BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The city is in line for $1,835,490 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The bulk of it will assist low- to moderate-income groups, bolster tenant advocacy and local housing supply and improve key street corridors, officials said Tuesday.
The 2025 Community Development Block Grant allocation has been set at $1,418,306, and the Home Investment Partnerships Program at $417,184 — up about $3,000 and $26,000, respectively, from the previous year.Bethlehem Housing and Community Development Administrator Robert Vidoni.
The 2025 Community Development Block Grant allocation has been set at $1,418,306, and the Home Investment Partnerships Program at $417,184.
That’s up about $3,000 and $26,000 from the previous year, respectively, according to Bethlehem Housing and Community Development Administrator Robert Vidoni.
An inter-departmental evaluation committee "generated funding recommendations after scoring external applications using a standardized system, and assessing application quality, prior funding, consolidated planning goals, financial liability and risk considerations, applicant compliance history, beneficiary numbers" and more, Vidoni wrote in a June 25 memo to City Council.
Officials took no action on the spending plan Tuesday. A resolution will be placed on the July 15 meeting agenda.
Case by case
“CDBG funding supports a wide variety of activities, whether it's economic development, revitalizing neighborhoods, blight, housing initiatives, improving facilities and services and public services,” Vidoni said.
Some of those allocations include:
- $15,000 for Community Action Development Corp. of Bethlehem and its tenant advocacy program
- $67,746 for the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter and its services from November through April
- $10,000 for ShareCare Faith in Action for caregiver services for elderly and disabled individuals
- $15,000 for North Penn Legal Services and its fair housing programs and legal work.
The intent of the HOME program “is to increase the supply and quality of affordable housing, to help expand the nonprofit sector in connection with its capacity to build and rehab housing, to strengthen state and local government capacity to provide housing and to leverage private sector investment,” Vidoni said.
That funding partially includes:
- $312,888 for the city’s “affordable housing project opportunities”
- $62,578 for Community Action Lehigh Valley for affordable housing development and more.
The city usually accepts CBDG applications during a fixed period each year, while HOME potentials are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Depending on the situation, applicants not included in the potential allocations were directed to reapply during the next cycle, apply for city Community Recovery Fund money and even seek out other state, local and federal resources, officials said.
Vidoni said he “wouldn’t say it is clear at this point in time” whether H.R. 1, otherwise known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act or the July 1 Senate reconciliation bill, would affect respective HUD funding going forward.
