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40 homes. Affordable housing for seniors and people with disabilities.
Latest update · 8 September 2026
Four congressmen and senators have responded. They cannot guarantee an outcome, but they are seeking to get us answers.
USDA and Applewood’s owners will be scheduling a meeting with residents in the very near future. We do not yet know the purpose or the details. As soon as we do, it will be posted here.
The public comment period closed on 9 September. Everything sent before then is on the record with USDA. Letters and calls to the offices below still help, because those offices are the ones now asking USDA questions on our behalf.
Thank you for the continuing difference you are making.
We have been told a meeting with residents is being scheduled. We do not yet know the date, the place, or what it is for. When we are told, the details will be put here and on the noticeboards.
Applewood was built with a federal USDA loan. That loan is the reason the rent here is based on what people can actually pay.
The owner has asked USDA for permission to pay the loan off early and sell the property. If USDA says yes without attaching protections, the rules that keep Applewood affordable end with the loan.
Some residents could have to pay more than five times their current rent to stay in their homes. Market rent would be more than their entire monthly income. Every household here is a senior or a person with a disability. That is who Applewood was built for. Several have lived here 12 to 18 years.
The owner has said he expects whoever buys Applewood to keep it affordable. We are asking USDA to put that in writing, so it is a promise rather than a hope.
You do not have to live here to help. Family, friends, neighbors, caregivers, doctors and local business owners can all write. More kinds of voices is exactly what makes a difference.
The whole letter is already written inside this button. It opens your email with the message filled in. You only add your name and one or two sentences of your own.
Email USDA nowIf that button does not work on your device, the same letter is further down the page under “A letter you can copy.”
Congressman Meuser's Pottsville office. You only need one sentence, and it is written out below.
Call 570-871-6370 Or use his website formPrint a flyer for your church, your shop, the library, or a neighbor's door.
Download the flyer (PDF)Change the parts in the boxes. Anything true is worth saying.
“I'm calling about Applewood Apartments in Orwigsburg. USDA is deciding whether to let the owner pay off the federal loan early, and 40 homes could lose their rent protection. I'm asking your office to open a congressional inquiry with USDA Rural Development.”
If they say they are not sure how they can help, that is normal. Say: “You don't have to solve it. I'm just asking your office to open an inquiry and ask USDA some questions.” Then ask for the person's name.
Congress does not publish email addresses. Use the website form or telephone. USDA does take email, and that is the one that counts most.
| Who | How to reach them |
|---|---|
| USDA Rural Development The people deciding |
MFHPortfolioManagement@usda.gov Copy: michelle.groshens@usda.gov |
Each link below goes straight to that office's “help with a federal agency” page. That is the right one for this. If you land somewhere else, look for those words.
| Who | How to reach them |
|---|---|
| Rep. Dan Meuser Our congressman |
Help with a federal agency or call 570-871-6370 |
| Sen. John Fetterman | Help with a federal agency or call 717-782-3951 |
| Sen. Dave McCormick | Help with a federal agency or call 717-231-7540 |
State legislators cannot open a federal inquiry, but they carry real weight locally and can press on housing at the state level. Worth contacting, after the three above.
| Who | How to reach them |
|---|---|
| State Rep. Jamie Barton He lives in Orwigsburg |
repbarton.com/contact or call 570-668-1240 |
| State Sen. David Argall | dargall@pasen.gov (he does publish one) or call 570-621-3400 |
This is what is actually at stake. Forty homes at the edge of the fields, and the people who have made a life here.
Flyer for shops, churches and the library (1 page)
What to say and where to send it (2 pages)
Please print and share these freely. They were made for exactly that.
A tenant asked USDA in writing for the owner's actual application. They sent it. It is eight pages, and it is worth seeing for yourself.
The dates do not sit comfortably together. The owner signed every page on June 12. Nobody living here was told until August 10, fifty-nine days later.
One page says the owner “fully expects” the buyer will keep Applewood affordable. Another page certifies the wording that goes into a new tenant's lease: rent may be raised to market rate, or you may be asked to move.
A required statement is missing, a sentence has been crossed out, and one page names a different apartment complex altogether. We are showing you the actual scans and all eight pages, so you can judge it yourself rather than take our word for it.
If you wrote before the deadline, you did the part that mattered. Thank you.
There is more in the Menu at the top of this page: what we found in the owner’s paperwork, and who runs this site.
USDA sent us the owner's actual application after a tenant asked for it in writing. It is eight pages. Here is what is in it, in plain words.
Everything below is quoted from that application or from USDA's own letter. Where something is unclear, it is written here as a question, because that is what it is. We have put these questions to USDA in writing and we will put the answers on this page when they come.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| June 12, 2026 | The owner signs every page of the application. |
| August 10, 2026 | USDA's letter to tenants is dated. That is 59 days later. |
| August 13, 2026 | A notice appears on doors saying the letter must be collected in person, during office hours, signed for. |
| September 9, 2026 | The comment period closes. |
| December 15, 2026 | The date the owner has asked to pay the loan off. |
The rules say the request must be filed at least 180 days before the payoff date. June 12 to December 15 is 186 days. It was filed with six days to spare.
On one page the owner writes that he “fully expects” whoever buys Applewood will keep running it as affordable housing.
On another page he certifies that this exact wording goes into the lease of anyone who moves in before this is decided:
“The mortgage on this project may be repaid to the Federal Government on or after December 15, 2026. At that time, your rent may be raised to comparable market rate rents in the area, or you may be asked to move from the project.”
That second wording is written by USDA, not by the owner. It is the government's own description of what paying off this loan does to a tenant. Market rent, or leaving.
An expectation is a hope. It binds nobody. That is the whole reason we are asking USDA to attach conditions that survive the sale.
There are 40 apartments at Applewood. The application covers 24.
The notice on our doors said Applewood I and II. Four pages of the application say “Applewood Apartments I”. But the checklist page, the one USDA processes, gives the name as “APPLEWOOD APARTMENTS” with no number after it, while counting only 24 units.
We have asked USDA to say plainly which apartments are covered, and whether there is a second loan and a second application for the rest. Nobody here can tell from these papers.
This is everything USDA sent us. Nothing has been left out and nothing has been altered. The black bar on page 7 was already there when we received it.
You can also download the original PDF to print or forward.
Of the 40 apartments, two are empty, one neighbor is in a nursing home and one is out of the country. That left 36 households anyone could realistically reach.
33 of them signed the petition. More may have signed since.
Nobody here is confused about what they want. What we need now is for people outside Applewood to say it too, before September 9.
My name is Matthew. I am a friend of one of the residents at Applewood. I built this website, I pay for it, and I run it as a volunteer.
I do not live at Applewood. I am not a lawyer. I have no connection to the owner or to the management company, and I am not paid by anyone. Nothing on this site is for sale and nobody here is collecting money or personal information from you.
If something on this page is wrong, or you would like help writing or sending your letter, or you cannot read small print and want someone to go through it with you, please just ask. That is what this is for.
There are friends and neighbours around Applewood who know this area far better than I do and are glad to answer questions. If I cannot help with something myself, I can usually put you in touch with someone who can.
If you live at Applewood, or you are family or a friend of someone who does, and you would be willing to lend a hand, it would be genuinely appreciated. There is more to do here than any one person can manage.
Helping might be as small as handing a flyer to a neighbour, sitting with someone while they write their letter, making one phone call, or simply making sure the people on your row know what is happening. Every bit of it counts.
You can write to me here without opening an email app. This form sends your message straight to matthew@lombarddesign.com, the same address below.