Fairview Heights Terrace, not far from Edison High School in southwest Fresno, represents an older style of public housing that the Fresno Housing Authority is trying to shift from in its newer affordable housing projects in Fresno and across Fresno County.
The Fresno Bee
The Fresno Housing Authority has received a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop a plan for improving the quality of public housing and the surrounding neighborhoods of southwest Fresno.
The grant, which is part of HUD’s “Choice Neighborhoods” program, will go toward the California Avenue section of southwest Fresno, which has historically been neglected through previous redlining and disinvestment.
“The grant is a down payment on what we hope will be a $30 million investment in west Fresno by the federal government,” Fresno City Council President Miguel Arias said. “We will remain focused on all the reinvestment projects we are leading in west Fresno, ensuring our residents have the same quality of life as we find across our city.”
The announcement came on Wednesday, and Fresno is one of 11 communities to be awarded nearly $5 million total.
The Fresno Housing Authority will use the funds on Fairview Heights Terrace and Sierra Plaza properties, for a total of 134 units, in southwest Fresno.
Choice Neighborhoods’ mission is to transform neighborhoods that suffer from distressed housing, lack of or poorly kept schools, bad health, high crime and historical investment neglect.
When he announced the grants, Ben Carson, secretary of HUD, said he hoped the funds will help “break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and set our neighbors back onto a path of self-sufficiency.”