Full Text
HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN 1 NARRATIVE: HOUSING ASSISTANCE NEEDS 1. Local Definitions a. Substandard - a unit that does not meet Section 8 Existing Housing Quality Standards; or, that has major, or a combination of minor, local building, electrical, plumbing, or fire safety code violations; or, which is in a building that has major, or a combination of minor, local building, electrical, plumbing, or fire safety code violations. The local codes are more stringent than the Section 8 Existing Housing Quality Standards. b. Substandard Suitable for Rehabilitation - a substandard residential structure is considered suitable for rehabilitation if the current value of the structure, plus the estimated cost of complete rehabilitation, does not exceed a level considered economically feasible, given the property's potential for income after rehabilitation, the estimated operating expenses, and the cost of available mortgage financing. 2. Lower Income Households Expected to Reside - the data for ETR was obtained from H.U.D. 3. The Expected Impact of Conversion of Rental Housing to Condominium or Cooperative Ownership. All condominium plans must be approved by the Lewiston Planning Board. Although a few new condominium units have been built in Lewiston, condominium and cooperative ownership have not caught on in this area. No plans for the conversion of existing rental housing to condominiums or cooperatives are known by the Department at this time. Therefore, the impact of conversion of rental housing to condominium or cooperative ownership is expected to be minimal or nonexistent for the foreseeable future. 4. Lower Income Minority Households - Minorities represent 1.8 (691 persons) of Lewiston's total population and 1.5 total households. Estimates of total lower-income minority households in substandard housing: owner - 4/renter - 31. Due to the lower percent of minority, Lewiston residents, the Census has not published a number of informational tables dealing with the social, income, and housing characteristics of minority households and persons. Due to these facts, it is not possible to make a reasonable estimate of the lower income minority households in substandard housing. An educated guess would put 46 households in this category. Elderly - 19 Small Family - 24 Large Family - 3 Households to be displaced - 0 5. Special Housing Needs of Handicapped Persons - There are currently 36 subsidized housing units in Lewiston for handicapped persons and households. The owners of units in elderly projects report long waiting lists. The need appears to be greatest for elderly and single handicapped, and to a lesser degree for small family handicapped households. ---PAGE BREAK--- HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN 2 6. Special Housing Needs of Single-Headed Households With Dependent Children - Based on 1980 Census Statistics there are 870 single-headed households in Lewiston - an increase of 53% these households with dependent children have incomes that are below poverty level. With 95% targeted to very lower-income households the trend of providing assistance to female headed households with dependent children is expected to continue. 7. Special Housing Needs - As of 1984, the City's 50/50 Housing Rehab Loan Program Guidelines were amended to include boarding and rooming house units. Single room occupancy units have recently been looked upon as a viable housing option for some lower-income individuals. In recent years homeless persons have received a great deal of attention. Lewiston, although it does not have an identifiable population of permanently homeless persons, there is a need to provide shelter for persons in need of temporary shelter. To address this need the City assists social service programs which provide shelter to alcoholics, abused children and women and others who need shelter. ---PAGE BREAK--- HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN 3 TIMETABLE Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total HUD Assisted Rental Housing Programs # Units #Low Inc. # Units #Low Inc. # Units #Low Inc. # Units #Low Inc. Section 8 Exist. 16 16 16 16 16 16 48 48 Sec. 8 Mod Rehab 35 35 34 34 34 34 103 103 Other Renter Programs Rental Rehab (Certificates) 50 50 50 05 50 50 150 150 Rental Rehab (Units to be rehabbed) 40 40 40 40 40 40 120 120 Local 50/50 Rehab (CDBG) 70 68 70 67 70 67 210 202 Section 312 15 3 15 3 15 3 45 9 Weatherization 16 16 18 18 18 18 52 52 Owner Programs Local 50/50 4 4 4 4 4 4 12 12 Weatherization 49 49 50 50 50 50 149 149 NARRATIVE: THREE YEAR GOAL Number of Standard Residential Units to be Demolished by Direct Government Action - We do not foresee the demolition of any standard residential units as a result of direct Federal, State or local actions. In the past year 1988 a new Land Use Code was adopted by the Lewiston City Council. The density of potential housing units to land size was reduced in certain sections of the community to act as an impetus to developers to provide affordable housing. As adopted by the City Council of Lewiston, ME, 1984, we have in place specific actions that the community will take to minimize the displacement of low/moderate income persons. "Displacement", as defined in Section 570.612, means the involuntary movement, except temporary relocation, of a household from a dwelling unit resulting from its acquisition, rehabilitation, or demolition when: 1. Funded in whole or in part with CDBG funds; or ---PAGE BREAK--- HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN 4 2. Funded with non-CDBG funds where the acquisition, rehabilitation, or demolition is prerequisite for an activity carried out with CDBG funds. "Displacement" also means the involuntary movement, except temporary relocation, of a household from a dwelling unit necessitated by CDBG assisted code enforcement. It is the policy of the City of Lewiston to minimize the displacement of persons from their homes and neighborhoods as a result of CDBG assisted activities. The City will take the following steps to minimize the displacement of persons as a result of CDBG assisted activities: 1. All projects proposed for CDBG funding will be screened and evaluated to determine their displacement potential. 