Montgomery Public Housing Benefits From Law

MONTGOMERY, AL - A recently passed federal law may not only help people faced with losing their homes, but may help Montgomery transform public housing projects into townhouses. Alabama could get $60 million out of a federal law aimed at rescuing people faced with losing their homes, money that some Montgomery officials believe may help the city move for­ward with its affordable hous­ing initiatives.

The new housing bill that President Bush signed into law includes $300 billion in new loan authority for the government to back cheaper mortgages for troubled homeowners. But it also includes $3.9 billion to help communities fix up foreclosed properties that are causing blight in neighborhoods.

Although the city may not find out how much money it will get before the end of September, "we may get a shot in the arm," said Planning and Development Director Ken Groves. He hopes it could be like a Community Block Development Grant program, a federal pro­gram that provides money for affordable housing initiatives. "It could be a CDBG like pro­gram that would allow us to in­vest in rehabilitating abandoned and foreclosed homes," Groves said at a recent meeting of the Montgomery City Coun­cil's ad hoc committee on public housing.

Groves said instead of focus­ing on a house or two, the city wants to target individual blocks for rehabilitation, and the new money would spur that effort. The strategy also fits in with plans to phase out the city's traditional public housing com­plexes and develop mixed use and affordable housing in their place. "This is being pushed by na­tional policy," Groves said. "This administration and the previous one have charged communities with phasing out public housing as we know it."

The Montgomery Housing Authority plans to demolish Tu­lane Court, located on Hall Street, and erect housing that includes townhouses and com­mercial space. The challenge to that plan is that there isn't nearly enough safe, affordable housing in the city to relocate people and ac­commodate those who are waiting for public housing. There are about 1,600 public housing units in the city, and between 300 - 400 people waiting to get into public housing. The foreclosure crisis could increase those num­bers.

City Councilman C.C. Cal­houn said affordable housing is one of the biggest issues facing the city, and public and private entities are going to have to come to the table to address it. "The housing market affects everything, including our school system," he said. "We're going to have to offer incentives for private industry to come in and build affordable single-fami­ly dwellings."

The committee is looking at other ways to stop the blight that has taken hold of various areas in the city. These include legislation that would allow mu­nicipalities to act more quickly on taking possession of neglect­ed property, and to possibly create a land bank. A land bank would give the city more flexi­bility to use the land it takes pos­session of as a bargaining chip for affordable housing, Groves said.

Councilwoman Martha Roby said the infusion of federal mon­ey could also come with consid­erable federal red tape, but be­lieves the money is definitely needed. "There are areas in every di­rection that could benefit from that money," she said. "All you have to do is look at our demoli­tion list."

Roby said being able to re­place what's been torn down is just as important as tearing it down. "Empty neighborhoods are a playground for vagrants, and that in turn has a negative effect on the community," she said. "Any piece of property that has moved in that direction would be a candidate for this money."