HOPE VI
HOPE VI Phyllis Goins - 04
HOPE VI Tobias Booker Hartwell - 96

The HOPE VI program serves a vital role in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's efforts to transform Public Housing. The specific elements of public housing transformation that have proven key to HOPE VI include:

• Changing the physical shape of public housing.
  Establishing positive incentives for resident self-sufficiency and comprehensive services that empower residents.
• Lessening concentrations of poverty by placing public housing in non-poverty neighborhoods and promoting mixed-income communities.
• Forging partnerships with other agencies, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses to leverage support and resources.

HOPE VI Revitalization grants fund:

• Capital costs of major rehabilitation, new construction and other physical improvements.
• Demolition of severely distressed public housing.
• Acquisition of sites for off-site construction.
• Community and supportive service programs for residents, including those relocated as a result of revitalization efforts.

In June 2004, The Spartanburg Housing Authority (SHA) was awarded a $20 million HOPE IV grant by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. With the first buildings scheduled for demolition this June, the 184 barracks-style 1950s units at Phyllis Goins will be redesigned into the new community of Collins Park. This more “traditional neighborhood” complete with a new community center, park and recreational center will include fifty-five attractive public housing units, fifty-six rental units and forty new homes. The SHA and its development team TCG Development Service/E. R. Bacon Development collaborated with residents, City and County leadership, social service providers, businesses and the faith based community to plan and design Collins Park.

To assist resident in their transition, SHA staff and community partners are working to develop individualized plans that include mobility counseling and direct assistance with relocation. Residents are still eligible to participant in the Authority’s Community Supportive Service programs which provide job counseling and training, child care, computer literacy classes, after school and summer activities for youngsters and home ownership education.

This HOPE IV Grant, the second such grant awarded to the SHA, is actually the first phase in a major development for the City of Spartanburg, the Southside Revitalization. With $85 million dollars in public and private funds, this project will bring new residents, new health facilities and new green space to Spartanburg’s Southside. Eighty-three new for-sale and rental homes will be built in neighborhoods in and around Collins Park. Full spectrum housing will be developed on a 500—acre tract known as Page. Plans for this area also include 20-acre retail and entertainment center, a new walking trial, a recreation park and a scenic pond. Seventy dilapidated building in Forest Park/Piedmont will be demolished and fifty new homes built. Finally, these funds will also support the revitalization of the Church Street Commercial Corridor with 55,000 square feet of new retail, and a $5.6 million public/private investment to serve neighborhood retail needs.

The revitalization of Phyllis Goins is the centerpiece of the Southside redevelopment, and the Spartanburg Housing Authority is proud to be a community leader in creating neighborhoods of the future.

SHA was awarded a $14.6 million HOPE VI Grant in l996 for the Tobias Booker Hartwell Campus of Learners project. SHA served as its own developer and has successfully implemented and completed, with the exception of 50 LIHTC units, the $30 million project. All of the original 266 on-site units were demolished and replaced with 128 public housing units, 90 tax credit units and 50 home ownership units. The replacement units were distributed over three sites. The dedication for the 118 on-site units and a state-of-the-art community center was held on November 11, 2000. Construction of the 50 remaining LIHTC units began February 2004.