Redevelopment Authority outlines inventory, disposition plans and push for stable housing funding

The Redevelopment Authority updated the Allentown City Community and Economic Development Committee on inventory, disposition plans and partnerships, and urged creation of stable funding for housing initiatives.

The authority’s staff reported the inventory at the end of 2024 included eight properties: three single-family homes, one mixed-use property, one industrial site, one warehouse and two vacant lots. One vacant lot has been sold to the parking authority for a Ridge Avenue parking lot, and another property on Sixth Street has been disposed to the Housing Authority with plans to build eight new affordable units, staff said.

Chris Rad, chair of the Redevelopment Authority, described a year of transition and said the board is “positioned to do a lot of really good things for the city.” City staff said the authority had worked to secure a clean independent audit and to establish standard operating procedures for property maintenance.

Alan (Redevelopment Authority board member) emphasized the authority’s role in addressing blight: “The redevelopment authority is the most powerful and important tool that a city has in dealing with blight,” he said, and described efforts to repair working relationships between staff, board members and the mayor’s office so the authority could operate effectively.

Committee members asked why the Ridge Avenue lot was sold to the parking authority rather than used for housing. Redevelopment staff replied the site posed construction challenges that yielded few housing units and that neighborhood demand favored parking; staff noted the neighborhood had petitioned for a parking lot and celebrated the sale.

On policy tools, staff said the authority is exploring whether to partner with the Lehigh Valley Community Land Trust (administered by Community Action) or to form a local land trust to preserve affordability. Staff also described using deed restrictions as a condition on federal homeowner and remediation programs to preserve affordability on properties the city invests in.

Staff described several planned steps to improve how the city handles vacant and blighted properties: a vacant-property registry ordinance in development that would require registration and allow the city to track vacant versus occupied properties, a blight list tied to redevelopment authority disposition, and a disposition policy that will prevent the authority from taking properties without a planned reuse. The committee was told that housing projects of 20 or more units will receive prioritized land development review.

The authority also said it is exploring recurring local revenue sources for housing, in addition to federal grants and loans (staff mentioned application work with a federal bank in Pittsburgh), because existing federal funding is insufficient and unstable for long-term planning. No dollar amounts or specific revenue mechanisms were provided in the meeting.

Committee members were told the authority will return with a strategic plan identifying priority properties for disposition and redevelopment. There were no formal votes recorded on these items during the committee meeting.