Hearing On Demolition Of Mount Pleasant Public Housing Set For Tuesday, March 7

Staff Reports

NEW BRITAIN -A public hearing on the planned demolition of the Mount Pleasant family housing complex on Myrtle Street will be held Tuesday, March 7, at 3 pm at the Jane Johnson Conference Room, 18 Armistice Street that is located in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. There is a zoom link for the meeting and hearing available at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86094832802?pwd=amNQa0FxN2FuYVN
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The New Britain Housing Authority (NBHA) has made a “significant amendment”” to its annual plan that will pave the way for demolition and eventual replacement.

With an approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) this year the Authority is expected to rapidly move ahead with the razing of 81-year old Mount Pleasant that provides 188 homes for low-income and working families. Mount Pleasant includes 28 one-bedroom, 70 two-bedroom, 62 three-bedroom, 26 four-bedroom and 2 five-bedroom units. The amended plan would replace 188 residences with 180. Housing for 63 elderly and disabled persons (one bedroom) at adjacent Bond Street would be replaced one for one.

Related Story From January 29 In The New Britain Progressive

Like many other housing authorities, NBHA is utilizing the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program that was established in 2012 to renovate or replace public housing too costly to maintain and modernize. While replacement of the World War II era housing in the Myrtle Street corridor is not in dispute, demolition and the time required for replacement housing poses questions concerning the future of current residents or others who are eligible for subsidized housing.

The five-member NBHA Board of Commissioners will hear testimony about the amended annual plan as part of the process to be in compliance with federal law and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Members include Anthony Bianca, Stanford Lebby, Paul Edwards, Frank D. Marrocco and Alexandra Rivera. Bianca is the Chairperson and Lebby is Vice Chairperson.

(Correction: At the March 7th hearing Executive Director John Hamilton and authority staff and a consultant took public comment on the amended annual plan not the commission. This story will be updated)

Editor’s note: Based on available public information at the time, earlier news analysis in this article raised questions about a risk of displacement of Mount Pleasant residents and others eligible for publicly subsidized housing, at least temporarily. While the New Britain Housing Authority has since emphasized that all residents of Mount Pleasant will be able to return to the Mount Pleasant after construction, something the original reporting noted, the Housing Authority still does does not appear to have provided information about the specifics of its plans for the development to allow transparency about this major project. But, the article was updated to be more circumspect on this point.