The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $370 million in Choice Neighborhoods Implementation (CNI) Grants to support the implementation of comprehensive "Transformation Plans" to redevelop eight neighborhoods across the country.
“This investment represents HUD’s commitment to creating new housing for Birmingham residents and communities across the country,” HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said in a July 26 news release. “When we envision the future of public housing investment, we think of programs like Choice Neighborhoods."
Fudge made the announcement in Birmingham, Ala., where she presented a CNI Grant of $50 million to the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District, aiming to revitalize and transform the distressed public and/or assisted housing and neighborhoods in the area through a community-driven, whole-of-government approach to neighborhood revitalization, the release stated.
"These awards promote the innovative collaboration needed to tackle the affordable housing crisis. A community-driven, whole-of-government approach to neighborhood revitalization is what leads to impactful changes in the neighborhoods that need it the most,” Fudge said in the release.
The grants assist localities that have finished a thorough planning procedure and are prepared to put their "Transformation Plans" into action, the release stated.
Birmingham's $50 million grant will go to help the Smithfield community, which was once a "vibrant African-American neighborhood full of personality and creativity," the release stated. For a variety of reasons, such as racial zoning, mortgage redlining, interstate construction and other factors cut off the neighborhood from Birmingham's Central Business District; and the lack of investment helped cause the community's collapse.
With input from residents and community stakeholders, the CNI plan embodies the "Putting People First" attitude of the city of Birmingham and Housing Authority of the Birmingham District, the release stated.
The grants will assist in reviving and transforming the troubled public and/or assisted homes and neighborhoods around the country by providing funding for the building of new mixed-income housing complexes, enhance economic development opportunities, and support extensive community revitalization initiatives, the release said.
Grant recipients will join a dedicated group of 44 more Choice Neighborhoods sites around the country that have contributed more than $6.3 billion in total to historically underserved regions, the release said.
