HUD secretary, Rep. Bresnahan talk housing in Hazleton

When U.S. Housing Secretary Scott Turner and Rep. Rob Bresnahan visited, they saw giant warehouses rising along Route 424 but also heard that workers seeking jobs in the new buildings need housing.

“What they’re seeing,” Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., said, “is multiple families residing inside of one home working different shifts, sometimes even sharing beds.”

Turner said federal Opportunity Zones that helped Mericle Commercial Real Estate build warehouses, including one where he, Bresnahan and local leaders met to talk about policy on July 7, can also spur housing construction.

“My job here at HUD is to make sure we’re tearing down regulations, promoting Opportunity Zones, working with cities and states around the country to make housing affordable again,” he said.

In Hazleton where most of the city is within an Opportunity Zone, a relaxation in regulations has given a developer a second chance to create apartments at the former St. Joseph’s Hospital, which closed in 2007.

The zoning board turned down the project four years ago because the plan called for too few parking spaces and some of the apartments would have been smaller than city rules require.

Since then, the city reduced parking requirements and the developer trimmed the number of apartments to 110 from 191.

Some apartments will be 660 square feet, “only a modest deviation” from the city’s requirement of 750 square feet, owner Ofra Beigel of OB International Development LLC wrote in an application that the zoning board will consider during a hearing scheduled for July 16 at 6:30 p.m in City Hall.

“Hopfully it can move forward,” Mayor Jeff Cusat said after meeting with Turner and Bresnahan. The mayor said developments called Allen Ridge, with 248 townhomes, and Troy Ridge, with 20 apartment buildings, are advancing in Hazleton.

Kevin O’Boyle, vice president at Mericle, told Turner and Bresnahan that they were in a warehouse that is within an Opportunity Zone and one of seven warehouse or industrial buildings currently under construction in the CrossRoads East Business Park. In the next 10 years, Mericle plans to put up 36 buildings in four phases at CrossRoads East.

But O’Boyle said the company also is helping develop housing for workers drawn to the area because of the business park.

On land formerly owned by the estate of Pasco Schiavo at Route 309 and the Airport Beltway, Mericle has drafted a master plan for retail buildings and housing. O’Boyle said Mericle will develop the retail space and install the infrastructure for the whole site so it’s ready for housing developers.

Turner said 500,000 jobs and 400,000 homes have been created in Opportunities Zones, which are census tracts nominated by governors that investors receive tax incentives to develop.

Opportunity Zones started in 2017, but Bresnahan and Turner said federal and state officials have been making revisions that they call Opportunity Zones 2.0 since July 4, 2025 when a tax cut bill made the program permanent.

They also talked about the 21st Century Road to Housing bill that Congess passed but President Trump so far has refused to sign, saying he wants the Save America Act that voting sets identification requirements for voting to pass first.

“The president made it very clear where he stands,” Turner said.

Asked to discuss provisions aside from reasons why the bill is unsigned, Turner said HUD likes that the bill exempts manufactured homes from having metal chassis, which can add $10,000 to their cost, and some provisions that affect zoning and other regulations. Regulations, he said, can add up to $100,000 to the price of a single-family home.

Bresnahan, who voted for the bill, which passed 358 to 32 in the House and 85 to 5 in the Senate, wants it to become law. If the president doesn’t veto the bill, it would become law without his signature at the end of the day on July 10.

He hopes provisions that they discussed at the roundtable in Hazleton also will help developers of smaller projects like four- or six-unit apartments complete their goals.

“We harvest that information and take it back down to Washington,” he said. “The federal government and our industry need to be partners.

Turner said he wanted to be a good listener and share information “to help state and local governments see what are others … doing around the country to unleash development, to build, construct and make housing more affordable again for the American people.”