The City of Lompoc's 1995 Consolidated Plan is a comprehensive strategy that replaces the Comprehensive Housing Assistance Strategy (CHAS) for 1994-1998. The Consolidated Plan is a 5-year planning document that: 1) identifies housing needs and problems; 2) analyzes market conditions and resources; 3) sets priorities and adopts strategies for addressing the identified needs; 4) allocates resources; and 5) proposes an annual plan which identifies the uses for federal funds, indicating the activities on which they will be spent, and sets goals for the number and type of households to be assisted in the applicable federally-funded programs. The resources available and activities to be undertaken will occur during the City of Lompoc's 1995 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 1995 and ends June 30, 1996.

Action Plan

The City of Lompoc's Consolidated Plan for 1995 includes availability of a total combined HOME and CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding amount of $1,030,252. This funding is available for the purposes of supporting affordable housing, economic development, community development, and human services programs. The City is also considering application to HUD for Section 108 funding, which will provide a loan against future CDBG funds. These CDBG funds would be utilized for economic development purposes in order to both retain and create jobs within the City of Lompoc.

Citizen Participation

The Consolidated Plan has been subject to a significant amount of in-put and consultation from and with social service providers and the general public. On January 12, 1995, a notice for the Needs Assessment Hearing for Community Development Block Grant, HOME and Human Services applications was published in the Lompoc Record, a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Lompoc. In addition to the published notice, approximately 75 notices were mailed to past applicants, government agencies, non-profit corporations, and other organizations that had expressed interest in the program.

The Needs Assessment Hearing was held on January 23, 1995 at the Lompoc Library. Twenty-six members of the public were in attendance, as were members of the Lompoc Human Services Commission, which evaluates and determines funding for program applications. Spanish translation was available. The comments from the public at this meeting expressed the need for funding for youth, homeless, and senior services, rehabilitation of low income mobile home parks and rental housing, and more economic development loans to create jobs in the Lompoc area.

A 30-day review period for the Draft Consolidated Plan began on March 31, 1995, when the City made the Draft available at City Hall and at the Lompoc Public Library. Notice was published March 31, 1995, in the Lompoc Record, informing the public of the 30-day review period and the public hearing before the Lompoc City Council on May 2, 1995.

The City of Lompoc is located approximately 55 miles north of the City of Santa Barbara, in the central western area of Santa Barbara County. Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB) lies ten miles northwest of Lompoc and is one of the City's primary sources of employment. Outside of Vandenberg AFB and its adjacent communities, the remainder of the area surrounding the City of Lompoc is rural. The population of the City of Lompoc increased dramatically from 26,267 residents in 1980 to 37,649 in 1990, a jump of 43.3 percent. However, since 1990, population growth has slowed considerably — between 1990 and 1994, there has only been an 8.5 percent increase in the City's population, with the current figure being 40,861.

The City of Lompoc became a bedroom community in the 1980s due to an in-migration of residents employed in other areas of Santa Barbara County during that time. In fact, almost half (47.7 percent) of all workers residing in Lompoc work outside the City. In particular, given the high cost of both rental and ownership housing in much of Santa Barbara County (particularly in the cities of Santa Barbara and Solvang, as well as in the Santa Ynez Valley), low wage earners find Lompoc housing prices very attractive.

The 1990 Census provided an overview of the general characteristics of the population in the

City of Lompoc. Of the 37,649 residents of the City counted by the 1990 Census, 60.6% were White, 26.8% were Hispanic, 6.6% were Black, 5.0% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.9% were Native American. The most important population trend in terms of ethnicity in Lompoc has been a substantial increase in the population of Asian/Pacific Islanders and Hispanic persons.

