Allentown is dependent in many ways on its dwindling stock of middle class homeowners, especially in the challenged neighborhoods, such as West Park and west of the library. I've been informed on good source, that more and more of such former homes are becoming de facto rooming houses...that the city is turning a blind eye to landlords renting out rooms in single family houses. Although I've been told that there is a loophole in zoning allowing this, I haven't researched the ordinance. What is more important than the zoning, is the enforcement, or lack there of.
These new rooming houses increase the parking burden on legitimate neighbors, and generally decline the quality of life. What brings this situation to this blog's attention is the mayor.
These rooming houses are springing up in the mayor's own neighborhood, with his blessing. I suppose that from his progressive point of view, such a blind eye is reducing the housing crunch in Allentown. However, if bread and butter homeowners decide the increased density is too unbearable and move, Allentown loses in every way.
South West Street, looking north
I have several of these in my neighborhood, and I don't know that it's a loophole as much as what (might be) a deliberate misinterpretation.
ReplyDeleteWhere the code might allow up to four unrelated people, City Hall is now interpreting anyone in the same family as a single person. So, for example, a family of four counts as 1 person. So in theory, you could put four families of four (or more) in a house with one bathroom and one kitchen, and they are deemed to be in compliance. The requirement for owner occupancy is not being followed.
Also, children are definitely children involved and being put in bad situations. In my neighborhood, there is a constant turnover in these homes. Imagine what that does to the school district. We even had one person living there tell us that she was moving out (along with her daughter and young grandchildren), because "it wasn't a safe situation for her grandchildren" with not knowing many of the adult men they were living with. That didn't exactly make me feel good about the safety of my wife and kids.
In addition, these out-of-town landlords are charging $1,500-$1,700 PER ROOM! Far from solving the "housing crisis", City Hall is allowing the poor to be exploited.
I don't know if it's just incompetence, but with the obvious damage to the city makes me wonder if someone isn't on the take.
The basement dwellers are everywhere in allentown pa.
ReplyDeleteYes this is going on in the Fairgrounds area. I have reported one house several times. Zoning has told me they tried to get in to inspect but the owner won’t open up. There are more than 4 unrelated persons. That is supposed to be maximum. DISGUSTING and DISGRACEFUL
ReplyDeleteSneaky activities like this, well known but not being addressed by Allentown’s politicians, does not bode well for the future of that city’s permanent single-family home owners.
ReplyDeleteYes, these tricks are very damaging to the Allentown School District and inhibit the ability of such transient students to achieve any meaningful education. In addition, the real estate values and purchase appeal of Allentown single-family homes is being negatively affected. These same single-family homes are the homes that will be called upon for even more school taxes to make up for living situations not paying their fair share.
City problems such as these are no doubt causing those who can do so to move out of the Allentown city limits. Good advice to consider. Allentown is crashing down and could take years to recover under present politics.
This issue involves the definition of "Family" in the Zoning Ordinance. Single Family Dwellings are increasingly being purchased by investors as rental properties. The Zoning Ordinance permits a maximum of 4 unrelated persons in such a dwelling unit, which is already a bit permissive. The City must be allowing each of the 4 persons to have their children, cousins, nephews, nieces, parents etc...live in the house so that there could be various extended family arrangements in a house of up to 15-20 people. This interpretation is very critical to the health, safety and welfare of urban neighborhoods, as previously well maintained homes/properties with 2 cars are being "converted" to boarding houses with up to 15-20 people, many cars and no maintenance of the house/property. No one to rake the leaves, no one to pick up litter, no one to cut the grass, no one to trim weeds and no one to shovel the snow. etc....It's a real good issue for the City to try and intervene on.
ReplyDeleteUnder current leadership they have demonstrated they won't.
DeleteMike, Tuerk self righteously wants to use Allentown to solve America's housing crisis. His fever dream apparently preludes him from recognizing we already have an existing housing crisis. All of our downtown and surrounding neighborhoods are already overcrowded, have been so for decades, and in recent years has gotten worse. Try finding on street parking anywhere east of 17th street Matt. You can pedal around all you want, but don't impose your counter productive urban fantasies on those of us who have spent decades working hard to maintain, build and improve our downtown communities. It is worth noting that while Matt is seeking to undermine existing stable communities by flouting long standing interpretations of our existing zoning codes, he has a prepared a new zoning code that would supercharge overcrowding in the city. That again, is just plain stupid Matt. Finally, for strike three, Matt is behind the scenes assisting NGO's such as Ripple Community in their effort to force a homeless drop in center in the middle of the West Park community. A stable, diverse, Historic community of primarily homeowners and long term renters. In short, our woke, deluded mayor, invisions a shiny liberal city on the hill. Those with eyes that see, and decades of skin in the game recognize a dystopia is far more likely in store.
