HUD Announces Latest Round of Choice Neighborhood Grants

Jen Kinney reports on the announcement of $8 million in funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.

"Severely distressed neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Nashville and Newport News, Virginia, are among 10 communities HUD announced Tuesday will receive a share of $8 million in grants to fund affordable housing and economic development projects," according to Kinney. "Four neighborhoods — in Dayton, Louisville, Phoenix and Shreveport — will receive additional funding to implement aspects of their plans."

Neighborhoods in Asbury Park, New Jersey; Brownsville, Texas; Sanford, Florida; and Shreveport, Louisiana round out the list of awardees. The ten new Choice Neighborhoods join 63 previous grant award winners. HUD added a new wrinkle to the Choice Neighborhoods program in November 2016, announcing the creation of "planning and action grants."

In 2015, the Urban Institute released a study into the effect of Choice Neighborhoods grants, finding a need for deeper collaboration between public housing authorities and other local officials.