HOPE VI
USF professors Susan Greenbaum, Cheryl Rodriguez, and Beverly Ward research the impact of HOPE VI, a federal program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that offers grants to local housing authorities to tear down dilapidated housing projects in order to build newer ones.
Description:
USF professors Susan Greenbaum, Cheryl Rodriguez, and Beverly Ward research the impact of HOPE VI, a federal program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that offers grants to local housing authorities to tear down dilapidated housing projects in order to build newer ones. Under HOPE VI, the Tampa Housing Authority gave about 1200 families living in Tampa’s College Hill and Ponce de Leon neighborhoods the option to either move into another public housing project or accept a voucher subsidizing the rent on private housing. About one third went to public housing complexes and most others took the voucher.
Drs. Greenbaum, Rodriguez, and Ward became involved with HOPE VI in 2000, after teaching a graduate level course that analyzed the preliminary impacts of this program in Tampa. Their research found that although many citizens are relieved to see deteriorating public housing demolished, there are challenges to families and children that should not be ignored. A USF Collaborative grant enabled a team of USF Anthropology graduate students to interview people in 50 relocated households. The interviews revealed mixed feelings about the move and the new neighborhoods. Although many were glad to be in newer housing, some were also lonely for friends and relatives that had been scattered. Transitions to new services, schools, and neighbors were another challenge. In several neighborhoods, especially Sulphur Springs and the USF Area, the research indicated a reconcentration of the relocated families. Team members became engaged with the neighborhoods through the Sulphur Springs Action League and the City of Tampa Recreation Center.
In 2003, Drs. Greenbaum, Rodriguez, and Ward received a $200,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to do a follow up study of patterns of adjustment and acceptance in two relocation neighborhoods. The research will continue through 2006, with a goal of determining how changes in social connections of both relocated families and their home-owning neighbors affect their economic and emotional well-being.
Contact Person: Susan Greenbaum
Funding for Academic Year: 2004-05