When state Rep. Brandon Markosek was appointed to chair the House committee on Housing and Community Development, he became part of a new generation of leaders contending with an old problem.
“Making housing affordable is a top priority for the committee, not just in urban areas, [but] also rural areas as well,” said Markosek, a Monroeville Democrat. “We've seen that across the state: It's a big issue.”
With the country facing a spike in housing prices, a housing-shortage research group estimates that Pennsylvania built about 105,000 less units than it needed to increase housing affordability in 2022. Housing advocates say this year they’ll pressure the governor and the state legislature to increase the supply of affordable housing – and protect people who are at risk of losing their homes.
And while the pro-equity Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania celebrated wins last year, the coalition says the state needs to do more for low-income housing security in 2025.
Aaron Zappia, the alliance’s government affairs director, said his group pushed for steady increases to a state affordable-housing fund called PHARE. Last year, Shapiro raised the cap on the fund, which is now set to increase to $100 million by 2027.
“That's a tremendous win, but we're looking for other initiatives,” Zappia said. “We feel the state should make a greater investment in homelessness prevention and eviction prevention.”
“We're talking about things such as direct assistance,” like tenant-landlord mediation and legal aid, Zappia added, which he says “plays a huge role” in keeping people housed by finding alternatives to eviction.
The Alliance is also hopeful that when Gov. Josh Shapiro makes his budget address early next month, he’ll revive Whole Home Repair, which helps lower-income households pay for necessary repairs to their homes. The program was left out of the budget deal last year, despite high demand that drew down the funds available.
“The infrastructure's there,” Zappia said. “All these counties have built a capacity to execute the home repairs program.”
Beyond the legislature approving funds, the alliance says the state should bolster its housing tax credit, including the neighborhood assistance program.
Meanwhile, industry groups like the Pennsylvania Builders Association hope lawmakers will remove barriers, like local zoning rules that the association says will stall home construction.
The state has little role to play in local zoning decisions, but builders say they need to find a way to make up for deficits in the state’s housing stock.
“Pennsylvania desperately needs more housing at all income levels,” said Daniel Durden, CEO of the Pennsylvania Builders Association. “That's market-rate housing for people of serious means, that's ‘the missing middle’ that we've had such a struggle with over the last 15 to 20 years, and assisted or affordable housing at the opening tiers both for people who need governmental or private organization assistance.”
Durden said that in the last session, “There were a number of bills that were introduced to gently, or sometimes not so gently, encourage local municipalities to open up their zoning process." But the bills didn’t get traction, and there’s little evidence to suggest the Democrat-controlled House is likely to preempt municipal zoning decisions.
Such changes would come through Markosek’s committee, and its sibling in the state Senate. Markosek says his committee’s agenda is still being drafted, but will be informed later this year by a list of policy prescriptions compiled by a state working group. The recommendations, due in September, follow from a housing action plan issued after a Shapiro administration executive order.
Markosek previously did not serve on the House housing committee before assuming chairmanship.
“I’m the youngest majority chair in a long time in the state house. So it's an honor,” he said. “I'm really thankful to Speaker [Joanna] McClinton for placing her trust in me.”
Being new to Housing is no problem, says his Republican counterpart, Rep. Rich Irvin of Huntingdon, who became GOP chair just last session and had “a good working relationship” with now retired Rep. Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster) who previously led the committee.
And some other Allegheny County House members on the committee are also relative newcomers. Joining Democratic representatives Aerion Abney and La’Tasha Mayes, are Lindsay Powell, who is starting her first full term, and newly elected Republican Jeremy Shaffer.
In the Republican-controlled Senate, brand-new Northeast Philadelphia Sen. Joe Picozzi will chair its housing committee after narrowly flipping the seat earlier this year. He will sit alongside minority chair state Sen. Nikil Saval, a Philadelphia-area Democrat who served as his party’s housing chair since 2021.
