Phoenix gets $30M grant to remake Edison-Eastlake neighborhood east of downtown

The Republic | azcentral.com

Yvonne Bridges' swamp cooler in her 70-year-old housing-project unit shut off on a 107-degree day in June 2017 and she passed out. When Bridges woke up shaking and lightheaded, paramedics were hovering over her.

Phoenix will receive a $30 million federal grant to drastically reshape a neighborhood just east of downtown, including demolishing and rebuilding three decrepit public-housing projects.

The city will use its Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant, given Thursday to five cities nationwide by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in and around the Edison-Eastlake neighborhood.

The community has long been seen as an island of poverty and urban decay.

“This grant will increase our ability to provide a mix of affordable housing options and bring needed improvements to the Edison-Eastlake neighborhood,” interim Mayor Thelda Williams said in a statement after the Thursday announcement.

“It’s an opportunity to reshape Edison-Eastlake and build on its assets to improve livability and quality of life for its residents.”

Plans to improve the area surrounding the Edison-Eastlake public-housing project include upgrades to Edison Park.

Problems facing Edison-Eastlake

Edison-Eastlake is one of the poorest neighborhoods in central Phoenix.

More than 80 percent of its residents have household incomes of less than $11,000, according to city data. Unemployment sits at 31 percent. Violent crime occurs three times more often than in the rest of Phoenix.

The neighborhood’s three public-housing projects — Frank Luke Homes, A.L. Krohn Homes and Sidney P. Osborn — are crumbling around their residents. Thick concrete walls trap in heat. Air-conditioning is left to obsolete swamp coolers. Clay-pipe sewers keep cracking open. Longtime residents complain of mold and breathing problems.

The city spends an average of $900,000 a year just to maintain each of the three projects, according to city records. Their age — Frank Luke Homes were built in 1942 — put the city in a bind. The buildings were too old to be renovated. They had to be demolished.

“We’re still housing people in this obsolete housing,” Phoenix Housing Director Cindy Stotler said in an interview. “Because we have no choice.”

The city has made minor repairs and improvements to the Edison-Eastlake projects, but they deteriorate faster than maintenance can keep up.

What the city will do with the grant

Choice Neighborhoods was designed to fix that by rebuilding entire communities.

Phoenix’s visions for the $30 million grant — which Stotler said already has been leveraged into $193 million more — include tree-lined sidewalks, brand-new parks and a community pool. Local businesses may get new signs. The housing office wants a computer lab.

And the decades-old projects will be ripped out, replaced by the new American approach to public housing. No longer is the goal to cram as many poor people as possible into concrete boxes in tall towers. Instead, the city plans to build mixed-income housing designed to look virtually identical to the luxury apartments just a few blocks away.

Some units will be reserved for public housing. Others will go to Section 8 voucher-holders. A handful will be put on the open market at competitive rates.

The award comes as Phoenix’s affordable-housing shortage spirals into a full-blown crisis. Vacancy rates have plummeted. Rents are rising faster than incomes. The downtown skyline is dotted with cranes and luxury apartments, crowding out what was once plenty of cheap housing.

“The Choice Neighborhoods Grant is the single most important step that the Phoenix Housing Department has taken to increase the supply of affordable housing in Phoenix,” Councilwoman Kate Gallego said in a statement.

“This important grant helps hundreds of residents have access to quality housing and will set a new standard for community-driven economic investment.”

How Phoenix won the grant

Choice Neighborhoods had been in the city’s sights since at least 2011, when it was included in a 14-step “master plan” to revitalize the neighborhoods east of downtown.

That vision was threatened by proposed HUD budget cuts that would have eliminated the popular program and forced the city to rush its application process.

The planning process involved two dozen city departments, Stotler said. The grant application also included a story from The Arizona Republic, which profiled the crumbling neighborhood last year.

HUD also awarded Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grants to Baltimore; Flint, Michigan; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Construction on Edison-Eastlake is expected to begin sometime in late 2019.