Scranton’s Affordable Housing Challenge Is Really a Preservation and Systems Problem
By Bahram AzabDaftari, Imaginationtree.org
Since relocating my nonprofit to Scranton, PA, I’ve been thinking deeply about what we mean when we talk about “affordable housing.” At first glance, Scranton, like many legacy cities, appears affordable on paper. Yet beneath that surface is a pattern that’s familiar not just here, but in older cities everywhere: a housing market shaped more by its history and policy frameworks than by simple supply and demand.
Scranton’s housing stock is among the oldest in the nation. More than half (about 52%) of its homes were built before 1940, another 27% were built between 1940 and 1969, and only around 5% of housing has been added since 2000. This historic character is both a strength and a challenge: these buildings give Scranton its unique identity, but they also require ongoing investment to stay livable.
The vacancy picture is telling. Approximately 14.8% of housing units in the city are vacant, significantly higher than the average vacancy rates you might see in faster-growing regions. In parts of the city’s core, especially where incomes are lower, vacancy can be much higher. At the same time, rental vacancy rates specifically can be lower, squeezing choice for renters and increasing pressure on available units.
These conditions illustrate a key point: Scranton doesn’t lack housing stock, it lacks preserved and reinvested housing stock that meets today’s needs. Too often, the city’s rich inventory of walkable, compact homes and mixed-use buildings is treated as a problem to be replaced rather than an asset to be reactivated. When buildings deteriorate and are removed from the market, affordability doesn’t magically improve, it quietly erodes.
Vacant Commercial Corridors Are More Than Market Signals, They’re Zoning Signals
Scranton’s vacant storefronts and underperforming commercial corridors are not simply evidence of weak demand. They reflect zoning and regulatory frameworks that no longer fit how people want to live or work. Mixed-use buildings were once the backbone of Scranton’s neighborhoods, but today, redevelopment often treats residential and commercial uses as separate, harder to finance, or burdensome to permit.
In places where the regulatory environment makes modest reinvestment difficult, whether through parking minimums, historic preservation inconsistencies, or inflexible use definitions, buildings sit empty not because there’s no potential, but because the system is not inviting adaptive reuse. This turns what should be walkable community anchors into liabilities.
Equity Through the Built Environment, Who Bears the Cost of Decay?
Deferred maintenance and vacancy don’t impact all residents equally. Older homes tend to be owned by people with lower or fixed incomes, seniors, long-term residents, and households who’ve invested in their homes for decades. When policy fails to support preservation, these homeowners absorb the cost of failure: deteriorating structures, decreasing property values, and rising tax rates without corresponding investment in services.
Equity through the built environment means asking who benefits when neighborhoods are well maintained, and who bears the cost when they are not. Preserving and properly reinvesting in existing housing is not about nostalgia, it’s about justice.
Talent Loss Isn’t Because Scranton Has No Assets, It’s Because Systems Lag
Scranton’s population has hovered around 75,000 for years, demonstrating stability even as younger generations sometimes relocate for opportunity. The region nonetheless retains deep assets: walkable neighborhoods, affordability relative to national markets, and a strong sense of place. But talent leaves when it feels like systems, housing permitting, workforce pipelines, transportation access, aren’t aligned with opportunity.
Offering talent places to live is only part of the puzzle. People stay when they feel they can build here: start businesses, access quality housing without endless frustration, and participate in decision-making. Reforming , not just building more , is critical.
The Challenge Isn’t Lack of Resources , It’s Fragmentation
Understanding Scranton’s revitalization challenges requires seeing beyond simplistic funding narratives. Northeast Pennsylvania has access to public and private resources, grants, tax credits, philanthropic, but these resources often operate in silos. Housing, economic development, transportation, workforce strategies, and preservation initiatives frequently don’t talk to one another.
Real transformation requires coordination across municipal boundaries, agencies, and sectors. Lackawanna County’s overall vacancy rates are lower than the city’s, and homeownership is higher countywide than in Scranton proper, showing that place matters within the region, but alignment is what drives outcomes.
A Path Forward
Revitalization does not require reinventing Scranton’s identity. It requires recognizing and activating the value inherent in what’s already here: a durable housing stock, walkable neighborhoods, and commercial corridors with historic bones.
Affordable housing is not solely about building new units. It’s about:
preserving existing ones,
adapting them to contemporary needs,
aligning zoning with market realities,
and knitting economic and housing strategies together.
This matters far beyond Scranton. Cities and regions around the world that emerged from industrial eras face the same hidden constraints: attractive structures, outdated systems, and fragmentation that masks real potential.
The question isn’t whether Scranton has potential, it plainly does. The question is whether we are willing to align systems and investments to unlock it.
Scranton, PA - September 2025
Reference
Local Data on Scranton & Northeast Pennsylvania
This article examines Scranton, PA’s affordable housing challenges, emphasizing preservation, systems, and fragmentation rather than simple supply shortages. It draws from firsthand nonprofit experience in Scranton and data-driven research to analyze housing stock age, vacancy patterns, regulatory barriers, and equity issues.
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