Flint has been awarded $30 million in federal money to tear down the aging, crumbling public housing complex known as Atherton East, and build a new, mixed-income development, in a different location.
Congressman Dan Kildee says Atherton East was part of a bad approach to public housing during the 1960s.
"Concentrating poverty in housing projects that are in the least desirable parts of a community, the cheapest land," he says. "Well, there's a reason the land (for Atherton East) was so cheap. It was isolated from the rest of the community and in this case was in a floodplain."
Residents had to deal with chronic flooding from the very beginning, and they were cut off from city services and shopping by I-475.
Current residents will be relocated to a number of different types of housing in South Flint closer to amenities. The relocations will be supported with $13 million in funding from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
The $30 million federal grant will also support job, literacy, and health care supports for current and future residents of Atherton East.
