Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Seattle have been selected to receive the first implementation grants under the federal Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.

The cities will have a combined $122 million to redevelop distressed housing and turn around blighted areas through comprehensive neighborhood revitalization, announced the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

“This is a great day for these communities and the countless people who will benefit from the transformation this funding will bring to their neighborhoods,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who announced the grants today. “Choice Neighborhoods recognizes that we must link affordable housing with quality education, public transportation, good jobs, and safe streets. It is the next generation of neighborhood revitalization that not only transforms distressed housing but heals entire communities.”

The new Choice Neighborhoods Program promotes a comprehensive approach to transforming distressed areas of concentrated poverty into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods. Building on the federal HOPE VI program, it links housing improvements with a wide variety of public services and neighborhood improvements to create neighborhoods of opportunity.

            The grantees are:      

  • The city of Boston and Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp., which received $20.5 million. Their targeted neighborhoods are the Woodledge/Morrant Bay Apartments and the Dorchester/Quincy corridor community;
  • Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc., and the city of Chicago, which received $30.5 million for Grove Parc Plaza and the Woodlawn community;
  • Housing Authority of New Orleans and the city of New Orleans, which received $30.5 million for the Iberville public housing development in the Treme community;
  • McCormack Baron Salazar and the San Francisco Housing Authority, which received $30.5 million for the Alice Griffith public housing development in the Eastern Bayview neighborhood; and
  • Housing Authority of the city of Seattle, which received $10.3 million for the Yesler Terrace public housing development in the Yesler community.