Ashville HOPE VI

ASHEVILLE – Up to 320 of Asheville's poorest residents would be forced to move under a federal program to replace one of the city's most distressed public housing complexes with a mixed-income neighborhood.

Those who could be moved, as well as residents living near public housing, gave varied reactions to the HOPE VI program. The program would use private capital and about $15 million in federal money to overhaul one of two complexes: Lee-Walker Heights off Short Coxe Avenue or Aston Park Tower and Garden Apartments on South French Broad Avenue.

Getting the grant money is far from guaranteed. Asheville Housing Authority officials began the arduous and highly competitive application process last week. The federal government has not yet said when it will make a decision.

Some residents supported the program. Others, though, said it would tear apart tightly knit neighborhoods.

“I've been living in Lee-Walker Heights for six years, and I haven't had any problems,” said Celia McDow, 24, who lives in the complex just north of Mission Hospital with her son, 7, and daughter, 5. McDow works in the cafeteria at Ira B. Jones Elementary School and said she can get help from neighbors and walk to most places where she needs to go. That would change if she had to move.

“I really do love my community. Anything I need, my community is there for me,” she said.

Concentrated poverty

The concept behind HOPE VI is to disperse concentrated areas of poverty, which proponents of the program say foster crime and other social ills. Federal and private money is used to replace publicly owned housing with a mixed-income neighborhood of working- and middle-class as well as taxpayer-subsidized homes.

In past years, the grant has been difficult to get, but housing authority officials now think more money will be available. They hope to win a grant this year or next to overhaul one of the complexes.

Last year, four to five HOPE VI applicants were selected out of a field of about 30, said David Nash, the Housing Authority's chief operations officer. This year, funding was bumped up from approximately $100 million to $120 million, and there is hope that amount will rise to $600 million in years to come, he said.

The City Council has not taken an official vote on the issue, though some council members have expressed support for the program. That kind of backing will be vital in getting the grant. Housing authority officials plan to report back to the council in a month or two and will likely ask for financial help preparing the application.

One council member, Carl Mumpower, questioned whether the mixed-income model would work and said government shouldn't be spending money on such programs during a budget crisis.

Many Lee-Walker Heights residents also don't think the program would help them in the long run, resident McDow said. Officials may consider the complex dangerous, but residents feel it would be worse in other public housing, McDow said.

“They (residents) were really upset about the idea,” she said.

Housing authority officials said those who would be moved could choose to go to another public housing complex or into private housing that accepts public vouchers. They would get money to help them relocate, said Nash.

Every attempt would be made to allow relatives living in different households in one complex to stay together, he said.

Once the complex is rebuilt, people could apply to come back.

“Anybody who has a good rental history and meets the criteria, which is elderly, disabled or working, would be able to move back,” said Nash.

If all goes smoothly, construction could be finished in three years, he said. More HERE

Authors Of East Rome Redevelopment Plan Reveal Details

As reported by The Rome News Wire, Representatives from two of the firms that prepared the East Rome Revitalization Plan told city officials that they believe the project is a feasible possibility.

On Wednesday, John Skach of Urban College Inc. and Chuck Billard of TCG International presented a draft of the redevelopment plan that focuses around Maple Street and 12th Street.

“We did this in preparation for an application for HOPE VI funds,” Skach said.

The consulting team for the revitalization plan consisted of members of Urban College Inc., TCG International, Marketek and Rhodes Engineering.

The Northwest Georgia Housing Authority initially sought out proposals for the project and hoped to receive a HOPE VI grant award from HUD for the revitalization costs.

HOPE VI addresses the eradication of severely distressed public housing.

If approved, the HOPE VI award would provide $15 million in grant money while generating $47 million in total construction, new jobs and building supplies and an estimated $195,000 per year increase in property tax revenues.

The grant money could only be used on public housing, however, and not on items like railroad crossings.

Part of the plan calls for the demolition of 100 public housing units along with construction of 300 units, of which 100 would be public housing.

The other 200 units are what the consulting team are basing the source for the projected increase in property tax revenues of $195,000 per year.

The East Rome study area totaled 593 acres that extend from the north at the intersection of East 2nd Avenue and the rail line south to Hwy. 411. Maple Street closely bisects the area and is the main roadway through the study area.

Skach said creation of the draft revitalization plan consisted of five phases. More HERE

Community revitalization: Hope for tomorrow

As reported by Andrew Barksdale at The FayObserver, Anastasia Vann won’t miss her cramped, two-bedroom apartment in Campbell Terrace.

Staff photo by Octavio Jones
Anastasia Vann, a resident of Campbell Terrace Apartments, will be moving out her home in preparation for the Hope VI project. Watch an interview with Vann at fayobserver.com.

The vinyl floors are faded and gray, The concrete walls painted an egg-shell yellow. The windows look out over identical red-brick buildings.

The public housing complex, built on the edge of downtown in 1953, will be razed early next year. So will its older cousin, Delona Gardens, a block away.

For more than two generations, the housing projects have sheltered Fayetteville’s working poor and penniless. More than 90 percent of tenants today are unmarried women. About half have children living with them.

Beginning this month, they will start leaving as the city embarks on a $119
million project called Hope VI. The two housing complexes will be replaced by more than 550 apartments and 105 single-family homes throughout the Old Wilmington Road area, offering new hope for a blighted community dotted with empty lots and shuttered homes.

Vann, who is 43 and lives alone, has already begun packing, even though she hasn’t found a place to live. She would prefer to rent a house but will settle for a modern apartment. She wants to plant a garden and have more privacy.

“I want a new beginning,” she said.

About 213 families live in the two projects to be demolished. Everyone has two options: move to another Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority complex or find a private apartment or rental house. The housing agency estimates that two-thirds of the tenants will leave public housing in favor of the open market. When they do, they will get federal Section 8 program vouchers to subsidize their rents.

The decision can be difficult for some families, who worry about finding another school for their children or dislike the idea of uprooting after so many years in one place.

“Some are scared, but most of us are excited,” said Vann, a member of the Housing Authority’s residential advisory board.

The residents won’t do it alone. The Hope VI program will pick up the moving tab and pay other relocation expenses, and officials will help them find apartments or rental houses.

The linchpin of the project is a $20 million federal Hope VI grant, which the Housing Authority won last year. As part of the revitalization project, a community center, a day care and a medical clinic are planned. So is a 72-unit apartment complex on Bunce Road on the other side of town.

Everything has to be built by 2013. The first wave of construction is scheduled to begin this summer or early fall.

Getting outside help

To keep the project on track and handle the mounds of paperwork, the housing agency sought an outside consultant last year. The board hired Boulevard Group Inc., an Atlanta firm with experience overseeing other Hope VI projects, to manage this one. More HERE

The $694,000 project - Part of the Alamito Hope VI project

EL PASO --

As reported by Aileen B. Flores at the Elpaso Times, The El Paso City Council recently approved the street reconstruction and drainage improvements of St. Vrain Street in Segundo Barrio.

The $694,000 project is scheduled to begin in November with a projected seven-month construction period, said Julie Baldwin, spokeswoman for the El Paso Engineering Department.

Construction crews will replace the existing road with two lanes and a parkway on both sides, new sidewalks, handicap ramps and new street lights and signs, Baldwin said.

The water lines, storm and sanitary sewers under the street will also be replaced, she said.

Construction on St. Vrain will be from Delta Drive to Father Rahm Avenue.

The project is part of the Alamito Hope VI project and will be funded by the city and Housing Authority of El Paso. Construction will be under contract to Quest Contracting Inc. of El Paso, according to a city document. More HERE