CUOMO ANNOUNCES $78.3 MILLION IN HOPE VI GRANTS TO MIAMI-DADE, LAKELAND, AND BRADENTON FLORIDA TO TRANSFORM PUBLIC HOUSING

MIAMI - As part of a program to transform public housing around the nation, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded housing authorities in Miami-Dade County, Lakeland, and Bradenton Florida a total of $78.3 million in HOPE VI grants to make housing available for 1,264 families and to demolish 1,378 deteriorated public housing apartments.

The $78.3 million in grants to the Florida housing authorities will be distributed this way: Miami-Dade - $35 million; Lakeland - $21.8 million; and Brandenton - $21.5 million.

The grants are part of $571 million in highly competitive grants that HUD is awarding to 21 cities this month and next under the public housing transformation program known as HOPE VI. The grants will be used to provide public, affordable and market-rate housing for 9,311 families and to demolish 9,134 units of severely distressed public housing in the 21 cities.

Cuomo was joined in Miami for the announcement by Congresswoman Carrie Meek, Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, Lakeland Mayor Ralph Fletcher and Bradenton Housing Authority Executive Director William De Sue.

"We are transforming public housing projects with problems into new mixed-income communities with promise," Cuomo said. "We are making public housing a launching pad to opportunity, jobs and self-sufficiency - instead of a warehouse trapping people in poverty and long-term dependence."

Senator Bob Graham said: "These important grants will help Floridians take back their neighborhoods in time for the 21st century. As we prepare to enter this new era, there is no better time to revitalize our communities, improve the quality of life for our citizens, and provide opportunities for our children and grandchildren."

Congresswoman Meek, who represents Miami, said: "This is welcome news for this community, which has long been neglected. This effort will significantly revitalize the neighborhood by improving the housing stock, providing new home ownership opportunities for low-income families, and creating 1,500 new jobs. Today's announcement is a promising step forward toward a new era of prosperity and economic growth for Liberty City."

Mayor Penelas said: "Today's special announcement goes far beyond improving housing opportunities in Miami-Dade - it actually allows us to turn public housing units into true communities that provide a comprehensive network of services. The residents of Scott and Carver Homes will now have a greater opportunity to become self-sufficient homeowners, productive employees and residents who can be proud of their neighborhood, thanks to the HOPE VI grant and our tireless federal partners, Congresswoman Meek and Secretary Cuomo, who helped make it possible."

In Florida, the new units being built with the HOPE VI grants will be made up of 634 new public housing units (Bradenton - 180; Lakeland - 239; Miami - 215); 427 affordable and market-rate homes for purchase (Bradenton - 60; Lakeland - 120; Miami - 247); and 203 units of privately-owned low- and moderate-income housing financed with the help of the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Bradenton - 110; Lakeland - 93).

The replacement housing units in the 21 cities around the nation receiving HOPE VI grants will be made up of 3,720 units of new public housing, 2,358 units of new privately owned affordable and market-rate rental housing, and 3,233 units that will be sold for homeownership by public housing residents and by market-rate buyers.

Some of the replacement housing units will be at the site of public housing being demolished, and some will be at other locations.

Nationally, HOPE VI funds will also be used to help about 3,400 public housing residents get jobs and become self-sufficient.

This year, every dollar HUD is investing in public housing transformation is generating a record high average of $2.07 in other investment - far more than the 31 cents in other investment the transformation program generated when it began in 1993.

HUD's investment of $571 million in HOPE VI public housing transformation grants around the nation this year is expected to help generate a record $1.2 billion in additional investment in housing and jobs programs at public housing developments - including $854 million in private funds and $328 million in other government funds.

Here is information about each of the three grants:

MIAMI-DADE

The $35 million HOPE VI grant to the Miami-Dade Housing Agency will be used to revitalize the Scott Homes and Carver Homes public housing developments.

The grant will also be used to help 268 Miami-Dade public housing residents find jobs and provide supportive services for 500 young people.

The Miami-Dade Housing Agency has also secured investment commitments from local banks and Fannie Mae, along with employment commitments from area businesses for 1,500 additional jobs and more than $4 million in job training.

LAKELAND

The $21.8 million HOPE VI grant to the Lakeland Housing Authority will be used to revitalize the Washington Park and Lake Ridge Homes public housing developments.

A new commercial site will be developed to attract needed retail outlets to the neighborhood and a new street will link Washington Park to Rochelle School.

An estimated 688 new jobs will be created as a result of the HOPE VI funds and the additional $37 million in public and private investment in the neighborhood revitalization.

