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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