INSIGHTS
As Housing Onondaga moves ahead, data insights and findings will be found here. Material will be added to this page as the project progresses.
What does Plan Onondaga say about housing?
Housing and neighborhoods are key components of Onondaga County’s economy and quality of life. It is critical to understand the way in which an evolving housing market interacts with current housing and shapes demand and need for new housing, and how supply/demand dynamics connect to broader community aims.
Preserving and maintaining the county's competitiveness and high quality of life for residents of today and tomorrow means getting housing right.
Plan Onondaga acknowledges the county's history of suburban sprawl without population growth, and points the way toward more efficient use of land and reuse of existing buildings and infrastructure. This direction supports economic health, fiscal sustainability for local governments, and preservation of agricultural and natural lands across the county.
Housing and Neighborhoods is one of five central themes in Plan Onondaga that guides goals and strategies for the County. Housing is directly connected to other Plan themes. Strong Centers (City of Syracuse and the county's many villages) requires revitalized housing stocks while goals in the Agriculture theme can only be met by avoiding residential sprawl into productive lands on the county's edges.
Plan Onondaga recognizes the changing nature of the county's households and families, suggesting that increased housing choice beyond the existing options will be needed in the future. At the same time, it recommends that overall housing market health and the quality of the county's diverse neighborhoods will be preserved and enhanced by strategic revitalization efforts.
Early Findings: The Syracuse housing market is distinct from the rest of the county.
WHY IT MATTERS
Suburban Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse have vastly different starting points, needs, and opportunities, so tailored approaches will be needed.
An important difference between city and suburban markets is the proportion of households in the top, middle, and bottom of the county’s income distribution, with low-income households concentrated in Syracuse and higher-income households concentrated outside Syracuse.
Affordability challenges are more apparent in Syracuse due to concentration of low-income renters while the rest of the county has better balance.
The county’s homeownership market is dominated by suburban municipalities, with Syracuse houses valued at far less than most of the rest of the county. The County's average and median figures reflect the suburban areas, which is one reason to examine Syracuse and the suburbs separately.
Early Findings:
Countywide, homeownership and renting are finding a new balance.
WHY IT MATTERS
Many single-family homes are becoming rentals, and new construction favors rental units.
Syracuse has been losing homeowners for decades and the pace of owner household growth in the suburbs has slowed. Meanwhile, both Syracuse and the suburbs saw an increase in new renter households during the 2010s.
Across Onondaga County, this rebalancing resulted in fewer new single-family houses built for ownership during the 2010s, and an increase in the
number of new rental units. Most new units were studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units.
Rental demand among households needing more space was met with the conversion of single-family houses from ownership to rental, both in Syracuse and in the suburbs.
Early Findings:
Countywide, housing needs are evolving.
WHY IT MATTERS
Changes in county households may not match well to existing housing stocks.
For example, let’s focus on the suburbs.
During the 2010s, senior renters living alone accounted for less than 15% of the growth in Syracuse renter households. But they accounted for over 30% of renter growth in the suburbs.
Are suburban rental housing stocks ready for a growing number of seniors living alone?
At the same time, the number of owner households raising kids in the suburbs is falling, meaning that thousands of houses sized for families are being used differently, with the trend likely to continue into the future.
The trend in the suburbs is both away from child rearing and toward smaller households.
What is the future of tens of thousands of Onondaga County suburban houses?
What is their role in a different kind of housing market from the one in which they were built?
