Through HOPE VI, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides funds to rehabilitate or demolish public housing and replace it with housing that serves both the poor as well as the middle class. In the law, severely distressed public housing was defined as public housing that
requires major redesign, reconstruction or redevelopment, or partial or total demolition; is a significant contributing factor to the physical decline of and disinvestment by public and private entities in the surrounding neighborhood; is occupied predominantly by families that are very low-income families with children, unemployed, and dependent on various forms of public assistance; or has high rates of vandalism and criminal activity (including drug-related criminal activity) in comparison to other housing in the area; cannot be revitalized through assistance under other programs because of cost constraints and inadequacy of available amounts; and is lacking in sufficient appropriate transportation, supportive services, economic opportunity, schools, civic and religious institutions, and public services, resulting in severe social distress in the project. Each year since, Congress has extended the program's authorization in the annual appropriations acts. The Program

The purpose of the HOPE VI program is to revitalize severely distressed public housing developments and transform them into safe, liveable environments. 108-186 ) created a fourth type of HOPE VI grant, designed to promote "main street" revitalization in small communities, which is unrelated to public housing. Often, demolition-only grants are used as precursors to future HOPE VI revitalization grant initiatives. Revitalization Grants

The bulk of funding provided for the HOPE VI program has been awarded through revitalization grants, which is the most well-known component of the program. They can be used for the development of new public housing, rehabilitation of existing public housing, demolition and/or disposition of existing public housing, the creation of homeownership replacement units, the acquisition of new property, the relocation of displaced residents, community and supportive services for residents, and administrative fees and costs. Up to 20% of grant funds may be used for community and supportive services programs. Over the history of the HOPE VI program, over $6 billion worth of revitalization grants have been awarded to PHAs in 36 states and territories. No demolition-only grants have been awarded since FY2003. Main Street Grants

The application process for Main Street grants largely mirrors that for revitalization grants. Successes and Concerns

HOPE VI has been credited with a number of successes. Another important change has come in the way that Congress provides funding to the HOPE VI program. Recent Developments

		Funding

The Bush Administration requested no new funding for the HOPE VI program in each of his FY2004-FY2008 budget requests to Congress. Each year, Congress rejected the Bush Administration's request to eliminate funding for the program, but it contined funding at a level significantly less than the amout provided prior to FY2004. President Obama's first budget in FY2010 requested no new funding for HOPE VI, and instead, requested $250 million for a new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (discussed later in this report). In FY2012, for the first time since the program's inception, Congress provided no new funding for HOPE VI ( P.L. 108-7 ) but later extended the HOPE VI program through the end of FY2006, as a part of a larger bill designed to make changes to a number of housing programs, including HOPE VI. Choice Neighborhoods

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) was originally proposed by the Obama Administration as a replacement for the HOPE VI program. While the Choice Neighborhoods initiative has received some support for its concept of broadening the focus beyond public housing, it has also been met with concerns. Legislation to authorize the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative was approved by the House Financial Services Committee in the 111 th Congress but was not enacted before the end of the 111 th Congress ( H.R.
The Revitalization of Distressed Public Housing program, referred to as HOPE VI, has been credited with eliminating and replacing some of the most dangerous and dilapidated public housing in the country with new mixed income communities. However, the program has come under scrutiny for slow expenditure of funds and for displacing poor families. Reflecting these criticisms, the Bush Administration requested no new funding for the program in each budget request from FY2004-FY2009, and the Obama Administration requested no new funding (proposing, instead, that Congress fund a new program) in the FY2010 and FY2011 budget requests. Congress responded by continuing to fund the program, but at less than a quarter of what it had been funded at in FY2003 and prior years. In FY2012, for the first time since the program's inception, Congress provided no new funding for HOPE VI.
Created in 1992 and administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the HOPE VI program provides funds to renovate or demolish existing public housing and replace it with mixed-income housing. The local public housing authorities (PHAs) that administer public housing apply for grants and use the funds to leverage other private and public resources. The main component of the HOPE VI program is revitalization grants, which can be used for demolition, rehabilitation, and new construction of public housing, as well as land acquisition, relocation of residents, and community and supportive services for residents. HUD has also provided demolition-only grants that could be used—often in conjunction with revitalization grants—for the physical destruction of distressed public housing and the relocation of its residents, although no demolition grants have been issued for several years. A third type of grant, planning grants, are no longer awarded, but could be used for technical assistance in preparing a property to go through a demolition or revitalization. Another type of revitalization grant, Main Street Revitalization Grants, was created in 2003. They are available to local governments in small communities rather than PHAs for main street revitalization projects, which may be unrelated to public housing.
Over the history of the program, 268 HOPE VI revitalization grants (incluing Main Street grants) have been made to PHAs in 41 states, districts, and territories. As of June 2009, the program had been responsible for the demolition of 93,295 units of public housing and the construction or substantial rehabilitation of 78,692 replacement units.
The HOPE VI program has helped transform a number of severely distressed neighborhoods, which has made the program popular with many members of Congress from both parties. The program's authorization was set to expire at the end of FY2006, but Congress has extended the authorization for the program each year in the annual appropraitions acts.
Beginning with its FY2010 budget request to Congress, the Obama Administration has requested that Congress replace the HOPE VI program with a new program, the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI), which would expand the scope of HOPE VI beyond public housing to other assisted housing, with a greater focus on neighborhood revitalization. The House Financial Services approved authorizing legislation in the 111th Congress, but it was not enacted before the end of the session. Congress did fund a demonstration of CNI in the FY2010-FY2012 HUD appropriations act. FY2012 was the first year since the HOPE VI program began that it received no new appropriations. However, the FY2012 appropriations law (P.L. 112-55) did extend the authorization for the program.