ReplyDeleteThe problem can go even deeper. A landlord friend recently had a tenant who was renting out individual rooms in a two floor rented apartment. The tenant had installed individual locks of his own so the owner was unable to enter rooms in his building. Threats of eviction did nothing. Calls to city hall didn’t result in any inspection. It took months and constant harassment for the tenant to leave so the building could be eventually sold.
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like Community Development is loosing control over the allowable uses and level of building safety standards for residential properties. Existing codes - Chapter 455 of the Codified Ordinance, titled the Allentown Property Rehabilitation and Maintenance Code - apply that prevent this from happening and, if it's done illegally, require definitive enforcement actions to remove these dangerous conversions before police, fire and EMS have to clean up the consequences and before the neighborhoods become more permanently blighted. This loss of control is a slippery slope and happened in Reading where it was hell-to-pay living through the years it took to restore even the most basic order. Allentown's rental inspectors are well staffed and well funded to stop this from metastasizing into a much more damaging condition. The "do or die" decision to maintain order in residential Allentown is up to the the CD Director, the Code Director and the Mayor. If elected or appointed officials neglect to enforce the Codes as passed into law, residents must file and Action in Mandamus compelling them to perform their responsibilities. Hope it doesn't come to that, but you need to be ready to act to defend your rights or you will loose your homes.
ReplyDeleteThank Goodness for Reading....there's someplace worse than Allentown!
DeleteIn effect, Allentown is destroying itself through ‘woke,’ but proven stupidity. Through it all, I feel the goal is to create new voters. Not necessarily responsible new residents, as society’s MAKERS, but government dependent feeders and TAKERS. After all, a vote’s a vote. The futures of Allentown's children be damned.
ReplyDeleteThat’s the thing, I look at the numbers of people living below the poverty line and Allentown’s in the lead (not a good thing). I see the percentage of people renting, and Allentown’s again in the lead (again, not a good thing). I’m constantly hearing about the negative effect that transiency has on the school district.
DeleteSo it would seem to me that you’d be bending over backwards to protect owner-occupied homes that have middle-class (or at least working) residents living there long term.
But everything City Hall does seems designed to drive those people away and lower the quality of life in our neighborhoods. And yet no local politician or candidate seems to see the obvious.
It kind of reminds me of that saying: “if you need to get out of a hole, step one is to stop digging”
"especially in the challenged neighborhoods, such as West Park and west of the library."
ReplyDeleteI think its safe to include the Mid-West End in with the "challenged neighborhoods". In neighborhood bounded roughly by 17th & Linden to 22nd & Tilghman, nearly every single sale of a single family dwelling is to a real estate investor for use as a rental property. This seemingly livable neighborhood is declining rapidly and will be particularly vulnerable to owner-occupied housing flight as the neighborhood becomes over-crowded, more dangerous and increasingly blighted.
Doesn’t seem all that long ago when the recognized line of demarcation between Allentown urban declining neighborhoods and stable, orderly living was 12th Street.
ReplyDeleteAllentowns own economic development has created these issues with the help of there bankers club.
ReplyDeleteThe government has all the tools at its disposal to stop and reverse this trend, but they apparently don't have the will. So this may be the kind of city they want where they can continue to grow and maintain an exploitative municipal government with compliant voters who will move instead of fight the bad government for the improvements they deserve. Paints a sad picture for the future of Allentown.
ReplyDeleteTo tell the truth, moving out of failed cities like Allentown is a good choice depending on one’s age and ability to finance a move. I sympathize with the thousands of current residents who don’t have that option. I was able to leave a decade ago. When I drive by my former home now, I’m convinced leaving was a good decision.
DeleteI suspect the only alternative is to move out, exactly what many have been doing for decades.
ReplyDelete