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The Albany Housing Authority (AHA) has been awarded a Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant in the amount of $250,000 to create a Transformation Plan for the West Central Albany neighborhood, which includes McIntosh Homes, a public housing project. Nearly half of the neighborhood’s residents are living in poverty and they contend with a crime rate that is significantly higher than the violent crime rate for the city as a whole. McIntosh Homes is a deteriorated and physically obsolete public housing development with site deficiencies that include obsolete electrical and mechanical systems, deteriorating foundations, porch slabs and structural walls, and inadequate unit sizes for the needs of the existing residents. The AHA will be working with its partners to complete a plan for turning the neighborhoods around. Not only does the team intend to develop a plan to replace McIntosh Homes with a new market-quality, mixed-income community but they also intend to assess and build on the housing, commercial, recreational, physical and social assets of the surrounding neighborhood to create a viable and sustainable community. AHA will work closely with residents, the local college and hospital, and community organizations to collaboratively plan for the transformation of the West Central Albany neighborhood.
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