Bethlehem will soon be home to the СŷƵ’s first non-congregate emergency family shelter, thanks to a $1.45 million state grant.
The property at 232-234 W. Packer Ave., owned by the Lehigh Conference of Churches, will receive extensive renovations to transform it into an emergency shelter with 11 rooms for families facing homelessness.
The state grant will close the city’s funding gap — it had already allocated $1.4 million in American Rescue Plan dollars toward the long-planned project — and allow the work to move forward.
“This investment by Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration will help bring the СŷƵ its first non-congregate family shelter, filling a large void in the region’s emergency sheltering system,” said Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds in a news release. “This critical award allows the city to fully fund this project and brings us one step closer to offering families year-round shelter.”
The private units will each have their own bathroom facilities, allowing families privacy as they seek permanent housing. They also made the project eligible for the state and federal grants — some funding sources will only pay for shelters with private living units, as opposed to congregate settings with shared quarters.
The Lehigh Conference of Churches will donate the property to the city and will handle the shelter’s day-to-day operations, including a case management office on the shelter’s site.
The city expects engineering and design of the renovations to take six months, and renovations themselves will take around a year.
The funding awarded to Bethlehem is part of a $27 million investment from the Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development to address homelessness in 38 counties statewide.
“The Shapiro Administration is committed to ensuring Pennsylvanians have more housing options,” said DCED Secretary Rick Siger in a news release. “The funding approved today is just one tool that will allow more individuals and their families to maintain a roof over their heads that they can afford.”
The city is still seeking enough funding for its planned 82-bed emergency congregate shelter, in partnership with the nonprofit Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering. The city has dedicated $2 million toward that project.
The number of unhoused people in the region has only increased since the city announced its strategic plan to address homelessness in early 2022. According to data from the СŷƵ Homeless Advisory Board, there are around 1,032 unhoused households across the СŷƵ, an increase of 38% from 2022.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.
