PSO Transformation

Perkins, Somerset, Old Town Transformation

On July 19, 2018, the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) Executive Director Janet Abrahams, Mayor Catherine E. Pugh, Department of Housing & Community Development Housing Commissioner Michael Braverman, elected officials, residents and partners joined U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Joe DeFelice as he announced a $30 million grant for HABC and the City of Baltimore to implement the neighborhood transformation plan.

The grant, which is provided through HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, will help revitalize the Perkins Somerset Oldtown (PSO) neighborhoods. In November 2017, HABC and the City of Baltimore jointly submitted a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) grant application to HUD to redevelop Perkins Homes and the surrounding community. The PSO Transformation Plan calls for the demolition and redevelopment of Perkins Homes into a vibrant mixed income community with affordable and market rate housing, a new 21st Century school, new community amenities and opportunities, neighborhood improvements, and a supportive services plan aimed at helping families meet their goals.

A Vision for Perkins Homes

Located within minutes of Downtown Baltimore and the thriving waterfront, Perkins Somerset Oldtown (PSO) is a community of over 5,939 residents in 2,122 households. The target public housing site— Perkins Homes—is currently home to 587 families in 629 units. Built in 1942, Perkins Homes has long outlived its useful life such that complete demolition is now necessary. Perkins Homes sits in a community of mostly renters, but the few owner-occupants (just over 11%) are active, and committed to PSO’s rebirth. The long-term vision of the PSO transformation Plan is to transform Perkins Homes and the surrounding community into a Community of Choice, that is inviting, promotes resident pride and unity among neighbors, and is integrated into the surrounding area—a new model for a 21st century urban neighborhood.

The Plan Will Focus On...

1. The redevelopment of Perkins Homes, a 629-unit public housing development in will support and accommodate existing and future residents of diverse incomes, family compositions, and lifestyles. 
2. A coordinated and targeted neighborhood plan that combines infrastructure improvements, economic development, and public safety strategies.
3. A comprehensive human services plan that supports families to increase economic self-sufficiency and improve educational outcomes over the long term.

Three Core Goals

Housing

Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood.

Neighborhood

Attract public and private reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods to improve the amenities and assets (ex. safety, good schools, commercial activity) available to the community.

People

Improve educational and economic outcomes through supportive services delivered directly to youth and their families.

$30 Million Award from HUD

In November 2017, HABC submitted an application for, and was subsequently awarded, a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods (CN) grant from HUD in July 2018 to leverage the redevelopment of 629 public housing units at Perkins Homes. Implementation of the plan requires extensive commitments from a highly qualified team of committed partners and the leveraging of both public and private resources to improve housing access, resident success, and neighborhood vibrancy.

City Springs Elementary Poems & Essays

In a conversation with City Springs School Principal, Rhonda Richetta, about the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Program she shared this perspective: “Our children are growing up in poverty and public housing, so gentrification is not something they are favor of because it doesn’t allow them to remain in their homes”. However, once the Choice Neighborhood Initiative that would benefit Perkins, Somerset and Old Town (PSO) was explained students started talking! They were actually discussing why the Perkins Project was a good thing and what it would mean for them to live in a mixed population neighborhood with a brand new school building!

HUD inspectors were so moved when they saw the students in May that they asked for a copy of the video to present to Congress to appeal to the continuation of the CNI program!

Take a look at the creative expression of City Springs Elementary Youth expressing their support of the Choice Neighborhood Program as they recite poems and essays in the following video.