Penn College and a 5th Avenue build that turns policy into a front-door key
On a Friday afternoon in Williamsport, the nearly completed house at 508 5th Avenue stood open for a tour and press conference, its fresh structure carrying the fingerprints of student crews and the hopes of a family leaving “a very unsafe environment. ” For penn college, the build has become more than a class assignment: it is a real address where affordable housing policy meets a living room, a doorway, and a future move-in next month.
What is happening at the 508 5th Avenue home involving Penn College?
A new, nearly completed Habitat for Humanity home at 508 5th Avenue in Williamsport was designed and built by Pennsylvania College of Technology students over the past two years, alongside Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity construction staff and volunteers. The home will welcome a family next month, and the family will be introduced to the community later next month.
Deputy Secretary for Community Affairs and Development Rick Vilello, with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), toured the project and used the visit to emphasize the urgent need to expand housing opportunity and increase affordability for Pennsylvanians.
The property itself carries a visible before-and-after story. It was formerly described as a “nuisance bar. ” Pennsylvania College of Technology purchased the property in 2015 and leveled it. In October 2023, the college donated the property to Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity. A groundbreaking followed on Sept. 19, 2024, with the build continuing as students returned to the site through successive school periods.
Why does the Pennsylvania Housing Action Plan matter to this one home?
State leaders are treating the Williamsport build as a local example of a larger push. Governor Josh Shapiro created Pennsylvania’s first-ever Housing Action Plan, described by DCED as a framework to build and preserve more homes, modernize housing regulations and zoning rules, and break down barriers that prevent people from finding stable housing — with the aim of growing the economy and improving quality of life.
During the tour, Vilello compared the nearly completed housing project to a flower and argued that neighborhood change can spread from one fixed property to the next. “This could be the poster child project for what the governor wants to accomplish everywhere in Pennsylvania, ” Rick Vilello said. He also framed the housing challenge in statewide terms: “It is not an urban issue, ” he said. “It’s not a rural issue. It is a Pennsylvania issue. ”
DCED’s press release language also underscored the scale of the strain: under current projections, Pennsylvania is expected to face a shortage of roughly 185, 000 homes by 2035 unless further action is taken. The release also stated that housing costs continue to rise faster than wages, with over one million households spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and that more than half of the Commonwealth’s housing stock is over 50 years old, increasing maintenance costs.
Who built it, who supported it, and what did the partnership look like?
The house was designed as part of a Pennsylvania College of Technology class assignment and built by students across multiple programs: architecture & sustainable design; building construction; concrete science; electrical; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; and heavy construction equipment technology. Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity construction staff and volunteers also worked on the 1, 440-square-foot, ADA accessible home when school was not in session.
Local government partners also played roles that shaped the day-to-day practicality of construction. The Lycoming County Commissioners approved a $100, 000 grant for construction. The City of Williamsport permitted the use of an adjacent city-owned property for equipment and materials storage. Vilello described the work as involving multiple levels of cooperation, including Lycoming County, the City of Williamsport, Habitat, and the college — a chain of decisions that turned a cleared lot into a buildable site and then into a home.
For Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity, the partnership also centers on what happens after the final nail. Dana Borick Brigandi, director of development representing Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity, spoke at the Friday conference and tour about the family’s living situation and the significance of what comes next inside the house. “They are each going to be having their own bedroom, they are not going to be sharing one room with the family members, ” Dana Borick Brigandi said.
She described the family’s preparation as part of the broader effort to build stability, not only a structure. “We’re so excited the family is partnering with us to make these changes, to get the financial training and the construction training, so that they can be successful homeowners and keep this going for their lifetime, ” Borick Brigandi said.
How does penn college fit into the state’s housing and workforce goals?
The state’s housing message in Williamsport was paired with a workforce message: the idea that building more housing and building the next generation of tradespeople are connected. Vilello framed the initiative as one that supports housing options and opportunity for families while also fostering relationships with educational institutions turning out building trades and construction professionals, such as graduates from Penn College.
At the same time, the state’s broader funding discussion hovered behind the home tour. Vilello explained that Shapiro’s 2026-27 proposed budget creates a new $1 billion initiative to provide flexible funding for major infrastructure projects across the Commonwealth, including building and preserving more housing, bringing new energy generation onto the grid, and upgrading school and municipal facilities.
In Williamsport, the practical impact of those big ideas was visible in the division of labor: students learning and working on real systems, Habitat staff and volunteers filling the gaps when classes were not in session, and local government smoothing logistics with grants and space for storage. The result is a nearly completed home and a scheduled move-in next month — a timeline that takes statewide planning and local patience and turns it into a handoff of keys.
As the Friday afternoon event ended, the house on 5th Avenue still read as a job site in its final stretch, but it also read as a neighborhood signal: a property once known as a “nuisance bar, ” now rebuilt through cooperation, training, and targeted support. In a state confronting affordability pressures and a projected shortage, the question left hanging is how many more blocks can replicate what this one address achieved — and whether penn college and its partners can keep turning cleared lots into stable homes, one family at a time.
