Lehigh Valley fair housing hearings to be held in light of alleged discriminatory treatment

The meetings follow on a Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley study that found many local real estate agents discriminate against minority buyers.

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Clik here to view. View full size Local meetings on the topic of fair housing have been scheduled for this week. Express-Times File Photo  

A Lehigh Valley planning research group has been holding public hearings in the region for nearly a year, and fair housing was always a subject they planned to tackle.

But that topic is more urgent now than ever, officials say, after a study released last year found many local real estate agents discriminate against minority buyers.

"We really are trying to get out in the community to inform them, but also hear from them about their own experiences, about what are the issues and how can we come up with a plan to combat this," said Rachel Bradshaw, director of Renew Lehigh Valley.

The federally-funded Envision Lehigh Valley will hold a series of meetings about fair housing this week as part of a region-wide plan they are developing studying the Lehigh Valley's future sustainability.

Those meetings were planned even before the June 2012 release of a fair housing study by the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, which found 73 percent of agents tested allegedly engaged in disparate treatment.

The public meetings this week will be held in Allentown, Bangor, Bethlehem, Easton and Lower Macungie Township.

The Envision Lehigh Valley effort started in July 2012 in part to prepare for 2030, when the Lehigh Valley’s population is expected to grow by nearly a third.

The group has held more than 30 public meetings across the Lehigh Valley since its launch and this year will focus more on topic-specific forums, Bradshaw said. Renew Lehigh Valley is the lead organization on the envision plan.

Envision Lehigh Valley also plans to hold meetings on economic development, fresh food access and affordable housing, she said.

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ENVISION MEETS

Envision Lehigh Valley plans the following meetings on fair housing:

• Bethlehem: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Victory Firehouse, 205 Webster St.
• Allentown: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sacred Heart Hospital, 421 Chew St.
• Easton: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Easton Area Community Center, 901 Washington St.
• Slate Belt: 7 p.m. Thursday, Bangor Event Theatre, 42 North First St., Bangor
• East Penn: Wescosville Recreation Center, 5047 Hamilton Blvd., Lower Macungie Township