Is There Hope for HOPE VI?

“In Miami, HOPE VI left over 200 people homeless,” said Yvonne Stratford of Low-Income Families Fighting Together (LIFT). This has been the theme of a series of meetings convened by the National Training and Information Center (NTIC) aiming to develop a resident-centered dialogue around Public Housing reform.
 
“The general consensus throughout this process has been that, while HOPE VI is traditionally a destructive force on communities, Congresswoman Waters’ bill would create a HOPE VI like nothing we have ever seen,” said Sam Finkelstein, National Housing Organizer for the National Training & Information Center, about the HOPE VI Improvement & Reauthorization Act.  This bill was originally introduced in July, but was pulled because of controversy over several provisions. The new rendition of the bill, H.R. 3524, was reintroduced on September 11.

“We are very pleased with many aspects of this bill,” said Finkelstein. “Our appeal on HOPE VI has always been the need for meaningful participation of the residents in the redevelopment process, one-for-one replacement, and a mandatory right of return—but this bill addresses these issues very well, so we actually had very little to complain about.”
 
A letter to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), from public housing resident organizations from 16 states convened by NTIC states that, while this would indeed create a different HOPE VI from that which communities are familiar with, several changes would be required for this to be a program that has a positive effect on communities, as opposed to one that leads to displacement and gentrification. The suggested changes propose a prohibition on rescreening when tenants are provided with a relocation voucher, a requirement for replacement housing to be of a comparable unit size, a prerequisite for resident involvement in the determination that the project is distressed, and a focus on phased development that lessens displacement.

 
The National Training and Information Center is of the perspective that residents must be central to the discourse around policies that affect them, both at the local and national level. NTIC is a national resource center for community organizations around the country that fight for economic, social, and racial justice. Through technical assistance, training, research, and campaign building, NTIC works to build powerful organizations to create a more just and equitable society. 

For further information or to learn more about NTIC’s recent letter to Representative Waters, contact Christy Bockheim, media coordinator for NTIC, at 312.243.3035 or Christy@ntic-us.org.