ATTN YORK LEADERS: Too many workers in York County can’t afford to live in York County. That’s hurting people, corporations and our economy.

On By Clear Blue Sky Out WestIn Uncategorized

➡️ ALARMING STATS BELOW – The York County Economic Alliance recently did a study that showed York County has an affordable workforce housing crisis. Large corporations in York County are having trouble attracting workers to work in our area because those workers are unable to afford housing here.

The stats are alarming:

🔵 Per Affordable Housing Advocatess, 70% of citizens who are unhoused in York County work full time. Increasingly, workers are having to choose between paying for food and paying rent.

🔵 Per a recent study commissioned by the York County Alliance, an astounding 50% of York County renters pay 30% or more of their income in rent (making them “housing insecure”).

🔵 Per the Community Progress Council’s recent op ed, 38% of York Countians can accurately be described as “working poor” meaning they’re just one car repair or one medical bill away from poverty.

🔵 And Bell Family Shelter (which does great work in the community) unfortunately is forced to turn away over 700 families per year due to lack of space. (Last year it was over 1,000 families).

I see two potential solutions to the affordable workforce housing problem:

** The York County Economic Alliance could be a hero here if they lead their corporate members (the major corporations around York County) to do two things:

  1. Sign the Living Wage Pledge (committing to paying a living wage wherein their workers aren’t put in a position where they have to choose between paying rent and paying for food).
  2. Work together to champion legislation requiring all future new York County residential developments to reserve 20% of their units as affordable (by HUD standards).

THOSE TWO ACTIONS combined would help solve the affordable workforce housing crisis in York County. And that would help large corporations be in a better position to attract and retain workers in order to compete in the world economy. And it would obviously help workers as well.

York County’s affordable workforce housing crisis is particularly bad (worse than many other places in the state).

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