HUD AWARDS $30 MILLION TO ATLANTA TO REVITALIZE THE UNIVERSITY CHOICE NEIGHBORHOOD

HUD Secretary Castro announces Atlanta as the $30 million Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant awardee. From left to right is Mayor Kasim Reed, HUD Secretary Castro, Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) Board Chairman Dan Halpern, Congressman John Lewis and interim CEO and President AHA Joy Fitzgerald

ATLANTA - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro traveled to Atlanta, Georgia today to kick off the announcement with Congressman John Lewis, Mayor Kasim Reed, Atlanta Housing Authority Board Chair Dan Halpern and Interim CEO and President of the Atlanta Housing Authority Joy Fitzgerald before over 150 partners and community leaders that Atlanta was awarded $30 million to redevelop severely distressed public housing and revitalize the University Choice Neighborhood which is the former home of demolished University Homes public housing development. HUD is awarding Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Implementation Grants to city and housing authority partnerships in Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Sacramento, California; in order to begin the process of transforming, rehabilitating and preserving public housing.

As part of the Administration's overall drive to reinvest in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty, President Obama's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is intended to transform distressed public and assisted housing into sustainable, mixed-income housing with access to community assets and services and to support positive outcomes for families living in the development and in the community. The five awardees have proposed to replace more than 1,650 distressed public housing units with more than 2,800 new mixed-income, mixed-use housing units as part of an overall effort to revitalize neighborhoods. For every $1 in Choice Neighborhoods funding they receive, the awardees and their partners will leverage an additional $9 in public and private funding for their project proposals.

HUD Secretary Castro, Congressman John Lewis and Mayor Kasim Reed

"The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is responsible for transforming what were once vacant lots, crumbling parks and storefronts and distressed housing into vibrant communities," said Castro. "It has become one of our nation's most important tools in the fight to ensure that every family - no matter where they live - has the resources and strong foundation to succeed."

HUD received 33 applications for the FY2014/15 Implementation Grants. The following awardees will receive a combined total of nearly $150 million in award from the competition funds:

Read summaries of the grants announced today.

In addition to today's grant announcement, Sacramento was previously designated a Promise Zone and was awarded a Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant. Kansas City, Memphis and Atlanta received Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants in FY2010.

Building on the successes of HUD's HOPE VI Program, Choice Neighborhoods links housing improvements with a wide variety of public services and neighborhood improvements to create neighborhoods of opportunity. With today's announcement, HUD has awarded more than $500 million in Choice Implementation Grants since 2011. Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals:

1. Housing: Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood;
    
2. People: Improve educational outcomes and intergenerational mobility for youth with services and supports delivered directly to youth and their families; and
    
3. Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and commercial activity, that are important to families' choices about their community.

HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is one of the signature programs of the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oua/initiatives/neighborhood-revitalization), which supports innovative and inclusive strategies that bring public and private partners together to help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. It encourages collaboration between HUD and the Departments of Education, Justice, Treasury and Health and Human Services to support local solutions for sustainable, mixed-income neighborhoods with the affordable housing, safe streets and good schools all families need.

###

HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov.

You can also connect with HUD on social media and follow Secretary Castro on Twitter and Facebook or sign up for news alerts on HUD's Email List.