New Bethany Ministries to expand housing aid for Bethlehem Area students

Nonprofit New Bethany Ministries is expanding its housing assistance program to help more Bethlehem Area students and their families at the source of their troubles rather than making them seek out solutions.

The Housing Advocacy Program, created last year, sees case workers going to schools in the district and helping parents who need resources such as rental assistance or help searching for housing.

Until recently, the program was only available to students at Donegan Elementary School, Broughal Middle School and Fountain Hill Elementary School. With the expansion for this school year funded by the district’s American Rescue Plan grant, the program will add Marvine Elementary School, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School and William Penn Elementary School, according to a news release.

Officials from the school district, including Dr. Benita Draper and Eric Fontanez at the Office of Equity Initiatives, said the program helps meet the financial and housing needs of families for students,

so they can be successful in school.

“It’s more about helping the families toward being more self-sufficient,” Fontanez said.

“We didn’t want the fact that they were homeless to be

a barrier to [school opportunities],” Draper said.

Marc Rittle, executive director for New Bethany Ministries, said the program keeps students from having to switch schools due to housing instability. He added that he hopes to move away from COVID relief funding, add more case workers, cover all the school district by the end of this school year and even send case workers into non-educational locations such as community libraries.

“We have a queue of hundreds of people at any point in time looking for housing assistance here on-site at New Bethany Ministries,” he said. “So ... having a person on site at the schools cuts through a lot of that bureaucracy.”

Associate Executive Director Veronne Demesyeux said in the news release that housing insecurity has an impact on students.

“Housing insecurity affects children’s mental health and directly impacts a child in school, and we can start to see that trauma in their performance,” she said. “We want our families to know that they can count on us during challenging times, which will positively impact their child’s well-being, especially in school settings.”

Lehigh County had the fourth most evictions filed in the state in 2021, behind only Philadelphia, Allegheny and Dauphin counties, according to the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania. Based on the number of renters per county, the Housing Alliance found, Lehigh ranked No. 3 in the state, behind only Dauphin and York counties. Northampton County ranked 12th in terms of overall evictions, and seventh in eviction rate.