What the Rise in Renting Means for Cities

Governing: Like many cities, Allentown, Pa., has experienced a slow but seismic shift in its housing market in recent decades. New apartment complexes keep popping up while developers convert vacant industrial facilities into rental housing. Meanwhile, construction of single-family homes has ground to a near halt. Since 2000, the city’s renter population has grown by 46 percent, while the number of residents in owner-occupied units has declined 12 percent.

The city, now majority-renter, epitomizes what’s occurred elsewhere as a greater proportion of Americans opt to forgo -- or at least delay -- homeownership.

Read article