HUD: Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grants 2023

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is accepting applications for the 2023 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grants.

Donor Name: Department of Housing and Urban Development

State: All States

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 11/21/2023

Size of the Grant: $50,000,000

Grant Duration: 8 years 4 months

Details:

The Choice Neighborhoods program leverages significant public and private dollars to support locally driven strategies that address struggling neighborhoods with severely distressed public housing and/or HUD-assisted housing through a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation. Local leaders, residents, and other stakeholders, such as public housing authorities, cities, schools, police, business owners, nonprofits, and private developers, come together to create and implement a plan that revitalizes distressed HUD housing and addresses the challenges in the surrounding neighborhood. The program helps communities transform neighborhoods by redeveloping severely distressed public and/or HUD-assisted housing and catalyzing critical improvements in the neighborhood. To this end, Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals:

Housing: Replace severely distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood;
People: Improve outcomes of households living in the target housing related to income and employment, health, and education; and
Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private investment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and commercial activity, that are important to families’ choices about their community.

Objectives

Each Choice Neighborhoods grantee is expected to develop performance metrics based on these objectives.

Housing Objectives: Housing transformed with the assistance of Choice Neighborhoods should be:
- Well-Managed and Financially Viable. Developments that have budgeted appropriately for the rental income that can be generated from the project and meet or exceed industry standards for quality management and maintenance of the property.
- Mixed-Income. Housing affordable to families and individuals with a broad range of incomes including low-income, moderate-income, and market rate/unrestricted.
- Energy Efficient, Climate Resilient, and Sustainable. Housing that has low per unit energy and water consumption and is built to be resilient to local disaster risk and other climate impacts.
- Accessible, Healthy, and Free from Discrimination. Housing that is well-designed, meets federal accessibility requirements and embraces concepts of visitability and universal design, has healthy indoor air quality, has affordable broadband Internet access, and is free from discrimination.
People Objectives: Residents who live in the target and replacement housing before and after redevelopment benefit from:
- Effective Education. A high level of resident access to high-quality early learning programs and services so children enter kindergarten ready to learn and quality schools and/or educational supports that ultimately prepare students to graduate from high school college- and/or career-ready.
- Income and Employment Opportunities. The income of residents, particularly wage income for non-elderly/non-disabled adult residents, increases over time.
- Quality Health Care. Residents have increased access to health services and have improved physical and mental health over time.
- Housing Location, Quality, and Affordability. Residents of the target housing who, by their own choice, do not return to the development have housing and neighborhood opportunities as good as or better than the opportunities available to those who occupy the redeveloped site.
Neighborhood Objectives: Through investments catalyzed by Choice Neighborhoods, the neighborhood will have improved:
- Housing Quality and Variety. The neighboring housing has a lower vacancy/abandonment rate, is high quality and well-maintained, and has an appropriate mix of rental and homeownership units to meet resident needs. The neighborhood better supports families with a broad range of incomes.
- Economic Opportunity. The neighborhood attracts and maintains a diverse mix of businesses and employers to create meaningful jobs and economic opportunities for residents, respond to local needs, and address long-term disinvestment.
- Community Assets and Amenities. The neighborhood includes community amenities found in higher opportunity areas, such as grocery stores and fresh food options, retail goods and services, financial institutions, medical and health facilities, parks and greenspace, public transit, high-quality early learning programs, and good public schools.
- Community Confidence. The neighborhood image reflects a healthy, livable, and equitable community that honors its history and embraces a positive outlook for the future. There is an enhanced sense of place and a visibly improved built environment. Long term-residents choose to stay and have the supports to do so, and new residents likewise choose to live in the revitalized neighborhood.
- Public Safety. Residents feel safer in their homes and spending time in the revitalized community and the neighborhood has lower crime rates than prior to redevelopment.