The following resources are expected to be available to address the priority needs and specific objectives identified in the strategic plan for housing and non-housing community development needs in West Lafayette.
The Code Enforcement program has been quite successful in the leveraging of funds. Inspection fees are assessed and it is anticipated that fees will be increased during this next program year. The fees cover approximately fifty percent of the cost of the program. Additionally the rehabilitation of rental properties are completed with private funds.
Funds will be provided to public facilities of social service agencies on a match basis. The match funds are expected to come from private fund raising efforts by the agency or neighborhood group involved. This results in the agency solicitation of funds from the Community Foundation/Major Donors/United Way as well as individual agency fund raising campaigns.
Sidewalk/curb improvements involve financial participation by the property owner and major improvements in business areas may include Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) and Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) as other sources of funding. Tree plantings related to sidewalk improvements may require owner commitment to planting and continued maintenance. In many instances the tree plantings have involved volunteer labor.
Morton Community Center. The City purchased the property from the West Lafayette School Corporation with the use of CDBG funds and the major renovations converting the elementary school to reuse as a year-round community center have come from the Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT). EDIT funds paid for the installation of an elevator, remodeling two restrooms to meet accessibility requirements and major improvements to the heating and ventilation system to include air conditioning. The funding of operational expenses comes from the City of West Lafayette Parks and Recreation Department general funds including incomes generated by some of the Morton programs. Other rehabilitation activities will utilize both EDIT and CDBG funds.
No social service agency receives 100% funding from the CDBG program. Other sources of funding are diverse but include a number of federal and state programs as well as private charitable efforts and United Way.
The administrative costs for the micro-loan program will be provided by the City and other participating organizations including private donations. Participating agencies include local banks and corporations, Small Business Development Center, Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Black Chamber of Commerce, Greater Lafayette Progress and the City of Lafayette.
The City Parks and Recreation Department provides the labor for some park improvements. The main funding source for the Department is through property tax revenues through the City budget and program incomes. It should be noted that the State has imposed property tax controls on local governments since 1973, restricting the City's ability to raise adequate funds to stay parallel with local needs.
Publicly Owned Land
The City does not currently own any vacant land suitable in size or location for community development projects.
Geographic Distribution
Activities will take place mainly within the target areas as determined by the following Census Tracts/ Block Groups: 52/500, 53/200, 54/100, 54/200, 54/300, 55/100 and 102.02/900. Additional direct benefit activities and Architectural Barrier Removal projects will take place City wide.
Homeless and Other Special Needs Activities
The City of West Lafayette will support homeless and other special needs activities consistent with the Tippecanoe County Continuum of Care. These activities include:
Other Actions
The City of West Lafayette's main obstacle to meeting underserved needs is lack of sufficient funding. To address this obstacle over the coming year, the City will emphasize partnerships with local citizen groups and the private sector in order to stimulate private investment and interest in revitalization.
The need for additional Section Eight certificates is exhibited in the housing needs assessment. The City will support the Lafayette Housing Authority in applications for additional housing certificates.
Fostering Affordable Housing
The city will foster and maintain affordable housing through efficient management of its housing programs.
Lead Based Paint
The City will continue to work with the Tippecanoe Health Department, the State Board of Health and agencies providing screening activities to evaluate the number of residences with lead base paint problems. The City will use the rehabilitation program as a funding source to abate identified lead base paint problems. Additional training will be provided to the City's housing inspectors to further detect lead base paint problems.
Anti-Poverty Strategy
The City will support activities to promote self-sufficiency, economic opportunities, health, child care, and affordable housing opportunities to reduce the number of its citizens in poverty. The success depends upon the coordination and effectiveness of all the services required to reverse the effects of poverty.
Institutional Structure
The City will continue, as in the past, to be a catalyst in encouraging partnerships and collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors for comprehensively addressing the need for expanded economic, affordable housing opportunities and services for the homeless.
Public Housing Improvements and Resident Initiatives
Although no public housing exists in the city, the city will work with the local housing authority to ensure that programs funded are meeting the needs of authority clients.
Fair Housing
The City will take action to remove identified impediments to a fair housing choice.
The West Lafayette Community Development One Year Action Plan will be carried out in a concentrated and coordinated manner to provide for a combination of physical improvements, necessary public facilities, and services, housing programs, private investment and citizen activities appropriate to neighborhood needs. The City will emphasize partnerships with local citizens groups and the private sector in order to stimulate private investment and interest in revitalization.
The objectives of this program are to preserve and revitalize existing neighborhoods and to expand housing and economic opportunities primarily for low and moderate income households. All activities will be conducted in low and moderate income neighborhoods, will benefit low and moderate income households, or will eliminate slums and blight as per CFR 570.208.
Activities to be Undertaken in FY 1996
| PUBLIC FACILITIES: | $157,000 |
The City having completed the purchase of the Morton School will continue the rehabilitation to accommodate reuse of the building as a year-around community center. The parking lot will be resurfaced, the three sets of front doors replaced, a program of window repair implemented, code deficiencies corrected in the first floor accessible restroom and the installation of shut-off valves on the first floor heating units. The necessary window repair will require compliance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation and will be completed in phases as future funding allows. Five Year Plan priority rating: High. Work completion by Fall 1996.
The City will continue to improve substandard curbs and sidewalks where appropriate. In this program year the City will concentrate in Census Tract 53/200 (Meridian and Grant Streets and Northwestern Avenue) where it has estimated that 2,000 linear feet of curbing will be replaced. Five Year Plan priority rating: High. Work scheduled for Spring 1997.
The Community Health Clinic provides health care to low-moderate income families which are under-insured or uninsured. The Clinic has demonstrated the need for larger facilities to accommodate their increased demand for services. It is estimated that 15,000 to 25,000 Tippecanoe County residents qualify for Clinic services while the present facility can only accommodate 4,000 individuals. Approximately 11% of the clinic clients are West Lafayette residents.
Community facilities was identified as a low priority in the five year plan. However, the Community Health Clinic's Task Force study, completed in June of 1995, determined health care for the under-insured and uninsured to be a chronic and ever increasing issue. Furthermore, a United Way Community Needs Assessment ranked medical services as one of top three issues. In the One Year Priority Need Level tables, Health Facilities were assigned No Such Need. This designation was contrary to preliminary findings of the Community Health Clinic's Task Force and other Community surveys. We have therefore proposed an amendment to the City of West Lafayette's Five Year Plan to address this issue.
The City will provide funding over two program years in order to accommodate the other needs of this program year. The funding represents a portion of the total project with other governmental sources leveraged with private donations. The Clinic will be located in the City of Lafayette at 18th and Hartford Streets. It is anticipated that construction will start in the Spring of 1997.
| REMOVAL OF ARCHITECTURAL BARRIERS: | $131,700 |
The City will utilize CDBG funding in combination with local funding sources to install an elevator at City Hall to provide accessibility to the second and basement floors. It is anticipated that this project will be carried over two program years but will be installed in 1997. Five Year Plan priority rating: Medium.
The City will work with the Parks and Recreation Department to complete the accessibility of the Centennial neighborhood park located in Census Tract 53, Block Group 200 at the corner of Lawn Avenue and Vine Street . The project includes the installation of accessible surface material in the play equipment area. Five Year Plan priority rating: Medium. Work will be completed in summer of 1996.
The City will continue with the installation of curb ramps on the public sidewalks city wide. The locations will be on major pedestrian routes giving access to schools and government offices, completing ramp installations in Census Tract 54, Block Group 300 and Census Tract 52 and Block Group 500. The second priority will be business areas and neighborhoods outside the targeted area. Five Year Plan priority rating: Medium. Work scheduled for Spring of 1997.
| HOUSING | $94,100 |
In order to stabilize the neighborhoods and preserve the existing rental housing stock, the City will continue with the inspection program of rental housing. The program continues to be the number one priority of the community and has been very successful in ensuring safe and decent housing for the low to moderate income households and the prevention of slums and blight. An estimated 1200 low to moderate housing units located in Census Tracts/Block Groups 52/500, 53/200, 54/100, 54/200 and 102.02/900 will be inspected. An additional 2,500 units will be inspected outside the targeted areas with funding provided by the City. Five Year Plan priority rating: High.
The City will provide homeowner rehabilitation loans to low to moderate income households in partnership with Lafayette Neighborhood Housing Services. The program will be offered city-wide to eligible applicants and will utilize the revolving account funds. Five Year Plan priority rating: High.
The SHARP program offers housing repair assistance city wide to the elderly, the frail elderly and other special needs populations residents of West Lafayette. The SHARP program is administered by the Tippecanoe County Council on Aging with volunteer labor provided by Lafayette Habitat for Humanity. The CD Repair Assistance Program provides city wide housing repair assistance to other low income residents of the City and is co-administered by the Department of Development and Lafayette Neighborhood Housing Services. Funds utilized are from the revolving account. Five Year Plan priority rating: High.
The City will provide direct downpayment and closing cost assistance to moderate income families in the purchase of a home. The activity will be city wide and be administrated by Lafayette Housing Neighborhood Services. Local area banks have supported this activity by consistently providing funds for the first mortgage. Funds utilized are from the revolving account. Five Year Plan priority rating: Medium.
| ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT |
The City will continue to support the community-based micro-enterprise loan program. The program which includes a variety of training opportunities for a small business owner was developed by the Small Business Development Center, the Lafayette Urban Enterprise Association and the Black Chamber of Commerce in 1995. The funding is continued from the 1995-1996 program year. Five Year Plan priority rating: Medium.
| SOCIAL SERVICES | $78,300 |
The following social service agencies will receive CDBG funding this year:
Community Family Resource Center
Family Services, Inc.
Health Referral Service
Lafayette Transitional Housing Center
Lafayette Urban Ministry
Legal Aid Corporation
Mental Health Association
Mid-Land Meals, Inc.
Tippecanoe County Child Care, Inc.
Tippecanoe County Council on Aging
Trinity Horizons, Inc.
YWCA-Domestic Violence Intervention and Prevention Program
Wonderful Weekdays, Inc.
| ADMINISTRATION AND PLANNING | $80,000 |
To administer the program, these funds will support salaries, supplies, and other necessary planning expenses, including consultant services for development of housing or housing programs or for Fair Housing activities and Historic Preservation consultation in the City.
| PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE FIVE YEAR NON-HOUSING PLAN |
It has been recognized that there exists a need for an increase in health facilities that provide services to low and moderate income persons who are under-insured or uninsured. The five year plan for non-housing needs indicated a low need overall for community facilities and a no such need for health facilities in the Priority Needs tables. In light of the Community Health Clinic's Task Force study, completed in June of 1995 and other surveys, such as the United Way's Community Needs survey, the City of West Lafayette proposes to amend it's Five Year Non-housing Plan assigning an overall priority rating of Medium to community facilities and a High need to Health Facilities on the Priority Needs table.
The amendment was proposed to the Citizen's Advisory Committee on Community Development during the second Public Hearing on March, 13, 1996. No objection was made to the amendment.
| PUBLIC COMMENTS |
Minutes of the public hearings held on January 30, 1996 and March 12, 1996 in Appendix. Comment period was March 21 through April 18, 1996. There were no comments received.