Expanding Pottstown’s Housing Choices
Pottstown Housing Study
Pottstown is exploring new ways to expand and diversify its housing supply, particularly in and around downtown. The project combines housing and zoning analysis, design test-fits, and feasibility studies to identify practical opportunities for adaptive reuse and new housing.
The Small Cities Lab is conducting a housing study in the Borough of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in partnership with the Switchpoint Foundation. This work examines housing supply, variety, and barriers to adaptive reuse of the borough's existing building stock with a focus on downtown and near-downtown neighborhoods.
Pottstown, located in Montgomery County, has a predominantly renter-occupied housing market, with a significant portion of renter households experiencing cost burden (paying more than 30 percent of their income toward rent). With investment rebuilding after the COVID-19 pandemic and downtown revitalization underway, the community is exploring ways to expand housing variety while honoring the borough’s existing historic building stock.
The first phase of the Small Cities Lab’s work in Pottstown consisted of documenting existing conditions, synthesizing demographic and housing data as well as stakeholder interviews to describe Pottstown’s housing conditions, affordability metrics, and overall relationship to the surrounding region. The study has analyzed the five downtown and downtown-adjacent zoning districts in the borough to assess the regulations that govern residential use and has completed field surveys of Pottstown’s existing downtown housing stock and vacant and underutilized parcels. This research has also included case studies on housing models that may fit within Pottstown’s built environment and economic context developed through interviews with nonprofits in the region. It has benefited from valuable feedback from members of Montco30% and the Pottstown Housing Coalition.
Ongoing research will build on these findings to create design scenarios, financial feasibility analyses, and draft policy recommendations. This work will include test-fit explorations of shared and intermediate housing models within existing downtown buildings and vacant parcels, pro forma analysis to assess development feasibility, and recommendations for zoning and regulatory changes that could facilitate housing diversification. The research will continue engagement with borough officials, housing operators, and community partners with the goal of providing Pottstown's community, municipal leaders, and development partners with tools and design scenarios to evaluate and pursue housing options that strengthen the borough's economic vitality and housing accessibility.