Senator Casey Announces Pittsburgh Will Receive $30 Million HUD Grant That Could Help Transform Pittsburgh's East End

Press Release

Following a push by U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Casey announced that the city has received a $30 million grant from the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that could transform Pittsburgh's East End. This year the top four bids will be funded.

"I'm very pleased that Pittsburgh has been awarded this competitive grant, which has the potential to improve the local economy and help to transform this neighborhood," Senator Casey said. "I weighed in with HUD about Pittsburgh's strong application, and I'm glad they also saw the great opportunity this neighborhood presents for economic growth and job creation."

The Choice Neighborhoods program supports locally driven strategies to address struggling neighborhoods with distressed public or HUD-assisted housing through a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation. Local leaders, residents, and stakeholders, such as public housing authorities, cities, schools, police, business owners, nonprofits, and private developers, come together to create and implement a plan that transforms distressed HUD housing and addresses the challenges in the surrounding neighborhood. The program is designed to catalyze critical improvements in neighborhood assets, including vacant property, housing, services and schools. Senator Casey has consistently fought for funds to improve neighborhoods.

Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals:

1. Housing: Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood;

2. People: Improve educational outcomes and intergenerational mobility for youth with services and supports delivered directly to youth and their families; and

3. Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and commercial activity, that are important to families' choices about their community.

To achieve these core goals, communities must develop a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan. This Transformation Plan will become the guiding document for the revitalization of the public and/or assisted housing units, while simultaneously directing the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood and positive outcomes for families.

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