To the BHA Community:

This has been a tragic and painful week. Nationally, we continue to struggle with a pandemic that has now taken more than 100,000 lives. We have seen yet another murder of an innocent black man in police custody.  And locally, in two of our own public housing communities at Mildred Hailey and Franklin Field Apartments, we have seen tragic and senseless gun violence claim the lives of two men of color and injure several others. My heart and condolences goes out to both of these communities.

It is easy to say that we are all in this together, but communities of color and poor communities bear the burden of racism and inequities in our City disproportionately -- inequities that are literally life-threatening. This was true prior to the pandemic, and the health crisis has only amplified these inequities--from a health perspective but also in terms of who is bearing the economic impact of the crisis.

A few things that have inspired hope for me in recent days: 

-- Resident leaders at the Mildred Hailey Apartments met with partners following the recent shooting incident there.  The virtual meeting included residents, BHA, BPD, and many other partners. It was a painfully honest conversation with all sides sharing their perspective without blame--though many participants challenged each other in a way that left little unsaid. Everyone was trying to navigate the complicated history and current reality at this site and arrive at a response that is balanced between BHA, residents, BPD and the broader community.  The persistence of all of these partners to ensure that families can live in peace is very heartening.

-- Our own BHA police unit, a small but critical force, continues to make a difference every day, operating in a compassionate manner while tackling some of the City's most challenging issues at our sites. Their response this week to the tragic events at Hailey and Franklin Field was humane and skilled, and I admire their experience at de-escalating potentially explosive situations while addressing the incidents at hand. 

-- The work at BHA goes on amidst all of this chaos and pain. We delivered hundreds of meals this week to BHA families and individuals this while still housing new families, making needed repairs, processing applications and resuming construction on 880 new units.

Those are moments of hope for me, and I wish you hope as well even amidst the appalling current reality that we face. We will continue to stand with communities of color and our residents as we navigate the summer to come.

Love and peace to everyone. 

 - Kate