“Every time a thunderstorm rolled through, I had to go pick up the branches,” said Wenger, founder of Isaac’s Restaurant & Deli. The lawn continually needed to be mowed, a problem for a guy who liked to travel on weekends.


He liked the idea of living in a community where he could walk to things. His Manheim Township neighborhood was a great place, but it wasn’t exactly a short stroll to the supermarket.


And so last year he made the move to the city, buying a house on West Chestnut Street. It was, he said, one of the best decisions he ever made.


Now he and several other local leaders are doing what they can to entice others to do the same.


Wenger, along with Nancy Neff, co-chairs the advisory board for Lancaster Living, an effort designed to boost homeownership in the city.


Founded earlier this year, the organization just hired its first executive director. Michael Sprunger, who has lived in the city for 20 years and worked for Tabor Community Services the past 12, will soon begin meeting with leaders, Realtors and others who might spread the word that the city is a great place to live, and Lancaster Living can make it easier to find a place in the city.


Lancaster Living is modeled after LiveBaltimore, which has helped boost homeownership in that city. It serves as a “one-stop shop” where potential residents can find information about houses for sale, programs that can provide financial assistance to buy a house, contractors to help them fix the place up and more.


For now, Sprunger will continue to work out of the Tabor offices at 308 E. King St.; but within three months, Lancaster Living hopes to have a “street presence,” its own office in a highly visible part of town, perhaps near Central Market.


Coupled with that will be a Web site modeled on the LiveBaltimore site, www.livebaltimore.com, featuring links to classified ads and real estate agents, maps and lists of amenities available in specific neighborhoods and more.


“We’ve got to create an efficient machine to steer people to this spot,” said Sprunger, who lives in a section of town “charitably referred to as ‘the Ward.’ ”


“But the economics of it are spectacular,” said Sprunger. His house was far nicer than what he might have been able to afford in the suburbs. That, he said, is one of the biggest things the city has going for it.


There are obviously others. There’s a vibrancy to city life that simply doesn’t exist in the suburbs. Want to walk to the restaurant? Try that in Manheim Township.


And diversity is a big draw, as well. At the same time, some of the problems that are often associated with diversity, such as crime and the perception of crime, and poorly performing schools, are among the biggest hurdles Lancaster Living might need to clear.


But the people behind the efforts are realistic. There is, they admit, a demographic out there that would never live in the city, no matter what.


Others might, if a good case for the city is made. Making that case, and convincing those in real estate, mortgage lenders and public officials to make that case on the city’s behalf, is Lancaster Living’s ultimate goal.


Homeownership in the city now hovers around 47 percent, said Wenger. “We want to get it up to 60 percent” in the coming years, he said. That is likely to require the conversion of houses that are now used as rental units into single-family dwellings, he said; unlike what might happen out in the county, in the city “there’s not going to be a new development built the next field over,” as there is no next field over.


Lancaster Living has gotten off the ground with about $200,000 from public sources such as the Lancaster County Community Foundation. Officials hope to raise another $200,000 through private-sector donations, and ultimately make the program self-sustaining, perhaps generating revenue by publishing a magazine, as LiveBaltimore does, complete with ads from locals banks and real estate people.


But all of that is down the road. For now, Sprunger wants to build some bridges and make people aware that the initiative exists; doing so, officials believe, will make home buyers aware that city itself exists as a viable option.


“It takes a while to change perceptions,” said Nancy Neff. “Many people who grow up with a patch of green grass in the suburbs can find out that there’s a whole other world out there.”

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