ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Two seven-figure grants are set to help restore some critically needed affordable housing units in the city.<\/p>\n
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh gave $1.2 million to Allentown Housing Authority’s plans to build eight apartments on an empty lot in the 400 block of North Sixth Street.<\/p>\n
City crews five years ago demolished a building with several apartments after it became a blighted property. Crews could soon start work on The Lofts at 6th Street.<\/p>\n
And the team behind a project to revamp 20 affordable units on Gordon Street walked away with a $1.2 million ceremonial check Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody wants to be here. There\u2019s a lot of people who want to be in Allentown. The supply [of housing] needs to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk<\/p>\n
Local officials, bankers and others gathered at Finanta Credit Union\u2019s downtown Allentown office for the celebration and check ceremony Friday.<\/p>\n
The units are meant to serve low-income people with mental health concerns.<\/p>\n
Valley Housing Development Corporation plans to install a fire sprinkler system and new kitchens, baths and flooring. The project also includes replacing the building’s exterior features, such as windows, doors and the roof.<\/p>\n
Allentown was designated as a \u201cblueprint community\u201d by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh alongside Easton\u2019s South Side, Reading and several other areas in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The Blueprint Communities initiative works to build communities\u2019 capacity to develop and implement a revitalization plan by training local representatives over a 10-year period.<\/p>\n
‘A lot of work to do’<\/p>\n
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said his city is facing a housing crisis in part because of its desirability.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody wants to be here,\u201d Tuerk said Friday. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who want to be in Allentown. The supply [of housing] needs to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city has about 1,900 fewer units than it needs to meet the current need for housing, according to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. <\/p>\n
That gap could balloon past 5,000 units without significant intervention, the commission has said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of work to do in Allentown to build to meet that demand,\u201d Tuerk said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh\/Northampton, credited officials at Friday gathering with the leadership as integral to the projects\u2019 launch and future success.<\/p>\n
Allentown once was \u201ca refuge for affordability, especially when it comes to housing. We need to bring it back, better than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh\/Northampton<\/p>\n
\u201cIt couldn\u2019t happen without the entire team effort joining together,\u201d Mackenzie said.<\/p>\n
The first-term congressman highlighted \u201csteep increases\u201d in housing costs throughout the United States since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with rents climbing 29% nationwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in Allentown, we saw that the crisis was especially severe, with rents increasing 45 percent and home prices surging 64 percent,\u201d Mackenzie said.<\/p>\n
The city once was \u201ca refuge for affordability, especially when it comes to housing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to bring it back, better than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mackenzie called the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh\u2019s investments a \u201cprime example\u201d of the \u201ccommon sense steps\u201d lawmakers, advocates and businesses are taking \u201cto try to improve the high-quality affording housing supply right here in our local community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis kind of local, on-the-ground work is where the problem will be solved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Two seven-figure grants are set to help restore some critically needed affordable housing units in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,18680,121,120,30805,2459,1582],"class_list":["post-162758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-affordable-housing","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-lehigh-valley-housing","tag-matt-tuerk","tag-ryan-mackenzie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162758","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=162758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}