HUD Housing Going Up On 19th St.

[anythingyoupls]

Long time lurker.

My parents just phoned to tell me the apartment/assisted care facility that was under renovation on 19th across the street from the little shops on 19th appears to be deserted today and a giant sign states that (paraphrasing) "The City of Houston is pleased to announce a new development in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Urban Development." I certainly don't want to come off as an alarmist, but as a resident of the Heights with a young child who has had to make numerous late night runs to the CVS and Kroger's on 20th (which aren't necessarily safe to begin with) and a criminal defense attorney to boot, I know what HUD housing inevitably devolved to. Even if limited to elderly residents only, the family members who "visit" bring the crime with them. And frankly, with the severe shortage of availability of HUD housing for families I can't imagine the City and Anise would slate it for elderly anyways.

I haven't been up 19th in about a month without a screaming child taking up the majority of my attention so maybe this is old news and no one is concerned but but HAIF posters always seem to be more "in the know" and I would really like to know what in the hell is going on. Truthfully, in my opinion HUD may start off with the best intentions, it is only a matter of time before throngs go seriously south. It may take 2 years or it may take 10, regardless it doesn't bode well and indicates to me that there's a serious lack of long-range planning for that area. This can't be good for the alleged "high-end" retail that had entry plans for the church/facilities on 20th in front of Kroger backing the 19th street boutiques now apparently across from a HUD development.

[Ross]

Projecting your fears much? That part of town just isn't that bad. That building seems to have been section 8 and HUD for elderly for decades. There was a project to replace the HVAC and do some renovation, since little had been done since it was built in 1975. Google Houston Heights Towers for more information.

[anythingyoupls]

Projections based on experience are often more then mere conjecture.

[HoustonMidtown]

Projections based on experience are often more then mere conjecture.

 

As stated by Ross, it's been HUD for years.....so the "family members" that you are worried about have already been visiting for years....

 

You need to find out more details of what is actually going on (they may be just repairing/upgrading) instead of sounding the alarm and make it sound like all the riff-raff will be invading the Heights...

[Aviel009]

It has been section 8 housing for years for the elderly and disabled so not to worry about those "family members" , they apparently have been visiting for years and you didn't even notice...

 

[innerloop]

This kind of post is just not useful.  It starts with old/inaccurate/missing information and then it devolves into a prejudicial condemnation of the poor.

 

And on another note, as a proud native Texan, I object to the expression "go seriously south" when implying something bad.

[s3mh]

This is just a renovation project for the old folks home on 19th, which is a facility for low income seniors.  It was announced a while ago and is finally underway.  There is no plan to make this into a housing project open to all ages.   

[Texasota]

There's always a place for fear mongering.

[LTAWACS]

This is just a renovation project for the old folks home on 19th, which is a facility for low income seniors. It was announced a while ago and is finally underway. There is no plan to make this into a housing project open to all ages.

Thank goodness.

[Marksmu]

There's always a place for fear mongering.

 

Darn straight there is always a place for fear mongering.  Its been proven time and again, that low income housing increases crime in the areas in which it is built.  People do not want low income housing around their houses.  I oppose any HUD or other low income housing anywhere near economically prosperous areas....It makes no sense.  The resources for low income housing should be allocated properly in low income areas.  If a lot in the Heights that costs $200,000 (not possible in Heights anymore) to buy can accommodate one family, that same $200,000 could be used to buy 5 or 6 lots in some lower income areas like around UH or in Sharpstown.  Both areas have equal access to public transportation and jobs - the only difference is you are not dragging one area down when you build that housing.

 

I wont mince words -low income housing should not be built in prosperous areas, EVER....in this case its just a remodel of an existing project so there is nothing to be opposed to.

[JCR]

Darn straight there is always a place for fear mongering.  Its been proven time and again, that low income housing increases crime in the areas in which it is built.  People do not want low income housing around their houses.  I oppose any HUD or other low income housing anywhere near economically prosperous areas....It makes no sense.  The resources for low income housing should be allocated properly in low income areas.  If a lot in the Heights that costs $200,000 (not possible in Heights anymore) to buy can accommodate one family, that same $200,000 could be used to buy 5 or 6 lots in some lower income areas like around UH or in Sharpstown.  Both areas have equal access to public transportation and jobs - the only difference is you are not dragging one area down when you build that housing.

 

I wont mince words -low income housing should not be built in prosperous areas, EVER....in this case its just a remodel of an existing project so there is nothing to be opposed to.

It's the truth.  All Section 8 does is spread misery to nice neighborhoods.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/american-murder-mystery/306872/

[Texasota]

...No, that's not really what that article says. It's not about "nice" neighborhoods so much as neighborhoods that are already declining. Most certainly *not* neighborhoods like the Heights:

 

"Studies show that recipients of Section8 vouchers have tended to choose moderately poor neighborhoods that were already on the decline, not low-poverty neighborhoods. One recent study publicized by HUD warned that policy makers should lower their expectations, because voucher recipients seemed not to be spreading out, as they had hoped, but clustering together. Galster theorizes that every neighborhood has its tipping point—a threshold well below a 40 percent poverty rate—beyond which crime explodes and other severe social problems set in. Pushing a greater number of neighborhoods past that tipping point is likely to produce more total crime. "

[august948]

...No, that's not really what that article says. It's not about "nice" neighborhoods so much as neighborhoods that are already declining. Most certainly *not* neighborhoods like the Heights:

 

"Studies show that recipients of Section8 vouchers have tended to choose moderately poor neighborhoods that were already on the decline, not low-poverty neighborhoods. One recent study publicized by HUD warned that policy makers should lower their expectations, because voucher recipients seemed not to be spreading out, as they had hoped, but clustering together. Galster theorizes that every neighborhood has its tipping point—a threshold well below a 40 percent poverty rate—beyond which crime explodes and other severe social problems set in. Pushing a greater number of neighborhoods past that tipping point is likely to produce more total crime. "

 

That seems to argue for concentrating poor households in a single place to prevent pulling the rest of the city down.  Not sure that's a great idea for the residents of said poor neighborhood.

 

[Texasota]

It could, but another option would be to put them in middle-class neighborhoods that are either stable or on the upswing. Or just to not try and actively remove them from gentrifying neighborhoods.

One other thing: this article addresses a situation that doesn't exactly exist here.

One thing that's almost unique about Houston is that we never had the large-scale housing projects that other cities have had; instead most of our poorer population is still in normal neighborhoods full of single-family homes.