Roanoke Housing Authority wins $1.7 million grant

The Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority won a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that it will use for repairs and improvements to the city's public housing.

The authority plans to use the money for:

• Upgrading electrical infrastructure at Jamestown Place and Indian Rock Village;
• Repairing concrete sidewalks at several developments;
• Repairing exterior masonry at Melrose Towers;
• Repairing the exterior at Morningside Manor;
• Replacing appliances at three different developments and;
• Replacing domestic hot water heaters in 24 scattered site units.
• The grant is down by about $50,000 from last year's total and by about $140,000 from the year before that.

The authority's latest annual plan filing with HUD estimated that last year's grant was less than one-fifth the estimated cost of needed work at just the Lansdowne and Melrose Towers public housing communities, its oldest developments.

It is hoping that badly needed renovations that go beyond fixing the electrical, plumbing and ventilation problems at Lansdowne and Melrose Towers might be financed by part of a $30 million grant it is seeking to revitalize some 70 blocks in the northwest quadrant of the city, from 14th to 31st streets, between Melrose and Shenandoah avenues.

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