BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Historically, Bethlehem has been a high-demand area for housing, with the city being centrally located to both New York City and Philadelphia, as well as being next to Allentown, the third largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania, the Christmas City has much to offer to residents.
Between 1910 and 1920, people from over 50 ethnic groups immigrated to Bethlehem to work for Bethlehem Steel Corporation, which was unable to meet labor demands from Lehigh Valley residents alone.
South Side – known at the time as South Bethlehem – saw a population growth of almost 300%, which created a housing shortage.
Bethlehem Steel entered the real estate market, building homes from Third St. to Adams St., and offered mortgages for employees, which helped many residents.
However, many families took in borders which created crowded conditions but provided newcomers a place to live while giving families extra income.
With this high demand, historic efforts to keep minority groups out of certain areas came about, most notably redlining.
This was the practice of denying specific neighborhoods access to mortgages. These neighborhoods primarily consisted of minority groups, more specifically Black communities.
An organization known as the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) rated the “security” or risk to organizations providing loans.
They based these mapping lines on the likelihood of an organization receiving repayments on those loans.
The maps created a grading system with neighborhoods deemed safest for investment receiving an “A” and being colored green and dangerous neighborhoods receiving a “D” and being colored red.
Based on the map, areas surrounding the City of Bethlehem were redlined. The city had blue and yellow zones with blue representing “still desirable” neighborhoods and yellow representing “declining” ones.
“Where neighborhoods were denser, where housing was older, which neighborhoods were more impacted by the production of steel and the consequences that came from that … Those are the places that didn’t see as much investment,” said Karen Pooley, Professor of Practice in the Department of Political Science at Lehigh University.
In 1965, the City of Bethlehem declared the neighborhood of Northampton Heights to be “blighted” under the Urban Renewal Area Project. This was an ethnically diverse neighborhood consisting of German, Irish, Ukrainian, Syrian, Spanish, Mexican, Romanian, and many more groups.
The neighborhood was destroyed in 1968 and Bethlehem Steel’s basic oxygen furnace was built on the grounds.
According to a Lehigh Valley Live article, there were accounts of minority groups being offered less for their homes than their white neighbors when Bethlehem Steel began purchasing the land.
Another ethnically diverse neighborhood near Packer Avenue was also destroyed in the 1960s. State and federal funding was provided to force sales from remaining businesses and homeowners and the neighborhood was promptly destroyed. Today, the area is part of Lehigh University’s Campus Square and STEPS building.
As immigrant populations influxed into the area, subsequent housing was destroyed and replaced. This left a higher demand for housing than could be met.
Now, residents are again facing this housing crisis.
Housing remained stable until growth began in the 2000s and once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, housing skyrocketed as wealthier residents moved to Bethlehem because of the flexibility of remote work and the city’s lower housing prices compared to other metropolitan areas nearby.
The influx in demand caused housing prices to inflate, with Bethlehem’s median rental and sale prices increasing by 50% in three years.
“Our rents have gone up more in the Lehigh Valley than they’ve gone up in places like Philadelphia,” Pooley said.
In response, the city has implemented multiple initiatives to address demand and affordability, including its Comprehensive Housing Strategy.
The plan identified three: phase one consisted of city officials presenting their research at Community Development Committee meetings and Northampton County Community College. Phase two involved the creation of a five-year strategic plan that allocated funds to assist residents in accessing affordable housing.
Phase three saw the implementation of the plan and presented it to community members at NACC.
The committee creating the strategy found that 61% of Bethlehem households are considered low or moderate-income and that from 2020-22, there was a 53% increase in homelessness citywide.
A Market Value Analysis found that most low-income areas are on Bethlehem’s South Side, which residents have felt the effects of.
“SouthSide would be well served by more affordable housing, serving low-income residents,” said Mark Iampietro, a lifetime resident of SouthSide.
Another resident, Neil Hever, said, “There is a lot more Lehigh [University student] presence in housing … The newer buildings look pretty good. Would be nice to have those old houses go back to being family-owned.”
Darlene Heller, City of Bethlehem Planning Director, explained that the City of Bethlehem partners with and funds programs run by nonprofit organizations such as New Bethany Ministries and Habitat for Humanity of the Lehigh Valley to assist residents who are on the verge of homelessness or eviction in finding emergency shelters, making rent payments, etc.
The city has other projects like North Side Alive that further assist housing.
Heller explained that the key challenges in providing affordable and accessible housing are funding, resource capacity, and lengthy planning and implementation requirements.
Pooley also explained that pandemic relief funding, which is no longer available, has amplified the situation.
“Those neighborhoods where either lower-income households or non-white households are concentrated are more likely to be ones that have less access to healthy food or more likely to be ones that are facing higher levels of environmental justice issues or air pollution,” Pooley said.
