EASTON, Pa. — Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure told county council Thursday night he intends to phase out a pandemic-era rental assistance program, along with vaccination policies for some county employees.
- Northampton County's Community Mediation and Eviction Diversion program will soon come to an end
- A vaccine mandate for new county hires is also set to expire
- The end of both programs is tied the the expiring federal COVID-19 public health emergency, which ends May 11
The Community Mediation and Eviction Diversion program, created in 2020, provided rent and utility assistance payments, conflict mediation, and education services to combat a potential wave of evictions in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I believe we diverted a homelessness crisis, a disaster, in Northampton County,” McClure said.
He said the program benefitted 10,000 applicants over its lifetime, and distributed $27 million from the state’s Emergency Rent Assistance Program.
McClure told council he will announce a formal end to the program in the “very near future,” corresponding with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, set for May 11.
"With the ending of the national COVID emergency, we thought it was an appropriate time to end the program."Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure
“This was always meant to be a temporary program,” said McClure. “With the ending of the national COVID emergency, we thought it was an appropriate time to end the program.”
The same day, he will rescind two temporary county policies: one requiring COVID vaccinations for new hires, and another requiring masks and temperature screenings for county employees.
Some employees whose departments require a vaccine, like those at the county-run Gracedale nursing home, will still have to be vaccinated.
Additionally, county employees’ insurance will no longer cover over-the-counter COVID tests, and will need to stay in-network for vaccines to be covered, among other changes.
