2006 Consolidated Annual Plan
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2006 CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL PLAN City of Houston Bill White, Mayor Housing and Community Development Department Milton Wilson Jr., Director May 2006 MAYOR Bill White CITY OF HOUSTON City Council Toni Lawrence District A Jarvis Johnson District B Anne Clutterbuck District C Ada Edwards District D Addie Wiseman District E M. J. Khan District F Pam Holm District G Adrian Garcia District H Carol Alvarado District I Peter Brown At Large-Position Number 1 Sue Lovell At Large-Position Number 2 Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, M. D. At Large-Position Number 3 Ronald C. Green At Large-Position Number 4 Michael Berry At Large-Position Number 5 CONTROLLER Annise D. Parker TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Executive Summary 2 Introduction 7 Consolidated Plan Amendments 11 Citizen Participation/Consultation 12 Katrina Relief Assistance 14 Resources 18 Activities To Be Undertaken 24 AMHA Committee 29 Multifamily Concentration Policy 29 Matching Contributions 29 Recapture/Resale 30 Geographic Distribution of Funding 31 Affordable Housing 39 Public Housing Improvements 39 Barriers to Affordable Housing 42 Fair Housing 42 Affirmative Marketing Housing Program 43 ii Monitoring 44 Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction 46 Institutional Structure 46 Coordination of Efforts 47 Applications For Funding 49 Proposed Projects 70 Public Comments 123 Certifications 151 Appendices 164 iii MAPS Page Council Districts i Concentration of African Americans 8 Concentration of Asians 9 Concentration of Hispanics 10 Eligible Metropolitan Statistical Area 28 Houston Hope Neighborhoods 32 Community Development Areas 34 Super Neighborhoods 35 Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones 37 Street Overlay Improvements 116 Storm Drainage Improvements 117 Spark (School Park) and Park Improvements 118 Public Facilities Improvements 119 Youth Enrichment Program 120 Economic Development Project 121 iv TABLES Pages Summary of Achievements 5 Federal Resources 21 Other Resources 22 2006 Consolidated Annual Plan 23 Estimate of Thirty-Second Year CDBG Program Income 56 FY 2006 Program Summary Budget 68 v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2006 Consolidated Annual Plan covers the City of Houston’s Fiscal Year 2007, which extends from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007. However, funds financing the Plan’s community improvement projects are from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fiscal Year 2006 Formula Allocation, which covers October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006. The 2006 Consolidated Annual Plan builds on the Five-Year Strategy (2005 Consolidated Plan), first by evaluating Housing and Community Development Department’s (HCDD) success in achieving objectives for FY ’06 and second, by linking program goals/objectives to performance outcomes. A summary of achievements is outlined on page 5. The City’s improvement strategy is based on funding priorities designed to benefit low and moderate-income residents in Houston. Priorities are divided into four (4) categories: Housing; Supportive Services; Economic Development; and Infrastructure/Neighborhood Facilities. Production/preservation of safe and sanitary “affordable housing” remains paramount in the city’s efforts to assist income-eligible residents and revitalize neighborhoods. In the Consolidated Plan, housing goals are divided between single-family and multifamily projects and among rehabilitation, acquisition and homebuyer assistance. In the first year of the new Five-Year Strategy, HCDD has had mixed results in achieving the Department’s housing objectives. Specifically, HCDD assisted 124 homebuyers despite its efforts to achieve the objective of 300 homebuyers. Additional complications resulted from the unavailability of HOME dollars until October 2005, the redesign of the Homebuyer Assistance Program and the associated learning curve, which when combined impeded HCDD’s efforts to meet its objectives, especially during critical periods. Nevertheless, in the Fall of 2005, HCDD successfully launched a fully operational Homebuyer’s Assistance Program. As a result, HCDD is now confident that Homebuyer Assistance objectives will be met in the new fiscal year. The Department continues to promote Homebuyer Assistance through outreach in the form of promotional/educational seminars being held citywide. Unfortunately, additional obstacles prevented HCDD from meeting other housing objectives outlined in the 2005 Consolidated Plan. Those objectives involved the rehabilitation of 158 single-family structures and the acquisition and/or rehabilitation of 400 multifamily units. Suspension of the use of Community Development Block Grant funds, by HUD, removed a significant resource for financing rehabilitation of single-family housing. Added to this, HUD required HCDD to clear “findings,” through re-inspection of work previously performed on 2,200 single-family units. Following these inspections, HCDD must pursue corrective measures where appropriate. 