HUD participates in groundbreaking of Whitewater Village crown jewel of the Phenix City Housing Authority's

Pictured in Photo left to right - HUD Alabama Field Office Director Kenneth Free; Phenix City Board Member; Mayor Eddie N. Lowe (Phenix City, AL); Steve Pace, Chairperson Phenix City Housing Board; Mary Mayrose, Executive Director Phenix City Housing Authority; Phenix City Housing Board Members; Phenix City Council Members; Phenix City Housing Authority Employees. Whitewater Village, Phenix City Housing Authority, Alabama.

The HUD Alabama Field Office Director, Kenneth Free, recently participated in the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony with Phenix City Mayor Eddie N. Lowe and the Phenix City Housing Authority (PCHA) of the Whitewater Village Apartments in Phenix City, AL. Whitewater features one, two and three-bedroom units ranging in size from 850 to 1,500 square feet. It boasts a community room, outdoor playground, covered picnic pavilion, computer center, exercise fitness room and a gazebo. Forty-seven of the units were developed under HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and the remaining 35 units are traditional Project Based Section 8 housing. Originally built in 1940 along the Chattahoochee River, the revitalization capitalizes on the current transformation of the downtown neighborhood and the momentum already generated by the City of Phenix City and private investors.

"Whitewater Village is the crown jewel of the Phenix City Housing Authority's housing portfolio and shows what can be accomplished with public and private partnerships," said Free.

RAD was created in order to give public housing authorities (PHAs) a powerful tool to preserve and improve public housing properties and address the $26 billion dollar nationwide backlog of deferred maintenance. RAD also gives owners of three HUD "legacy" program (Rent Supplement, Rental Assistance Payment, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation) the opportunity to enter long-term contracts that facilitate the financing of improvements.

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