Allentown homelessness commission unveils 2025 report, launches paid lived‑experience advisory and seeks $100,000

Christina, co‑chair of the Allentown Commission on Homelessness, and Abby Goldfarb, co‑chair, presented the commission’s 2025 annual report and outlined priorities including a new lived‑experience advisory, a $100,000 short‑term funding request and expanded outreach efforts.

The report, the co‑chairs said, catalogs the commission’s initiatives over 2025 and highlights growing participation from community members, providers and county partners. "We really have strengthened our cross communication and collaboration between providers," Christina said, adding that one commissioner with lived experience was voted in as a "lived experience advocate." Abby Goldfarb described the new advisory as "8 to 10 individuals who either are currently outside or are... very recently housed," who will receive orientation and be paid for their time; Christina said compensation will be provided if the commission’s funding request is approved "in May."

Why it matters: Commission leaders said the advisory is intended to bring direct expertise to program and project design — for example, advising on where housing units should be located or how residents would experience a building. "If I lived on the Top Floor, I would never feel like I had graduated out of the system," Goldfarb said, recounting how other cities changed housing plans after listening to lived‑experience advisers.

The co‑chairs also described structural work. A strategic planning committee prepared the $100,000 request with line items for short‑term solutions and advisory compensation. A communications committee has launched an Instagram presence (ACH Allentown) after the commission was told it could not publish agendas, minutes or a commission email address on the city website. Christina said she had emailed the mayor and city council with the report in early April; she and Goldfarb encouraged committee members to check the exact submission date.

Committee members pressed for greater access to city tools and data. One member said the city recently spent on redesigning its website and suggested that a city page link to an external site if commissions cannot host their own content. Christina and Goldfarb said the commission lacks a city email address or internal Teams access and that data sharing among providers remains uneven.

The meeting closed with an invitation to the Allentown Housing Authority’s executive director (named in discussion as Julio Garridi) to brief the commission; the co‑chairs said dates were being arranged.

What’s next: The co‑chairs said the lived‑experience advisory will begin orientation and that the commission will pursue the $100,000 request and continue outreach through its communication channels. The commission also plans further meetings with the housing authority and other partners to advance regional shelter and housing solutions.