The free event featured Megan Moore, staff attorney with North Penn Legal Services<\/a>, who covered fair housing and eviction. About 25 people attended; Brett said about half were city officials, the balance tenants or landlords.<\/p>\n Brett said the city formed HOME Easton to improve neighborhoods by providing the residents with more education and resources about renting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe took this to be relationship-building rather than be punitive [against landlords or tenants],\u201d Brett said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes landlords have no communication from the tenant, have no idea they are going through hardship, because they have no clue what is going on,\u201d North Penn paralegal Marla Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cnotice\u201d to quit in a lease.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be showing up to more workshops to learn more,\u201d said Jeremy Melendez. The couple, who are in their early 30s, hope one day to buy a home.<\/p>\n Juan Melendez, Jeremy\u2019s brother, said he moved to Easton in 2007 and began buying rental properties about six years later.<\/p>\n \u201cI just wanted to get to know about my rights, and am here to support my brother and his wife,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He works full time in information technology so he farms out taking care of the rentals he owns to a property management company.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was hard,\u201d he said about being a landlord. \u201cI had one house that was completely destroyed. When that happened, I was getting close to selling it.<\/p>\n \u201cI started fixing it little by little and realized I wanted to be hands-off.\u201d<\/p>\n Easton and the Valley\u2019s other cities, Allentown and Bethlehem, have experienced a housing crunch in recent years. <\/a>Brett said the HOME Easton initiative was a product of Mayor Sal Panto Jr.\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n![\"Megan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TMC-L-HomeEaston-01XX-01_192b9f.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n