The 1990 Census found that the median household income in Lompoc was $31,702. In general, the City of Lompoc is largely middle class; its large federal job base (Vandenberg AFB and the Federal Penitentiary and Federal Correctional Institution) provides most of the City's residents with a moderate level of income. However, in 1990, 14% of Lompoc's residents were living below the poverty level. Of these residents, the majority are children—of the total number of children (0- 17 years) living in Lompoc, almost 25% are living below the poverty level, much greater than in Santa Barbara County as a whole.

Tenure status data from the 1990 Census showed that the residents of the City are almost equal in terms of the number of people who live in rental housing (49.3%) and the number who live in owner-occupied housing (50.7%).

Conditions

The need for large-scale rehabilitation (at least of exterior elements) of the City's housing stock is relatively modest. A windshield study conducted by the City of Lompoc's Community Development Department in 1991 found that 84 percent of the City's housing units were well- maintained and appeared in adequate or better condition. Approximately 16 percent of the City's housing appeared in need of some form of rehabilitation. The vast majority of units requiring rehabilitation were in average/acceptable condition and appeared in need of relatively small financial expenditures (under $10,000 per unit) to be returned to good condition. Slightly more than 2 percent (257 units) of the City's housing stock was severely deteriorated, requiring a large expenditure of funds (more than $10,000 per unit) to repair. At least 18 units appeared to have deteriorated beyond reasonable economic repair and needed to be replaced.

Housing Needs

As reported in the 1990 Census, there were 3,520 very low income households within the City of Lompoc (28.2% of all City households). These households have incomes that are between 0 and 50% of median income. Of these, over 75% (2,600) reported housing problems of cost burden, overcrowding, and substandard conditions. Housing problems within the City of Lompoc are disproportionately experienced by very low income households occupying rental units; this group of renter households represents one of the City's highest priorities in terms of housing need.

Housing Market Conditions

In the City of Lompoc's rental housing market, there has been a steady vacancy rate for several years (8.7% as of February 1995 and 7.6% as of the 1990 Census). This compares to a Santa Barbara County average of 5.0 percent. The rental market has been relatively stable in recent years, and this vacancy rate level is projected to continue. In the ownership housing market, the rate of transfer and price levels have declined considerably in the 1990s. According to the Lompoc Board of Realtors, only 22 single family homes and 3 condominiums were sold in March 1995, out of a stock of more than 6,500 owner-occupied units. There are currently far more sellers than buyers.

Affordable Housing Needs

In the 1990 Census, there were 409 one and two member elderly households below 50% of median income who rent in the City of Lompoc. Of those, 265 (65%) reported paying more than 30% of their income in rent. The number of these elderly renter households which overpay for their housing costs is expected to rise to 304 by 2000.

While elderly households constitute only about 25% of all of the City's owner households, they are the most likely of all owner households to be in the very low income category. In fact, 17% of all elderly homeowners are in the very lowest income bracket (0-30% of median income). Not surprisingly, the majority of these households (63%) report severe cost burden in that they pay over 50% of their income for their housing costs. By 2000, it is projected that there will be 648 elderly owner households with very low incomes in the City.

Very low income smaller households are more likely to reside in trailer parks. The City of Lompoc has six trailer parks in which the housing units are in very poor condition. Residence in one of the City's problematic trailer parks is more likely for households of unrelated persons. Farmworkers are, in particular, likely to live in trailers and outdated mobile homes, for these housing units often represent the bottom rung of the housing market and are one step away from homelessness.

There were 2,284 "Other Low Income" households within the City in the 1990 Census. This group includes households earning 51% to 80% of median family income. Notably, very few households in this group pay more than 50% of their monthly income for housing expenses, in contrast to very low income households. Small elderly renter households (one and two members) who are in the upper third of the low income category experience a relatively low amount of housing problems compared to other low income categories.

Homeless Needs

While the 1990 Census measured 21 persons in "emergency shelters," the City of Lompoc is aware that the homeless count has been judged to be inaccurate and that the actual number of homeless individuals in the City is higher. The City's Food Pantry program has been keeping an unofficial tally of local homeless individuals, which show that there are approximately 300 homeless persons in the Lompoc area in 1994.

