A former sawmill site in Honesdale will soon become an affordable housing development.
United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania (UNC) recently acquired the vacant property for its eighth affordable housing development, Timber Mill Commons.
“Housing needs are so prevalent in Wayne County, they were seeing a need like really of every kind. They needed emergency housing for immediately homeless people. They needed affordable housing for their working families. They needed higher income housing for transient doctors that were coming in and working at the Wayne County hospital there and just really, really struggling,” said Lisa Durkin, UNC’s president and CEO.
Timber Mill Commons
Timber Mill Commons will feature 42 units of senior and family housing, including one, two and three-bedroom units. The property lies on six acres and will include four residential buildings and one community building once completed.
Durkin said the project will cost about $20 million in total. So far, about $900,000 has been secured.
UNC secured an initial $400,000 with the help of State Rep. Jonathan Fritz (R-Wayne County).
“We've got the initial $400,000 through the Community Economic Assistance Program, and we've secured the additional $500,000 to complete the transaction, and those funds are going to be realized through a program called Main Street Matters,” Fritz said.
Durkin said it could take up to 18 months before construction begins. UNC said the development will take another year to 14 months to be completed once construction starts. But the project cleared an important first hurdle.
“We have site control, and that is a very critical step in the process, it basically gets us to a point of no return,” said Fritz.
Fritz said the downtown address, 1 Commercial St., is an important feature.
“We have a very real need for housing for our seniors and our young professionals, it just made sense to focus on this area with one key item. It's easy walking distance to our downtown, all of our eateries and boutiques shops, the commercial district downtown, and that really translates into maximum quality of life for the residents,” he said.
Honesdale Mayor Derek Williams appreciates that UNC located a downtown site.
“It means kind of everything, that the walkability aspect is kind of part and parcel with just general quality of life, being able to get to your everyday locations comfortably and safely,” Williams said.
The need for affordable housing in Honesdale
The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a research organization serving Northeast Pennsylvania, said housing is considered affordable when rent or mortgage payments equal 30% or less of a household’s total income.
The Institute found in its 2026 housing primer that rents in Northeast Pennsylvania increased as much as 48% between 2018 and 2024, far outpacing wage growth.
Durkin described affordable housing as, “...something that lies in between public subsidized housing and market rate housing.”
She said the rent range for Timber Mill Commons will be from $700 to $900.
“It's affordable rents for, say, a person who's working making $35,000 to $40,000 has one or two children. It's affordable for a senior who gets Social Security and maybe a small pension,” Durkin said.
UNC observed housing costs increasing everywhere after the pandemic.
“There was a moratorium on evictions that was called during that time,” Durkin said. “It was a good thought to protect people from being evicted. But then what happened was landlords, owners of properties, weren't receiving a rental payment. Maybe they fell behind on their mortgage payments. I think what we saw is a lot of property owners said, 'Well, I'm getting out of this business.' So we just lost some units along the way.”
Poconos tourism also boomed during that time.
“When you take Wayne County, what they saw was a lot of people turning their rental properties into Airbnbs,” Durkin said. “I think what they saw was a lot of people with its proximity to New York City. COVID really introduced the era of remote work. What we saw was a lot of people who were making New York City salaries relocating to nice, beautiful Lake Wallenpaupack, these nice communities in Wayne County, and property owners there were able to fetch larger rents.”
Mayor Williams said low housing supply in Honesdale has driven up rent costs.
“Not only is it people moving up here, which has put a pressure on us in the housing market, it's also people fixing up buildings, keeping them as rentals, and having those rents incrementally go up. Within that timeframe, we have seen what people used to be able to expect as a $900 apartment, in some cases, go up to $1,800 and that is a significant increase in barriers to being able to live and work here,” Williams said.
Durkin wants this development to allow locals to enjoy their community, without worrying about the cost of living.
“You look at all these terrific shops and restaurants and everything it has to offer, which is fantastic, unless the people who are working in those shops and restaurants can't afford to live there,” she said.
Williams wants people to keep moving to Honesdale. But he sees this investment from UNC as a way to allow working people to live comfortably in his borough.
“I wouldn't want to put any negative characterization on people investing here. We certainly welcome that, and it's great to see anybody wanting to move here," he said.
"When we have more available at this lower rate, it totally allows for people who have been here for a while, or even new people, to be able to afford to live and work and start a family and play here, which is something we're always looking for,” Williams said.
