Vernon Jay is converting an office building into affordable homes on Front Street.
The Equity Platforms CEO credits the Biden-Harris administration’s effort to create affordable housing by converting commercial space to residential.
“I got excited by Biden’s plan where he’s providing tax credits for the conversion of office buildings like this to affordable housing,” he said.
Jay was among the speakers at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris focusing on affordable housing.
Harris has made affordable housing one of her key issues, pushing a plan to build 3 million homes over four years.
This would be accomplished through tax incentives for builders making starter homes or affordable housing and creating a new federal fund to spur innovative housing construction.
Samara Scott runs Beahive Affordable Housing Outreach Inc. based out of Harrisburg.
She said one of the biggest problems affecting the housing market is a lack of supply.
“People are having a really hard time when trying to purchase homes because there’s obviously less supply and they are able to boost the prices up astronomically,” she said.
Her organization purchases houses and rehabilitates them for people who can rent or purchase them at a lower value.
“I think that all of the initiatives that are creating the homes are going to be the best opportunity for us to get out of this crisis,” she said.
Housing prices began skyrocketing in late 2020. This coincides with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Institutes of Health notes that “one effect of the pandemic is an increase in the demand for housing associated first with the public health measures of the pandemic such as social distancing and quarantining, and then with the widespread adoption of work from home technology, spurred by the pandemic.”
In its July report, the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors reported listings up 0.5% and sales up 9.6% compared to July 2023. Meanwhile, the median sales price is up $20,000 from last year.
Kush Desai, Pennsylvania Team Trump spokesman, said the Harris proposal would only worsen the housing problem.
He said people should acknowledge that Biden policies Harris supported led to the affordability crisis.
“It’d certainly go a lot further than touting Kamala’s proposal of government handouts to homebuyers – handouts that would only worsen already sky-high real estate prices.”
