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HOPE
VI
HOPE VI is helping the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's
(HUD) transform and improve the physical shape of public housing
around the country
while also working to give residents an opportunity to improve
their lives and become self-sufficient through the provision of
job training,
child care, and case management among other social services.
The goals of HOPE VI are to:
- Improve public housing by replacing severely distressed
public housing projects such as high-rises and barracks-style
apartments, with townhouses or garden-style apartments that blend
aesthetically into the surrounding community.
- Reduce concentrations of poverty 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.
NEW
BRUNSWICK'S HOPE VI REVITALIZATION
New Brunswick's four-phase, $45 million HOPE VI Revitalization
Program has replaced 246 units of high-rise housing with 192 mixed-income,
townhouse and low-rise units. This historic revitalization effort
began in June 1998 with the New Brunswick Housing Authority's
(NBHA)
submission of application for funding, which resulted in a $7.5
million HOPE VI grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban
Development (HUD) later the same year.
Since the beginning of the redevelopment effort, NBHA and The
Community Builders (TCB) have worked closely with resident representatives,
the City of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Tomorrow, and other local
agencies and stakeholders to create a plan for a strong community
in which people of all incomes can achieve their full potential.
One of the first official steps taken by the Housing Authority
was
to form a HOPE VI Steering Committee, that worked to oversee the
general programs and the implementation on the grant. The Housing
Authority also formed a Community Task Force, which worked with
the Authority to create and implement a Community Support Service
Program. To this end, NBHA has held over 300 meetings with resident
participation and will continue to hold such meetings throughout
the implementation of this grant. Along with the construction of
high-quality affordable housing, the HOPE VI revitalization effort
includes an extensive resident services and community building
component geared toward helping families achieve economic self-sufficiency.
NBHA and TCB continue their commitment to providing residents with
access to the tools they need to succeed in a flourishing, mixed-income
community.
New Brunswick Homes, built in 1958, included 246 public housing
units in four apartment towers. The towers were demolished in August
2001 to clear the site for Riverside Complex, the second phase of
New Brunswick's HOPE VI Revitalization Program.
Since that time, the Housing Authority, with the help of The Community
Builders, Inc. who became involved as Developer for the program
in early 1998, as well as the City of New Brunswick, and many other
partners, has leveraged over $37 million of private and other public
funds to complete this revitalization program. The program has
also provided 120 additional affordable housing opportunities
to residents through to Section 8 Housing Voucher Program, and
has also moved 24 fromer New Bruswock Homes residents in homeownership.
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phase 1
phase 2
phase 3
phase 4
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