The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $1.54 million in housing choice vouchers to the Paterson Housing Authority, announced Rep. Bill Pascrell on Thursday afternoon.
Grant funds will be used to relocate current residents of the Riverside Terrace Housing Complex, which is slated for demolition later in the year.
“These grants will be helpful in making sure that displaced Patersonians can land on their feet and more easily transition to new neighborhoods, new schools, and into better opportunities,” said Pascrell. “For so many in Washington, public housing is a forgotten issue and its residents forgotten people. I don’t forget either. As public housing costs skyrocket, we must do more to help our citizens bear the burden and find adequate homes for themselves and their families.”
The federal government last month approved the demolition of the World War II-era housing complex on 5th Avenue.
136 families continue to reside in the rundown housing complex. Irma Gorham, director of the Paterson Housing Authority, said she hopes to relocate all of the residents by Nov. 2018.
The housing project will be replaced with a new 245 units of townhouses for families and senior citizens. Estimated cost for the new project stands at $80 million, according to the developer, Roizman Development of Pennsylvania.
“Our Riverside Terrace families deserve decent housing, and these vouchers will ensure they don’t have to settle to survive. Thank you, Congressman, for helping our families find homes here in Paterson,” said mayor Andre Sayegh.
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Updated 6 p.m.