HUD and housing authorities will also partner with schools near public housing to help children from public housing families do better in school to prepare them for self-sufficiency as adults.

BRADENTON

The $21.5 million HOPE VI grant to the Bradenton Housing Authority will be used to revitalize the Rogers Garden Park and Rogers Addition public housing developments.

More than 1,000 jobs will be created in the Rogers, Singeltary, and Washington neighborhoods through employers including Tropicana, Manatee Memorial Hospital and the Pittsburgh Pirates' year-round Florida operation.

A retail center that will provide shopping and jobs for the Singeltary neighborhood is planned for vacant housing authority land. An additional $29 million in public and private funds will be invested in this HOPE VI project.

At Rogers Garden Park in Bradenton, the HUD grant will be used for childcare, pre-school and after-school programs, as well as tutoring and mentoring programs to help children from public housing families do better in school to prepare them for self-sufficiency as adults. GED/literacy classes will be available for residents who are not in school and have not graduated from high school.

These Florida housing authorities received HOPE VI grants from HUD in recent years: Miami-Dade - a $4.7 million revitalization grant for Ward Towers elderly housing development in 1998; Orlando - a $6.8 million revitalization grant for Colonial Park in 1997; St. Petersburg -

a $27 million revitalization grant for Jordan Park in 1997; Tampa - a $32.5 million revitalization grant for Ponce de Leon and College Hill in 1997, and a $973,000 demolition grant for Riverview Terrace in 1996; Ocala - a $1.7 million demolition grant for Forest View and N.H. Jones in 1996; Jacksonville - a $21.6 million revitalization grant for Durkeeville in 1996.

HUD will pay temporary relocation costs for residents whose apartments are being demolished. Relocated residents in good standing will be given the first opportunity to move back to the newly constructed units at the site, or will be given rental assistance vouchers that will subsidize their rents in privately owned apartments if they choose not to return to public housing.

In addition, relocated residents receiving rental assistance vouchers will be given the same job training and other services that will be offered to people living in the replacement public housing, to help them get jobs and become self-sufficient.

All new units being built will conform to guidelines of HUD's Healthy Homes Initiative, which will ensure that homes incorporate safeguards to protect residents against hazards such as lead poisoning, fire, carbon monoxide and radon.

The 21 housing authorities receiving HOPE VI grants were selected in a competition involving 80 cities that submitted applications requesting a total of $1.8 billion in grants. Cities were selected based on a checklist of criteria measuring the effectiveness of their public housing revitalization plans.

Under the Clinton Administration, HUD is carrying out the most dramatic transformation of public housing since the public housing program was created in 1937 by President Franklin Roosevelt. The HOPE VI program was created in 1992 as a direct result of the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing report that found nearly 100,000 units of "severely distressed" public housing.

HUD has approved the demolition of 53,000 units of the worst public housing under the HOPE VI program, and has approved the creation of housing opportunities for 72,000 families. The new housing opportunities include 35,000 new public housing units, 25,000 other new units to achieve mixed-income housing, and 12,000 housing units subsidized by Section 8 rental assistance vouchers.

There are about 1.4 million units of public housing around the nation, where nearly 2.7 million people live. The median annual income of households in public housing is $9,257. A total of 49 percent of households are made up of families with children, another 32 percent house senior citizens, and 17 percent are home to people with disabilities.

HUD's HOPE VI assistance will be tailored to carry out plans developed by each grant recipient. Each recipient developed its own revitalization program under a HUD policy that gives local housing authorities great flexibility to come up with plans to meet their own special needs.

The HOPE VI program has five key objectives:

• Changing the physical shape of public housing by demolishing severely distressed projects - high-rises and barracks-style apartments - and replacing them with garden-style apartments or townhouses that become part of their surrounding communities.

• Reducing concentrations of poverty by encouraging a greater income mix among public housing residents and by encouraging working families to move into public housing and into new market-rate housing being built as part of the neighborhoods where public housing is located.

• Establishing support services - such as education and training programs, child care services, transportation services and counseling - to help public housing residents get and keep jobs.

• Establishing and enforcing high standards of personal and community responsibility by barring drug dealers and other criminals from moving into public housing and evicting those already there, under President Clinton's One Strike and You're Out policy and through other anti-crime programs as well.

• Forging broad-based partnerships to involve public housing residents, state and local government officials, the private sector, non-profit groups and the community at large in planning and implementing the new communities.

Content Archived: January 20, 2009