Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Choice Neighborhoods Redevelopment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Housing authority outlines Choice Neighborhoods redevelopment plan for Trincorp area, seeks federal funds
Summary
The housing authority’s executive director told the council the agency is preparing a master plan and federal grant applications to redevelop the Trincorp area into mixed-income housing, emphasizing residents would be rehoused during redevelopment.
The housing authority’s executive director outlined a Choice Neighborhoods planning and redevelopment effort focused on the Trincorp area and adjacent five-point transformation area. The director said the plan seeks to replace aging housing, preserve homes on-site where possible, and pursue federal funds to rebuild as mixed-income housing.
The executive director told the council that FEMA has “approximately over $40,000,000 waiting on this community” for redevelopment and that the authority anticipates applying to HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods implementation competition in the coming NOFA cycle for an award “anywhere between $30,000,000 and $50,000,000.” Taken together, the presenter said those funding sources could bring on the order of $90 million to the community when combined with existing allocations.
The presenter emphasized that residents of Trincorp would not be displaced without rehousing and that the process includes development of a master plan required by HUD and state programs before demolition and reconstruction. The authority said it anticipates having a master plan ready to submit by August and that community engagement has included listening sessions held October–December and additional sessions in March.
The authority described an intention to create mixed-income housing with multiple affordability tiers; the presenter said more than 50% of rebuilt units would target people at or below 60 percent of area median income while other units would serve working households such as teachers and police officers. The authority also said it would work with Twin Rivers (the local agency that administers Section 8 vouchers) to ensure Housing Choice Vouchers are available to move families into replacement units; the transcript references an existing allocation of “a hundred and 8” (interpreted in context as existing vouchers) and a proposed increase.
A council member and others raised a potential conflict of interest involving a commissioner’s family business and a privately owned site (an antique store) that the authority has used for planning purposes; the presenter said the commissioner had made clear they would refrain from any involvement and would abstain from discussions and that the authority had not negotiated a purchase. The presenter said use of that private site in the plan is for planning only and that ownership or acquisition has not been completed.
The authority also named HRI Communities (a New Orleans-based redevelopment partner) as a consultant and described using consultants who have prior success with Choice Neighborhoods applications. The presenter said demolition and phased replacement would seek to avoid a single phase of market-rate conversion and that each phase would aim for a mixed-income balance of market-rate and affordable units.
Staff said the authority is preparing for a fall funding opportunity and will be meeting with HUD staff and congressional delegation offices to advance the application. No final funding commitment or council action on the application appears in the transcript excerpt; the discussion was described as a planning and engagement update.
