The City of Petaluma is located approximately 40 miles north of San Francisco in southern Sonoma County and is home to approximately 47,000 people. Petaluma is a unique, geographically defined community. The economy is based in agriculture, retail sales, tourism and a growing number of light industrial centers.
The City of Petaluma's 1995-99 Consolidated Plan presents a housing and community development strategy for our community. It includes a one-year action plan for the allocation of 1995-96 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and support for other funding applications, such as the HOME Investment Program, the BEGIN Program, the Emergency Shelter Grant program, and any others which might further City Council goals for assisting low and moderate income residents.
The City of Petaluma has a well-defined citizen participation process, which
allows for "virtual" participation on the part of all sectors of the
community. All decisions are made with the formal and informal advice and
consent of our residents and decision-makers. The CDBG funding process is open
to public comment, each project in the action plan has a built-in planning
process including several public hearings, and the Consolidated Plan process
itself was open to continuous citizen participation before adoption.
Updated census data shows Petaluma with a January 1995 population of 47,000 people, living in 18,500 housing units for a per person household population of 2.54. Family households (i.e. households with children present) constitute 84.7% of these units. Of the family households, 81% are two-parent units, 14% are female only headed and 5% are male only headed.
Of the total population, 92.5% are Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites, 3.4% are Asian or Pacific Islanders, 1.2% are Black, .3% are American Indian, Eskimo. or Aleut, and 2.6% are "other."
The mean income for all households in Petaluma is $45,750. Census data
shows 1,722 people living "below poverty" in a total of 640
households. The total number of families living below poverty in Petaluma is
305. Most of these are families with children under the age of 18; however 24%
are elders over the age of 65.
In the 1980's, attaining the "American Dream" of home ownership for young working families was a major concern. The 1990's brought lower interest rates and with that the opportunity for many first time home buyers to take advantage of the market. However, the threat of loss of middle-income jobs and the concurrent hesitancy to commit to long-term debt renders current buyers equally cautious. Rental vacancy rates remain below 2%, leaving low income households, particularly those with children, in a precarious situation. The increasingly visible homeless population in our community is of concern to our citizens and elected officials.
The City's priority housing needs are low-cost rentals for families and singles. Other priority needs include transitional housing for homeless families and housing for persons with disabilities.
The annual housing production in Petaluma is controlled by the Residential Growth Management System. The total housing stock as of January, 1995 was 18,500 units. Of those 13,375 are single-family detached homes; 1,414 are single-family attached; 3,000 are apartments and 723 are located in mobile home parks.
The proportion of ownership to rental housing is estimated to be 72%-28% respectively. The rental vacancy rate is below 2%. In order to preserve the rental stock, the City General Plan prohibits conversion of rental apartments to condominiums.
The affordable housing needs are for units ranging in size from studio apartments for elders and single adults to 4-bedroom apartments for large families. The City of Petaluma utilizes the existing HUD standard that households should pay no more than 30% of their income on housing. Neither severe overcrowding nor people living in physically inadequate structures have been identified as major problems and there are no disproportionate needs of any racial or ethnic groups.
The challenge with any attempt at enumeration or characterization of the homeless population in Petaluma is that people without housing usually live in circumstances which render it difficult to use ordinary census-gathering techniques. As a result, estimates vary widely about numbers and demographics. The City's year round shelter for children and their families has a capacity of 35 people per night. The unmet need is estimated to be 100 people per night. The cold weather shelter, for adults only, provides shelter for approximately 40 people per night, with an unmet need at 15.
There is no public housing in Petaluma or Sonoma County. Our City-assisted housing inventory includes 25 projects and over 800 units. The inventory includes housing for the entire spectrum of need - two homeless shelters, shared housing, transitional housing, elder rentals, family rentals, first-time home buyer opportunities, rental assistance and housing for persons with a disability. The goal of our Housing program is to be flexible and capable of meeting the changing needs of the community.
We pride ourselves in attempting to turn barriers into opportunities. Availability of land and infrastructure is not a constraint to needed residential growth. All residential sites are considered as potential sites for below-market-rate housing and are capable of being served by existing infrastructure. All low income housing units are exempt from the Residential Growth Management System. Article XXXIV of the California Constitution requires that all publicly subsidized housing projects, which are more than 49% low-income, be offered to the voters for approval. There are non-governmental constraints- escalating land costs and construction costs, interest rates, tax structure.
The community's Fair Housing Office is operated, by contract, by a community-based nonprofit agency. Their agency emphasizes tenant-landlord mediation and education. An Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing will be completed by January 1996.
Using the work sheet provided by HUD to determine the number of homes at highest risk for lead based paint hazards, it is possible that this concern may exist for 2,000 homes owned or rented by low-income households. Staff has an ongoing program to inform the public of the presence, danger and available mitigation measures available to deal with this concern.
Although our community has not utilized Community Development Block Grant
funds for community development programs in the past, programs to develop
expanded employment skills of low-income persons are becoming increasingly
important.
The City of Petaluma will continue to use CDBG and other available funds to pursue the creation and preservation of all types of affordable housing with an emphasis on at risk populations. Aside from housing, other goals are to improve public facilities which serve special needs populations and to provide economic development opportunities for low income groups.
Although the Consolidated Plan requires a precise categorical quantification of priorities and needs, the reality in Petaluma is an ever-changing political, economic, and social milieu which requires adaptations and changes of course to meet the needs of the community.
The City's priority housing needs are low-cost rentals for families and singles. There are requirements for agreements for long-term affordability, geographic distribution around the community, good property management, and service delivery and management.
Priority homeless needs include providing prevention measures, emergency shelter services, and transitional housing for homeless families is the highest priority; priority shelter and services for homeless individuals is the next highest priority.
The highest priority for persons with special needs is housing for persons with a disability of any kind (mental, physical or developmental) and next highest for persons in need of supportive housing.
Any non-housing community development need would be met by utilizing Block Grant funding only if it can be shown that the projects serve a majority of low or moderate income households. To date, decision makers have chosen to utilize our limited funds on affordable housing or improving the access to public facilities for persons with a disability.
Petaluma has 640 households which are categorized as "below poverty." There are a number of social service and public agencies with programs to assist those households. Hopefully their goal is the assistance of each household with employment training, continuing education, and other skill enhancement. The City facilitates those service providers with rent free office space, information and referral, and community-wide, healthy economic development.
There are a number of resources utilized in Petaluma and include CDBG, HOME, Section 8 (administered by the County), Emergency Shelter Grant, BEGIN funds, the MCC Program, Tax-exempt bond financing , our local Housing Fund and others. Since the City does all of its housing business through nonprofit companies, our citizens are fortunate to benefit from their private fund raising efforts.
The City of Petaluma is of course responsible for the management of the
Consolidated Plan, but functions within a diverse institutional structure of
private sector companies, nonprofit organizations, and other public
institutions, all of whom assist in the implementation of the Consolidated Plan.
The Petaluma One-Year Action Plan outlines the proposed use of approximately $524,768 CDBG (including reprogrammed funds):
$150,000 to Innovative Housing for site acquisition for a home in which to operate their shared, supportive housing program. The house is located on San Rafael Drive in Petaluma and will house people from Petaluma and the surrounding region.
$31,240 to Petaluma People Services Center to operate the Rental and Mediation Assistance programs to assist low income households. The agency is located at 1500 Petaluma Blvd., South and the consumers are from Petaluma.
$72,950 to the City of Petaluma to remove architectural barriers in public facilities. The City Hall address is 11 English Street.
$16,760 to Petaluma People Services Center to operate the City's Fair Housing program.
The remainder of the funds are carry-over to complete projects continued from last fiscal year.
Petaluma's housing goals are articulated throughout the Consolidated Plan, the City's Housing Element and the Implementation Plan of the Redevelopment Commission. The elected officials of Petaluma are extremely proactive in their housing goals and policies. They set quantifiable goals and staff responds through the coordination of dedicated community nonprofit developers and agencies.
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 and unemployment levels.
MAP 5 depicts points of interest, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects.
MAP 6 depicts neighborhood streets, unemployment levels and proposed HUD funded projects.
