The City of Gadsden is located in the eastern section of the state of Alabama. The principle employers are the Goodyear Tire Company and the Gulf State Steel Company. Transportation needs are served by interstate and rail lines. There are 6 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 3 high schools and 1 junior college. There are two medical centers located in the city limits.
The City of Gadsden's Consolidated Plan is a plan for housing and community development in it's jurisdiction. It includes a one year action plan for spending approximately $1,509,000 of Community Development Block Grant funds in 1995. These funds are to be spent on housing repairs, drainage improvements, street improvements, facade improvements, code enforcement, and a variety of public service activities. In addition, the City has budgeted funds for administration of the program and contingency provisions.
The City of Gadsden, on January 24, 1995 adopted a Citizen Participation
Plan. This plan sets forth the policies and procedures for citizen
participation. The plan encourages citizens to participate in the process,
provides access to records, gives technical assistance to the citizens in
understanding/participating in the process and provides for at least two public
hearings.
The City of Gadsden is located in the eastern portion of the state of
Alabama. According to the 1990 census the population is 40,965. This is down
from 46,911 in the 1980 census data. Low income residents decreased from 47.73%
in the 1980 census to 43.98% in the 1990 census. Median family income was
$29,700 in the 1990 census.
The City of Gadsden primary employers are the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and the Gulf State Steel Company. There is currently a 6% unemployment rate in the City.
The need to continuously maintenance the existing homeowner and rental housing stock continues to be a need meet by the CDBG Housing Rehabilitation Program. It is apparent from census data that very low income families are experiencing costs burden and sever cost burden. More than half of the families with income less than $10,000 pay 35% or more of that income for housing. The area percentage of substandard housing is low (2%). However, low income renters are especially in need of standard housing which is affordable.
The City of Gadsden has a total of 19,146 housing units based on 1990 census data. Of this total 17,512 (65%) are occupied; 11,353 are owner occupied; 6,159 are renter occupied.
Whites occupy 9,038 of the owner occupied units, blacks occupy 2,282 and other races occupy 33 units. White renters total 4,159 and black renters total 1,935.
Vacant housing units total 1,634, of these 214 are for sale and 625 are for rent. The average owner occupied housing unit consist of 6 rooms, while the average renter occupied housing units is 4.5 rooms. There is an average of 2.14 persons in owner occupied units and 1.95 in renter occupied units.
Approximately 2% of the housing units in Gadsden are substandard. There are approximately 8,000 units in need of minor repairs.
Affordable housing is defined by the City of Gadsden as a housing unit in which 30% or less of the household income is used for housing costs. Affordable housing is the main priority of the City of Gadsden. The City will utilize the existing housing rehabilitation program and is developing a new housing construction program in order to expand affordable standard housing to it's citizens.
The rehabilitation program is available city wide if the family is at 80% or less of the median income (assuming they meet other qualifying tests). The new construction is in the early phases and all the details have not been formulated at this time.
The lack of funds to carry out the program, is the largest need in making affordable housing available to all in need of affordable housing.
At the present time it is estimated that there are 31 homeless persons in the Gadsden area, of which 10 are youth and 21 are adults. Most homeless persons are fleeing domestic violence according to local shelters. The existing shelters are capable of meeting the needs of the present level of homeless. The greatest need is for the development of a transitional housing shelter for the homeless.
The City of Gadsden has 1,042 public housing units, managed and administered by the Greater Gadsden Housing Authority. It also has a 98 units of section 8 certificate housing, rental subsidies for 96 units of Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation and 60 units of Section 8 New Construction. All of these units physical conditions meet or exceed HUD's minimum housing quality standards and are in compliance with Section 504 requirements for handicap accessibility.
There are no plans to construct any new public housing units at his time . The jurisdiction is participating in an approved HUD Comprehensive Grant program. In addition, the jurisdiction is participating with the coordinating of local drug elimination strategies, drug counseling for residents, employees, police officers and local leaders/providers.
The greatest barrier to affordable housing at present is funding. As part of the five year plan, the jurisdiction will pursue the construction of new housing for low income citizens.
At the present time there is a lack of private developers willing to invest in the affordable housing market. There are a relatively large amount of vacant housing in the city limits as more citizens relocate to the suburbs. These units are mostly located in areas that have slowly deteriorated over the years and offer few attractions to the new home buyer.
The Operations and Compliance section of the Alabama Sate HUD Office completed a review of the Consolidated Plan submission on May 4, 1995 (in connection with the CPD review of the plan) and there were no problems noted in that review. The City does not consider any of it's policies to preclude fair housing choices for it's citizens.
