CLPHA Press Room

From the New Haven Independent:

Over 100 public-housing tenants are receiving two years of free internet service and free tablets in return for a promise — to attend classes on how to use them to improve their lives.

That transaction unfolded Wednesday evening at an event at the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center outpost in West Rock at 122 Wilmot Rd.

Over 120 residents of public-housing developments showed up to register for the program, under which T-Mobile is providing the tablets and the housing authority is providing two years of free service. The residents committed to attending digital literacy training and financial counseling and budget and credit counseling sessions in return. Residents can also apply to become “digital ambassadors” who receive training to assist in the educational learning for other residents in their program classes.

The Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH, aka Elm City Communities) organized the initiative as part of a federal program called ConnectHome Nation. The U.S. Department of Housing of Urban Development (HUD) put together the program in an effort to bridge the digital divide in public housing.

“Our way of getting information, our way of sharing information has increasingly become through the internet,” HANH President Karen DuBois-Walton told the crowd Wednesday evening. She said young residents have been a key focus of her agency’s digital inclusion efforts: “We want to make sure they have everything they need to succeed in school.”

Read the New Haven Independent's article "Housing Authority Bridges Digital Divide," featuring Elm City Communities.

From Builder Online:

In the construction industry, community service and charitable giving comes in many forms. While some companies will choose to donate a percentage of their revenue to relevant housing-related causes, others may take an active role and build homes for those in need.

Columbus, Ohio–based Moody Nolan, the largest African American–owned and managed architecture firm in the U.S., has contributed time and energy to several community programs in the past, including pro bono work, specialty events, outings, and dinners, but decided it was time to devote more time and resources to a hands-on product that would directly help the least advantaged within their communities.

As a result, the Moody Nolan Legacy House project was created. The project aims to provide free-standing, mortgage-free homes to financially struggling or homeless families who are unable to purchase a home themselves. In addition, the project serves as a viable template of affordable home design that could be replicated by other industry professionals and help solve one of housing’s largest issues.

“Every city that we are in has a housing problem,” Moody says. “We decided to address the bottom scale of housing and design a house that could go into a neighborhood that any young professional would like to have themselves, but make it small so it could be maintained.”

After setting finances aside to design and build the home, the firm sought out partners that could help offset the overall costs. Then, it teamed with the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, which donated the initial land, and the YMCA of Central Ohio and Southeast, Inc., to select a family in need.

Read Builder Online's article "Moody Nolan’s Legacy House Provides New Prototype of Affordable Home Design," featuring the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority.

From the Chicago Defender:

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) was joined by the City of Chicago Department of Housing, 49th Ward Alderwoman Maria Hadden, former 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore, and Ross Financial Services Thursday for the grand opening of Clark-Estes Apartments, a mixed-use development that will bring 54 affordable residential units to the Rogers Park community – 15 of which are assisted by CHA’s Property Rental Assistance (PRA) program.

Clark Estes also delivers 3,350 square feet of new retail space to 1763 W. Estes on land that sat vacant for more than a decade. The developers plan to lease the commercial space to bring amenities such as restaurants to the community.

The mixed-use, new construction development fills a void on the vibrant Clark Street retail corridor where the former Adelphi Theater once stood.  City of Chicago support included $1.7 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits that will generate $15.8 million in equity for the $18.8 million project.

With the assistance of a grant from ComEd, the project meets the energy efficiency and sustainability standards to be certified by Enterprise Green Communities Program.

Read the Chicago Defender's article "CHA, partners open Clark-Estes Apts. that provide 54 affordable units," featuring the Chicago Housing Authority.

HUD has provided a path forward for a first-in-the-nation partnership between Minnesota’s largest public housing authorities: the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) and the Metropolitan Council Housing and Redevelopment Authority (Metro HRA). HUD stated that they are supportive in concept of the two PHAs forming the nation’s first Regional Moving to Work (MTW) partnership and has allowed the partners to move forward with the planning and implementation process. If officially approved by HUD, MPHA and Metro HRA’s partnership will be the first such arrangement in the nation.

MPHA and Metro HRA will combine efforts to make it easier for families with housing vouchers to move where they wish across the metro area, including to neighborhoods they feel offer the best chance for economic success.

Initially, the partners expect to establish a shared pool of Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and combine their administrative muscle to streamline processes and help families achieve geographic and economic mobility. Other metro area housing agencies could later choose to join the partnership. Together, MPHA and Metro HRA serve more than 44,000 people in the Twin Cities through federal, subsidized housing programs.

“Today, low-income families with a voucher who want to move for better opportunity, employment, or affordability run into invisible lines and hurdles that make it much harder than it should be,” said MPHA Interim Executive Director Tracey Scott in a press release. “Now MPHA and Metro HRA will be able to try things no one in the country has tried before to lower those barriers and empower families to meet their goals.”

In a statement from the MTW Collaborative, MTW Collaborative President and CLPHA Board Member Andrew Lofton, said of MPHA and Metro HRA’s announcement:

“Today we celebrate a first-of-its-kind achievement under the Moving to Work demonstration. MTW agencies are widely recognized as experts and innovators when it comes to developing creative solutions to serve and provide housing for their residents and broader communities. Minneapolis PHA continues to be a leader in examining and testing new ways to achieve greater efficiency, expanded choice, and increased economic opportunity for participants – lessons that will benefit the entire industry. MTW is a powerful tool for change and this new regional partnership in Minneapolis represents what can be achieved when local communities can develop solutions to their local challenges.”

From the St. Thomas Source:

The Virgin Islands Housing Authority unveiled a portfolio plan for lawmakers that spans 10 years, requires an investment of $830 million, will generate or impact 3,300 jobs and create more than 2,700 affordable apartments between St. Thomas and St. Croix.

During a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Committee on Housing, Transportation and Telecommunication, VIHA Executive Director Robert Graham updated lawmakers on five matters: the safety of residents in public housing, the Authority’s new preventative maintenance program, demolition of the storm-damaged Tutu High-Rise Apartments, the implementation of the portfolio plan and the Urban Land Institute’s Advisory Services program that issued a panel report with recommendations of how to use the funding from the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Relief program “as a catalyst for revitalization of public housing.”

“The challenge for VIHA is to advocate for a change in the territorial mindset that the current public housing communities, as originally designed, are appropriate for today’s standard of living. We have an opportunity to transform the entire old public housing portfolio to lower density, energy-independent, attractive, amenity-rich environments designed to support family self-sufficiency,” Graham said.

Read the St. Thomas Source's article "Housing Authority Gives Senate a Glimpse of What’s to Come," featuring the Virgin Islands Housing Authority.