When the subject of homelessness in Lehigh County came up during the Lehigh County Commissioners’ meeting Jan. 27 held via Zoom, President and Executive Director of Valley Youth House, Tom Harrington presented a fact-filled exposition on the state of people who for a lot of reasons find themselves with no place to call home.

Harrington said 46 percent of the homeless comprise families who have been forced onto the streets, into parks or are sheltering with relatives and friends.

In supporting documents, Harrington said as of Sept. 30. 2019, there were 2,249 homeless individuals in the Lehigh Valley. In Allentown, there were 1,426 or 63 percent of that total living in Allentown.

Allentown School District reported 1,095 children who had experienced homelessness last year, which Harrington said is the fourth highest number in Pennsylvania. According to his report, the total of homeless children included families who were doubled up in a home.

In a chart depicting service demand for homelessness service, Lehigh County ranked highest in the region.

As of January 2020 in the Lehigh Valley a count revealed 678 homeless individuals, 213 children under the age of 18, 54 young people aged 18 to 24 and 18 young parents with children.

Harrington is the president and CEO of Valley Youth House, a nonprofit organization based in Bethlehem. He is also the head of Allentown’s 15-member commission on homelessness which was set up in 2020 by Allentown Mayor Ray O’Connell. The commission’s mission is to educate the public and develop a strategy to end homelessness in Allentown.

Harrington outlined the strategies developed to end homelessness.

The first is to prevent homelessness. Using grant money from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency the commission provided rental assistance keeping 259 COVID-19 impacted families in their homes.

A second strategy is what he called a “landlord engagement initiative,” which would provide incentives and risk mitigation money and provide landlord– tenant mediation to resolve issues.

Actual housing comprises the third strategy Harrington explained to commissioners.

Housing could be in several forms. The first described by Harrington is sometimes referred to as “tiny homes” that could be arranged in communities that feature food preparation equipment and a tent.

The estimated one-time setup cost for 50 such homes would be about $570,000 not counting engineering costs, land purchase or development costs. Annual operating costs with a small, paid staff would be about $300,000.

Other variants of housing include using recreational vehicles as homes and more permanent homes such as apartments with associated support features such as laundries and restrooms with showers. Even businesses such as car repair, woodworking and cinemas are incorporated in some models in other communities. Gardens and health care access can be incorporated as well.

Funding, in general, would come from a mix of government and private sources. Frank Kane, director of community and economic development, said Lehigh County now has $11.5 million for rent relief to help tenants stay in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kane said he is “about to reach out” to landlords in connection with the program.

“The biggest issue,” Harrington said, “is the ‘not-in-my-backyard’ attitude.”

While almost everyone can agree homelessness is a serious problem, nobody wants to have homeless projects in their neighborhood.

Other ideas were generated from attendees of the meeting that would, if practical and approved, serve to help get the local homelessness crisis under control. One such idea was to use the Lehigh County Community Correctional building in Bethlehem, which is currently empty, for temporarily housing homeless people.

Another attendee suggested the Lehigh County Juvenile Detention Center could be used to house homeless people.