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Housing authority details demolition, tax-credit plans for West Side rebuild
Summary
Executive Director Theresa Pope told the commission the housing authority has HUD approval pending for demolition and is pursuing tax credits and disaster-recovery funding to rebuild 60'0 to 92 attainable housing units; she said demolition costs are estimated at about $600,000 and the authority currently has about $20 million committed toward one site but still faces a roughly $4 million funding gap.
Theresa Pope, executive director of the New Smyrna Beach Housing Authority, updated the commission on affordable-housing work on April 22. Pope said the authority now administers roughly 501 housing choice vouchers and manages 91 public housing units. She described two redevelopment efforts on the West Side: Greenlawn Gardens (the successor to Greenlawn Manor), where the authority expects to rebuild approximately 72 to 92 attainable/workforce units pending a 9% tax-credit award, and the Landings at Live Oak site, where 40 units were flooded during Hurricane Ian and demolition/disposition approval has been submitted to HUD's Special Applications Center in Chicago.
Pope said the authority currently has $20 million committed for the Live Oak property (including a 4% tax credit award valued at $16.5 million and a $3.6 million CDBG disaster recovery award from Volusia County) but still faces a roughly $4 million gap and has applied for other grant funds and state sources. She estimated demolition at about $600,000 and said demolition would begin only after SAC approval from HUD.
Pope also outlined program changes the authority is implementing: elimination of monthly utility reimbursements for tenants with no income, adoption of a $130 minimum rent for able-bodied working adults (not elderly or disabled), a 15-hour-a-week work requirement for participants with a child six years or older, and enrollment in a family self-sufficiency (FSS) program that places a portion of rent increases into an escrow account to help families build assets. Pope said more than 90% of the authority's clients are now working, in college or in certificate programs and that several families have used escrowed funds to become homeowners.
Commissioners asked whether rebuilt units would be elevated to reduce future flood risk; Pope said buildings would be elevated two feet and that mitigation and infrastructure work is part of county-wide disaster recovery plans.
Why it matters: The presentation links local housing recovery to federal HUD approvals, competitive tax-credit allocations and county and city matching funds; timelines and funding gaps will determine how quickly flood-damaged units can be replaced.
