Committee moves Bill 9 to full council to fund unsheltered services coordinator

A committee of the Allentown City Council voted to move Bill 9 favorably to the full council after discussing language, pay grade and hiring criteria for a proposed unsheltered services coordinator position.

Bill 9 would amend the 2025 general fund budget by transferring $150,000 from the Health Bureau to a newly created Health Bureau Unsheltered Coordination Services Program and fund an unsheltered service coordinator position with a total annual salary of $68,987. The committee vote sends the measure to the full council for a final decision.

The committee heard administration representatives who described the position and its intended role. "This position was put in the 2025 budget at the request of both the administration and council," the administration said, and presented a job description that the committee received in advance. Dave Cinnamon, Community Development director, described the job as focused on data collection, analysis and coordination among agencies and nonprofit partners.

Councilmember Napoli said the position was "a tremendous opportunity to have someone in place that can help coordinate and really maximize the resources that are out there, for this community," and said it should reduce duplication and missed opportunities among city and nonprofit efforts.

Members focused on three substantive issues: the job description's reference to maintaining "a census of all unhoused persons," comparative pay grade and whether lived experience should factor into hiring. Councilmember Gerlach asked that the census language acknowledge that some people experiencing homelessness "do not want to be on a census nor should they be forced to," and suggested alternatives such as counting "those who choose to participate" or using a wording that aims for a majority rather than an absolute total.

Cinnamon said the intent behind the wording is to work with programs already tracking people and to capture a broader picture of housing instability beyond the annual point‑in‑time head count. "I mean, I have no problem doing those those verbiage changes," he said, adding that community partners had emphasized the need for better data about unhoused and unstably housed residents.

On pay, the administration said the current job is graded two grades above a previous position that had been graded at level 9; the new grade, the administration said, aligns the position with other city managers who have similar responsibilities. Committee members asked for future circulation of job descriptions to the Commission on Homelessness, noting that only the commission chair had seen the current draft.

On whether lived experience should be a hiring factor, the administration said that would require input from human resources because "lived experience could be defined a number of ways" and HR would need to advise on measurable criteria. Councilmember Gerlach said she had seen other jurisdictions include lived experience related to housing instability in hiring criteria.

After discussion, Councilmember Hammond moved to advance Bill 9 to the full council; another member seconded and the committee recorded a voice vote to move the bill favorably. Committee members Hendricks and another member said they would be on Microsoft Teams during the full council meeting to answer questions about the position.

The measure will next be considered by the full Allentown City Council; the committee did not record a roll‑call vote or a final tally in the transcript.