MURFREESBORO, Tenn (WTVF) — Local housing Authorities across the country are revamping. Officials with the Murfreesboro Housing authority say it’s because of changes to federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In response, the Murfreesboro Housing Authority (MHA) is taking the first step in a multi-phase, multi-year process. That step is to create a master plan for the redevelopment of Oakland Court, a 76-home public housing neighborhood on approximately 20 acres between North Academy and Maney Avenues.
Oakland Court resident Jim Caldwell and his family say they’re looking forward to the changes.
Caldwell says in his current home he struggles to get around in his wheel chair.
“Right now, it's about wide enough for the chair to go in and back out and that's pretty much it,” Caldwell said.
In several years he found out his home of 18 years will soon be changing.
“They said the newer apartments would be fully wheel-chair accessible,” Caldwell said.
The Oakland and Mercury Court Public Housing Units in Murfreesboro are being upgraded.
Changes to the Department of Housing and Urban Development will put some financial control back in the hands of local housing authorities.
“There's a total 196 public housing units that we hope reface and change the appearance of what housing is about,” said Thomas Rowe, Murfreesboro Housing Authority executive director.
This change will allow them to redevelop dated homes using private loans or tax credits.
Something they weren't allowed to do before to fix crumbling infrastructures.
“This gives us an opportunity to reface what they looked like, to go in and take the existing down and build back new so it looks like a neighborhood and you won’t be able to ride through an say oh that’s low-income housing,” Rowe said.
If adequate funding is secured, plans call for the 76 homes at Oakland Court to be replaced with brand new homes, and for another 74 homes to be added there, along with overall improvements to the neighborhood.
The redevelopment will likely take six to eight years, Mercury Court and Parkside, two additional public housing neighborhoods in Murfreesboro, also will be redeveloped.
After the master plan is created and made final, and funding is secured, plans call for 30 families currently living at Oakland Court to relocate to temporary housing for approximately 12 to 18 months.
During that time, in Phase I, 76 new homes will be built where the existing 30 homes previously stood. Once the 76 homes are complete, the 30 residents who relocated and 46 Oakland Court residents who remained on the property during the first phase of construction will move to the 76 new replacement homes in Oakland Court, completing Phase I by a projected date of December 2021.
In Phase II, 74 additional homes will be added for a total of 150 homes at Oakland Court, almost doubling the number of homes available there to qualified families.
After these 74 homes are complete, families living in Mercury Court, a public housing neighborhood located on Hancock Street in Murfreesboro, will relocate to new housing at Oakland Court.
After the Mercury Court residents relocate to Oakland Court, the approximately 15 acres at Mercury Court will be redeveloped to include additional affordable and mixed income housing, as well as possible commercial development.
