Standing on the leveled site that was formerly the Fairfax Gardens public housing project, nearly a dozen figures from the public and private sectors came together on Tuesday to formally break ground on a new mixed-income development.
“Hope VI is a project that represents opportunity for the city of Taunton,” Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. said, referring to the federal HOPE VI grant funding that’s supporting the project. “It takes not one, but two blighted properties and replaces that blight with hope. This project would not be possible without the help of many.”
Through a public-private partnership and with the support of a $22 million HOPE VI grant from HUD, the Taunton Housing Authority and nearly a dozen partners are working to replace the old Fairfax Garden housing project with mixed-income units on two sites.
The THA estimates that the project will be completed within 18 months.