This Boca Raton community, which dates to World War II, wasn’t ever supposed to last this long.
Now, a clearer timeline has started to emerge for the 350 people who live in Dixie Manor, a public housing community at 1350 North Dixie Highway that faces being demolished to accommodate new housing. The changes could start happening sometime within twoto three years, housing officials estimate.
Residents of the mostly Black neighborhood have started bracing for the big changes ahead. “Everybody agrees that this place needs to be knocked down. That’s not the issue,” one resident, 37-year-old Fabiola Bernier, told officials at a recent meeting presented by the Boca Raton Housing Authority.
Bernier’s focus was on how people could afford to move and “go wherever they want to.” She told officials about the “rats, termites and other craziness” and wanted help. “We would like the option to get out of here while you all rebuild this place [and make it] beautiful. And if we want to come back, if we don’t want to come back, we have the option to another place in paradise.”
Steeped in history
The Boca Raton Housing authority, as well as consultants, think the neighborhood is too old to keep upgrading.
John Scannell, executive director of the Boca Raton Housing Authority, said demolition seems the most likely path, but that no decisions have been made yet. When a decision has been finalized, he said the housing authority will work with the residents. Those in good standing will be able to return.
“All residents will receive rental and relocation assistance,” he said.
“It was never, I think, intended to be housing people this long,” said Bill Grindl, a senior associate with TAG Associates of Florida, an affordable housing consulting firm.
The development began as Army barracks for Black soldiers returning from World War II. The city of Boca Raton bought the property in 1952 as a place where farm workers could live. Soon after, the farm’s owner sold much of his farmland, which is now occupied by the Town Center mall, Royal Oak Hills and Boca Square, according to the Palm Beach Historical Society. Other parcels were donated to Florida Atlantic University and The Chapel of Saint Andrew Episcopal Church.
The Housing Authority acquired Dixie Manor in 1979 with $1.4 million in Community Development Block Grant funds. Barracks-style buildings on the site were rehabilitated into 40 rental units in 1982, using $1.3 million in federal funds, and later expanded.
“When the war worker housing was built, units were smaller, small electrical load, so it’s hard to put more modern appliances in; no one was thinking much about air conditioning in those days, and a lot of those things can’t be remedied cheaply in an old building,” Grindl said. “So ‘how do we improve on that and make new and improved housing?’ is really what the feasibility study is all about.”
Changes to come
Officials with TAG maintain that certain upgrades at Dixie Manor are just not possible for buildings of that age and the whole neighborhood would likely need to be demolished.
“It’s not even the price to fix things, it’s the inability to do so,” Jane Dixon, an associate at TAG, said at the housing authoritymeeting with residents. “You’re stuck with a footprint of the unit, and it’s very, very hard to add anything to that unit, including electrical or new plumbing, so sometimes we’re very limited in terms of being able to rehabilitate a property.”
Money for the demolition and reconstruction will come from a combination of sources, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the IRS, Florida low-income-housing tax credits and elsewhere, according to Grindl, who said they will likely need “a lot of money” to do it.
Applications for tax credits and grants would likely be submitted to these funding sources in the fall, and that money would likely come through in the second quarter of 2023, according to Dixon.
Relocation for residents could then begin a few months after that. Residents might be able to move out temporarily as the property is redeveloped or relocate entirely with Section 8 housing vouchers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Everyone will have a place to go,” Grindl said.
Citing concerns
Residents have many lingering questions about the changes ahead.
Issues raised at the most recent City Council meeting were the need for residents to have more representation on the Housing Authority’s Board of Directors, and ongoing security issues in the complex. But the biggest challenge for the residents is knowing where they will continue to live.
One resident expressed concerns in being able to find housing that could accommodate his disability. Representatives of TAG and the housing authority said there will be assistance in finding housing and that, by law, there must be accommodations.
Another resident wanted to move as soon as possible, citing conditions at Dixie Manor, not wanting to wait two or three years.
“These take time to put together. They’re not quick developments,” responded Alex Stone, a lawyer representing the Boca Raton Housing Authority, explaining that they’re at the mercy of the pace of multiple government agencies for funding.
A third resident asked if Dixie Manor is demolished, does the possibility exist that something other than public or affordable housing will be built on the site, like apartments or condominiums, to which Michael Syme, another lawyer representing the housing authority, said no.
“I have my son in the Army and I want, when he comes to visit, that I’m in a better place,” one woman said, in her request for what she’d like, moving forward.
Austen Erblat can be reached at , 954-599-8709 or on Twitter @AustenErblat.