The City of Lompoc strives to provide a continuum of care for its homeless residents, ranging from basic shelter needs to supportive services designed to provide the care and assistance necessary to return the homeless to the mainstream of society. The City's Human Services Commission coordinates efforts in the community to prevent homelessness as well.

There are only two shelter facilities operating in the City for homeless and potentially homeless individuals: the Lompoc Homeless Shelter, which operates a hotel vouchers program (the bed capacity corresponds to the number of hotel vacancies and there is a three night limit to the shelter provided) and Shelter Services for Women, which operates a shelter with a capacity of ten women and children. Several churches also permit intermittent use of their facilities for temporary shelter, particularly during the colder months of the year. There are no "day shelter" facilities in Lompoc to provide food, clothing, personal property storage, employment referral, showers, or similar services to the homeless.

Public and Assisted Housing Needs

There are seven separate public housing developments located within the City of Lompoc's boundaries. Almost all of these complexes are participating in the Comprehensive Grant Program at some point in the next five years. Planned repairs slated to be made include modernization, lead- based paint abatement, and some mechanical systems replacement.

There are 21 project-based Section 8 units in the City of Lompoc and 470 tenant-based certificates and 67 vouchers in the Lompoc area. This number has remained relatively constant over the past 3 years. The County Housing Authority closed its waiting list at the end of 1994 as there were three times the number of people on the waiting list than there are certificates.

Barriers to Affordable Housing

While governmental regulation is necessary to protect the quality of development in a community, it increases the cost of development and thus the cost of housing. There are a number of public policies adopted by the City of Lompoc, County of Santa Barbara, and State of California that affect housing affordability or availability in Lompoc, such as fees for on- and off-site improvements, school fees, and other fees tied to land development within the City. The City departments which levy fees include: Community Services, Utility, Police, Fire, and Parks and Recreation. State fees are mainly those required by the California Department of Fish and Game which charges a filing fee on new development to defray the cost of managing and protecting wildlife resources.

Article 34 of the California Constitution can impose constraints on some affordable housing options by requiring local voter referendum approval of all development, construction, or acquisition of public housing when: a) units are publicly owned; and b) units are privately- owned and publicly financed, and more than 49 percent of the units are reserved for low- income occupancy.

In terms of non-governmental barriers to affordable housing, the largest is the lack of ready financial resources with which to develop new affordable housing opportunities and to rehabilitate and preserve existing affordable units.

Lead-based Paint

Based upon the 1990 Census and the estimated number of lead based paint hazard units in the City is 6,311 or 47.6% of the total number of housing units in the City of Lompoc. If the City of Lompoc's Building Department records are used to arrive at an estimate, the incidence is slightly higher, with 6,750 or 55.2% of all housing units in the City containing lead based paint.

Community Development Needs

Job growth throughout Santa Barbara County has been very slow, especially during the years of the recent recession. The Lompoc Valley has been particularly hard hit, having enjoyed a sharp rise in employment during the early to mid-1980s, only to suffer from a dramatic loss of jobs in the late 1980s. As a result, from 1980 to 1990, the region saw only a slight employment increase of 14.5 percent (2,041 jobs).

An analysis of the three-year period of 1992-1994, the City of Lompoc's unemployment rate has almost constantly remained above 10 percent. In fact, during the first few months of both 1993 and 1994, the unemployment rate was slightly more than 12%, with a three-year high in January 1994 of 12.9%. In comparison, the County of Santa Barbara, while subject to many of the same economic trends as the City of Lompoc, had an unemployment rate which remained at least 3% lower than the City during the same time period.

Visions for Change - Overall Goals

The City of Lompoc has as its overall goals the revitalization of neighborhoods, economic development and prosperity, the provision of improved community facilities, the prevention and elimination of blighted areas, and adequate affordable housing opportunities for very low, low and moderate income families.

