More Details on Choice Grant for Greenleaf

At a meeting last month hosted by the Near SE/SW Community Benefits Coordinating Council, a representative from the DC Housing Authority explained to residents of Greenleaf the $500,000 HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant the agency is applying for and the process between now and any future redevelopment of the community. Greenleaf was built in 1959 and includes a cluster of townhomes, midrise, and walk-up units from I to M streets, between 3rd Street and Delaware Avenue. In addition, Greenleaf Seniors is a high-rise at the SE corner of Delaware Avenue and M Street, as well as a mid-rise building located at 203 N Street. There are a total of 497 units in all three sections.  If DCHA is awarded the planning grant for Greenleaf, it would be the third Choice grant for the city, since grants have already been awarded to Kenilworth Parkside in NE and Barry Farm/Wade Apartments in SE. A physical condition report was done on Greenleaf as a part of the application that was submitted late last month to HUD and it was determined that the community was distressed, which is one of the conditions that needs to be met in order to qualify for a Choice grant. In addition, Amidon-Bowen Elementary School is considered to be an under-performing school.

Residents will be given at least 90 days notice before any moving would be necessary for redevelopment to occur. DCHA intends to go forward with redeveloping Greenleaf whether or not it receives the grant since the buildings are near the end of their useful lifespan. DCHA will need to demonstrate to HUD how they will redevelop Greenleaf with or without the grant. They will seek a private partner to help implement the redevelopment and the goal is no displacement of current residents. All units will be replaced one-for-one, interspersed with market-rate units. In previous Hope VI projects, the rules for former residents to return to the redeveloped community were stringent and resulted in many people being unable to return. In Greenleaf's case, the rules have been eased, so the only requirement that a former resident needs to meet is the ability to comply with the terms of the lease.

As a part of the planning process, DCHA will need to come up with a Transformation plan for Greenleaf, which will take about 24 months to complete. The boundaries used for the Transformation plan will be the same as the Small Area Plan that's underway by the Office of Planning, but the process will be different.  After that is completed, it will take another year to prepare the application for a HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant, which could be worth up to $30 million to help implement the transformation plan. In other words, it will take at least five years before any redevelopment would begin. In the meantime, the units will be maintained - recently, some cosmetic improvements have been made at the Greenleaf Extension buildings (garden apartments), including a new paint job.

DCHA Applies for HUD Grant for Greenleaf

 

Representatives from DCHA announced at a resident meeting in late April that they have applied for a $500,000 HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant for Greenleaf, a trio of public housing communities in Southwest. Greenleaf was built in 1959 and includes a cluster of townhomes, midrise, and walk-up units from I to M streets, between 3rd Street and Delaware Avenue. In addition, Greenleaf Seniors is a high-rise at the SE corner of Delaware Avenue and M Street, as well as a mid-rise building (203 N Street). There are a total of 497 units in all three sections. According to the HUD website, the Choice Neighborhoods program supports locally driven strategies to address struggling neighborhoods with distressed public or HUD-assisted housing through a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation. Three main goals of the program are as follows:

1. Housing: Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood;

2. People: Improve educational outcomes and intergenerational mobility for youth with services and supports delivered directly to youth and their families; and

3. Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment 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.

Greenleaf Seniors.

A Transformation Plan must be developed for the communities that receive a Planning Grant, which helps guide the revitalization of the public housing units and transformation of the surrounding neighborhood and positive outcomes for families. DCHA's grant application comes right at the same time that the Office of Planning is about to undertake a Small Area Plan for the broader area, which includes Greenleaf Gardens, Seniors and Mid-rise.  Eventually, DCHA can apply for an Implementation Grant from HUD (that is if Greenleaf is selected for a Planning Grant and a Transformation Plan is developed). Also, a public-private partnership could be sought to eventually redevelop Greenleaf. In the meantime, cosmetic work on the exterior of Greenleaf Gardens has begun and assessments of distressed property have already started.

Recently painted homes at Greenleaf Gardens.

The Near SE/SW CBCC will be hosting an informational meeting on May 23 where Tarek Bolden from the Office of Planning will go over the SW Small Area Plan process.  There will also be discussion on the HUD grant process for Greenleaf.  The meeting will be held at Westminster Church (400 I Street) from 6-7:30pm. Free childcare will be provided for children ages 5-12.

By the way this post is not an April Fools' Day joke.

Scenes from Southwest: The Blizzard of '09

Clockwise (from upper left): (1) Icicles formed near the base of the HUD building with the flying saucer-like shelters glowing in the background. (2) I doubt DDOT has this stretch of 4th Street near the top of their list of streets to plow, since this section running through Waterfront Station won't officially open until March 2010. (3) On Saturday night, the snow was still falling and conditions were treacherous on 6th Street. (4) Benches along G Street show that we received well over a foot of snow during the Blizzard of '09.

Obamas Make the Rounds in Southwest

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have been making their way around federal agencies this week. So far, they have been to at least three agencies headquartered in Southwest. According to The Caucus Blog, the First Lady is making a point to visit all of the federal agencies over the next few weeks. Her first stop on Monday was the Department of Education, which is located just south of the future Eisenhower Square memorial. On Wednesday, she visited HUD headquarters on 7th Street. Yesterday, the President was at the Department of Energy, which is located south of the Smithsonian Castle near L'Enfant Plaza.

HUD Headquarters is Landmarked

Per Greater Greater Washington: the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) unanimously approved landmark status for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters, a 1960's-era Expressionist building designed by Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer. The HUD website states the following about the building: "Constructed from 1965 to 1968, the building is recognized as the first federal building in the country to utilize precast concrete as the primary structural and exterior finish material, as well as the first fully modular design for a federal office building...At its ceremonial opening, the HUD building’s bold aesthetic and technological advances were hailed with optimism as a turning point for public architecture nationwide." Taste has changed significantly since its opening. This building is now derided as cold and uninviting to its surroundings, which in itself is also cold and uninviting. In 1990, there was an attempt to enliven the plaza area in front of the building. Martha Schwartz, a landscape architect, was commissioned to redesign the plaza. Her efforts resulted in the saucer-like canopies and circular planters that now grace the front along 7th Street.