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New Dawn for Church
Street South?
New owner seeks to develop housing,
employment options for residents
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Business New Haven
2/22/1999
By: BNH
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The first phase of the city of New Haven's plan to make Church Street South available for redevelopment is under way.
And a new plan by the national non-profit developer that owns the housing project may give residents a voice in what type of housing they will inhabit.
At the city's instigation, the New Haven-based Community Builders Inc. purchased Church Street South in December with the help of a $360,000 loan from the city and an additional $1 million city-guaranteed loan from the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund.
In close proximity to Union Station and the proposed new Marketplace at Long Wharf sits what may be the city's densest concentration of poverty. In an era when area businesses are starved for workers, unemployment among residents of the 301-unit housing project is a staggering 70 percent, according to city officials.
Most Church Street South residents receive rent subsidies to live there under a contract with the federal Department of Housing & Urban Development. In December, the 15-year HUD contract expired and now must be renewed annually.
The city would prefer that HUD make available Section 8 subsidies to residents of multi-family housing, which it presently does not permit. This would allow some Church Street South residents to move out of the project and into neighborhoods. According to city spokesperson Michael Kuczkowski, this would help to mitigate racial and economic isolation and at the same time strengthen city neighborhoods.
At a press conference February 16, Community Builders announced its short-term plan: to work with individual families in the complex to develop housing, education and employment options and opportunities.
Explained Stephen Green, director of the Connecticut office of Community Builders, “Our work will also focus on building self-confidence and combining job-readiness training with flexibly arranged community activities that allow the unemployed to build the necessary skills to gain economic independence.”
Founded in 1964, Community Builders has participated in the development of 14,000 units of affordable housing involving $900 million in debt and equity financing. It currently manages some 6,000 housing units.
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