About the Commission

Allentown's Commission to End Chronic Homelessness envisions a city where there are no
chronically homeless individuals or families. Our mission is to ensure that every formerly
chronically homeless person will have the support services, health care, and employment
opportunities needed to live as independently as possible in safe, sanitary, accessible, and
affordable permanent housing of his or her choice.

In January of 2006, representatives of the City of Allentown and the Lehigh County Conference
of Churches met to discuss the city’s unsheltered homeless. During this meeting the homeless persons living underneath the city’s Eighth Street Bridge where of particular concern due to the unsanitary conditions found in this location. In order to address these concerns, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski appointed a  Commission to End Chronic Homelessness charged with developing a ten-year plan to end
chronic homelessness in the City.

Services Guide

The City of Allentown has created a StreetSheet guide to agencies and services for Chronically Homeless persons in the Allentown area. The StreetSheet includes locations, contact info, services offered and maps for distribution to homeless persons in need of help. It should be downloaded for disbursement by first responders, medical personnel, social service agencies, clergy, church groups and other persons whom would be interested in assisting the chronically homeless in moving out of homelessness and into safe, and stable living conditions.

Download the StreetSheet and other resources:

• Allentown Emergency Services Directory StreetSheet
• Community Resources Guide
• Commission Report - 6/4/2007

 
Information from the Commission's Forum: Housing: The Key to Ending Homelessness

• May 13, 2011 Forum Minutes
• Presentation: Homes Within Reach of People with Low Incomes
• Presentation: Affordability and Availability of Rental Housing in Pennsylvania

Understanding Chronic Homelessness

•  Opening Doors - federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness (United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2010)
• People Who Experience Long-Term Homelessness: Characteristics and Interventions (National Symposium on Homelessness Research, 2007)
• Preventing and Ending Homelessness - Next Steps (Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center, 2009)

Local and National Resources on Homelessness

• 2011 Single Day Point in Time Homeless Count for PA-509
• Extreme Cold Weather Alerts
• Valley Wide Help of the Red Cross of the Lehigh Valley/local shelters
• Lehigh County Conference of Churches Resource Guide
• Pennsylvania Housing Alliance
• HUD Report on Homelessness
• Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness