New $77 Million Midtown West Development Announcement

[Richard]

Is this how government handballs it's public housing obligations over to the private sector? Are there any "Project Housing" like developments anymore?

Yes to the first part and no to the second part.

Cabrini Green in Chicago was a test for the concept of if you surround yourself with positive people you get positive results,so as they were demolishing those projects they integrated the residents into the neighborhoods in the hopes that it would instill positive results,unfortunately there are always a few that screw it up for everybody else and coupled with the gangs had no other place to go and decided to now mark their new neighborhood as their new territory.Effectively destroying the new Territory.

2002 -2003 around is about the time the suburbs basically going to hell,because of a few.

So that did not fly well with suburbanites and of course there was resistance so to combat that under Mr Obama,HUD came up with the diversified income neighborhood initiative or close to that,it pretty much tells the cities that every neighborhood needs to have at least 50% lower income or matching race,if the cities did not comply then millions of HUD dollars would be held from the cities.So if you have a neighborhood that is predominately one race or income it is the cities responsibility to encourage residents to move about to make that goal.

After Hurricane Katrina and coupled with the housing boom,HUD said no more projects and increased the monthly housing allowance to local market standards,so most places it would go from $800 a month to $1600 a month.

What they do now is still a project of sorts but new built is income based with very strict rules,must have a job or be on disability,get caught with drugs or any of your family members or visiting friends get caught with drugs and you are out,get a felony and your case is reviewed.

They are actually quite nice and a respectable place to live without the stereo type project stigma.

But HUD has limited funds and can only do so much so they said,if you are a apartment builder and agree to build your apartment and set aside a percentage of your units for 3 years at below market rates we will kick some millions in to help you build this thing.

Seems like a good enough solution,but the problem is that the builders are loosing 25% value off of the top,so the solution was to build,wait out the three years and sell and the new owners look at an immediate 25% increase in revenue because they can now eliminate those market rate apartments.

So they then take those monies from the sale and do it all over again,flipping apartment buildings every three years.

So is it so bad when this process takes place? I do not think so.

I think the one in Midtown being proposed is a good deal for the city if they stick to the 50% home sales guideline,because not only would it create stability but it would also give those ones in the 20% market rate apartments maybe an opportunity in the future to move on to home ownership.They would basically have a three year window to work towards that goal.

That is a chunk of change $77 million because you look at 10 years down the road when the wear is showing and no home ownership as a long term stability goal for the city as a whole it could be considered a not very good investment of tax dollars.

The RFP at a glance seems well thought out with the taxpayers and other residents of the city kept in mind in the big picture,that is actually nice to see and gives a lot of hope for the city.

Not related to this post but they have been doing the same thing with the schools that Mr Duggan took control of instead of demolishing and not limiting the adaptive reuse like the school board used to do which would seal their fate from day one.

He is kinda killing the whole Democrat run cities are garbage aspect.

[1953]

I echo the earlier concerns about the nature of this development, but I also question the cost. Is $77 million enough to build this out with any quality?

1953