2. Any project exhibiting a displacement potential will be returned to the person, agency and/or department which submitted the proposal with a request to either modify the proposed project to ensure that displacement will not occur or to present evidence that the project as proposed (or modified) has the lowest displacement potential of all the alternatives which could effectively accomplish the project's desired goal and to submit a specific plan which mitigates the adverse effects of the proposed project's displacement. This project's specific displacement plan must conform substantially with the City's plan to assist displaced persons, as outlined below. 3. When proposed projects are reviewed by the Planning Board and the City Council, funding priority within project categories (e.g. Neighborhood Improvements, Economic Development, Housing Rehabilitation and Preservation, etc.) will be given to projects which minimize the displacement of persons. 4. In order to minimize displacement caused by the City's CDBG funded 50/50 Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program, no proposals from property owners will be considered if they will result in the displacement of lower-income tenants. In order to minimize economic post-rehabilitation displacements, the property owner must agree to keep rental charges below the amounts the City determines affordable by lower-income people for a period of one year after completion of the rehabilitation. In addition to this means, the City also will use Section 8 certificates, available through the Rental Rehab Demonstration Program, to minimize the displacement of lower-income tenants in buildings rehabilitated through the 50/50 Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program. 5. In order to minimize displacement caused by the City's CDBG funded Code Enforcement Program, it is the City's policy to placard grossly inadequate units or buildings only when the unit or building is vacant. Only in instances of clear and imminent threat to human health and safety will the City declare an occupied unit or structure unfit for human habitation and initiate placarding and eviction procedures. If and when the City takes these actions the City's plan to assist displaced persons, as described below, will be activated. ---PAGE BREAK--- HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN 5 In the event displacement does occur, the following displacement plan will be followed: 1. The City of Lewiston's Department of Development shall be responsible for the administration and implementation of the displacement plan. Staff will be maintained which shall be trained, competent, sensitive to human relationships, and with the skills to administer displacement activities, namely surveys, tenant information programs, tenants' contracts, updated lists of available replacement housing in the area, and other displacement related activities. 2. The City will provide a displacement assistance advisory program for families and individuals to be displaced, the purpose of which is to minimize the hardship of displacement by providing such services as information, listings of available housing, personal contact, counseling and referral, assistance in form preparation, inspection of replacement housing, and assurance that relocation does not result in discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. A relocation specialist will assist displaced persons to move, find comparable housing within the Lewiston-Auburn area, arrange for inspections of replacement housing, obtain assisted housing if it is so desired, and perform other related tasks. Replacement housing will be decent, safe, and sanitary and shall comply with the Housing Quality Standards set forth by the Lewiston Housing Authority. 3. Other means the City has at its disposal to assist displaced persons include the following: the Lewiston Housing Authority is obligated to provide housing and housing assistance to eligible persons displaced by government action. Therefore, displaced persons will receive first preference for admission to the Section 8 Program and for entrance into the elderly and family housing projects. The City provides CDBG funds for a Salvation Army administered "Emergency Assistance Program". These funds will be used to provide short term housing assistance for displaced persons while more permanent quarters are found. 