public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
community in northeast
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...
. The area was listed as a national
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1988.
History
Originally began in 1918 in order to house steel workers for the increased demand of steel in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The number of houses needed was overestimated and the
United States Housing Corporation
The United States Housing Corporation (USHC) was a federal agency that existed during World War I. Its purpose was to provide housing for wartime production workers near arsenals and shipyards.
Context
With a massive wartime shipbuilding p ...
gave up on the project. By 1941, the Pembroke project was finished and contained 202 units of
low-income
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little
public housing and it was the first such project in the city. By the early 1950s, the Bethlehem Housing Authority purchased additional adjoining lands, including an farm to build additional affordable housing in the area. Between 1952 and 1962, the Authority built 570 units, which included Marvine Village (400 units), Fairmount Homes (120) and Pfeifle Homes (50). These three developments added to Pembroke created one large community collectively known as the Northeast Developments.
Over the years, the buildings have undergone many millions of dollars in renovations. Pembroke was renovated in the 1990s, Fairmount and Marvine twice each since the 1980s. Comprehensive renovations were recently completed at Pfeifle Homes.
Presently, 20 new homes are being built in the area near Fairmount, to be called Bayard Homes. They add to BHA's inventory and guarantee that 5% of all BHA units are handicap-accessible.
Emergency services
Police service
Thanks to a long-term agreement between the housing authority and the City of Bethlehem,
community policing
Community policing, or community-oriented policing (COP), is a strategy of policing that focuses on developing relationships with community members. It is a philosophy of full-service policing that is highly personal, where an officer patrols ...
substations are a part of BHA properties, including the Marvine-Pembroke area. The community police concept is funded by BHA on an annual basis and in return, the BPD provides above baseline services for the community.
Demographics
The population breakdown in Pembroke is roughly 70%
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
, with remaining people being either
Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Anthropology
*Anything from the Caucasus region
**
**
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region
*
*
*
Languages
* Northwest Caucasian l ...
or
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
. As is the case with all low-income public housing, the community is made up of families, some seniors and some who are disabled.
Gang activity
Like many Pennsylvania communities, the
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...
has seen an influx of gangs from larger urban areas. It is thought that the completion of
Interstate 78
Interstate 78 (I-78) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Northeastern United States, running from I-81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown to western and northern New Jersey and terminating at the Holland Tunn ...
in 1990 has contributed to this phenomenon. Despite this, official gang activities are limited in Bethlehem as evidenced by
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
crime statistics.
Schools
Pembroke is part of the
Bethlehem Area School District
Bethlehem Area School District is a large public school district serving the city of Bethlehem and it surrounding boroughs of Fountain Hill and Freemansburg, and Bethlehem and Hanover townships across both Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the ...
.
Elementary
*Marvine Elementary School - Demographics: 8% White, 17% African American, 75% Hispanic, with 86% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program.
*Lincoln Elementary School - Demographics: 34% White, 6% African American, 58% Hispanic, with 64% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program.
*Freemansburg Elementary School - Demographics: 37% White, 8% African American, 54% Hispanic, with 69% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program.
Middle
*Northeast Middle School - Demographics: 48% White, 13% African American, 38% Hispanic, with 53% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program.
See also
*
Public housing in the United States
In the United States, subsidized housing is administered by federal, state and local agencies to provide subsidized rental assistance for low-income households. Public housing is priced much below the market rate, allowing people to live in mor ...