Eight HOPE VI projects get $153 million from HUD

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced May 23 that $152.7 million in HOPE VI revitalization grants will be distributed this year to eight cities across the country. Each grant is intended to remedy the myriad of problems associated with "severely distressed" public housing built during the era of isolated towers and massive HUD projects. Most of the proposed developments embrace the idea of mixed income, which holds a lot of promise for urbanists as well as community members.

The eight housing authorities that will receive the funding were selected among 36 public housing authorities that applied for fiscal year 2010 HOPE VI Revitalization funding.  Six of the grantees will be funded from 2010 HOPE VI appropriations and two awards will come from 2011 funding.

Despite the Bush administration’s attempts to phase out the program, HOPE VI funding has been growing in recent years. Awards rose from $88.9 million in 2007 to $97.2 million in 2008, to $113.6 million in 2009. Now, $114 million of the $124 million allocated for 2010 has been awarded. HUD has yet to announce the full funding appropriations for HOPE VI in 2011, although $38.5 million of the awards announced today (those destined for Phoenix and Portland) will draw from this source.

Today, HUD announced these awards:

• Boston Housing Authority will receive $22 million to revitalize the Old Colony public housing development;

• Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver will receive $22 million to revitalize the South Lincoln public housing development;

• Louisville Metropolitan Housing Authority will receive $22 million to revitalize the Sheppard Square public housing development;

• Housing Authority of the City of Paterson (New Jersey) will receive $18.4 million to revitalize the Alexander Hamilton public housing development;

• St. Louis Housing Authority will receive $7,829,750 to revitalize the Arthur Blumeyer public housing development;

• Taunton (Massachusetts) Housing Authority will receive $22 million to revitalize the Fairfax Gardens public housing development; 

• City of Phoenix Housing Authority will receive $20 million to revitalize the Frank Luke Addition public housing development; and

• Housing Forward (Portland, Oregon, Housing Authority) will receive $18.5 million to revitalize the Hillsdale Terrace public housing development.

Six of the eight replacement developments will contain market-rate as well as low-income housing. Four projects will include homeownership units. The St. Louis project will have 29 market-rate live/work units along with 58 market-rate residential units. 

While some have criticized HOPE VI projects for providing less affordable housing units after the so-called revitalizations, most of these projects will end up offering more low-income units than existed prior to redevelopment. The low-income units in HOPE VI are generally a mix of public housing and Low Income Housing Tax Credit units. The developments also offer Head Start or other early-childhood education programs.

Since 1993, HUD has awarded 260 HOPE VI Revitalization grants – totaling nearly $ 6.3 billion – to 133 housing authorities across the country. The program began following a 1992 report by the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing that found approximately 86,000 public housing units in the U.S. needed revitalization. HOPE VI Revitalization grants are used for an array of activities, including: demolition of severely distressed public housing; acquisition of sites for off-site construction; capital costs of major rehabilitation; new construction and other physical improvements; costs for mobility counseling and relocation; and community and supportive service programs for residents, including those relocated as a result of revitalization efforts.

In recent years, HOPE VI projects have been encouraged to extend neighborhood transformation efforts beyond public housing by linking housing interventions with early childhood education programs, the development of transportation choices and job creation. As Shaun Donovan, the HUD Secretary, has noted:  “No one can dispute the exceptional track record of HOPE VI to improve housing conditions for hundreds of communities and most importantly, thousands of families. As we move toward the next generation of neighborhood revitalization — one that links housing, education, transportation, healthcare, and other support services — we will always remember it all began with HOPE VI.” 

As part of this next gen revitalization, HUD will award $65 million in FY2011 funding to implement the Department’s new Choice Neighborhoods Program, which aims to transform neighborhoods of poverty into viable mixed-income neighborhoods with access to economic opportunities by revitalizing severely distressed public and assisted housing and then linking these neighborhoods to well-functioning services, effective schools, public transportation and jobs. 

While the state of federal funding is still unclear regarding HOPE VI, Choice Neighborhoods and other programs like the TIGER grants, it is encouraging to see more federal agencies begining to make the connection between housing, transportation and jobs — something new urbanists and smart growth advocates have been wanting for a long time.