Members Making News

From HUD's press release:

Expanding on its commitment to help local communities redevelop severely distressed HUD assisted housing and revitalize neighborhoods, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded more than $5 million to four communities.

Funded through HUD's Choice Neighborhoods program, these grants will help local leaders to craft comprehensive, homegrown plans to revitalize and transform these neighborhoods.

From SoundersFC.com:

Seattle Sounders FC today announced that the club and its charitable arm, RAVE Foundation, have selected South Seattle’s NewHolly – a Seattle Housing Authority neighborhood located between Beacon Hill and Rainier Valley – as the location for the next RAVE Field. Funding and efforts supporting the construction of the NewHolly field are being championed by Grammy Award-winning artist Ciara and her husband, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, both of whom are part owners of Sounders FC.

From The Seattle Times: 

Microsoft, King County and the King County Housing Authority will invest $245 million to provide affordable rents for more than 3,000 low- and middle-income residents through the purchase of five apartment complexes.

From The Monroe Monitor:

Today at the Seattle Housing Authority, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate education committee, sat down with local officials, community advocates, and digital education leaders to learn more about how Seattle has successfully expanded access to digital skills and literacy education—as well as best practices and lessons from their experiences—as she discussed her latest plans to promote digital inclusion in Washington State and across the country.

From the Ventura County Star:

No current residents at the Westview Village public housing complex in Ventura have an electric vehicle, but newly constructed units will include electric vehicle charging stations. 

The charging stations are just one way to make sustainable features accessible to public housing residents, according to Denise Wise, CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Buenaventura, which developed and manages the complex.

From The Oklahoman:

A Wisconsin company wrapping up redevelopment of the former Dunbar school east of downtown is preparing to build more affordable senior housing on a blighted block between Midtown and Classen-10-Penn.

From PIX 11:

After two years of planning and building, a new basketball court in a Bronx public housing development opened up Monday.

The court is in the heart of the Adams Houses in the Bronx. A half a million dollars was invested in the new basketball court.

“This is really symbolic because look at this. It's beautiful. The rest of the property can be the same way as this court,” promised new NYCHA CEO Gregory Russ.

From the Urban Land Institute:

Plaza Roberto Maestas in Seattle; the Lindley in Bethesda, Maryland; and the Watson in Quincy, Massachusetts, have been selected as the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Housing’s 2019 Jack Kemp Excellence in Affordable and Workforce Housing Award.

From the Hudson County View:

Betty Morris had two very big families: one was her immediate family, with 16 children, as well as her family-at-large – the residents of the Marion Gardens Housing Complex.

Back in 1974, when the family was under threat, she took action by heading down to Washington D.C. to fight for the necessary funding to keep the complex alive.

“My mother was a selfless person,” said Lori Walker, the youngest of Morris’ 16 children.

From ideastream:

Public art is everywhere at Woodhill Homes — much of it historic, dating from the 1930s and 1940s.

A panel on a building shows a woman hoisting a basket of fruit above her head. In the community center gym, WPA murals cover the walls, showing scenes of everyday life from when the complex was built. But for the public housing development's current residents, what the art doesn't depict is just as noticeable as what it does.