WHAT'S
HAPPENING
Free Copy
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE HIGH POINT MODEL CITY COMMISSION
December 3,1971
Photo by Art Richardson
Model Cities-Working
Together For Change
BY EMILY HEDRICK
Model Cities is people working with people for people for change.
It came about in 1966 when the federal government realized that America’s
cities were in trouble.
There were slums, crime, unemployment — and no apparent solutions.
With no remedies for its urban ills. Congress decided to experiment, to
find some working methods to deal with the problems.
Out of this decision came a bill called the Demonstration Cities and Metro
politan Act of 1966 — and the birth of Model Cities.
The money, to be distributed among 150 cities throughout the country
by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was to be ear
marked over a five-year period for the improvement of life in the worse slum
areas in America.
Thus, “Model Cities” in name is a paradox: it is model, or ideal, in no sense
of the word. And yet, in these designated areas is the potential for a thriving,
healthy community.
It takes people, and dollars, working together to make these miracles happen.
That is, in eflFect, the purpose of the 150 separate Model Cities Commissions.
With the cooperation of City Hall, Model Cities draws HUD fimds into
a community, plans for its use, attracts matching monies from other sources,
and contracts agencies for its implementation.
Model Cities itself does not operate any program. Instead, it brings
together agencies such as the local health dep>artment, social services depart
ment, colleges, and day care corporations to carry out its programs.
The programs are for people — particularly those people in need who live
within the designated areas called Model Neighborhoods. Therefore, the
programs are designed to cope with the acute and interrelated problems
poor people have.
In High Point, there are 15,000 persons in the Model Neighborhood.
The majority are black, below average in education level, and live in sub
standard houses.
Before Model Cities was bom, their situations looked hop>eless — poverty
spawning poverty, unemployment perpetuating unemployment, in endless cycles.
With Model Cities, however, they are given a chance.
In its second year of operation, the High Point Model Cities Commission
has undertaken some 23 projects to help in the change. They deal with every
area of life from employment to culture, health to recreation, crime to housing.
Their goal is simple — to improve the standard of living of Model Neighbor
hood residents and the community at large.
Model Cities can do that only with the cooperation of the federal govern
ment; City Hall; and most important, the people themselves.
Citizen involvement is at the root of change, and of the Model Cities process.
The federal government. City Hall, and Model Cities don’t have all the
answers; but in working together with people they can make great strides.
Help, Please
^Only A Drop In The Bucket'
Housing Authority’s Juanita Hills Begun
Work on the 140-unit Juanita Hills
housing project was officially begun
Wednesday, November 24, when Con
gressman L. Richardson Preyer of the
Sixth District assisted High Point
Housing Authority chairman F. Curtis
Morehead in groundbreaking cere
monies.
Juanita Hills will consist of one-
to five-bedroom units for low-income
families. There will be some single
family dwellings, some triplex (three-
family) dwellings, and even some four-
family buildings on the 33%-acre site
on W. Burton Street. A multi-purpose
community building will also be
erected.
Construction is expected to last ap
proximately 15 months. The target
date for completion is February 18,
1973, with some families occupying
homes before then.
Contractors for the current project
are Allred and Mercer Architects, Inc.;
H. L. Coble Construction Company of
Greensboro, who also built J. C. Mor
gan Courts; Loflin Plumbing and Heat
ing of Jamestown; Purcell Supply
Company; and Overcash Electrical
Company of Mooresville.
Although Juanita Hills, named for
the unpaved Juanita Street which runs
through it, is not located within the
Model Neighborhood, many of its fu
ture residents will come from that area.
To date, there are 1,700 families on
the Housing Authority’s waiting list,
according to its director, Don Hub
bard. Of those, a considerable number
are Model Neighborhood residents, he
said.
There are 810 rental units now oc
cupied under the auspices of the Hous
ing Authority, while there are 150
home ownership units in the Turnkey
3 project. Even with the additional
Juanita Hills homes, Hubbard said
that the agency’s low-income housing
provisions were “only a drop in the
bucket” compared to the city’s needs.
CRUCIAL SETBACK
The Housing Authority underwent
a crucial setback recently when their
application for approximately 900 new
units was turned down by the area
office of the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development be
cause of lack of funds.
The projects delayed as a result
were a 150-unit high rise project for
the elderly on S. Elm Street; a 60-
unit project planned for the corner
of Leonard and Price Streets; and an
other 685 units already approved by
City Council.
Hubbard said that the local housing
authority was among many of the
170 similar agencies in North Carolina
which were refused HUD funds at
this time. In all, the area office had
applications for 50,000 new units; only
2,800 new public housing units were
authorized.
A new application will be drawn up,
he went on, for the proposed building
projects. It is hoped that HUD funds
will be available for North Carolina
in about six months.
Meanwhile, the waiting list of ap
plicants for public low-rent housing
in High Point is growing, and the
turnover rate of families moving out
of the existing units is only five to
eight a month.
Rent on low-income housing, includ
ing the Juanita Hills homes, is based
roughly on one-fifth of a family’s net
income for those with less than three
minors; and about one-sixth of the net
income for those with over three
minors.
Applications to the housing may be
made by going to the Housing Author
ity office in Astor Dowdy Towers on
E. Green Drive.