4. The City will use leftover Model Cities funds, the NDP account which in the past has been used to pay certain relocation expenses incurred as part of the NSA Substantial Rehab Program, to pay for moving expenses within the Lewiston-Auburn area. For persons who use a commercial mover, the City will pay for direct costs in an amount not to exceed $300. Payment will be made directly to the commercial mover. For self-moves, the amount will be a flat $150. The City will also pay a dislocation allowance of up to $200 for miscellaneous verified costs related the move such as, the cost for utility connections, etc.. Moving expenses and dislocation allowance will only be paid to persons occupying the property at the time of displacement. Presently, the city is looking at what steps it can take to promote a more active developer/owner participation in the upgrading of its multi-family housing stock. Potentially, we are studying the enhancement of the proportion of city funds into our 50/50 loan program to bring the funding more in keeping with what statistically must be spent to upgrade current substandard housing units. ---PAGE BREAK--- HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN 6 In danger is housing constructed with federal subsidies and insured mortgages in the 60's and 70's. In exchange for federal breaks, landlords agreed to keep rents affordable - 20 years later (now) these restrictions are expiring. Average of $30,000 cost to put into new subsidies. If these units are lost, the cost will be $40-$100,000 for each replacement built. Lewiston has 1,666 subsidized units whose owners will have the decision of going back on into the open market stock during the early 2000's. The City will be looking at what action it can take to lessen the impact of this chain of events on our housing stock. NARRATIVE - ANNUAL HOUSING ASSISTANCE GOALS Actions that will be taken to implement the Three Year Goal - Through its Department of Development, the City of Lewiston, and the Lewiston Housing Authority will aggressively pursue all resources to rehabilitate and upgrade the City's housing stock and to provide rental assistance to its lower-income residents to provide decent, safe, affordable housing to them. As a result of our own self-examination of the 'Affordable Housing Issue' in Lewiston, there may be proposed projects that are unforeseen at this time. If so, their implementation will be pursued and supported. Associated with this self-examination ways to reduce the cost of housing development, such as tax abatement, will be thoroughly examined. The CDBG funded 50/50 Housing Rehab program is an ongoing program administered by the City's Rehab Office. The locally developed guidelines for this program require that rent levels, after rehabilitation, be affordable to lower-income persons. Throughout the ten (10) year existence of this program, approximately 90the units have benefited lower-income persons. The Rehab Office has had a successful track record of implementing Section 312 projects. The Community Concepts under the auspices of Androscoggin Valley Community Action Agency, administers the weatherization program. This program is dependent upon an annual allocation of federal funds. By 1990, Lewiston is projected to have 18citizens classified as elderly (over the age of 62). In 1986, there were 814 units of assisted low-income elderly units in the City. Today there are 300 Section 8 vouchers/certificates held by elderly with another 275 on the waiting list. As the projection of elderly to total population increases over the coming years, more assistance to the elderly will be needed. Projected figures indicate that Lewiston's elderly population will increase 500 over each successive year. Overall, it is expected that more than 85rehabbed units will benefit lower-income persons. The City of Lewiston, through its Department of Development, has in place an expeditious set of procedures for anyone desiring a zone change. ---PAGE BREAK--- HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLAN 7 HAP NARRATIVE / 2ND YEAR In January of 1989, realizing it was time to update our 50/50 Housing Rehab Program, (50/50 HRP) due to increased construction costs and a re-evaluation of our financial policies, our City Council ratified our new 50/50 HRP. Consequently, we have seen a marked increase in participation in our program. Due to a continual decrease in the availability of federal housing funds, Lewiston continues to seek new innovative ways to promote and provide "safe, decent, sanitary housing" for its citizens. By working closely with: developers, the banking community, state regulatory agencies, the federal government, and, in addition, by actively supporting housing legislation such as the "Affordable Housing Partnership Act of 1989," we can realize our goals. By the continued education of ourselves, we will seek new sources of funds, such as the Federal Home Loan Bank's Community Investment Funds We recently saw the groundbreaking of our first C.I.F. project in Lewiston (eight elderly 2-bedroom units with elevator access/ two stores/ three 4-bedroom units). We're now working on a number of projects that will leverage more than one bank's C.I.F. funds against other public/private funding sources. For the first time, Lewiston has two applications pending before Maine State Housing Authority's (MSHA) Rental Loan Pool Program accessing the potential creation of fifty-seven (57) dwelling units, twelve (12) of which will be for low-mod benefit. Working with MSHA's Rental Rehab Program of the forty-seven (47) dwelling units that will be rehabbed - three physically handicapped units and three visual and hearing impaired units will be constructed. Educating the community to the housing needs of Lewiston is paramount to the eradication of these complex social and physical housing problems, our Mayor (in August) established a seventeen (17) member Housing Task Force. Over the next months, this body will be looking at all aspects of the "housing issue" and bringing forth a set of goals, objectives and an implementation strategy.