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Lebanon County housing collaborative outlines countywide strategy, warns of 13,000 cost‑burdened households
Summary
Caitlin Lockard, Lebanon County housing development director, told city council the new county collaborative has held more than 150 meetings in six months and sees a structural housing imbalance: over 13,000 cost‑burdened households, scant for‑sale inventory and nearly 79% of available units are 2–3 bedrooms.
Caitlin Lockard, Lebanon County’s housing development director, presented an update on the Lebanon County Housing Collaborative and urged the city to help set near‑term housing priorities. "We have a structural housing imbalance," Lockard told the council and said the collaborative aims to connect municipal planning, health, nonprofit partners and funders to pursue grants and coordinate projects.
Lockard gave concrete data from county work: the collaborative has held more than 150 meetings and met repeatedly with partners such as Habitat for Humanity and the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. She said the county’s inventory is narrow — "2 to 3 bedroom units comprise nearly 79% of available units," she said — and reported average rents of about $1,150 for a two‑bedroom and $1,590 for a three‑bedroom unit. Lockard also said the collaborative helped ensure 52 households received assistance during a winter LIHEAP gap and arranged more than 100 nights of emergency shelter stays.
Lockard asked council to identify two or three housing priorities the collaborative should focus on over the next six months and offered to share the group’s data via a slide QR code. Council members asked for followups on unit mix, affordability and the data sources Lockard cited; Lockard said the vacancy and condition information comes from the Bowen National research calls and from ongoing county data updates.
