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Affordable housing proposals on Coast causing concern.

Article Excerpt
If you want to insure minimal participation in a public hearing, hold it on Mardi Gras Tuesday in Gulfport at about the same time and place where a Mardi Gras parade is starting. Or, hold the public hearing across town from the impacted neighborhood in a building with no electricity.

Gulfport Councilwoman Barbara Nalley, who represents the area of Orange Grove north of Interstate 10 in Gulfport, said tactics such as those above have been used by developers of proposed affordable housing projects. She has been to seven public hearings in a week recently on affordable housing projects proposed to take advantage of significant tax incentives through the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act (GOZA).

"I don't have concerns or problems with low- to moderate-income housing," Nalley said. "I have a problem with the process that is being done under the GO Zone Act."

Nalley is uneasy that a large number of tax credit units have been approved by the Mississippi Home Corporation for Gulfport, far more than other Coast cities. There have been 1,071 tax credit units approved so far in Gulfport compared to only 34 in Biloxi.

In addition to concerns that a large number of the projects have been proposed for the Ward...

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