Last month, individuals were moved out of a tent encampment<\/a> along the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks. Over at New Bethany Ministries, staff told 69 News they see a lot of those folks come through to get a meal.<\/p>\n“The demand is extremely high. Our numbers are getting higher and higher,” said Asst. Executive Director Veronne Demesyeux.<\/p>\n
Demesyeux said recent federal developments, like new SNAP eligibility requirements and the expiration of affordable care act subsidies aren’t helping.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, there has always been a demand for our services, but due to the current climate that we’re in, people are losing benefits, and that has created and increase in the demand,” said Demesyeux.<\/p>\n
To meet that demand, the City of Bethlehem is receiving $400,000 to help expand street outreach and rapid rehousing programs. New Bethany is also receiving $475,000 to help fund a renovation of more than 18,000 square feet in its drop-in center, where it will soon offer mental health services and a community hygiene center.<\/p>\n
The grants were secured in part by State Sen. Lisa Boscola, who said in a statement:<\/p>\n
“Housing affordability in the Lehigh Valley is a critical issue that is best addressed in a collaborative way and state support for… New Bethany’s programs to address residents’ needs… will have a positive impact on our community.”<\/p>\n
Demesyeux said that impact will help change the lives of the people they serve.<\/p>\n
“Support like this allows us to re-imagine the future of New Bethany, because we are simply out of room,” said Demesyeux.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In the city of Bethlehem, homelessness has become a pressing issue. Last month, individuals were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5892,153,155,154,40899,676,32984,20278,1264,40898,4610,40897],"class_list":{"0":"post-81048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-affordable-care-act","9":"tag-bethlehem","10":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","11":"tag-bethlehem-news","12":"tag-community-hygiene-center","13":"tag-funding","14":"tag-homeless-services","15":"tag-mental-health-services","16":"tag-new-bethany-ministries","17":"tag-rapid-rehousing","18":"tag-snap","19":"tag-street-outreach"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81048","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=81048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}