AGENDA - San Antonio Housing Authority

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYEASTSIDE CHOICE NEIGHBORHOOD TRANSFORMATION PLAN• Increase home ownership through infillhousing and rehab of acquired singlefamily units• Prioritize neighborhood level retail andservices• Promote a retail façade program• Create incentives for businesses to locatein the areaThe plan will address transformation bystrengthening the social fabric of the neighborhood,connecting it to resources that willimprove the quality of life for its residents.It builds from existing assets, e.g., microloansby San Antonio for Growth on theEastside for new business starts; internaland external workforce development trainingand adult education; proximity to two majoremployment centers (Fort Sam Houstonand downtown); and significant investmentsby the City in the target area. The EastsideChoice Neighborhood is aligned with theEastside Promise Neighborhood, SA2020 (acommunitywide strategic planning process),and the Eastside Reinvestment Summit.Positive outcomes for Wheatley Courts residentswill be achieved through on-site casemanagement providing a range of neededservices and backed by a network of SAHAand community service providers. In responseto community needs and residents’interests in seeking work, a particular emphasiswill be on expanding job readiness,training and placement programs throughSAHA’s Moving to Work Program, GoodwillIndustries’ Good Careers Academy, and St.Philips College. Improved access to healthcare and services aimed at improving residents’health will occur through expansionof a Metro Health projects and services, betterconnection to the Frank Bryant HealthCenter, and programmed green spacesaround the neighborhood. United Way’sEastside Promise Neighborhood will implementcradle to college/career programs forchildren, youth and adults. Urban Strategies’case management team will coordinateclosely with the EPN team to ensure thatfamily supports enhance comprehensiveeducational efforts and create a communityof Choice.SAHA seeks to redevelop Wheatley Courtsand San Antonio’s Eastside into a walkable,safe, compact, mixed-use, pedestrianfriendlyneighborhood of opportunitycontaining a wide range of amenities. SAHA’sgoals for the master planned neighborhoodare to: increase park space; implementByrne Act-funded crime prevention andsafety-enhancing activities in partnershipwith EPN; establish a community gardenand produce co-op; coordinate placementof a multi-modal transit hub to link WheatleyCourts residents with anchor institutions andemployment centers; and construct a communitycenter that serves as a focal point foryouth, arts, neighborhood beautification andcommunity engagement.The Housing Plan is to convert WheatleyCourts, an obsolete, inefficient, inaccessible,and unsafe public housing site, into a 305-unit, high quality, mixed-income community.In addition, it will build on SAHA’s 194-unit,mixed-income Sutton Oaks Phase I, andadd an additional 286 mixed-income unitsin Sutton Oaks II and III, while saving a keypiece of land for commercial/retail development.This will result in one-for-one replacementof the public housing units and willensure long-term affordability in a diverse,mixed-income community. Not only is therevitalization of the Wheatley site and thecontinued transformation of the Sutton Oaksarea an integral part of the TransformationPlan for the Eastside neighborhood, thisstable, safe, energy-efficient, accessible,connected, mixed-income community willbe the anchor supporting other non-physicalefforts in the community, including thePromise Neighborhood initiative.The aggregation of these new, enhancedand expanded resources, augmented by thearea’s proximity to downtown and major em-iv