From Pennsylvania's Shrinking Towns To Arizona's Booming Suburbs, Swing States Reveal Why Housing Remains Out Of Reach For So Many

Affordable housing is a defining issue this election season, especially in swing states like Arizona and Pennsylvania. As two different housing landscapes, they show why the U.S. is struggling to build enough homes — and the challenges are only getting steeper, a recent report from Business Insider showed.

Take Arizona. It's one of the fastest-growing states, with hundreds of thousands of new residents since the pandemic began. But as demand for homes surged, so did costs: Arizona's home prices are up 55% since January 2020, far outpacing the national average of 45%. Rent, too, has jumped 27%. The state's suburbs are hitting limits, with more single-family homes appearing while land and water grow scarce.

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Zoning rules aren't helping. Many Arizona communities restrict land to large-lot, single-family homes, which take up space and push prices higher. According to Ben Metcalf, managing director at UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation, Arizona is running out of available land close to job centers, he told BI. With water issues mounting, state officials warned that Arizona doesn't have enough groundwater to support future development around Phoenix. The result? Prices keep rising, and affordable housing remains elusive.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania tells a different story. The state's population has been shrinking, yet home prices have risen 39% since 2020. It's a twist on the housing shortage: less demand but limited capacity to build. Pennsylvania ranks near the bottom nationwide for home-building permits, and a shortage of construction workers only worsens the issue. After the pandemic, construction jobs in the state barely bounced back, while nationwide construction boomed.

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Both states also suffer from restrictive zoning policies, which prevent denser, more affordable housing options. For Pennsylvania, there's an aging construction workforce and a federal immigration policy that limits new workers, leaving housing developers to face rising costs and fewer workers to do the job.

As voters look to the polls, the housing crisis weighs heavily. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are pledging solutions, but they differ vastly. Harris promises to build 3 million new homes with $25,000 in downpayment assistance for first-time buyers, while Trump suggests cutting interest rates and expanding federal land for construction.

With renters disproportionately feeling the impact of housing costs, Pennsylvania and Arizona offer insight into why finding affordable housing remains such a challenge, even as new solutions are on the table.

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