| HUD No. 00-179 | |
| Further Information: | For Release |
| In the Washington, DC area: 202/708-0685 | Wednesday |
| Or contact your local HUD office | July 26, 2000 |
Grant summary information |
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HUD AWARDS $35 MILLION GRANT TO TACOMA TO TRANSFORM PUBLIC HOUSING, HELP RESIDENTS
WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded a $35 million grant to Tacoma Housing Authority name that will be used to provide housing for 1,353 families and to demolish 815 deteriorated public housing apartments.
In Tacoma, the HOPE VI grant will be used to revitalize the Salishan Housing Development Upon completion, the grant from HUD will develop 600 public housing rental units, 300 market rental units, 165 senior units, 228 affordable and market homeownership units, and a 60-unit apartment building with priority for the disabled.
The grant will help leverage funding for a 5,000 square-feet dental clinic that will be added to Eastside Health Clinic. Also, the gymnasium at the Eastside Neighborhood Center will be expanded and the childcare center and family investment center will be rehabilitated.
Today’s grant will ultimately attract $104 million in total investment to Takoma, a return equal to about $3.00 for every dollar invested this year in the program. In 1993, the first year of the program, the return was only 31 cents for each dollar invested.
The HOPE VI Revitalization grants being awarded now will total nearly $515 million.
"Today’s awards bring us a step closer to meeting a bold pledge by the Clinton-Gore Administration to remake the nation’s public housing so that every American will have a safe, clean and decent place to live," Cuomo said. Joining Cuomo in making the announcement were Sens. Slade Gorton and Patty Murray, and Rep. Norm Dicks. "The Salishan and High Point Garden redevelopment projects represent the kind of public-private partnership that will help bring America’s prosperity to communities that have been left behind. Today we are updating our efforts to ensure all Americans have a sound and safe place to live. The HOPE revitalization grants continue to live up to their name in Washington state," Sen. Murray said.
"I am delighted by Sec. Cuomo’s decision to fund the much need redevelopment of High Point and Salishan, " Sen. Gorton said. "Many positive changes are now going to take place that will greatly benefit the families and individuals who live in and around these two communities. New parks, gardens, community services, health clinics and community facilities will all be part of these revitalized communities."
"I want to thank Secretary Cuomo for the attention he has paid to Seattle's HOPE VI grant requests. The High Point grant builds on Seattle Housing Authority's national reputation as a leader in HOPE VI redevelopment projects.
"The grant for High Point will provide a major difference in the lives of many Seattle residents. The High Point community will greatly benefit from the access this grant will provide to green spaces, trails, education and job support services, and a new medical-dental clinic," Rep. Jim McDermott said.
The HOPE VI grants, first awarded by HUD in 1993, have five objectives:
- ·Improve public housing by demolishing
severely distressed public housing projects, such as high-rises and barracks-style
apartments, and replace them with townhouses or garden-style apartments
that blend aesthetically into the surrounding community.
- Reduce concentrations of poverty by encouraging
a mix of incomes among public housing residents and by encouraging working
families to move into housing that is part of revitalized communities.
- Provide support services, such as education
and training programs, child care services, transportation and counseling
to help public housing residents get and keep jobs.
- Establish and enforce high standards of
personal and community responsibility through explicit lease requirements.
- Forge partnerships that involve public housing
residents, state and local government officials, the private sector, non-profit
groups and the community-at-large in planning and implementing new communities.
As part of today’s awards, HUD will pay temporary relocation costs for residents whose apartments are being demolished. Relocated residents who meet program requirements will be given the first opportunity to move back to the newly constructed units at the site. Alternatively, if residents choose not to return to public housing, they will be given vouchers to subsidize their rents in privately owned apartments. In addition, relocated residents receiving vouchers will be provided with the same job training and services offered to people living in replacement public housing.
All newly constructed units must conform to HUD guidelines for Healthy Homes. This initiative ensures that safeguards are in place to protect residents from hazards caused by lead, fire, carbon monoxide and radon.
Tacoma’s application came from a pool of 74 that requested nearly $1.8 billion in grants. The funds will be used to build or rehab more than 10,100 housing units; nearly 6,400 severely distressed units will be demolished. Cities were competitively selected based upon the effectiveness of their public housing revitalization plans. HUD policy provides local housing authorities with the flexibility to develop revitalization plans that meet their own special needs.
The HOPE VI program was created as a result of a report by the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, which found nearly 100,000 units of "severely distressed" public housing in the U.S.
From 1993-99, HUD awarded 131 revitalization grants totaling $3.5 billion. More than 50,000 units of distressed public housing have been approved for demolition and 39,000 new public housing units are being created as a result of the program.
About 2.7 million people live in the nation’s 1.3 million public housing units. Nearly half of the units are home to families with children, 32 percent have senior citizens, and 17 percent are home to people with disabilities. The median annual income of households in public housing is $9,777.
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