Housing Priorities

The City of Lompoc's 1995 Consolidated Plan is specifically focused on provision of affordable housing to very low and low income households, with some consideration given to the needs of moderate income households. Several priorities have been selected for highest consideration:

Objective 1: Reduce Severe Cost Burden

The City of Lompoc will work to address this need by supporting efforts to reduce the cost burden of small household renters, especially elderly renter households.

The City has recently distributed $965,500 in HOME funds from the State to 58 Lompoc low income households for closing costs or soft second loans to help reduce the mortgage costs associated with their home purchases. The City will seek additional funding to continue this program when feasible. The City of Lompoc also has executed a cooperative agreement with the Santa Barbara County Housing Authority to operate the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) Program to assist first-time homebuyers within the City.

More than 2,000 housing units are currently in need of at least minor rehabilitation. Approximately 200 of these units require major rehabilitation with expenditures of more than $10,000. The City will continue to operate the City's housing rehabilitation program for existing low income homeowners to encourage neighborhood improvement and conserve the existing housing stock.

The City of Lompoc is working toward assisting residents of mobile home parks to organize, acquire, and operate their parks as resident-owned facilities. As part of this effort, the majority of existing mobile home and trailer housing units would be upgraded or replaced.

Non-housing Community Development Priorities

Creating new jobs in the City of Lompoc is the primary goal of the City's Economic Development Office, which administers the CDBG funding. Employment in the Lompoc Valley is projected to increase to almost 21,817 by 2000 (as compared to an estimated 19,029 in 1995). While there would be an overall increase of 15 percent in the total number of jobs in the area, most of this new employment would be in the service sector, which historically means relatively low wages. Therefore, the City works to provide loans primarily to enterprises which create new manufacturing, higher paying jobs.

Anti-Poverty Strategy

Poverty levels have risen throughout Santa Barbara County since 1980, largely due to the severe recession which has affected California since the early 1990s. In the City of Lompoc, the poverty level increased from 12.4% in 1980 to 14.0% in 1990.

The City's primary anti-poverty strategy is twofold: to encourage the expansion of the affordable housing stock in order to reduce housing costs for poverty level households, and to strongly support efforts of the local private sector to locate new and expand existing businesses, with the aim of increasing overall local employment and the aggregate wage levels of employees. In addition, the City will strive to increase access to services for the poor, such as child care, job training, and other programs. While the City of Lompoc does not directly provide these services, it does provide partial funding from CDBG for local social service agencies.

Housing and Community Development Resources

The following resources which are expected to be available for affordable housing were identified in the City of Lompoc's 1995 Consolidated Plan.

The City of Lompoc participates in the Santa Barbara County HOME Consortium, which was formed in 1994 and will receive its first entitlement grant of $1.3 million in July of 1995. As part of the Consortium, the City of Lompoc will receive $169,286 in HOME funds in FY 1995, and expects to receive approximately $677,000 in additional HOME funds from 1996 to 2000. In addition, affordable housing projects in the Lompoc HMA will be eligible to receive $126,400 in County HOME funds in 1995.

In addition to the direct HOME funding amount mentioned above for 1995, the City of Lompoc expects to receive an additional $21,026 in HOME program income from repayment of first-time homebuyer loans.

The City of Lompoc receives Community Development Block Grant funds as an entitlement city; it has such status because it is a Center City (i.e., a CDBG entitlement jurisdiction). The City's CDBG allocation for 1995 is $680,000. The City of Lompoc expects to receive an additional $115,800 in CDBG program income from repayment of housing rehabilitation loans and $44,140 from repayment of economic development loans.

The City has supported a strategy for utilizing Community Development Block Grants to provide low interest loans for multi-family rental housing rehabilitation. In addition, program funds from CDBG have been very effectively leveraged with other public and private funds to complete an impressive array of assisted housing programs and projects.