2 In order to expedite this process, the Department is reviewing original work write-ups, cost estimates and quality of construction originally completed under this program. The Department will closely monitor all re-work activities. In the case of multifamily housing, HCDD has experienced some success in upgrading the stock of rental units. By the end of Fiscal Year 2006, the Department will have financed the rehabilitation of approximately 150 units and the construction of close to 340 new multifamily units. For single-family rehabilitation, homebuyer assistance and multifamily acquisition/rehabilitation, HCDD has reviewed both program operations and available resources to make necessary realignments in order to achieve housing objectives in Fiscal Year 2007. The Department did exceed its objective in the number of those with “special needs” (e.g., Homeless, HIV Positive, Mentally Ill, Disabled, etc.) sheltered during Fiscal Year 2006. With an objective of sheltering 4,844 clients, HCDD used federal resources to shelter 5,399 individuals. In addition, the City through HCDD was equally successful in the provision of supportive services, consistently surpassing the numerical objectives for elderly, youth and “special needs” populations served. In some cases, the actual numbers tripled the Department’s expectations. For example, with elderly residents, the objective was to assist 1,208 seniors, when in fact 5,465 were served. The objective for youth/children, 2,685, was almost tripled by the 7,454 who benefited from federally-funded programs. Among the “special needs” population, HCDD sought to assist 5,665 and exceeded the goal by 1,551 clients. HCDD also succeeded in the area of economic development. Houston Business Development (HBD), Incorporated provided invaluable assistance to existing and potential small business owners through the revolving loan fund and other special services. During Fiscal Year ‘06, HBD assisted 747 small business owners, exceeding the objective of 684. Also exceeded was the objective of assisting fifteen (15) potential small business owners, when in fact twelve (12) times that number (180) received assistance. Infrastructure and neighborhood/public facilities were the fourth component of HCDD’s strategy to revitalize low and moderate-income areas. The Department’s objective was to upgrade streets, storm drainage, parks, branch libraries and community centers in income-eligible neighborhoods. Capital improvements provide the foundation for revitalization activities, clearly demonstrating the City’s commitment to preserving these targeted areas through investment of public resources. Specifically, one of HCDD’s objectives was to upgrade streets in three (3) neighborhoods, which was exceeded because streets in seven (7) communities were improved. Storm drainage improvements were completed in two (2) neighborhoods, satisfying 3 the Department’s objective. HCDD financed the improvement of twenty-one (21) parks, more than double the objective of ten (10) and secured improvements at seven (7) branch libraries, more than triple the objective of two (2). The Housing and Community Development Department (HCDD), on behalf of the City, has succeeded in leveraging resources to provide shelter, supportive services and economic development assistance to the targeted population. Furthermore, the completion of infrastructure/neighborhood facilities projects surpassed HCDD’s expectations. However, this success is moderated by the fact that housing objectives were not fully realized. HUD has added a new dimension to the analysis of improvement strategies. Now for each goal and the related objective(s), HCDD must include a measurement of projected outcomes. Individual projects funded through the 2006 Consolidated Annual Plan are linked to one (1) of three (3) goals: suitable living environment; decent housing; and economic development. The resulting objectives and outcomes fall into one (1) of three (3) categories: availability/accessibility; affordability; and sustainability. As with previous Consolidated Plans, HCDD has solicited input from residents, neighborhood-based organizations and non and for-profit agencies in the planning process. In preparation of the Plan, HCDD sponsored three (3) public hearings and also participated at the twelve (12) Budget Public Hearings sponsored by the City of Houston. HCDD developed informational/promotional material about the Consolidated Plan that was available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese and was distributed citywide. Municipal Channel filmed all of the hearings and HCDD paid for captioning at the Department-sponsored Public Hearings. Care