More than 1,000 people would be relocated in Charlotte, NC Housing Plan

According to the Charlotte Observer, More than 1,000 people would be relocated if the city gets federal funding to raze Boulevard Homes.

The city has applied for a Hope VI grant – the same type of grant used to raze and rebuild what used to be Piedmont Courts – that would tear down the nearly 40-year-old Boulevard Homes complex and erect a mixed-income neighborhood in one of Charlotte's biggest trouble spots.

But for those who currently live in Boulevard Homes, it means moving vans and adjusting to new neighborhoods.

The Charlotte Housing Authority and a faith-based community group hosted a festival Saturday at Boulevard Homes to let people know that there are organizations willing to help the more than 300 families who might have to relocate.

Organizers say it gives everyone a chance to learn more about what the new homes and apartments will look like, and learn what opportunities are available to the people who live there now.

Hundreds showed up Saturday for hamburgers, hot dogs, entertainment and information despite temperatures that topped 90 degrees.

But late Saturday, some residents were still reserved about the possibility of demolishing Boulevard Homes. Benjamin Harris said he was glad the event brought his neighbors together, but worries that authorities or civic groups won't do enough to educate people on how to thrive without assistance from the government.

“They need more education in what you're getting involved in,” he said. “If you been raised here 20-something years, this is all you know. You don't know how to branch out.”

Jennifer Gallman with the Charlotte Housing Authority told WCNC-TV, the Observer's news partner, that Saturday's event was an important step in getting the community's support moving forward. “It breaks the ice, it starts to tear down the wall of fear and uncertainty and helps people hang out together, find their commonality and form a bond,” she said.

More HERE

Will housing Agency Plans Create More Homelessness?

As reported by Fred Clasen-Kelly of The Charlotte Observer, The Charlotte Housing Authority is considering giving thousands of public housing residents a choice: Get a job or get out.

No job, no housing subsidy under plan

Agency weighs making heads of households work 30 hours a week to keep federal subsidy.

The Charlotte Housing Authority is considering giving thousands of public housing residents a choice: Get a job or get out.

Agency leaders are proposing a plan that would force tenants to find work to keep their government housing benefits.

The idea has prompted criticism from some advocates for the poor who say it would be wrong to impose the rule during the country's worst economic crisis in decades.

But backers say it's only right to make able-bodied adults work and try to gain self sufficiency.

“There's never a perfect time to start a change,” said Jennifer Gallman, a spokeswoman for the Housing Authority. “This is a positive change.”

Under federal guidelines, recipients generally put 30percent of their household income toward rent. The federal government subsidizes the remainder.

The proposal would require the head of each household to work at least 30 hours a week by April 1, 2011, to keep the subsidy. Elderly and disabled residents would be exempt.

The Housing Authority's Board of Commissioners will decide next month whether to implement the rule.

It would impact many of the 15,000 people in Charlotte who live in public housing apartments or rent homes from private landlords using government-issued Section 8 vouchers.

A recent survey conducted for the Housing Authority found that the head of the household was employed in 31percent of public housing units. The head of the household was working in 43percent of homes rented with Section 8 vouchers.

The employment rule is one of several restrictions the Housing Authority has implemented or weighed in recent years. Residents who move into some newer, recently built developments must now meet work requirements designed to move them out of public housing in five years.

But the latest idea surfaces just as the unemployment rate in North Carolina has reached 7.9percent, the highest figure in 25 years.

Alfred Riley, who lives in the Boulevard Homes public housing complex in west Charlotte, said he has tried hard “for a long time” but can't find work.

The proposed rule “comes at the worst time ever,” Riley said. “People can't even find work at a fast-food restaurant.”

Advocates for the poor fear the rule could add to Charlotte's growing homeless population.

Many public housing tenants cannot afford daycare for their children and don't have needed transportation or job skills, said Ted Fillette, lead attorney with Charlotte's Legal Aid office.

Some 30,000 people in North Carolina are on waiting lists for affordable daycare, Fillette said. Affordable daycare typically costs about $175 a week, he said.

The Housing Authority has not promised to help pay to remove such barriers, Fillette said.

Revoking subsidies is “tantamount to evicting families who have the least capacity to survive in the non-subsidized market,” he wrote in a letter to other local advocates for the poor.

Gallman, the Housing Authority spokeswoman, noted that tenants would have two years to find work. More HERE

Housing Research says: We will be following this issue. We hope HUD and the new Obama administration will be following this too. Stay tuned.