On June 2, PICO affiliate Congregations United for Neighborhood Action (CUNA) in Allentown, Pennsylvania, brought over 150 residents together to meet with the Mayor and the city's Rental Housing Supervisor to ask them to take action to curb blight in this former industrial city of 105,000.

With representatives from 26 congregations present at the meeting, CUNA showed the breadth of religious support for dealing with the abandoned properties and lack of code enforcement that plague Allentown. CUNA leaders shared their desire to see the city crack down on unresponsive absentee landlords, while also promoting more local homeownership.

The Mayor committed to developing a more efficient system to enforce code violations, as well as track down unresponsive absentee landlords.  The Mayor also supported CUNA's proposal to have the city better promote local homeownership as a key strategy for community development. The City Housing Supervisor agreed to develop a more systematic home inspection process and apply a more rigorous and timely enforcement of the city code, especially with rental units, and to develop a more comprehensive training process for home inspectors.

For more information on CUNA, contact Manuela Kauer, Executive Director, at 610-434-1260

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