Sunday, September 12, 1999
'Hope VI' development plans stall
Efforts continue to find funding
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT — Failure to secure a $30 million Hope VI federal grant for new and renovated housing won't stop the city and the Newport Housing Authority from pursuing other means to finance housing revitalization.
City Manager Phil Ciafardini said that while the loss of the Hope VI grant was disappointing, the city and the Housing Authority already have other financing ideas in motion.
“We put a lot of time, in partnership with the Housing Authority, on the grant,” he said. “We pretty much made that the priority. Now we have several projects we're looking at.”
The $30 million grant, through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), would have helped the Housing Authority with its plan to demolish 202 low-income housing units be tween Fourth Street and the floodwall and relocate the affected families to new and renovated housing throughout the city and Campbell County.
Hope VI grants are designed to rebuild or replace depressed housing. More than $600 million was available in the latest round of Hope VI grant applications, but HUD reportedly received some 200 applications.
Jan Rubin Associates of Philadelphia, a consulting firm that specializes in federal grants for development, handled the application process and probably will continue to work with the Housing Authority, according to Housing Authority Executive Director Mark Brown.
“Based on performance under her (Jan Rubin's) present contract, I'm sure she will still be involved,” Mr. Brown said. “The final decision, of course, is up to the Housing Authority's board of commissioners.”
The contract with Jan Rubin, who has made numerous trips to Newport in the past year, called for a maximum of $760,000. Mr. Brown said he had not totaled the amount paid to Ms. Rubin so far, but said “It is nowhere near that amount.”
In finding new homes for the residents of the Fourth Street project, the Housing Authority is following a mandate from HUD to eliminate cluster low-income housing and spread low-income families through Northern Kentucky.
“The (Housing Authority) board will meet Sept. 20 and part of the meeting will be a discussion of which avenue or approach we will pursue,” Mr. Brown said. “The board of commissioners is committed to providing new and innovative housing opportunities and rebuilding the housing stock in Newport.”
He said the Authority was also disappointed that it had failed to secure the Hope VI grant, but he pointed out that in virtually all cases cities must apply for two or three years before getting a grant.
He also said that the Housing Authority board, of which Newport Mayor Thomas Guidugli is a member, may well decide to reapply for a Hope VI grant in the next round.
The city and Housing Authority also had pinned their hopes for converting a building at Ninth and Monmouth streets to upscale apartments on securing the HOPE VI grant as seed money to attract an outside developer for what would be a $50 million project.
“That plan is not dead by any means,” Mr. Ciafardini said. “A private developer could still come in and convert the building at Ninth and Monmouth. We are still committed to housing in the downtown business area. It is necessary to the overall success of downtown revitalization.”
The city also is joining in a partnership with Brighton Center, Inc., a non-profit housing development corporation formed by Brighton Center, Northern Kentucky's largest social service agency.
“Brighton Center has been a big part of our revitalization plan,” Mr. Ciafardini said. “The partnership to build new housing and renovate existing structures is one of several avenues we are pursuing.”
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