Bethlehem Haven undergoes renovations, has plans for an additional building

Bethlehem Haven emeritus board member Nancy Cohen, PHFA’s Bryce Maretzki, ACTION-Housing’s Lena Andrews, Sen. Wayne D. Fontana, Allegheny County Department of Human Services Director Erin Dalton, The Honorable Mayor Ed Gainey, and Bethlehem Haven Executive Director Annette Fetchko cut the ribbon on Bethlehem Haven’s $4.2 million renovation of its 1410 Fifth Avenue location, a permanent supportive housing program. (Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Mercy and Bethlehem Haven.)

Following a $4.2 million investment and a year of preservation, extensive renovations, and facility improvements, Bethle­hem Haven, Pittsburgh Mercy, ACTION-Hous­ing, Mosites Construction Company, LGA Partners, SIGAL Development Ser­vices, Montague Design, and Anderson Interiors, on April 12 held a home­coming celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome 26 women home to Bethlehem Ha­ven’s 1410 Fifth Avenue location in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood. The event also marked the comple­tion of Phase I of Bethle­hem Haven’s affordable housing development, which will result in 34 new units of low-income affordable housing in Up­town Pittsburgh.

A rendering of what the 1400 block of Fifth Avenue block in Uptown will look like when Phase II of Uptown Flats is completed in 2026. (Rendering courtesy of LGA Partners.)

1410 Fifth Avenue is a trauma-informed, thera­peutic supportive service housing program that is home to women and gender non-conforming people who, due to com­plex physical and behav­ioral health challenges, poverty, and generation­al trauma, have experi­enced long-term housing instability. These indi­viduals would not thrive in traditional communi­ty-based settings. They need comprehensive wrap-around services, whole-person supports, and care management to empower them in their journey to self-sufficiency. Approximately half of the women who call Bethle­hem Haven home are age 50 years and over. Nearly one-third of the residents have lived there for 10 years or more and consid­er it their home, a place of safety where they live, work, play, and thrive.

One of the newly renovated private rooms at Bethlehem Haven at 1410 Fifth Avenue in Uptown. (Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Mercy and Bethlehem Haven.)

At Bethlehem Haven, the women have access to physical, behavioral, and mental health ser­vices provided by Pitts­burgh Mercy. Additional services include perma­nent housing navigation, workforce development, access to benefits, finan­cial well-being education, life skills, and other vital wrap-around services and supports to empow­er them on the path to affordable permanent housing and self-suffi­ciency. Meals are provid­ed, and colleagues are on-site 24/7.

Dez, a Bethlehem Haven resident, in her newly renovated private room. (Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Mercy and Bethlehem Haven.)

The completion of the 1410 Fifth Avenue ren­ovation is significant because it marks anoth­er step in addressing the homelessness pub­lic health crisis and the completion of Phase I of the two-phase Bethle­hem Haven low-income affordable housing de­velopment. To create more affordable hous­ing in Pittsburgh and expand opportunities for individuals in their path to self-sufficiency, Bethlehem Haven and ACTION-Housing are partnering on the co-de­velopment of Uptown Flats, 34 new units of low-income affordable, supportive housing units in Uptown Pittsburgh with a preference for households at risk of homelessness and indi­viduals with disabilities. With an estimated cost of $22 million, that in­vestment got under way in 2017 when Bethle­hem Haven acquired the neighboring 1404 Fifth Avenue property with this future project in mind. Since then, Beth­lehem Haven acquired 1402 and 1400 Fifth Av­enue to establish phys­ical space for the new building. Demolition of the existing buildings and construction of the Uptown Flats develop­ment is expected to start this summer and be com­pleted in mid-2026.

Bethlehem Haven Executive Director Annette Fetchko offers welcoming remarks to guests at the homecoming and ribbon-cutting celebration. (Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Mercy and Bethlehem Haven.)

For Phase II, ACTION-Hous­ing is the co-developer. LGA Partners is the project architect. SIGAL Development Services is the project manager. Uptown Flats is funded primarily through the federal and Pennsylvania Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, which provides credits to housing developers to acquire, construct, and rehabilitate affordable housing for low-income individuals. Bethlehem Haven and ACTION Housing received a 9 per­cent LIHTC award in the 2022 funding round and are working with the Na­tional Equity Fund and BNY Mellon as tax credit investors.

The Honorable Mayor Ed Gainey speaking at the ribbon-cutting event at Bethlehem Haven. (Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Mercy and Bethlehem Haven.)

Major fund­ing for both Phase I, the 1410 Fifth Avenue pres­ervation and renovation project, and Phase II, the Uptown Flats low-incom­ing affordable housing development, was made possible in part by a $1 million grant from McAu­ley Ministries, Pittsburgh Mercy’s grant-making foundation, and grants from the state’s Redevel­opment Assistance Capi­tal Program (RACP), the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Pitts­burgh, the Eden Hall Foundation, FHLBank Pittsburgh (FHLB), the Henry L. Hillman Foun­dation; the Pennsylvania Department of Commu­nity and Economic De­velopment Local Share Account (PA DCED LSA), the Pennsylvania Hous­ing Finance Agency’s Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Re­habilitation Enhance­ment (PHFA’s PHARE) Fund, Allegheny County HOME American Rescue Plan (HOME ARP), as well as gifts from private individuals.

Bethlehem Haven at 1410 Fifth Avenue in Uptown. (Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Mercy and Bethlehem Haven.)

 

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