HAWS Promotes Kevin Cheshire And Looks To Facilitate Sale Of The Skyline Village Apartments

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Yesterday, the Winston-Salem Housing Authority named Kevin Cheshire its new executive director. Kevin Cheshire previously served as the Vice President of Real Estate Development and General Counsel at HAWS, where he has been employed since 2013. He replaced Larry Woods, who retired at the end of December. Cheshire told the Journal’s Wesley Young that “the mission of HAWS stays the same: To help individuals move in, up and out of assisted housing.”

Our local housing authority has a shameful history of evicting tenants “out of assisted housing.” Kevin Cheshire is the first white leader of the Winston-Salem Housing Authority in decades.

HAWS’ CEO Larry Woods Is Retiring

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Larry Woods officially announced his retirement yesterday at the Winston-Salem Housing Authority’s monthly meeting on the third floor of the Loewy Building. Woods fought back tears as he accepted a plaque from HAWS’ Board Chair, Arthur King. Larry Woods has been the Chief Executive Officer of HAWS since December 2006. His retirement has been long rumored. A replacement for Woods is expected to be named soon.

Breaking Crystal: What We’ve Learned In The Year Since HAWS Announced Plans To Sell Crystal Towers

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It was one year ago to the day that the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem (HAWS) announced that it was putting Crystal Towers up for sale. The 11-story high-rise located at 625 West Sixth Street in downtown Winston-Salem, opened in 1970 and is home to approximately 200 residents.* According to Heather Fearnbach, the woman who wrote the book on Winston’s architectural heritage, Crystal Towers was the city’s first high-rise dwelling erected since the late 1920s. Crystal Towers, (along with its sister high-rise, Sunrise Towers) was designed to serve as housing for the elderly. Today, one hundred percent of Crystal Towers’ residents are elderly and or people with disabilities. These are the last folks that the Housing Authority should be evicting.

Avoiding Eviction Shouldn’t Be A Game Of Chance

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“I’m one step away from being the person on the street.”  -Cleveland Avenue Resident

Lots of folks enjoy games of chance, even though they know that the odds are stacked against them. Such games are a mainstay of the Dixie Classic Fair. Beating the odds, taking home a silly prize, that’s the game. And that’s great if you’re fifteen and want to impress your girlfriend to such an extent, that you’re willing to leave the fair with empty pockets. But, none of us would tolerate having a good or service that we desperately need being reduced to a game of chance.

New Hope Manor Revitalization Moves Forward

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The Winston-Salem City Council’s Finance Committee recently gave their reluctant approval to HAWS’ plan to revamp the troubled New Hope Manor apartment complex. After months of debate and examination, the matter will now go before the entire city council. Apparently, the finance committee feels like its time for the city to act. After all, the city council isn’t a debating society. Nearly every council member has expressed misgivings about the Housing Authority’s plans.

City Council Notes: DTWS Strip Club Zoned Out Of Business, Rolling Hills Bonds Approved

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Here’s a look at some highlights from Monday’s full meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council. 

A resolution honoring the Winston-Salem Chapter of the Top Ladies of Distinction, INC was approved. A resolution honoring the city’s SOAR, Successful Outcomes After Release Program was approved. More job programs are needed to reintegrate ex-prisoners back into society. SOAR received 120 applications for the eight slots available in the program. Ordnance renaming a disconnected section of Maple Street to Earline Parmon Drive passed unanimously.

Troubled Apartments In Winston Show Section 8’s Failure

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Run-down, sub-standard apartments have dominated a slow news cycle this summer. It’s rare for the plight of poor renters to garner much attention in Winston, a city that care much more about developers than renters. You might have thought slum were a thing of the past, but they’re a problem that the city of Arts and Innovation hasn’t eliminated. Deplorable conditions at New Hope Manor Apartments, located off Cleveland Avenue and Rolling Hills Apartments, located off of New Walkertown Road are an embarrassment to the city. They’re yet another example that as Downtown Winston flourishes, East Winston is being left behind.

HOPE VI Demolished Happy Hill

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“They took one of the old notorious housing projects, and they leveled it and rebuilt it as “Mixed Income Housing”. It’s called “Hope Six,” and it’s supposed to… sort of rejuvenate everything. It certainly looks a lot better.”           -Paul Schwartzman

 

British rock veteran P.J. Harvey recently released her new album titled, The HOPE 6 Demolition Project. Harvey traveled to war-torn Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington D.C. to find material for the Hope Six Demolition Project.