HUD reviews Peabody project
Next step is for Housing Authority, HUD to sign Hope VI grant

By Chuck Williams
Staff Writer

Officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have spent the last two days in Columbus scrutinizing the local housing authority's plan to demolish Peabody Apartments.

The Housing Authority of Columbus was awarded a $20 million Hope VI grant from HUD to tear down the city's oldest public housing complex on Talbotton Road and replace it with a mixed-income residential and commercial development.

A HUD official told Peabody residents during a meeting Wednesday night that the plans look to be in order.

The next step is for the local Housing Authority and HUD to sign the Hope VI grant. That will begin the funding for the four-year project.

"It has gone well," Housing Authority Executive Director Len Williams said Thursday. "They have indicated we have it well under control, and they did not perceive any weaknesses."

The authority has begun to prepare the nearly 360 families still living in Peabody for the move.

It will take 18 months to relocate those still living in Peabody's 51 buildings that were constructed in the late 1930s. The relocation will be done in three phases; the first one is scheduled to begin next month.

Iona Satterfield, president of the Peabody resident council, has sat in on the meetings with the HUD officials.

"It's been an adventure," Satterfield said. "I have watched them pull together all the components and see how all this will work."

Even though it could be several months before the federal money starts coming in, the work locally has already begun.

Family counselors, through the Pastoral Institute, began assisting Peabody residents last week. Job training, credit counseling, educational programs and substance abuse programs will be available to Peabody residents as part of the relocation process.

Douglas Faust, vice president for the Boulevard Group Inc., the Atlanta-based company managing the Peabody project, met with nearly 100 Peabody residents Wednesday night. He urged the residents not to move until the relocation process began.

If they move before they are relocated by the Housing Authority, they will forfeit benefits including counseling and moving expenses.

HUD official Maria Queen also spoke to the residents Wednesday.

"What is so impressive here is the case management is already set up," Queen said. "They're doing that on their own."

The residents will have a number of housing choices including moving to other public housing complexes and Section 8 housing, which is income-based federal assistance to rent apartments from private landlords.