Advocacy

According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, low-income and extremely low-income households across Pennsylvania cannot afford to pay their rent because there is a shortage of affordable and available rental homes priced for those whose incomes are at or below the poverty line (or 30% of the area median income). With rents consuming more than half their income, many of these households must choose between paying their rent or paying for food or healthcare—often experiencing housing instability such as eviction.

• ROAD to Housing Act of 2025: A bipartisan housing package that includes 40 provisions related to housing supply, homelessness, manufactured housing, disaster recovery, homeownership, rural housing, program reform, veterans’ housing, and oversight and coordination of housing programs and agencies.

• PHARE State Housing Trust Fund: The Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund (PHARE) creates, rehabs, and supports local housing, blight remediation, supportive services, homeownership counseling, and home purchase.

• Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit: Provides tax incentives to encourage developers to create affordable housing through the acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of rental housing targeted to lower-income households.

• State Housing Tax Credit: Supports the creation and preservation of affordable housing for families unable to afford decent housing and those who are cost burdened. At least 10% of the tax credits target households with incomes at or below 30% of area median income. The PHFA will administer the state tax credit and are in the process of establishing guidelines and procedures that are similar to those for the federal LIHTC program.

• HOME Investment Partnerships: The Pennsylvania HOME Program is a federally funded program that provides municipalities with grant and loan assistance to expand and preserve the supply of decent and affordable housing for low- and very low-income Pennsylvanians.

Take Action

• Be part of Attainable Housing Advocacy local to Chester County.

• See the issues the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania is taking up at the state and national levels and how you can take action on affordable housing policy.

• Follow the National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s Legislative Action Center to see how you can help advocate for investments that ensure the lowest income renters have an affordable place to call home.

• Get involved with YIMBY Action to learn about the pro-housing movement and how you can make housing more affordable near you!

• Housing Not Handcuffs: Housing Not Handcuffs is a national campaign created by the National Homelessness Law Center and the National Coalition for the Homeless to end the criminalization of homelessness and advocate for housing as a human right.

• What Communities Need to Know About the Criminalization of Homelessness: The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) is building a nationwide network of advocates working to combat legislation that criminalizes homelessness and attacks best practices like Housing First. Sign up to receive NAEH advocacy alerts.

Take Action

• Join the movement and endorse the campaign for Housing Not Handcuffs

• HUD Emergency Solutions Grants Program: Supports street outreach, emergency shelter, homelessness prevention, rapid re-housing assistance, and HMIS; as well as administrative activities

• Chester County Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Funds: Support extreme weather emergency shelter (code blue), emergency shelter, case management, and many other critical services.

• Community Development Block Grant (CDBG): A federally-funded block grant that provides annual grants on a formula basis to states, cities, and counties to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons.

Take Action

• Read more about how the National Alliance to End Homelessness is working with policymakers to increase funding for homeless assistance programs and how you can help

• HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program: Promotes community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provides funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and State and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; promotes access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and optimizes self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing.

• Chester County Partnership to End Homelessness (CoC program): Provides guidance, advocacy, and resources to support Chester County’s homeless crisis response system through coordinated entry and a network of partner organizations providing information and referral, outreach and engagement, emergency shelter and temporary housing placements, housing location services, housing resources, stability support services, and case management.

Take Action

• Support the Chester County Partnership to End Homelessness and its partners in preventing and ending homelessness in our local communities.

• HUD Housing Choice Vouchers: Assists very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. The program includes Section 8 Vouchers, Emergency Housing Vouchers, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Vouchers, Project Based Vouchers and many other rental assistance programs.

• Chester County Housing Choice Voucher Program: The Housing Choice Voucher Program, HCVP, formerly known as “Section 8”, allows eligible participants who receive vouchers to search for their housing, which may include single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments. Provided the housing selected meets the program’s requirements, the family pays a portion of the rent based on a percentage of their monthly income, and the remaining housing subsidy is paid directly to the landlord by the HACC on behalf of the family.

Take Action

• Follow these advocacy tips from the National Housing Law Project, Poverty & Race Research Action Council, and the National Homelessness Law Center on how to use source of income laws to prevent evictions and increase emergency rental assistance utilization

• Pennsylvania SOAR (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery) Program: Provides access to SSI/SSDI for eligible adults who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have a mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder.

• HealthChoices: Provides mental health and drug and alcohol services for Chester County residents who receive Medical Assistance. This managed care program is overseen by the Department of Human Services and its subcontractor, Community Care Behavioral Health Organization. HealthChoices members have a choice of providers throughout the county and the region to receive a full array of treatment options.

• Chester County Office of Mental Health: Does not provide direct care, but works with local agencies to provide services and resources for eligible individuals and families as a point of entry for public mental health services.

• Chester County Department of Drug and Alcohol Services: Drug and alcohol treatment is available in Chester County regardless of insurance. The department funds several free prevention programs in Chester County, including school-based prevention, community-based prevention, student assistance program (SAP), environmental strategies (such as Project Sticker Shock), community education, and information and referral programs.

• Mental Health Court: Provides treatment, support and stability to justice-involved individuals who struggle with Serious and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI). The program offers pretrial diversion (giving successful participants the opportunity to have their charges expunged) or post-conviction (giving successful participants the opportunity to mitigate their exposure at sentencing).

Take Action

• Support the advocacy and policy work of the National HealthCare for the Homeless Coalition to improve the health care system, increase access to treatment and care, and educate policymakers and health care providers on the causes and consequences of homelessness.