ALLENTOWN, Pa. — City lawmakers were eyeing funding so a nonprofit could serve homeless residents on weekends.
But Mayor Matt Tuerk on Wednesday withdrew his request for $50,000 that would have enabled the Lehigh Conference of Churches to expand beyond its weekday schedule.
Tuerk told council he spoke Dec. 6 to Conference of Churches Executive Director Abby Goldfarb about “the challenges that unsheltered people face in Allentown at the moment — including not having anywhere to go on Saturday and Sunday.”
“It would be fiscally irresponsible to add another $50,000 of expense to a budget that council is bent on drawing from our reserves (to balance)."
Mayor Matt Tuerk
The Lehigh Conference of Churches’s Daybreak facility welcomes guests for meals and connection during the week but isn't open on weekends, Tuerk said.
He proposed using $50,000 of city funds to help the Lehigh Conference Churches provide homelessness support for an extra day each week.
But the mayor pulled the measure after council passed a 2026 budget that held the line on the property tax rate while raising the trash fee $135.
It also would take $1.5 million out of the city’s bank account to balance revenues and spending.
“It would be fiscally irresponsible to add another $50,000 of expense to a budget that council is bent on drawing from our reserves" to balance, Tuerk said Wednesday.
He said the proposal could have been funded under his initial budget proposal, which called for a property tax increase of about 4%.
Allentown crews cleared three homeless encampments along Jordan Creek this fall, pushing out dozens of people who were living in tents.
City and county officials partnered with the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation to fund an early opening at the Allentown YMCA's overnight shelter.
It opened Sept. 30, about seven weeks ahead of schedule.