Lancaster Living

Lancaster Living Resides at 308 East King Street

Learn About Us

Lancaster Living got its start in late 2005 as several collaborating partner agencies worked to begin an effort to promote homeownership in Lancaster city.

The reasons for this effort were...

- Sales of the "I love city life" pins and bumper sticker project of 3 years prior had greatly exceeded expectation.

- Organizations like "Live Baltimore" have become self-sustaining centers that promote homeownership and city living.

- Most national based home builders create a model home or sales center to serve as an effective sales tool for their neighborhood communities.

- The collaborating partners recognized that a movement such as this could not be an isolated solution. Money for significant development projects, code reform, stronger coordination of efforts, comprehensive neighborhood based planning, and school district perceptions name just a few. The collaborating partners know that this can augment other efforts as it has in Baltimore.

- Investor confidence can cover a host of problems. The value of stock or real estate depends heavily on the promise of a future.

- There is a weak sense of neighborhood affiliation among residents of downtown Lancaster. Current staffed improvement efforts are not organized by neighborhood but rather by main corridors.

- Much of Lancaster City's definition comes from the media that focuses on the negative news of crime and politics.

- One trend in city renewal strategies is the focus on smaller neighbor projects, façade improvements, and smaller crime enforcement. These projects build relationships between neighbors, provide victories and have more significance than originally thought.

- Neighborhoods and communities often organize their real estate at different price points showing a place for buyers to plug in at various levels.

- A Lancaster city homeownership effort needs a long term champion.

In July, 2006, the steering committee added Phil Wenger and Nancy Neff as co-chairs of the fledgling effort.

In August, Michael Sprunger was hired as its first executive director.

In the Fall of 2006, the steering committee grew to its current membership list and conducted its first strategic planning retreat.