Choice Neighborhood Initiative

On January 10, 2012, HUD awarded the second round of Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants in the amount of $3.6 million to 13 communities nationwide. Wallace Roberts & Todd has once again received a grant to lead the planning efforts in Meridian, MS. This is in addition to the planning work already underway in Jersey City, NJ and Kansas City, MO from Choice’s inaugural year.

71 applicants competed for the FY 2011 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants, and 13 were successfully awarded this year. That makes 30 planning grant recipients so far. For the FY 2011 round, HUD also announced eight competitive runners-up, setting them up for the next round of awards. All successful grantees have been tasked to develop Neighborhood Transformation Plans to outline the steps needed for total neighborhood revitalization. For those communities that are ready to implement their plans, HUD has released the FY 2012 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).

Choice Neighborhoods Program Highlights

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative will provide competitive grants to assist in the transformation, rehabilitation, and preservation of HUD public and assisted housing.

On January 10th 2012, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made $115 million in grants available to transform public and assisted housing and to revitalize communities. $110 million will be awarded to 4-5 implementation grant applicants of up to $30 million each. $5 million is reserved for 17-20 planning grant applicants of up to $300,000 each.

Choice Neighborhoods builds on the successes of the HOPE VI program by supporting affordable housing and economic development to transform neighborhoods of extreme poverty into functioning, sustainable, mixed-income neighborhoods with well-functioning services, schools, public assets, transportation, and access to jobs. Federal programs such as the Department of Education's Promise Neighborhoods Initiative, Department of Justice’s Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program, Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Health Centers investments, as well as local partnerships, will provide support. Funds used for planning grants will assist cities and localities to establish partnerships among cross-cutting agencies, non-profits, housing organizations, and service providers.

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How can WRT Help?

WRT's multidisciplinary practice is perfectly aligned with the administration strategy to leverage HUD dollars for investments by DOT, EPA, and the Departments of Energy and Educations in creating neighborhood transformation plans. Bringing its expertise and impeccable record of success in HOPE VI to help evaluate your neighborhoods eligibility and competitiveness, WRT has and can continue to provide the following services in-house and through its strategic partners:

  • Planning Coordinator Role
  • Program Evaluation and Mock Scoring
  • Grant Writing for Planning and Implementation Grants
  • Development of CNI Transformation Plans
  • Urban Planning, Design and Architecture for Implementation
  • Neighborhood Sustainability Strategies
  • Development Consulting
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WRT Experience

As the nation's seminal HOPE VI architect and planner, WRT's Revitalization Plans have been awarded over $1 billion in implementation grants for nearly a third of the 132 participating public housing authorities, and are responsible for over 15,000 mixed-income housing units nationwide.

While WRT's big city portfolio includes neighborhood revitalization plans in Atlanta, Dallas, Baltimore, Chicago, Jersey City, Los Angeles, Louisville, Newark, New Orleans, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, DC, we have worked with more than two dozen small and medium size cities, some of which we help submit successful grant applications and implemented new mixed-income communities.

We are successful because for almost two decades we understood the fundamental truth in the HOPE VI program, and the core principles behind the new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative — that spatial concentration of poverty cannot be solved solely by new housing. Consistent with the goals of the new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, WRT approaches "housing" as a neighborhood revitalization opportunity, harnessing non bricks-and-mortar factors such as social, cultural, education and heritage resources as well as best practices such as sustainable site and building design and walkable, transit-friendly communities.

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