High Point interim
relocation results
The relocation process
All residents living in High Point at the
time of the HOPE VI redevelopment grant award in July, 2000, were eligible for
relocation benefits under the federal Uniform Relocation
Act. This law insures that no resident will be left without
a decent, safe and affordable home as a result of the
redevelopment process. Relocation benefits include
counseling, assistance with moving as needed, and
reimbursement of moving expenses.
There were 700 eligible households at High
Point. Each household received individual counseling
regarding their rights and opportunities. SHA assembled a
Relocation Team that worked over a two-year period, beginning in
June 2001, to provide counseling and housing search
assistance. The team included a coordinator, a
community liaison for the elderly and four relocation
interviewers, three of whom were residents of SHA housing
themselves. The interviewers were fluent in Amharic,
Cambodian, Somali, Tigrigna and Vietnamese, the major
languages spoken by High Point residents. Translators were
hired as needed to assist residents who spoke one of the
seven other languages represented there.
Relocation options available
Each household
could choose from the following options:
-
remain on-site at High Point in the Phase II area while new
housing is built in Phase I, then move into the new
housing.
-
relocate
permanently to a different Seattle Housing Authority
community.
-
relocate
permanently to low-income housing owned and managed by
SHA's housing partners or other low-income housing
providers, or private market housing without housing
assistance.
-
relocate permanently using a
Housing Choice voucher.
-
buy a house.
Making a housing choice
During the counseling process, each
household expressed a preference for their relocation.
Residents' initial preferences were as follows:
-
264 households indicated that they wanted to live in the new neighborhood.
-
177 households preferred to accept a Housing Choice
voucher and find privately-owned rental housing.
-
Five households stated that their first choice was to buy
a house.
-
109 households chose to permanently relocate to other
SHA communities.
-
Nine households identified their first choice as leaving
public housing to live in non-subsidized housing.
-
126 households chose to leave High Point prior to
relocation counseling, and another ten households were
evicted for cause or abandoned their unit without notice
to SHA.
Relocation outcomes
By May 2003, the interim relocation
process for all of the High Point households who chose to
participate in the relocation process was
complete.
All of the households who wanted to remain at
High Point have been able to do so. Because they were
already living in the Phase II area and wanted to stay in
the neighborhood long term, 186 households have not had to move at
all. Ninety-three households have moved from Phase I of the site to
Phase II. This brings the total number of households
continuing to live at High Point to 279.
A total of 312 households (45 percent) have
decided to move away from High Point permanently; 183 of these households have relocated with a Housing
Choice Voucher.
As of May 2003, five High Point households have
succeeded in becoming homeowners. (Since then two more
households have become homeowners.)
Interim Outcome Summary
When the interim relocation project was completed in
May 2003, the original High Point households were
located as follows:
The relocation counseling did not begin
until June 2001. Although residents were instructed
not to move prior to relocation counseling, 125 chose to do
so. SHA is attempting to contact these households and
issue them the benefits they would have received had they
waited. So far, 44 of these households have been located.
Use of Housing Choice Vouchers
The Housing Choice Voucher program allows a
household to take a voucher to a private landlord and pay 30
percent of their income for rent and utilities. The voucher subsidizes the
balance of the rent due to the landlord.
Of those households using
vouchers to permanently relocate, 58 found housing in neighborhoods described as
"non-poverty, non-minority concentration areas" in
the city or county. Sixty-three households used their
vouchers in familiar neighborhoods near High Point.
Twenty households relocated to other parts of
the state or country.
Partnership Housing
SHA has entered into partnerships with a
variety of non-profit low-income housing providers to
replace public housing lost through HOPE VI
redevelopments. In all, 19 High Point households moved
to partnership replacement housing units in Esperanza
Apartments (Retirement Housing Foundation), Longfellow and
Westwood Courts (Lutheran Alliance to Create Housing) and
Meadowbrook View (Low Income Housing Institute).
Cost of Relocation
Both residents and businesses (mostly social
service agencies) received relocation assistance. In total,
the HOPE VI grant paid for $759,537 in relocation benefits,
with most going to residents to provide a relocation
allowance and to pay moving costs. Relocation costs
per household averaged $1,609.
Final Relocation
Outcomes
A future report will document the final
relocation outcomes for all households and reconcile their
initial choices with their ultimate residence.
For more information about HOPE VI redevelopment at
High Point, contact Virginia Felton, Communications Director at (206) 615-3506.
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Last updated: March 17, 2004
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