revitalize

The American Heritage dictionary defines revitalize as "to impart new life or vigor to."  Revitalization must the act of imparting new life or vigor.  Is that what is going on in your community?

Before I go on, I’d just like to say that I am all for complete renovation of certain areas so that they may serve a greater purpose.  I don’t want to step on some very forward-thinking toes.  I do, however, want to mention that I don’t believe many of the "revitalization projects" I’ve seen on the web (or in person) around the country fit the above definition.  Let me clarify…

If you have a working class neighborhood from the fifties that has fallen on hard times, how would you revitalize that?  It seems to me that you would do your best to conserve the neighborhood’s character, purpose, and even price range; keep it working class.  Unfortunately, many project I’ve seen go far beyond renovation and revitalization.  Much of the so-called revitalization involves transforming the neighborhood from moderately priced single family homes to million dollar condos and high-end shopping.  These projects would be what I consider to be re-purposing the neighborhood.  Now, I just made up a word, or at least Live Writer thinks so, but you get the point. 

Totally changing an area, as I said before, can be a valid method for altering a neighborhood to server a higher purpose.  Revitalization is about bringing an area to life again.  Our cities and towns need a good mix of revitalization and re-purposing. Working class families, young professionals, and anyone else who doesn’t have tons of money to spend on a home need attractive neighborhoods too.  Why isn’t that a bigger focus of "revitalization" efforts?  Is it because there’s no money in it?  Is it just a lack of glitz?  I hope I’m wrong, and there is much more going on to bring back neighborhoods that aren’t going to have mega-buck houses in them.  Perhaps revitalizing is more difficult than it seems, and few, if any, have truly mastered how to change neighborhoods without bull-dozing them.  Who knows?

Much of the money that municipalities use to revitalize their communities comes from HUD, which is the abbreviated name for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.  HUD has programs to assist home buyers and cities/municipalities.  There are programs to help teachers, police officers, first time home buyers, low-income buyers, and those with damaged credit.  They also sponsor home buyer education programs through grant funding.  However, many of the funds available through HUD require the applicant to be a government entity or a non-profit organization. 

Governments receive money to rehab neighborhoods in a variety of ways.  They can use the funds to improve infrastructure, such as lights and sewer systems.  They can also clean up blight and remove debilitated structures.  Other programs provide the ability for government entities to purchase homes at a very low cost in order to acquire the property for rehab. 

As an overview, some of the more popular grants and programs are listed below.  This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but it’s a start.

• CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) - a major program designed for cities to assist with affordable housing and business growth
• HOME funds - “the largest Federal block grant to State and local governments designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households” from the HUD web site
• SHOP - Self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program - designed to assist non-profits, such as Habitat for Humanity, to help buy home sites and develop the infrastructure to for homeownership programs for low-income families.
• HOZ - “The goal of the HOZ initiative is to test the idea that cities can transform their blighted areas into stable, vibrant communities by creating entire new neighborhoods of mixed-income single-family homes, called Homeownership Zones.” - from hud.gov
• Dollar Homes - Local governments can buy homes for $1 after the FHA can’t sell an REO for 6 months.  Designed to foster cooperation with organizations like Habitat or for revitalization
• Good Neighbor Next Door - Law enforcement officers, pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers and firefighters/emergency medical technicians can buy homes for a 50% discount if they commit to live in the house for 3 years.

Over the next several posts, I am going to explore several of the HUD programs to the best of my research abilities.  In the near future, I hope to have specifics on how Tulsa is participating in these programs and which neighborhoods are being affected. Then, we can see how well the programs are working and where some gaps may need to be filled to make them more effective.

Until then, I’m excited about getting involved.  I’m ready for some action though!

So, like all good techies, I have started my search for neighborhood revitalization programs/efforts on the web. The city of Tulsa’s site is a great place to get a good idea of what the plans are for several neighborhoods and areas that already have revitalization-aimed plans. Some of them are under different names, but they all seem to be aimed at setting the direction for each different area (see screen clipping below).

Also, I found out that there is a site/project called PLANiTULSA.org. You can see part of the logo in my clipping Currently, it’s populated with garbage, “Lorem Ipsum…”, which is probably because they are doing some sort of upgrade right now. Regardless, the PLANiTULSA project is an update to the comprehensive city plan, and the mayor’s office is trying to get the community involved as much as possible. I’m going to be keeping tabs on this project because I believe it’s EXTREMELY important for the neighborhoods in need of help to get in the game and get involved. Hopefully, I can attend some meetings in person.

In the meantime, I’m going to read some neighborhood plans and stop by some of these neighborhoods to see how the plans are being implemented. I’ll have pictures and comments soon!

your revitalization newbie,

Chris

I have long been interested in architecture, had a passion for old buildings, and have wanted to help people find a good home.  Community revitalization seems to have the potential to mix all three very effectively.  My goal is to create a place where I can share whatever I learn and others can tell me why I’m wrong :-)  I am excited to become involved in revitalization around Tulsa and look forward to sharing.