EASTON HOUSING AUTHORITY GETS $20 MILLION TO REPLACE AGED PUBLIC HOUSING WITH NEW HOUSING, MIXED-INCOME COMMUNITY
Jackson joins Santorum to announce 2006 HOPE VI grants

EASTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson awarded the Easton Housing Authority a $20 million grant today that will be used to redevelop the public housing at Delaware Terrace and create a new mixed-income community.

Jackson joined Senator Rick Santorum and Mayor Phil Mitman at the Boys and Girls Club at Delaware Terrace to announce that Easton is one of four public housing authorities that will receive a 2006 HOPE VI Revitalization grant. This was Easton's fourth try for this funding.

"It is an honor for me to present this award to Gene," said Jackson, referring to Gene Pambianchi, the executive director of Easton's housing authority."He and his staff submitted an excellent package that will not only result in better housing for residents, but also revitalize the surrounding community."

The housing authority will use the funding to replace the 250 public housing units at Delaware Terrace with 12 renovated public housing units and 43 subsidized units. Easton will also build 83 affordable homeownership units and six Habitat for Humanity homeownership units. The community will also get an enhanced community center equipped with computers to give residents easy access to computer training and job search assistance. An existing multipurpose center will also be enlarged to make it an area for soccer and golf training.

Joining Easton with a $20 million grant is the Beaumont (Texas) Housing Authority and the Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Housing Authority. The Kingsport (Tenn.) Housing Authority also received an $11.9 million grant. The funding awarded today totaled $71.9 million. The grantees were selected from a pool of 26 applications HUD received from public housing authorities (PHAs) across the country. Including this round of grants, HUD has awarded 237 HOPE VI Revitalization grants since 1993 to 127 cities that total $5.8 billion.

The National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing created the program in 1992 after it reported that approximately 86,000 public housing units in the U.S. needed revitalization. To date, nearly 150,000 aged public housing units have been demolished using HOPE VI and other HUD programs.

PHAs are competitively selected for these grants with an emphasis on the effectiveness and project readiness of their revitalization plans. HUD gives local housing authorities the flexibility to develop revitalization plans that meet their local needs. A team of HUD public housing and revitalization specialists score applications based on several revitalization rating factors, including:

Capacity: The ability of the housing authority or developer to administer and manage completion of the revitalization effort.

Need for Revitalization : The severity of physical distress of the development.

Match/Leveraging : The ability of the housing authority to supplement the HOPE VI grant with funding from other sources - private, state or local government.

As part of today's award, the housing authority will pay relocation costs for residents as needed. Affected residents can relocate to other public housing or get a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) to subsidize their rent in privately owned housing. Relocated residents who meet program requirements are given the opportunity to move back to the newly constructed units. Alternatively, if residents choose not to return to public housing, they may keep their voucher. In addition, relocated residents will be provided with the same job training and other supportive services offered to families living in the revitalized development.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet and espanol.hud.gov.

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