The City of Gadsden performs lead based paint test on all proposed rehabilitation housing units having a child 7 years or younger in the residence, units built prior to 1978 and units where a visual inspection suggests the possibility of lead based paint.
Where the tests result probe positive, the City removes or covers the affected area. Likewise, each applicant for housing rehabilitation is provided information concerning lead based paint hazards and it's damages.
No other issues were identified in the summary.
The needs to be addressed by the City of Gadsden include housing repairs, drainage improvements, street improvements, facade improvements, code enforcement, and a variety of public service activities.
The City of Gadsden has held meetings with public and nonprofit agencies, emergency shelter directors, health agencies, emergency shelter directors, health agencies, state health department, local, county and state officials.
The interaction is an effort to determine the housing needs of elderly persons, homeless persons, persons with disabilities, persons that fall below the poverty level and others individuals with special needs.
We have asked for reports and information from these agencies in order to
create the consolidated plan. All agencies have been very cooperative in
supplying information for this project.
The City plans to utilize it's available funds to improve it's drainage, street improvements, housing assistance, facade improvement, code enforcement, and the City's public services.
The City plans to use it's available funds to rehabilitate the existing housing stock and is formulating plans for affordable housing new construction. The housing authority will continue it's programs in the public and assisted housing areas. The City and the Housing Authority efforts are aimed at relieving the excessive cost burden that is present in the low income homeowners and renters in the area.
The relief of cost burden to low income home owners and renters is the main priority in the housing area.
The City's non-housing community development plan for the next five years consists of drainage improvements, street improvements and facade improvements. Based on requests made during the citizen participation process, drainage improvements and street improvements are the highest priority non-housing needs in the community.
As a result of interagency meetings, it was discovered that transportation is one of the problems facing persons with income below the poverty level. If they are fortunate enough to have jobs, they have a high absentee records and little chance for advancement due to unreliability.
Taking into consideration the factors within the City's jurisdiction, the City is performing a needs assessment for fixed rate busing service. At present, Dial -A-Ride is available on a 24- hour pre-arranged system at a small fee. The service is good for a lot of people, but is nearly useless for the worker needing transportation to work (due high demand/low capacity at standard work hours).
The City is pursuing a stronger economic base through the CDBG Economic Development Loan Program for small businesses, the Industrial Development Authority and other efforts to create jobs in the area (at least 51% of the CDBG jobs created go to low and moderate income persons in the City).
It is further planned to work toward transitional housing for those homeless individuals who are potentially self-sustaining. Others, such as the mentally or physically ill, must be provided with those tools necessary for a fulfilling life, such as sufficient government subsidies/assistance, counseling, training and affordable housing.
The surest way to prevent poverty is the availability of jobs and adequate training/education. We must strive to make both the economic system and the educational system sufficient to meet today's challenges.
The primary sources of funds to carry out the strategic plan come from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the program income generated from that CDBG grant program, the funds provided to the public housing authority and state funds used indirectly to support the activities stated above.
The City of Gadsden has held meetings with public and nonprofit agencies, emergency shelter directors, health agencies, emergency shelter directors, health agencies, state health department, local, county and state officials.
The interaction is an effort to determine the housing needs of elderly persons, homeless persons, persons with disabilities, persons that fall below the poverty level and others individuals with special needs.
We have asked for reports and information from these agencies in order to
create the consolidated plan. All agencies have been very cooperative in
supplying information for this project.
The City One Year Action Plan outlines the proposed use of $1,509,000 in CDBG funds and program income. These funds will be spent mainly on the following activities:
The location of the projects are primarily located in low-moderate income areas as determined by census track data, recipients are in low-moderate income households (as determined by income verification), slums/blighted areas or a job benefit accruing to a low- moderate income person.
The lead agencies in implementation of the plan is the City of Gadsden, Industrial Development Board, Greater Gadsden Housing Authority, and several local nonprofit organizations that are carrying out activities in the public service program.
The City will assist 18 households through the housing rehabilitation program, assist 50 houses through the emergency home repair program and assist 20 people through the first time homebuyer counseling program.
MAP 2 depicts points of interest and low-moderate income areas.
MAP 3 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and minority concentration levels.
MAP 4 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and unemployment levels.
MAP 5 depicts low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects.
MAP 6 depicts Neighborhood Segments and proposed HUD funded projects.
Mr. Nick Hall
Community Development Planner
City of Gadsden
Post Office Box 267
Gadsden, AL 35999
PH: (205)549-4532
