Breaking out of the Housing Trap: Presentation with Chuck Marohn, Strong Towns

Following his Hourglass community forum presentation on April 12, Chuck Marohn, founder & president of Strong Towns, joined Hourglass, the Coalition for Sustainable Housing, and the Coalition for Smart Growth for a presentation on "Breaking Out of the Housing Trap." This presentation took place on April 13, 2023 at Southern Market Center.

Talk of a housing crisis pervades American cities—whether off-the-charts rents in coastal cities or hyper-vacancy in the Rust Belt. These problems are symptoms of a deeper dysfunction. Over nearly a century, through often well-intended top-down policy interventions, we've turned a complex system that should be adaptive and self-correcting into one prone to a never-ending cycle of boom and bust, crises and overcorrections. To address the dysfunction at the root of our housing problems, we need to shift our approach. Chuck outlines the root causes of America's interrelated housing crises, and identifies some rational responses that our community (and every community) can take.

Chuck is joined by speakers presenting Lancaster County housing data including Rae Ann Miller, Data Analyst for Economic Development Company of Lancaster County, Michaela Allwine, Director of Housing and Community Development at the Lancaster Housing and Redevelopment Authority, and Scott Standish, the Executive Director of Lancaster County Planning.

Learn more about Hourglass, and become a member, at HourglassLancaster.org. Learn more about the Coalition for Sustainable Housing at wearetenfold.org/get-involved/coalition-for-sustainable-housing/. Learn more about the Coalition for Smart Growth at facebook.com/coalitionforsmartgrowth.

Thank you to the rest of our event sponsors: Martin-Harnish Foundation, Lancaster County Community Foundation, Lapp Electric, Kinectiv, Monty & Molly Milner, Davison Associates, LLC, ELA Group, Garber Metrology, Members 1st Credit Union, Bob and Linda Groff, and Paul Mueller.