Mayor’s Lecture Series | Dr. John Caskey

Lecture Highlights

Why Do Low-Income People Choose Chester?

Professor Caskey started by reframing the original question from his paper - "Why is Chester, Pennsylvania, So Poor?" - to "Why is it that so many low-income people in Delaware County choose to live in Chester?" Caskey then dove into a brief history of housing dynamics in Chester and Delaware County. He painted a picture of a thriving City that experienced rapid population decline since the 1960s due to white flight, loss of industry and commercial firms, and the exit of upper- and middle-class residents. Chester's current population sits around 34,000 residents - roughly half its peak population in the 1950s.

Caskey argued that so many Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI) households choose to live in Chester because the choice is already effectively made for them. Chester, trying to do the right thing for its residents as the population declined, welcomed site-specific federally subsidized housing for LMI households. The rest of Delaware County, however, did not. The net result is that Chester now has an estimated 2,110 public housing units, while the rest of Delaware County has only a combined 2,007 units. Delaware County's low-income housing is concentrated in Chester, so Chester is where Delaware County's low-income residents choose to live.

The Economic Implications of Chester's Housing Stock

Affordable housing in Chester meets a need, but it also puts Chester at a fiscal disadvantage. Almost 20% of Chester's households live in site-specific subsidized housing, compared with 1% in the rest of Delaware County. Professor Caskey concluded that attracting jobs to Chester will only have a moderate effect on Chester's rate. Raising the incomes of Chester's LMI residents is helpful for them, but then they need to move out of LMI housing and other LMI residents will move in. Chester's housing infrastructure matters for its economic future.