{"id":137155,"date":"2026-03-13T08:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T08:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/137155\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T08:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T08:27:10","slug":"state-funds-easton-fire-recovery-efforts-the-lafayette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/137155\/","title":{"rendered":"State funds Easton fire recovery efforts \u2013 The Lafayette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a> <\/p>\n

Photo by Cooper Pitts<\/a> for The Lafayette <\/p>\n

The grants were announced after Easton community members hosted a community block party supporting Hotel Hampton fire victims.<\/p>\n

Federal and state funding is heading Easton\u2019s way, following a February fire<\/a> that ravaged multiple downtown buildings.<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro announced<\/a> on March 6 that the state\u2019s request for federal funding was approved. He also activated a state disaster recovery program that offers grants to residents and businesses who do not qualify for federal funding.<\/p>\n

Jeff Jumper, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, said that the Disaster Recovery Assistance Program funding primarily serves as a stopgap for residents who \u201cfall through the cracks\u201d of disaster relief funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program isn\u2019t really designed to make them whole,\u201d Jumper said. \u201cIt\u2019s designed to get them back on their feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The funding announcement came days before roughly 15 still-displaced residents were transferred<\/a> to Christ United Methodist Church in the city\u2019s South Side. Residents had previously stayed at Northampton Community College and Paxinosa Elementary School in the wake of the blaze.<\/p>\n

Debbie Jakala, a spokeswoman in the U.S. Small Business Administration\u2019s disaster recovery office, which provided the federal funds, said that the agency\u2019s temporary outreach center at Easton City Hall would increase access to applying for aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we really pitch is the ability of coming in and meeting one-on-one, face-to-face,\u201d Jakala said. \u201cOur presence definitely generates attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jakala wrote in an email that the agency is only called upon when states and local partners determine \u201cour agency\u2019s response can possibly be a support option\u201d to affected residents. A March 2025 fire<\/a> at Hotel Lafayette also displaced around 40 residents, but did not receive federal funding.<\/p>\n

Shapiro previously activated<\/a> funds following extensive flooding in Somerset County last May and a July 2024 fire<\/a> in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency distributed around $153,000 to 20 families in Somerset County; the 2025-26 state budget earmarked<\/a> around $5 million to the recovery assistance program and $40 million to the emergency management agency.<\/p>\n

Businesses that meet Small Business Administration funding thresholds can qualify for up to $2 million in low-interest loans, while residents are eligible for as much as $500,000. Homeowners who are rejected for federal loans can receive up to $20,000 through state grants, which do not need to be repaid.<\/p>\n

Jumper stressed that the disaster recovery program primarily works to meet short-term funding needs, adding that local organizations and governmental agencies fill other responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is only one piece of the equation,\u201d Jumper said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Cooper Pitts for The Lafayette The grants were announced after Easton community members hosted a community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-137155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}