Six out of 10 people who live in Easton’s West Ward rent, and “it’s a demographic we can’t ignore,” said Michael Brett, deputy director of the city’s Redevelopment Program.
A new nonprofit run by the city, born out of the city’s struggles with affordable housing, wants to strengthen relationships among landlords, tenants and city officials, he said.
HOME Easton, a nonprofit formed last year under the Redevelopment Authority, held its first community workshop Thursday night at the Easton Area Community Center in West Ward. HOME stands for Housing for Opportunity, Mobility and Equity.
The free event featured Megan Moore, staff attorney with North Penn Legal Services, who covered fair housing and eviction. About 25 people attended; Brett said about half were city officials, the balance tenants or landlords.
Brett said the city formed HOME Easton to improve neighborhoods by providing the residents with more education and resources about renting.
“We took this to be relationship-building rather than be punitive [against landlords or tenants],” Brett said.
Moore spent about 45 minutes weaving through the intricacies of federal and state fair housing laws covering rights, responsibilities and retaliation, and the ins and outs of the eviction process, in which a landlord removes a tenant from a rental property typically for violating lease terms such as not paying rent or damaging property.
Megan Moore, right, staff attorney with North Penn Legal Services, with paralegal Marla Gonzalez, was featured speaker at a community workshop about fair housing and eviction in Easton. on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (Anthony Salamone/The Morning Call
Afterward, she said one of main messages to tenants is: Read the lease and be in constant communication with the property owner. But exchanging information works both ways, too, according to Moore.
“Sometimes landlords have no communication from the tenant, have no idea they are going through hardship, because they have no clue what is going on,” North Penn paralegal Marla Gonzalez said.
During a question-and-answer session, Veronica Melendez, who moved to Easton about three months ago from Allentown with her husband, Jeremy, asked if a tenant can waive the right to a formal “notice” to quit in a lease.
Moore said yes, that a landlord could potentially start eviction faster for lease violations like nonpayment of rent. However, landlords still must proceed with eviction in court, she said.
“We will be showing up to more workshops to learn more,” said Jeremy Melendez. The couple, who are in their early 30s, hope one day to buy a home.
Juan Melendez, Jeremy’s brother, said he moved to Easton in 2007 and began buying rental properties about six years later.
“I just wanted to get to know about my rights, and am here to support my brother and his wife,” he said.
He works full time in information technology so he farms out taking care of the rentals he owns to a property management company.
“It was hard,” he said about being a landlord. “I had one house that was completely destroyed. When that happened, I was getting close to selling it.
“I started fixing it little by little and realized I wanted to be hands-off.”
Easton and the Valley’s other cities, Allentown and Bethlehem, have experienced a housing crunch in recent years. Brett said the HOME Easton initiative was a product of Mayor Sal Panto Jr.’s 2018 Affordable Housing Task Force. The committee presented recommendations to City Council about four years later on how to address some of the affordable housing challenges.
The mayor attended the inaugural workshop with Council member Frank Pintabone, who more recently led the move to start a landlord-tenant program aimed at improving the relationship.
The city committed $350,000 for two years for HOME Easton through the its American Rescue Plan Act money from the pandemic, with Panto saying officials hope to find funds to keep the program running.
Future workshops this year will include information about codes and building maintenance, law enforcement and understanding a lease.
HOME Easton staff consists of Mark Hammerstone, project manager, and Haley Weber, program specialist.
Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at news@mcall.com.
HOME Easton
Website: homeeaston.org
Email: info@homeeaston.org
Phone: 610-297-1035