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Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) Awarded $500,000 Grant 

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Sacramento,Calif., November 22, 2013 – HUD SELECTS SACRAMENTO HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY TO RECEIVE $500,000 CHOICE NEIGHBORHOODS PLANNING GRANT

U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced that the City of Sacramento Housing Authority administered by Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency will receive a $500,000 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant. Sacramento is one of only nine communities across the U.S. to receive the funding from a $4.7 million award.

“Through this investment, HUD is providing the resources for local leaders to transform neighborhoods into thriving communities where families will choose to live,” said Donovan. “The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative represents the next generation in a movement toward revitalizing entire neighborhoods by providing critically needed funding to support locally driven economic development solutions in these areas. I look forward to working with these cities and communities as they work to build stronger neighborhoods for all.” HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative promotes a comprehensive approach to transforming distressed areas of concentrated poverty into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods. Building on the successes of HUD’s HOPE VI Program, Choice Neighborhoods links housing improvements with necessary services for the people who live there – including schools, public transit and employment opportunities.

The grant will provide SHRA with resources to begin developing a Neighborhood Transformation Plan, or road map to revitalize the Marina Vista and Alder Grove Public Housing communities and the Upper Land Park and Broadway neighborhood. The Related Companies of California, Mercy Housing California and Regis Homes were selected as the CNI development team. HUD’s decision to award the City of Sacramento Housing Authority this $500,000 planning grant is a testament to the vision that the City and SHRA have for the future of the Marina Vista and Alder Grove public housing communities, as well as the surrounding neighborhoods,” said Congresswoman Doris Matsui. “The grant will allow for a great deal of stakeholder outreach and intensive planning that will help create a vibrant neighborhood for generations to come. I was pleased to assist in the grant application and look forward to helping ensure the initiative is successful.”

Sacramento is the only Housing Authority in California to receive the grant which will be used to augment the nearly $1 million in other public and developer funds previously allocated for development of the NTP. SHRA will use the funding to work with local stakeholders – public and/or assisted housing residents, community members, businesses, institutions, and local government officials – to undertake a successful neighborhood transformation to create a “choice neighborhood.”

“This is extremely good news for these two public housing neighborhoods that are home to more than 2,500 low income residents, as well as the communities that surround them,” said La Shelle Dozier, Executive Director of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. “I’m very pleased that HUD recognized the critical need and the great potential in Sacramento to create a plan for redeveloping our valuable assets into a thriving new community that serves a broader spectrum of residents.”

The NTP is a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plan which focuses on directing resources to address three core goals: Housing, People, and Neighborhoods. Once completed, the NTP becomes the guiding document for the potential revitalization of the 751-unit Marina Vista/Alder Grove public housing sites while simultaneously directing the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood with positive outcomes for families. The NTP is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

Sacramento’s key partners in the planning effort are EJP Consulting Group (Planning Coordinator), City of Sacramento, Enterprise Community Partners. Sacramento Housing Alliance, Leataata Floyd Elementary School, Sacramento Employment and Training Agency, Sacramento Regional Transit, Greater Broadway Partnership, Roberts Family Development Center, Kaiser Permanente, WellSpace Health, Dignity Health, Upper Land Park Neighbors, and the Land Park Community Association. This the second Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Planning Grant that SHRA has received.

HUD awarded a CNI Planning Grant award of $300,000 to begin grassroots efforts to revitalize the Twin Rivers Community Housing, a distressed public housing development at 321 Eliza Street in Sacramento, and to transform the Sacramento River District-Railyards neighborhood. The draft transformation plan is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Choice Neighborhoods is one of the signature programs of the White House Promise Zones Initiative where the federal government will partner with and invest in communities to create jobs, leverage private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational opportunities, and improve public safety. Working with local leadership—and bringing to bear the resources of a number of the President’s signature revitalization initiatives from the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Agriculture—federal programs and resources will support local efforts to turn around 20 of the highest poverty urban, rural and tribal communities across the country.

Congress approved the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative with the passage of HUD’s FY2010 budget. Funding is provided through two separate programs – Implementation Grants and Planning Grants. With this announcement, HUD has awarded 56 Planning Grants totaling $16.9 million in cities and counties across the country. Sacramento’s application can be viewed online by clicking here.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Angela Jones, Public Information Officer

(916) 440-1355, or (916) 919-3090

www.shra.org

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