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program provides a major source of equity for the construction and rehabilitation of low income housing. This federal subsidy is allocated through the State of California on a competitive basis. Low Income Housing Tax Credits have been obtained for the Casa Serena senior housing project.

The boundaries of the 81-acre redevelopment area in the City of Lompoc are generally north of Cypress and south of Chestnut Avenue, east of "K" Street and west of "C" Street. The local Redevelopment Agency estimates that $18,000 will be available for FY95 housing activities.

The following resources which are expected to be available for community development were identified in the City of Lompoc's 1995 Consolidated Plan:

As discussed above, the City of Lompoc receives Community Development Block Grant funds as an entitlement city and its CDBG allocation for 1995 is $680,000. Approximately 35% of the City's CDBG funding ($242,000 in 1995) is used in approximately equal portions for economic development and public works projects benefiting low income persons. In addition, CDBG program income from repayment of economic development loans and payment of interest from outstanding loans is recycled back into economic development projects. The City of Lompoc expects to receive an additional $44,140 from repayment of economic development loans in 1995.

Coordination of Strategic Plan

The City of Lompoc intends to continue to coordinate very closely with the Santa Barbara County Housing Authority, County of Santa Barbara Affordable Housing Program, non-profit housing and service providers, and private sector builders, developers, and operators of low income housing. In addition, the City will also continue to work together with the local business community, the local economic development corporation, and the County of Santa Barbara's Economic Development Office to develop and preserve jobs for Lompoc residents.

The City of Lompoc's Economic Development Office will be responsible for monitoring the expenditure of HOME and CDBG funds by the City and any subrecipients or contractors.

Description of Key Projects

The City of Lompoc has, for FY95, funding available for the purposes of supporting affordable housing, economic development, community development, and human services programs. The funding levels for the various programs are as follows:

The following are a description of key projects:

Housing Rehabilitation Program

The program provides low interest loans to low income homeowners, including deferred loans and grants for emergencies and energy improvements. Loans are also made to rehabilitate same apartment complexes housing low and very low income tenants. To accomplish this housing rehabilitation program, the City is proposing to spend its allocation of HOME funds ($169,286), a portion of its CDBG funds ($115,800), and the funds generated from repayment and interest on previous loans made in previous years from HOME Program funds. The program staff is located in the Economic Development Office in City Hall.

For FY95, the City will provide $242,000 in CDBG funds for economic development. If economic development proposals exceed the economic development allocation for FY95 by a significant amount, it is proposed to apply for a Section 108 loan from HUD of up to $3.4 million to provide needed loan amounts. As with other CDBG revolving loans in the City, the underwriting analysis and document preparation will be done by the Central Coast Development Corporation for a one point fee. Proposed projects include: the renovation of the Plaza Inn, upgrading it to a Holiday Inn Express, a brew pub proposed for the northwest corner of H and Ocean, a theater complex in the Old Town Redevelopment Area, the possible expansion of Lompoc Toyota, and the reuse of old VW dealership location at 901 E. Ocean Avenue.

The City will allocate $200,000 of its FY95 Community Development Block Grant funds to renovate and reuse the Veterans' Building as a Senior/Multi-Purpose Center. Much of the anticipated costs are expected to relate to improvements to comply with the Americans Disability Act.

The amount of funding for the Human Services Program for this year is $102,000 from the Community Development Block Grant funds and $23,000 from donations to the Human Services Commission from private sources. The services supported by this funding include senior and handicapped in-home support, off-site support and referral, transportation services, medical referral, nutrition and surplus food services. The City will continue to provide support to the Lompoc Homeless Shelter, Catholic Charities, and the Lompoc Food Pantry, which are local non-profit agencies that are integral to the City's commitment to providing a continuum of care to the homeless.

Maps

MAP 1 depicts points of interest in the jurisdiction.

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 points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects.

Tom Martin, Principal Planner
City of Lompoc
P.O. Box 8001
100 Civic Center Plaza
Lompoc, CA 93438-8001
PH: (805) 736-1261