Easton discusses flex design homes
City eyes South Side, West Ward for affordable units
Melissa Lozada, who moved to Easton 12 years ago and owns a home in the West Ward, has seen longtime neighbors die, after which their houses were converted into apartment units. One home nearby has been rented to four tenants in the last year, she said.
“And I think that’s exactly what West Ward wants to get away from,” she said, hoping, like many homeowners, to see her property appreciate in value.
So Lozada welcomed hearing about a program for the city’s redevelopment authority to build affordable homes in the West Ward and South Side.
“It makes sense,” she said, “and we need to keep it something affordable.”
Easton, like the Lehigh
Valley’s other cities and communities, is experiencing a housing shortage, with people finding steep prices for rentals and homes with high demand, according to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s annual Outlook presentation last week.
And some 52% of renters and 48% of area households faced burdens related to housing costs, according to the LVPC. By cost burdened, the agency means residents are more likely to struggle paying for food, transportation, health coverage and child care after paying for housing costs.
Easton has embarked on ambitious plans to build up the city’s affordable housing stock.
The redevelopment authority has been acquiring lots around the city for years, said the agency’s Michael Brett. In early March, City Council approved spending about $4 million in federal pandemic relief money to buy more properties.
About two dozen people, including Lozada, attended a meeting Thursday evening to discuss a new city plan: designing and building model homes on seven vacant lots — two in the West Ward, five on the South Side.
About 15 homes would be built on those lots, said Brett, who organized the meeting that drew city leaders, residents and developers, and representatives
from Philadelphia firm IS Architects.
The redevelopment authority is working with IS Architects, which has taken odd lots such as a narrow Philadelphia parcel where designers completed an ultra-skinny, seven-unit tower or a North Philly alley,
where they fit duplexes. Some homes, which ISA designed from 2008-12, cost less than $100,000.
Brett acknowledged the city won’t be able to duplicate that $100,000 price; he estimated the homes would cost around $200,000. The new homes would fit
people who earn 80% of the median household income, currently around $50,000 for one person, he said.
Some of the homes would be singles; some would be built together. Most — maybe all — would become owner-occupied by Easton residents, if city officials have their way.
ISA officials Anna Green and Brian Phillips, a Parkland High School alumnus, showed the audience the various, flexible home designs from the outside, along with possible interior layouts. The audience had a chance to place such features as bathrooms, laundry rooms and outdoor sheds during the hourlong meeting.
If all goes as planned, Brett said, groundbreaking on the first homes would take place next fall, and construction would be completed during 2024. He said program officials would likely hire multiple builders to construct the homes.
Those who attended seemed pleased.
“This looks like it has great potential, especially in the West Ward, where the population is so dense,” City Council member David O’Connell said. “Having more vertical style housing, I think, is a great idea. It’s very urban, and that’s just what we need.”
Lozada and others said it’s important to see Easton’s housing stock grow and remain affordable, during an era in which developers, landlords and management companies are acquiring and later renting many current homes.
“We don’t want people to be pushed out,” Lozada said.
For more information on the model house or the meeting, contact Brett at mbrett@rda.easton-pa.gov or call Shaquera Martindale the redevelopment authority’s deputy director, 610-250-6770.