By Mia Khatib
mia.khatib@triangletribune.com
RALEIGH — The Raleigh Housing Authority and project partners recently met with Heritage Park residents to discuss the public housing site’s need for redevelopment. Project partners are Brinshore Development, Raleigh Raised Development, and master planning firm Torti Gallas and Partners.
Torti Gallas President Murphy Antoine said there is no set plan yet, and it will take around six to seven months to create one. He said they want to have more in-depth conversations in September with the community about what they want included, apply for a rezoning application in November and sort out financing in December.
“[We’re] not putting pen to paper on a plan until that homework has happened, those conversations happened, and then working through that master plan together through a four-day workshop in October,” he said. “We don’t want to do things rashly… so getting it to that point is why this timeframe pulls out.”
The RHA intends to demolish and rebuild Heritage Park, which has housed 122 low-income households since the 1970s, but all residents will have the right to return.
RHA CEO Ashley Lommers-Johnson said relocation specialists will help families plan their move ahead of time, and the agency will pay for many moving-related costs like packing, utilities and even assist with security deposits. “They will still be paying rent on the same basis as they are paying now,” he said. “Regardless of whether it is a project-based voucher system or tax credit system, that is the rent that they will pay. Nothing more than 30% of their adjusted income.”
At the June 28 meeting, Heritage Park resident Taquita Jarman raised concerns about an initial plan brought to the community and asked where that plan stands now. She said residents don’t want high rises, but they do want a playground, washers and dryers, and more community resources on the rebuilt site.
“There is no plan sitting back there.” Antoine responded. “There were plans developed before my time here in 2019. The decision was made that those plans didn’t consider enough of this kind of input,[so] let’s wipe the slate clean and start a process that takes this input and develops those plans from that input.”
A member of the Wake County Housing Justice Coalition asked what type of vouchers residents will hold and what will the funding structure be for the redevelopment.
Brinshore Executive Vice President Peter Levavi said they expect to do a Section 18 demolition/disposition which offers tenant-protection vouchers. But, he said, they aren’t limiting themselves to these rules and will combine benefits from different programs to maximize residents’ rights.
“For instance, we’ll have grievance procedures for evictions that match the current Section 9 grievance procedures,” he said. “We look at each of the different repositionings, and we take the most restricted view on each of them and use them, whether or not that tool is being used, because we don’t want anyone to feel that they’re being displaced improperly [or] treated unfairly.”
A Section 8 voucher holder said many people with vouchers still struggle to find a place to live, and asked if current Heritage Park residents will get priority during relocation in addition to moving back in.
Levavi said that tenant-based Section 8 vouchers are competitive in places like North Carolina that don’t have sources of income nondiscrimination laws, but project-based vouchers subsidize the unit instead of the person.
“…In addition to that, I know that RHA is looking to go around Raleigh, deal with landlords, and project-base additional vouchers so that you don’t have a problem trying to find a place,” he said.
Lommers-Johnson added that approximately 120 units across RHA’s 1,200 properties turn over every year, and they will give Heritage Park residents the highest priority to move to units that are becoming vacant for temporary relocation or to live on a permanent basis.
“I’m working on multiple opportunities for tenants… to make sure that when it is time for Heritage Park residents to relocate, there’ll be places for them to go and they’ll have options,” he said.
Mia Khatib, who covers affordable housing and gentrification, is a Report for America corps member.
