SEATTLE HOUSING AUTHORITY WINS SECOND HUD CHOICE NEIGHBORHOODS GRANT FOR $19.7 MILLION
Nationwide the $109 million in Choice Neighborhoods awarded today to Seattle, Cincinnati, San Antonio & Tampa expected to leverage some $393 million in other investment activity in four cities

SEATTLE - U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and U.S. Senator Patty Murray today announced the award of a second HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant for $19.73 million to the Seattle Housing Authority for revitalization of the Yesler Terrace neighborhood just south of downtown. In August 2011, HUD awarded a $10.27 million Choice Neighborhoods grant to the Authority to begin transforming the neighborhood.

Today's Choice Neighborhoods award to the Seattle Authority was one of four totaling $109 million made today with Cincinnati, San Antonio and Tampa also receiving awards. The four awards are expected to generate some $393 million in other investments in the areas the Choice Neighborhood grants will revitalize.

HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (Choice) will help transform distressed communities in Cincinnati, Ohio; San Antonio, Tex.; Seattle, Wash.; and Tampa, Fla. This landmark initiative promotes a comprehensive approach to transforming areas of concentrated poverty into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods. The $109 million federal investment of Choice Neighborhoods has generated $393 million in private investments and commitments from local jurisdictions and partners, a more than 300 percent leveraging.

"HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative supports local visions for how to transform high-poverty, distressed communities into neighborhoods of opportunity," said Secretary Donovan. "We're emphasizing a comprehensive approach to revitalizing neighborhoods by considering the totality of a community with regard to health, safety, education, jobs and quality housing in mixed-income neighborhoods."

"We've had six years of important collaboration and planning with the community and the City to help guide the redevelopment of Yesler Terrace," said Andrew Lofton, Executive Director of Seattle Housing Authority. "In 2013 we will begin to see the actual physical transformation of Yesler Terrace into the neighborhood of the future envisioned by residents and stakeholders as the construction of parks, homes and the Hillclimb gets underway. We are looking forward to making our first new homes for low-income residents available by the end of 2013."

"I am so pleased that Yesler Terrace was one of the four projects selected nationwide for a Choice Grant," said Senator Patty Murray. "I have fought to continue funding this program because it provides HUD the opportunity to be a partner with local housing authorities and communities that can leverage this funding to revitalize neighborhoods, develop affordable housing, and create new opportunities for residents."

"From New Holly to Rainier Vista, High Point to Lake City, the Seattle Housing Authority has a proven and distinguished track record of revitalizing communities," said HUD Northwest Regional Administrator Mary McBride. "The Authority and its partners will take all the lessons learned from these successes to transform Yesler Terrace into a vibrant, mixed-income and mixed-use community. HUD is very pleased to be a part of this effort."

With its two Choice Neighborhoods grants, the Seattle Authority will replace the 561 public housing units on the site with 561 project-based voucher units and construct nearly 2,000 additional units to serve a mix of income levels. All new development will incorporate smart growth principals and be certified under the Enterprise Green Communities Program. It also will increase pedestrian and bicycle connectivity between Yesler Terrace and the adjacent Little Saigon and First Hill Neighborhoods. It is also working with the City to build the First Hill Streetcar line through the Yesler neighborhood and construct a new 1.75 acre park and the construction of three new pocket parks, 4,000 square feet of affordable retail space and restoration of the historic Washington Hall as a performing arts center.

The Authority also will establish two neighborhood medical clinics which will offer residents free healthcare services and also is partnering with Seattle University to improve education outcomes for residents of all ages by connecting families with programs such as Head Start, improving the quality of instruction and services at the neighborhood elementary school, connecting young people with tutoring services and college preparatory advising, as well as mentoring through the College Success Foundation. The Authority will also partner with the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative to help students at risk of suspension stay in school and succeed. The Seattle Police Department will supplement these efforts through community policing strategies to build relationships and increase overall public safety.

To date, the Yesler Terrace transformation has received $207 in funding commitments, over an and above the $30 million awarded by HUD, from the City, Neighborcare Health, Neighborhood House, Seattle University, Year Up, the Seattle Parks Department, Retail Lock Box and the U.S. Department of Justice. Other key partners include King County, Harborview Medical Center, Yesler Terrace Citizens Review Committee, Seattle Public Schools, the Seattle Department of Transportation, the Workforce Development Council, the Seattle Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Choice Neighborhoods communities announced today were selected from nine finalists HUD announced in August. Each of the finalists completed a comprehensive local planning process and ready to move forward with their plan to revitalize the housing and redevelop their target neighborhoods. Building on the successes of HUD's HOPE VI Program, Choice links housing improvements with a wide variety of public services and neighborhood improvements to create neighborhoods of opportunity.

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is one of the signature programs of the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (http://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.

Congress approved the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative with the passage of HUD's Fiscal Year 2010 budget. Funding is provided through two separate programs - Implementation Grants and Planning Grants. In 2011, HUD awarded its first Choice Implementation grants for Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle, a combined $122.27 million investment to bring comprehensive neighborhood revitalization to blighted areas in these cities. With this announcement, HUD has awarded a total of $231,250,000 in Choice Implementation Grants in eight cities. Today's Choice Neighborhoods Awardees include:

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