WASHINGTON,
D.C. –
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member of the Senate Banking,
Housing, and Urban Development Committee, today announced the introduction of
the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Act of 2021. The legislation supports
locally driven strategies to revitalize underserved neighborhoods by making
permanent the highly competitive Choice Neighborhoods grant program at the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Sen. Chris Van Hollen
(D-Md.) has cosponsored this bill. U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver
(D-Mo.-5) is introducing companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
The Choice Neighborhoods program leverages
public and private resources to transform underserved neighborhoods with
distressed public or HUD-assisted housing into mixed-income communities with
improved access to jobs, high-quality public schools, and public
transportation. Choice Neighborhoods projects leveraged seven dollars of
private investment for every dollar in federal spending from 2010-2015,
bringing in almost $3.7 billion in additional funding to revitalize distressed
neighborhoods.?
“The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Act
of 2021 will bolster a successful federal program to revitalize distressed
neighborhoods and address affordable housing needs and challenges in
communities across the country,” said Sen. Menendez. “Despite
Choice Neighborhoods’ record of success and
broad support, Congress has never fully authorized the program. This
legislation would make the Choice Neighborhoods program permanent, providing
the resources our local communities need to leverage private investment, build
on their strengths, and improve the lives of residents.”
“Affordable
housing is the mother’s milk of economic prosperity—and the Choice
Neighborhoods program has demonstrated how federal funding, in conjunction with
private investment, for affordable and public housing can uplift underserved communities
throughout the nation. The vision of Choice Neighborhoods is to bring together
the public sector, private sector, and community leaders to revitalize not only
distressed housing, but also transform the surrounding neighborhood ” said
Congressman Cleaver. “By strengthening and making permanent this
extraordinarily successful federal program, Congress has an opportunity to lift
up neighborhoods that have been neglected for far too long. I’m proud to
introduce this important piece of legislation with Senator Menendez, and I look
forward to working with him as it makes its way through the legislative
process.”
The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Act
of 2021 would:
·
Authorize $1 billion for HUD’s Choice
Neighborhoods program for Fiscal Year 2022 and such sums as may be necessary in
each subsequent fiscal year;
·
Strengthen program requirements relating
to eligible applicants, community involvement, and the temporary relocation of
public and assisted housing residents.
The full text of the bill can be
found HERE.
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