Local housing coalition urges zoning reform, digitized permitting and regional coordination

Doug Slick and Mike Hayes, representing a revived Pottstown Housing Coalition and the Monco 30% project, told borough council on April 8 that an array of local and state actions are needed to address housing affordability and repair needs in Pottstown.

Slick described the coalition’s mission and neighborhood programs; Hayes walked through statewide figures from the governor’s housing action plan and how several recommendations — modernizing zoning to allow more homes, reducing excessive parking requirements and digitizing permitting — could be applied locally. “We want to make sure that we’re right-sizing these policies to the specific needs of Pottstown,” a council member responded, urging that statewide guidance be adapted to local demographics and land supply.

The presenters highlighted these local priorities: support for higher-density and shared-housing models, use of local financing tools such as LERTA and tax-increment financing to close funding gaps, and periodic reporting back to council. The coalition proposed quarterly updates and provided condensed materials and tenant-rights literature for Borough Hall.

Councilors pressed the presenters on data definitions. Members asked whether ACS sampling adequately counts households receiving Housing Choice Vouchers and how the Census defines “housing cost burden.” Hayes and Slick said the ACS/Census measure generally counts rent or mortgage but conceded they would need a census specialist to confirm how subsidies are recorded; they cited a local figure of 415 housing vouchers in Pottstown (reported by the county housing authority) and acknowledged sampling limits in ACS data.

Why it matters: The coalition framed Pottstown’s affordability challenge in regional terms and encouraged municipal measures that can be enacted locally while advocating for state-level licensing for sober-living homes (a separate topic discussed that night). Speakers argued both for policies that increase housing supply and for safeguards to keep longtime residents from being displaced as values rise.

Next steps: The coalition requested permission to return periodically with updates and said it would provide a short summary of the governor’s 44-page housing plan. Council asked staff to coordinate and requested more granular local data about subsidized households and who qualifies as “cost-burdened.” The coalition agreed to come back with more specific recommendations and clarified local data in follow-up sessions.

No votes were taken; the council agreed to accept informational materials for distribution and to consider future presentations.