Westside residents say they don’t want “Purpose Built” in their community and they’re asking other public housing residents to stand with them against the destruction of more public housing sites.
“We are gathered here today to … let the city know that the Westside, and all public housing throughout the city, is not for sale,” Gloria Griffith said Wednesday.
Griffith stood with nearly a dozen Westside residents and members of Chattanooga Organized for Action to oppose the Atlanta-based Purpose Built Communities coming to Chattanooga.
“We, the poor and working-class people, the people of color, the elderly, the youth and young adults and disabled of this community and across the city have been uprooted, moved and marched around this city for far too long,” said Griffith. “At the whims of developers and businessmen, we have continually lost our communities and our homes.”
Griffith is among 2,481 residents, according to the 2010 census, living in a neighborhood made of eight subsidized housing sites. Those are three high-rise apartments for the elderly plus College Hill Courts, the largest public housing site in the city. All are owned or managed by the Chattanooga Housing Authority.