The Fayetteville Housing Authority recently submitted a low-income tax credit application that will allow the agency to build new apartments on three acres of empty land at the Morgan Manor public housing development. The FHA's plan is to move residents who currently live at the Willow Heights public housing development to the new units at Morgan Manor. According to the FHA, the agency does not have the capital to make the necessary improvements at Willow Heights and rebuilding the development would cost exponentially more than building new apartments at Morgan Manor. The agency's decision, which is still contingent on the low-income tax credit award, has generated concern among some Willow Heights residents and their neighbors in South Fayetteville. The concerns range from the proposed sale of the Willow Heights property, which would fund part of the construction at Morgan Manor, to the further concentration of poverty at Morgan Manor if more low-income residents move into the area.
The FHA's current plan stems from the agency's participation in the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversion program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. To hear more about that process, listen to Part 1 of this story here.
