NIAGARA FALLS — The Rev. Jimmy Seright encourages critics of the project to take a drive through the neighborhood.

The head of an education and job training program for young men living in the city of Niagara Falls believes getting an upclose look at the work that’s been done is the only way to truly appreciate the impact the HOPE VI affordable housing project is already having on the North End.

“Simply put, I know it’s going to be a great improvement to the community,” said Seright, executive director of the New Jerusalem of Niagara Falls Life Transformation Ministries Reporting Center for Boys. “You are bringing a ray of hope in. When you make an improvement like this, you are making an improvement in more than just the way the neighborhood looks.”

In a few weeks, residents will begin moving into the first 115 rental units to be completed with assistance from the federally funded HOPE VI program. The moment will mark a significant milestone for a project that has endured several construction delays, environmental concerns about the condition of the land where it is located and criticism from some residents and community leaders who have questioned the wisdom of spending tens of millions of dollars on new apartments, townhouses and single-family homes exclusively for the income-eligible.

“We are extremely excited to be able to give the residents the keys to their new houses,” said Linda Goodman, executive director for the project’s developer, Norstar Development, USA. “People can see just by driving down the street that this is a beautiful housing project for the city.”

The foundation

Congress created the HOPE VI program in 1992 in an effort to promote the replacement of older public housing projects with redesigned, mixed-income units. The program grew out of the federal government’s National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, a group established by Congress in 1989 to identify “severely distressed”  developments across the country and to develop strategies for improving the quality of housing made available to low-income individuals. The commission concluded that roughly 86,000 of the 1.3 million public housing units nationwide qualified as severely distressed and in need of rehabilitation. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, since 1993, there have been 254 HOPE VI revitalization grants awarded to 132 housing authorities at a total cost of $6.1 billion.

The North End effort draws upon $20 million of those federal funds and will result in the construction of a total of 280 new, state-of-the art rental units in and around the area where the Niagara Falls Housing Authority’s Center Court housing development has stood for decades.

The project’s first phase has a price tag of $35 million. All 115 units tied to Phase I have been completed and are awaiting final approvals from city inspectors and regulatory agencies that oversee housing developments.

Next week, representatives from Norstar Development will attend a meeting of the city’s planning board to request site plan approvals for the second and third phases of the project. Phase II involves demolition of the World War II-era housing units currently located at Center Court in preparation for construction of 100 more units at a cost of $30 million. The final phase involves construction of 31 home ownership units that will be made available to income-qualified buyers.

Goodman said 64 people who now live at Center Court are preparing to move into the new rental units that have been completed. If all goes as planned, Goodman says that move will begin in sometime next month. She added  the housing authority is also taking applications from residents interested in occupying the 51 units that are still available.

What they’ll notice, according to Goodman, is a style, layout and appeal.

“For people that want to live in Niagara Falls and want quality housing, here’s some quality housing that hasn’t been available before,” Goodman said.

A different feel

HOPE VI aimed to incorporate new design concepts into traditional public housing sites, providing communities with funds needed to rid themselves of high-rise and what Goodman characterized as “superblock” developments constructed at places like Center Court back in the 1930s and ’40s. The new structures offer more attractive features, such as columned porches, brighter color schemes and new-look facades.

While the older style public housing stock served its purpose, HOPE VI advocates argue the layout — often a series of units arranged on looped streets with only one way in and out — promoted crime and detracted from the neighborhood’s appeal.

HOPE VI projects are constructed with New Urbanism concepts in mind. The design movement promotes walkable, pedestrian friendly housing developments that are accessible to public transportation. Units are built on inter-connected streets with parking to the rear of the buildings. Utilities are placed underground. Trees and greenspace make the area more attractive. The goal is to erase the stigma often associated with affordable housing and give residents a greater sense of pride in their community.

The North End project incorporates many of those same philosophies. Bungalow-style and duplex units are in the mix. Driveways are attached to units. Dead-end drives that were commonplace at Center Court are a thing of the past as the new layout includes streets lined with residential units that are connected to one another.

“It makes people feel more connected to the neighborhood,” Goodman said. “It gives them a sense of ownership of their space and their street.”

Wrong direction?

While the houses are new, Highland Avenue resident Ken Hamilton fears the decision to build them in the same North End neighborhood where Center Court has stood for decades will result in a repeat of a mistake from the city’s past. Hamilton has been an ardent critic of the HOPE VI effort almost since its inception and ramped up his criticism considerably when the Niagara County Health Department temporarily halted construction amid concerns about incinerator ash found on the property.

Hamilton has been questioning the decision-making of Norstar and the housing authority ever since, but said his concern started at the outset of the project when he began hearing local officials tout it as a savior for a North End neighborhood where jobs and private investment are scarce. He does not believe simply building new houses for low-income residents in desperate need of jobs will cure all that ails the neighborhood. The area in question was chosen decades ago as the preferred location for affordable housing and has been suffering ever since, he said.

“There is no model in the world that would support that what they say is going to happen is going to happen,” he said. “The model just does not work.”

Adding to Hamilton’s frustration is what he maintains is a concerted effort by the housing authority to advertise the availability of these units in other communities, essentially drawing people from outside Niagara Falls to live in subsidized housing built with public dollars.

“For every person you pull in here, you are increasing the need for services,” Hamilton said. “It means less property taxes, but more publicly funded services. What businesses are going to want to move there?”

And then there’s the cost. Earlier this year, county lawmakers criticized the amount being invested into the project, reasoning that each unit will be built for upwards of $200,000 apiece. Hamilton questions the cost himself and believes that amount of money could have been put to better use in a place like Niagara Falls.

“The same mindset that says we have to take care of people and that we have to use your tax dollars to do it is the same mindset that keeps people from investing in this community and bringing jobs here,” Hamilton said. “You don’t bring up the comfort level of people at the expense of the people who are busting their butts working every day.”

Answering the critics

Goodman insists the model does work and has worked in dozens of communities across the country where HOPE VI projects have been undertaken. She said quality housing is an essential “building block” in the redevelopment of a neighborhood and is confident the new-look units will entice private-sector investors to reconsider the area.

“HOPE VI has been a catalyst in other communities,” she said.

Norstar officials contend that the actual cost per unit in phase I is $143,478 and note that their critics are overlooking other aspects of the overall construction, including electrical line installation, water, sewer and road improvements and other infrastructure upgrades. Goodman has consistently maintained the cost of the Falls project is in line with similar projects in other parts of the country and that state and federal auditors approve all phases of development to ensure public dollars are being spent wisely and appropriately. Goodman maintains  some members of the community are looking at the project the wrong way, ignoring the fact that HOPE VI has resulted in $20 million in federal funds coming to Niagara Falls that might well have gone to another municipality.

“The money would have been spent somewhere else,” she said. “Why let another city have it? Why not bring it to Niagara Falls?”

Hope for the future

Seright isn’t listening to the critics’ arguments. He’s focusing on the positives for the neighborhood.

He said the sights and sounds of construction equipment on the move and the expectation that comes with watching new buildings go up every day has provided a spark in a section of Niagara Falls that has had little to get excited about for many years.

 Seright said the enthusiasm is evident in the young men he deals with every day and in many of the North End residents who are feeling a little extra sense of pride in their neighborhood these days.

 “In these communities that appear to be forgotten, when they start coming up, then there’s hope,” Seright said.

Contact reporter Mark Scheer at 282-2311, ext. 2250.