For Immediate Release
Contact: Irma Alexander at
ialexander@meridianhousing.net
601 482-5042
Meridian Housing Authority Awarded $242,500 HUD Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant
When: A press conference will be held on Wednesday, January 18, 2012, at 10:00am at the Meridian Housing Authority’s Central Office training room located at 2425 E Street, to inform the public of MHA’s plan to revitalize the George Reese Court Housing Community, along with several of its collaborative partners.
Details: On January 10, the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan announced that the agency has awarded $3.6 million in Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants to help 13 communities across the country lay the foundation for neighborhood revitalization. The Meridian Housing Authority (MHA) was one of the 13 planning grant recipients. MHA, along with its private sector partner, The Michaels Development Company, will craft a stakeholder-led comprehensive plan to revitalize public housing in the East End Neighborhood and transform the area into a community of choice.
Choice Neighborhood Planning Grants are intended to take community planning from the drawing board into action. Recipients of the planning grants are also eligible to apply for Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grants, the successor program to HOPE VI, and the centerpiece of the Obama Administration’s neighborhood revitalization strategy.
Meridian’s East End neighborhood, site of the outdated George Reese Courts public housing community, is challenged with high crime, high vacancy rates, poor health and nutrition among residents, and deteriorated housing. The Housing Authority of the City of Meridian, working with Michaels Development and Master Planners Wallace Roberts & Todd along with other key partners, will create a plan for a safe, asset and amenity-rich, walkable neighborhood with new replacement housing and high quality education, healthcare, and social services for neighborhood residents.
The planning effort will work to bridge the gap between assets and needs. Efforts will include pairing a high capacity development team with the need for new housing; using local medical institutions to address the need for health and nutrition planning; and working with the Meridian Public School District to address the need for education reform. Additionally, the Meridian Medical District will work to address the need for job creation and improved transportation access. MHA will meaningfully involve residents in the transformation planning from concept through implementation. They will conduct people, housing and neighborhood needs assessments, engage the community and residents in education opportunity planning, and provide capacity building and knowledge sharing opportunities.
The Meridian Housing Authority exists to provide decent, safe and affordable housing opportunities with reasonable accommodations for eligible citizens of Meridian, Mississippi. Additionally, the agency conducts several social service programs that promote self-sufficiency, empowerment and respect. MHA currently owns and operates 1,215 viable public housing units and administers 187 housing choice vouchers throughout the city of Meridian
The Michaels Organization is one of the nation’s most active and successful HOPE VI developers, having collaborated on the revitalization of public housing in 20 communities across the country. The Michaels Organization and the Meridian Housing Authority successfully transformed the obsolete public housing communities of JT Davis Courts and Victory Village into a sustainable, modern, mixed-income community after receiving HOPE VI funding. Most recently, the MHA and Michaels collaborated on the successful rehabilitation of Frank Berry Courts which was awarded over $8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Capital Fund Recovery Competition funding.
