Overview

The HOPE VI program serves a vital role in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's efforts to transform Public Housing.

The specific elements of public housing transformation that have proven key to HOPE VI include:

• Changing the physical shape of public housing
• Establishing positive incentives for resident self-sufficiency and comprehensive services that empower residents
• Lessening concentrations of poverty by placing public housing in nonpoverty neighborhoods and promoting mixed-income communities
• Forging partnerships with other agencies, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses to leverage support and resources

Eligible Applicants

Any Public Housing Authority that has severely distressed public housing units in its inventory is eligible to apply. Indian Housing Authorities and Public Housing Authorities that only administer the Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8) Program are NOT eligible to apply. Individuals are also NOT eligible to apply.

Funding Opportunities

HOPE VI Revitalization grants fund:

• Capital costs of major rehabilitation, new construction and other physical improvements
• Demolition of severely distressed public housing
• Acquisition of sites for off-site construction
• Community and supportive service programs for residents, including those relocated as a result of revitalization efforts

HOPE VI Main Street grants provide assistance to smaller communities in the development of affordable housing that is undertaken in connection with a Main Street revitalization effort.

History and Background

National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing
The HOPE VI Program, originally known as the Urban Revitalization Demonstration (URD), was developed as a result of recommendations by the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, which was charged with proposing a National Action Plan to eradicate severely distressed public housing. The Final Report of the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing recommended revitalization in three general areas:

• physical improvements,
• management improvements, and
• social and community services to address resident needs.

As a result, HOPE VI was created by the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (Pub.L. 102-389), approved on October 6, 1992.

HOPE VI Appropriations and Funding History

Program Authority

HOPE VI operated solely by congressional appropriation from FY 1993-1999. The FY 1999 appropriation included the congressional authorization of HOPE VI as Section 24 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937. Section 24 was implemented in the FY 2000 NOFA, and was reauthorized in conjunction with the American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003. Grants are governed by each Fiscal Year's Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), as published in the Federal Register, and the Grant Agreement executed between each recipient and HUD.

Grants Awarded

Awards	Grant FY Totals	Funding
35	Planning Grants 1993-1995	$14,752,081
262	Revitalization Grants 1993-2010	$6,281,287,817
285	Demolition Grants 1996-2003	$391,585,505
45	Neighborhood Networks 2002-2003	$9,967,500
21	Main Street Grants 2005-2009	$15,456,009
648	Total	$6,713,048,912

Innovations in Government Award

In October of 2000, HOPE VI was honored with national recognition as a recipient of an Innovations in American Government Award. HOPE VI was among ten winners chosen by the Innovations in American Government Program, one of the nation's most prestigious public service awards programs. HOPE VI was recognized for its Mixed-Finance Public Housing program, "an innovative approach that is transforming some of the nation's most severely distressed public housing from sources of urban blight to engines of neighborhood renewal."