Phoenixville’s commercial and residential rebirth has come at a steep price for some of its longtime residents, writes Erin McCarthy for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

While developers have flocked to town to build high-end apartment complexes for millennials and baby-boomers, many residents have been left without affordable housing options.

“Nobody expected Phoenixville to go from a working-class town to such a hot commodity,” said Kris Keller, executive director of Orion Communities, a nonprofit that helps people struggling with homelessness. “It slowly started to occur to folks that there were other issues.”

He said that while the rebirth worked well for those who could afford luxury apartments, it has not worked at all for middle-income people. Some have been forced to relocate to lower-income communities, while others have found themselves homeless.

“It’s a really big part of the conversation in Phoenixville,” said Mayor Peter Urscheler.

This conversation has already resulted in action, with an affordable-housing complex, SteelTown Village, set to open over the coming months.The issue is not exclusive to Phoenixville as Chester County officials will examine ways to provide more affordable housing in the county during a December planning meeting.

Further complicating things in Chester County is the fact that its population is growing the fastest of any county in Greater Philadelphia, with an increase of 3.9 percent between 2010 and 2017.

Read more in the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

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