No wonder Harrisburg SUCKS
Why is harrisburg reutilizing some of its major buildings for senior housing instead of affordable housing(or even market-level housing)?
City officials cry about not seeing any attention from outsiders, but refuse to add vibrance to the city to make it more attractive. Instead of adding more affordable or even market-level housing (apartment buildings/row-homes) they have decided to cater to the most needy demographic of people… why?
Young people are the future of cities, and no one seems to understand that less than mid-sized failing cities. Who, instead of investing in the things that will actually make their city attractive, have invested in a slow burn, easy, quick fix that will eventually die with the city.
I’m not saying there’s not a necessity for housing of all types. But the amount of revitalization efforts going to old people is parody amounts. The efforts in Jackson lick look exciting, but are solely for older residents. Same thing with the very attractive harmony tower (though I’ve seen multiple complaints about how the building is managed (would probably be able to get more income if they invested in market level apartments instead)). And even luxury apartments like in the old V Memorial building.
I’ve recently seen advancements on renovations to 333 Market Street. This building is the tallest in Harrisburg and used to be rented out to the state. After the state chose not to renew their lease the building lost a vital tenant. In steps Harristown Development Corporation, a developer that is responsible for…a lot going on in Harrisburg. But mainly (from what I’ve seen) these stupid ass tens of million dollar renovations that ONLY cater to old people. Their plan is to spend $80 million to renovate the top floors into about 80 more senior homes. What. The. Fuck. What did young people do to deserve this exclusion from exciting inner-city developments that would surely be popular?
This is my tipping point. It’s very clear that city officials have no interest in bettering the future of this shitty ass city and instead only care about the financial positives that affect them NOW. Money in their pockets so that they can retire in one of the fancy old people only apartments that by then have run this city to the ground. There’s no long term positives coming from these developments. No crime reduction, barely any tax incentives except for the developers, no attractiveness benefits. It’s only driving young people out of the city who want more options that cities like Pittsburgh or Philly or Baltimore offer. And when there’s no more youth to contribute to the “vibrance” that downtown needs desperately, maybe they’ll rethink their decisions.
Please help me understand why all of these efforts need to go to old people when there’s clearly other issues that need solved in Harrisburg. Harrisburg is experiencing a devastating housing shortage, and the people who are supposed to be helping the city have not shown any signs of having any other motivating factors than money. While actual residents suffer from the boring, nasty, ugly, crime ridden city that many of us TRY to call home. These decisions have helped me decide to move to Pittsburgh when my lease expires and stop investing a city that doesn’t care about me. I know many others are making the same choice as well.