Located in the southeast corner of Texas, the city of Orange overlooks the Sabine River that separates it from Louisiana. Although the 2000 census lists the population as less than 20,000, Orange was once home to three times that number during the shipping boom that began almost 100 years ago. Around 1914, a 25-foot channel was dredged in the harbor of Sabine Lake, creating a waterway to the Gulf of Mexico and providing passage for large ships. Consequently, shipbuilding flourished during the war years and the city’s population swelled; once the need for war ships subsided, however, the population began to dwindle. World War II brought new demands for ships, for people to build them, and for housing to accommodate the thousands of workers and their families that poured into the area. The installation of a U.S. Naval Station in Orange further increased the city’s population and led to the construction of 254 housing units for military and civilian families in the area now known as Navy Park; a nearby subdivision called Park Place accommodated Naval officers and their households. After the war, the population again declined, leaving more and more housing units unoccupied. By the last decades of the century, the once stylish and respected development known as Navy Park had deteriorated into dilapidated slums.1

Armed with a vision, the blessing of the Orange City Council, and a $900,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Greg Ball is determined to resurrect Navy Park’s long-lost dignity by restoring the development’s original charm and putting it to a noble use: affordable housing for Orange’s disabled, underprivileged, and homeless residents. Ball is President and CEO of Neighborhood Development Corporation (NDC), a local nonprofit organization working to provide permanent housing for the homeless. NDC’s mission is to help reduce homelessness, provide low-income families with safe and affordable housing, and help people in difficult situations become self-supportive, contributing members of the community. To meet this goal, NDC is directing its resources and efforts to revitalizing and sustaining quality neighborhoods that offer low-income, homeless, and disabled people and/or families the specialized help they need to gain stability and live independently. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will not only subsidize the rehabilitation efforts but will offset 70% of rent costs for the new tenants, many of whom are now homeless, have special needs, or are low-income seniors.

Originally built with steel, concrete, and stucco, most of the original Navy Park units are still structurally sound and—once renovated—suitable for habitation; however, years of neglect and the inevitable ravages of vandalism and crime have sullied their once-proud appearance and left many units in need of significant restoration. Of the original 254 units that once comprised Navy Park (which is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places), 237 remain.

Earlier this year, the Orange City Council voted unanimously to allocate $204,695 of federal Community Development Block grant money to NDC to restore several single-family Navy Park homes. To date, 14 units have been renovated with these funds, most of which are now occupied by low-income seniors. According to Ball, homeless tenants worked alongside contractors to complete the makeover.

Soon, ten more units will be restored as part of the Homeless to Homes permanent-housing program, thanks to recently awarded Continuum of Care, Community Development Block, and Meadows Foundation2 grants. The timetable for renovating the remaining units depends largely on the availability of funds, but NDC is determined not only to complete the Navy Park project but to give the entire community a face-lift. “We have funding available to assist the home owners with this,” Greg explains. The city of Orange has recently donated three more units to NDC that have been remodeled and now house low-income and previously homeless seniors. Five more units were donated to a local church; one, a triplex, will be converted into a church and the other, a duplex, will become a youth center.

Greg’s long-range vision includes a community enrichment center with a coffee shop/newsstand, which he says will create “at least two jobs for our homeless residents and provide a place where they can get job info and become involved in the community.” Pocket parks will be created on existing vacant lots so that children will have a playground on every street. For safety’s sake, every street will have sidewalks. NDC hopes to find a developer who will take over a now-defunct neighborhood shopping center and install stores and shops. A half-mile long concrete hike and bike trail will connect Navy Park to the city’s planned riverfront park. Greg also intends to convert a donated Navy Park home into a museum that honors the area’s heritage as a shipbuilding center and the home of numerous servicemen and their families during WWII.

With hard work, the support and generosity of the city, funding from various sources, and a vision of success, Orange’s once-proud Navy Park will soon be returned to its former glory. A new generation of residents—many who could not otherwise afford housing—will raise their families, live in comfort and safety, and provide a remarkable addendum to this historic area’s noble history. 1 The Neighborhood Development Corporation offers a wealth of information on the history of Orange and the Navy Park renovation project. For details, visit www.ndcorp.org. 2 http://www.mfi.org/