City of Phoenix Awarded $35 Million for New Housing

Oct. 10, 2001

The city of Phoenix was awarded a $35 million HOPE VI grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to transform existing public housing into quality mixed-income communities. The announcement was made earlier today at the site of the Matthew Henson public housing community.

"This will be a tremendous boon to our city," said Mayor Skip Rimsza, "and will allow us to provide better housing for many of our residents while revitalizing an important part of our community." District 7 Councilman and Housing and Neighborhood subcommittee chairman Doug Lingner added, “creating better quality housing for our residents has always been a priority. This grant will help us to improve the quality of life for many, many people.”

The city will use the money to replace 358 Matthew Henson housing units with 472 new units to create a better mixed-income community. The new units will be larger, more efficient, have air-conditioning and offer more floorplan choices.

Claudia Estep, Matthew Henson Resident Council Chairperson shared her thoughts on how the HOPE VI project will benefit the people who live in the neighborhood.

Only 15 of the 66 cities that applied for HOPE VI funding will receive grants this year.

District 8 Councilmember Cody Williams – who recommended pursuing the grant and in whose district the project will take place – said, “Residents in the Central-City South community for decades have waited for real and substantive change to occur in their neighborhood. This $25 million will leverage other resources and positive, wholesale change will finally be realized.”

District 8 councilmember Cody Williams, who recommended pursuing the HOPE VI grant discussed the positive transformation this project will have on the community.

Housing and Neighborhoods Subcommittee member and District 5 Councilman Claude Mattox added, “The importance of this project can’t be overstated. This project will make a real difference in our community.” Design and planning will begin early next year. Construction will be in

phases and is scheduled to begin in spring 2003. Residents currently living in one of the units scheduled to be replaced will be given the option of several other places to live. No one will lose a place to live because of this project.