordability: 2013-2023 study looks at the impact of farming-dependent, manufacturing-dependent, recreation-dependent, retirement destinations, and persistent poverty counties, and how housing affordability intersects with these types of counties. The study also explores how mobile homes and new construction change affordability pressures and livability constraints across these county types, and how affordability has changed from 2013-2023.

Building on this study as a foundation, this webinar will compare census tracts, counties, and Pennsylvania state-level data to better understand the impact of affordability at the local, state, and regional levels. Audience participation is encouraged to inform future and ongoing research more effectively.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the key issues impacting housing affordability in rural communities in Pennsylvania
• Share how housing affordability has impacted neighboring census tracts, counties, and states differently
• Show how different industries impact housing affordability

Speakers

- Stephan Goetz, Professor of Agricultural and Regional Economics | Director, Penn State University | The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development

- Zheng Tian, Assistant Research Professor, Penn State Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education

Group viewing brought to you by Lancaster County Planning.

Lancaster County Planning strives to provide educational opportunities for our planning partners – professional planners, municipalities, consultants, designers, engineers, local planning commissions, and interested citizens. In 2026, we will continue to provide an opportunity for our partners to join us at our office to view a mix of live and recorded webinars we have purchased or registered for from various sources on a variety of planning topics. Many of these programs will provide AICP CM and ASLA continuing education credits. Due to site license restrictions, we are not able to share our webinar access information with interested parties. For independent access, please contact the webinar provider directly.

For questions related to this event, please contact 717-299-8333 or email [email protected].

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