HOPE VI Overview
I. INTRODUCTION
The HOPE VI Program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the purpose of revitalizing distressed public housing communities. It is a competitive process open to all public housing authorities (PHAs) nationwide.
Annually, HUD accepts applications from PHAs for the comprehensive transformation of a severely distressed public housing community. Usually, the applications envision the complete demolition of the existing housing with a replacement program aimed at reducing density, reducing the neighborhood’s concentration of poverty and the revitalization of the entire community. Applications are scored and competitively ranked and awards, or partial awards, are announced. The selected agencies and HUD then negotiate and execute Grant Agreements. Thereafter, each PHA develops a Revitalization Plan, which provides the details of the proposed redevelopment project. Once the Plan is approved by HUD, the PHA can begin to undertake the development project and HUD allows for drawdowns of the grant award.
Begun in 1993, the HOPE VI program has evolved from one which was aimed at only troubled housing authorities to being open to all PHAs. It has also changed dramatically, in that it now promotes public-private partnerships and seeks to create mixed income communities which blend public, assisted and market-rate housing with home-ownership opportunities.
II. ESSENTIALS OF A HOPE VI PROJECT
While it is likely true that each HOPE VI project differs from all others, some generalizations can be made about how most HOPE VI projects are being envisioned currently. In essence, the prototypical project seeks to achieve the following goals:
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Reduce density
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Reduce concentration of poverty
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Demolish obsolete public housing
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Rebuild a modern mixed-income community
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Have the new community blend seamlessly with its surrounding neighborhood
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Promote individual responsibility for public housing residents
These goals are being realized through utilization of many of the following strategies:
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Partnering with private-sector developer(s)
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Transferring property from PHA to a new public-private ownership entity
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Designing project to blend with surrounding community
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Drafting new admissions and continued occupancy policies for the new development
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Building quality housing to attract market-rate tenants
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Develop Family Self-Sufficiency and job training programs for public housing residents
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Procure private management for the new community
III. THE THA HOPE VI PROJECT
The THA HOPE VI project certainly fits within the foregoing scenario. The 1997 Application submitted by the THA received a $32.5 million grant for the revitalization of College Hill Homes and Ponce de Leon Courts, two contiguous public housing communities isolated in the East Tampa neighborhood.
The case for demolishing the existing structures is simple to make. There are 1,300 public housing units, built between 1941 and 1952, which are totally obsolete and practically unfit for habitation. All systems are deficient, there are constant flooding and sewage problems, the units are infested with insects and of a design and condition which render them unable to meet today’s housing codes. Even if a comprehensive “gut rehab” were possible, the cost would far exceed that of new construction. HUD has already approved the demolition of all 1,300 public housing units.
The replacement community that is envisioned will contain 860 units spread throughout 74 acres of land. It will blend public, assisted and market-rate rental units indistinguishable from one another. This will be accomplished through use of the “floating unit” concept. What this means, in essence, is that the rental units are all designed and built to the same standards; meant to attract market-rate tenants. They are only distinguished by virtue of the occupants. If the unit is inhabited by a public housing resident, then it is a public housing unit and subsidy flows to the project for such unit while it continues to be occupied by a public housing resident. If a market-rate tenant occupies it, then it is a market-rate unit. Over the course of several years, the same unit could serve as all three types; market, assisted and public. Only the administration and management of the project need know which is which. In this manner, the stigmatization tied to public housing can be eliminated.
The on-site project will be built in three separate phases and will include a 74-unit Senior Housing Complex. The new development will also have interspersed single-family homes, both for rental and for homeownership.
IV. THE NEXT STEPS
After THA received HUD approval of the Revitalization Plan, it proceeded with some of the other required steps. The THA undertook a two-step process for the selection of a developer for the project. Initially, a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was issued as a part of a nationwide search, from which developers will be pre-qualified. Thereafter, the pre-qualified developers were able to bid on one or more specific proposals.
This project proved enticing to private sector developers. Among other factors, it afforded the following:
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A 74-acre site at minimal acquisition cost
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A Federal Grant to help jump-start the project
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A substantial resident pool
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Continued subsidies for the project
The selected developer, Michaels Development Company, negotiated specific contract terms with the THA concerning the details of the project. In addition, MDC secured financing for the project, which included obtaining 4% bond tax credits for Phase II and 9% tax credits for Phase I. MDC is also in the process of submitting an application for 9% tax credits for Phase III.
Among the details developed in anticipation of occupancy of the new community were a HUD approved HOPE VI Admissions and Occupancy Policy, the selection of a property management entity, Interstate Realty Management Company, and implementation of a new dwelling lease for the property.
The THA has contracted with the Tampa Hillsborough Urban League (THUL) to provide assistance to current public housing tenants; helping them transition to the new realities of welfare reform and new public housing communities. Not all public housing residents will qualify for admission in the new development, and the THA wants to provide its residents with every opportunity to acclimate to the new world of individual responsibility. THUL helps tenants develop the skills needed for employment and qualification for admission to these new communities.
V. CONCLUSION
It is envisioned that this project will be completely built by Fall 2005. When completed, the THA will have transformed the East Tampa neighborhood into what it once was, a thriving community, actively forming part of the City. At the same time they will have set a national example for the transformation of public housing and the revitalization of an isolated and impoverished community.
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