Augusta sees draft plan for Allen Homes, Harrisburg and Laney-Walker neighborhood

After two years of planning, Augusta unveiled its draft plan for replacing the public housing development at Allen Homes and the Harrisburg and Laney Walker neighborhoods around it on Thursday.

In 2021, Augusta received a $450,000 in a Choice Neighborhoods planning grant from the department of Housing and Urban Development to develop a strategy to revitalize the neighborhood. The draft plan was presented at the Tabernacle Baptist Church on Laney Walker to members of the community, including residents of Allen Homes. The core of the plan is two proposed housing developments off site that would replace the 150 units of housing at Allen Homes with 281 units of affordable and market rate housing.

"When we put this plan together, we didn't do it in a vacuum," said Douglass Freeman, deputy executive director for the Augusta Housing Authority. "So we involve a lot of community members, but most importantly, we involved the residents of our homes and the residents of the two neighborhoods that we're talking about."

The larger project would be at the site of Lamar Elementary, which would include a total of 236 units, including 124 direct replacements for Allen Homes, 70 affordable housing and 42 market rate units, according to Freeman. The other site is near the canal, and would include 45 total units, including 26 replacements for Allen Homes, 11 affordable units and eight market rate.

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According to Woo Kim, a principal with the consultant firm WRT, the planners realized that the current Allen Homes was no longer suitable for housing and needed to be replaced off site. He said the planning process covered both direct needs of people and neighborhood development.

The people plan "is sort of a human capital plan, social service plan that we need for residents and households to succeed," Kim said. "Services and plans to shore up education, employment, health, those areas, so that we don't just provide people with new housing, but we also provide people with better lives."

The neighborhood plan looks to increase services like streets, parks, and opportunity around the community.

Following the series of presentations from Freeman, Kim and others, residents were able to ask questions about the extent of the project and how it was addressing specific issues like homelessness or a lack of financial services.

Augusta can apply for a grant to implement the plan of about $40 million from HUD, according to Takiyah Douse, interim administrator, but the city does not yet have an estimated total budget for the project. The plan has to be submitted by Nov. 22.

"Once we do that, we will ensure that we're able to secure ownership of all of our sites that we talked about today," said Douse on Thursday. "... Once we secure those sites, then we will feel competent to apply for the implementation grant, which is another round. So I'm guessing we're looking at another 18 months before we even apply for the implementation grant."

Hawthorne Welcher, director of Augusta Housing and Community Development, said the sites they hope to build on are currently owned by the Board of Education and the Canal Authority, and both are willing to work with the city on the project. Welcher said the new replacement units would still be under the public housing authority, but he also anticipates having some kind of public-private partnership to bring in capitol and expertise on top of the grant.

"I'm doing 70 units right here on Laney Walker. That's $20 million," Welcher said. "... So how far that $40 million is going to go ... where is the funding going to come from to cover the gap? We still don't know yet."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta drafts plan to replace Allen Homes, strengthen community