BY CAMERON McWHIRTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Lincoln Court Resident Council, representing the 2,000 people living in the West End public housing complex, has reached an agreement with the local housing authority to demolish the dilapidated buildings and replace them with a mixed-income neighborhood of attached town houses.
"We are ready to move forward," said Marquicia Jones, resident council president. "We support the project."
The deal was reached Saturday afternoon after weeks of hard negotiating between the residents and the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA).
The agreement comes at a crucial time for the CMHA. It will submit an application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Monday for $35 million of the $60 million needed for the project.
On Wednesday, Cincinnati City Council is expected to vote on a CMHA request for $6.2 million toward the project. Other funding is expected from the state, banks and non-profits, according to the CMHA. Without city support, the project cannot go through, the CMHA said.
The CMHA-resident "memorandum of agreement" calls for demolition of all 53 buildings at Lincoln Court and 500 new housing units: 250 public housing rental units, 75 partially subsidized rental units, 75 market-rate rental units, 50 town houses for partially subsidized home ownership and 50 town houses for market-rate home ownership.
Currently Lincoln Court has 886 units of public housing on 22.4 acres. According to the CMHA, the units lost in the construction will be made up by giving residents subsidies to move to other neighborhoods. From the beginning, residents agreed with the concept of tearing down Lincoln Court, but they wanted to make sure residents could stay if they wanted.
John Schrider, the Legal Aid Society attorney for the residents, said the agreement helped them feel secure that the changes wouldn't force them out of their neighborhood. "The residents are confident that everybody who wants to stay can stay," he said.
The CMHA board voted to support the project last Friday.
"It's going to help us save what we can of that community," said Maria Pesante, head of the CMHA board.
Council support will be essential to the project application's success with HUD.
