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The news in the Jan. 4/5 edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette is worrisome: Homelessness in Pennsylvania, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, rose more than 12% in 2024.
We appreciate the efforts of Paul Mills to raise awareness of the plight of homeless veterans, also featured in the Jan. 4/5 edition of the Sun-Gazette, and of the volunteers at the American Rescue Workers, YWCA, Saving Grace shelter and Code Blue, whose efforts provide shelter to many homeless men and women in our region.
We believe our region -- and our state and country -- also need to address the underlying causes for the increase in homelessness. The costs of housing have steadily increased as excessive regulations have created obstacles to the construction of new housing. Limitations on how and where multi-family housing in particular can be built hamper the ability of the free market to meet the need for affordable housing.
We hope our lawmakers at all levels are successful in reforming the regulatory process, so that the supply of housing becomes more competitive -- and more competitively priced.
Regulatory reform, for which we have long advocated, also makes our state and region more appealing for investment in job creation -- and more jobs affords working families more choices to find the job that is the right fit. It also fosters a job market in which employers have to entice future workers to apply and to stay with better pay, reducing the risk that these families will fall prey to the rising tide of homelessness themselves.
We are, again, glad that so many members of our communities work hard to alleviate the immediate stress of homelessness in the present. We believe part of adequately expressing that gratitude hinges on requiring our public officials to also work hard on reducing the barriers to affordable housing and well-paying jobs so that our future sees less of the strain and fear of homelessness.