Tompkins County built only 666 of the 3,800 workforce-affordable single-family homes projected as needed by 2025, highlighting a persistent gap between housing demand and what the market has produced, according to Tompkins Weekly.
Housing officials said the shortage increasingly affects teachers, retail workers, home health aides and other employed residents who earn too much for deeply subsidized housing but too little for new market-rate construction.
Panelists pointed to zoning rules, lengthy approval processes, land costs and stagnant wages as major barriers to creating more attainable housing.
Potential solutions discussed included manufactured and modular homes, duplexes, reduced parking requirements, community land trusts and local funding that can leverage larger state and federal investments.
Officials also said Ithaca’s rental vacancy rate has improved to between 6% and 8%, but emphasized that more market-rate apartments alone have not solved the shortage of homes affordable to the local workforce.
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