Priority #1:
Priority #2:
Priority #3:
Priority #4:
Priority #5:
The following projects are the activities to be undertaken during F 96-97.
| 1) | Permanent Curb, Gutter, and Driveway Installation | $ 390,000 |
| 2) | Hillside Park Improvements | 125,000 |
| 3) | Fire Truck | 118,500 |
| 4) | Owner Rehabilitation (CDBG & HOME) | 483,850 |
| 5) | Demolition and Clearance | 100,000 |
| 6) | Permanent Street Surfacing | 48,750 |
| 7) | Salvation Army | 37,650 |
| 8) | Uno A Uno Mentoring Project | 29,003 |
| 9) | Andrews Center Rehab Services | 19,530 |
| 10) | Land Mine Removal | 19,096 |
| 11) | Smith County Council on Alcohol/Drug Abuse | 14,967 |
| 12) | Tyler Against Graffiti | 14,000 |
| 13) | Hispanic Service Center | 12,754 |
| 14) | Literacy Council of Tyler | 12,500 |
| 15) | The Care Shelter | 12,000 |
| 16) | Omega Psi Phi Housing Effort | 10,000 |
| 17) | Goodwill Industries | 9,250 |
| 18) | Summer Food Program for Children | 5,000 |
| 19) | Program Administration (CDBG & HOME) | 288,900 |
| 20) | Program Income | 9,576 |
| 21) | Section 108 Payment | 37,940 |
| 22) | HOME CHDO Set-Aside | 74,250 |
| TOTAL | $1,872,516 |
Activities number 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 15 directly relate to the five objectives listed above.
The City Council approved this area as Project 365 due to the declining neighborhoods, infrastructure needs, and the high percentage of low-income families living in the area. This area also has a lot of gang activity and graffiti problems. In the past, this area has also been flooded many times due to poor drainage. During the past year or two, many drainage improvements have been made by the city with capital improvement funds. With these improvements completed, this area now needs street and curb and gutter improvements. Many homes are deteriorating. Homeowners will benefit greatly with the Owner Rehabilitation Program. The demolition of vacant, unsafe structures will remove blight from the neighborhoods. The Hispanic Service Center is located in this area. The Center provides services to the Hispanic population, and is being funding by the Community Development Block Grant during F 96-97. Also, a clinic which services the community, is located beside St. Paul's United Methodist Church on Clayton Avenue. The clinic provides medical help, food and clothes bank, and counseling services.
PATH is one of the primary agencies to assist those persons threatened with homelessness. PATH has three transitional housing units to assist families who are temporarily homeless or have an emergency situation such as loss of income, loss of home, eviction, etc. PATH can provide assistance for up to a ninety day period to assist the family and provide temporary relief.
The City of Tyler's Neighborhood Services Department, in conjunction with the Andrews Center and SHRET, made application in June for funding through the Shelter Plus Care grant available through HUD. If approved, the additional funds will provide more permanent housing units for the mentally ill and HIT/AIDS patients. The Salvation Army and HIS House also applied for the Supportive Housing grant available through HUD. If approved, this will allow the Salvation Army to continue with the transitional housing needs, and it will also allow more housing for HIT/AIDS patients who are in the final stages of the disease.
The #1 priority is to continue providing rental assistance through the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment Program. The program currently has 763 rental units available. At the end of June, 1996, 744 units were occupied with 19 families from the waiting list being certified for the available units. As of June, 1996, there were 963 persons on the waiting list. Twenty four percent (24%) of the families on the waiting list are White; seventy percent (70%) are Black; and six percent (6%) are Hispanic. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are from small families; seventy-three percent (73%) are from large families.
Tyler has only two facilities which house the low-income elderly. They are William Booth Garden Apartments and Tysen House. Both are operated by the Salvation Army. William Booth Garden Apartments is an 132 unit facility, and Tysen House is a 73 bed assisted living facility.
Tyler Community Homes, a rental agency under the PATH umbrella, provides affordable housing for small and large families. They own approximately 60 rental units, and they currently have 33 occupied. The other units are waiting to be renovated so they can be occupied. After a five year period, Tyler Community Homes plans to begin selling some of the units to first-time homebuyers placing some of the renters into permanent housing.
Maintain Affordable Housing
All units on the Section 8 Housing Program must meet Housing Quality Standards. Each unit is inspected annually and each time someone moves in a unit or vacates a unit. Tyler Community Homes repairs and maintains each of their units as necessary. For those who do own their own home, they often do not have enough disposable income to make necessary repairs and improvements to their home. The repairs made on the owner-occupied homes brings each structure up to housing code. The repairs made on the structures include roof replacement, electrical upgrade, plumbing repairs, painting, leveling the floors, replacing windows and doors, insulation, termite treatment, and installing new linoleum.
Remove Barriers to Affordable Housing
The housing shortage for the working, the poor, and the indigent has allowed owners to ask premium prices for rental property and forced many working families to pay half of their monthly income for housing. It is the Affirmative Marketing Goal of the City of Tyler to ensure that organizations and individuals who normally might not apply for grants or assistance because of their race, color, religion, sex, handicap or familial status know about the availability of assistance and have the opportunity to apply. Public notices are placed in the local newspaper, public service announcements are advertised through the local television stations, signs are posted throughout the government offices, and public hearings are held to inform the general public when funds are available and what projects will be funded.
Lead-Based Hazards
The City of Tyler will contract with a local company to test for lead-based paint in any structure occupied by a child seven years of age or younger that is being renovated under the Owner Rehabilitation Program. Any structure occupied with older children that is suspected to contain a high content of lead will also be tested. If a structure is found to contain a high content of lead, an individual analysis will be conducted to determine if the project should continue. The city has a practice of treating all painted surfaces as though they contained lead-based paint. All exposed wood, interior and exterior, is fully painted or covered with sheetrock or paneling. A flyer stating lead hazards is given to each applicant on the Owner Rehabilitation program and Section 8 Housing Programs. Documentation will be maintained in each project file indicating full compliance.
Reduce Poverty Level Families
The City of Tyler's housing agency will continue to promote the family self-sufficiency program which is designed to assist recipients of housing assistance to become less dependent on subsidies and increasingly more self-sufficient. The city continues to promote affordable housing and assist those persons who have excessive cost burdens for housing.
Develop Institutional Structure
With the creation of the Tyler Smith County Housing Consortium, more networking is taking place between the agencies which provide emergency shelter, transitional housing, and rental assistance for all low-income and the mentally ill or HIT/AIDS persons. Regular meetings are scheduled to keep up-to-date with the latest developments of each agency.
Public and Private Housing and Social Service Agencies Coordination
The City of Tyler and non-profit organizations have been successful in coordinating efforts of housing providers. With the success of Tyler Community Homes, they have become an important additional avenue for persons on the waiting list for Section 8 housing.
In addition, a non-profit organization, M & R Concepts, has formed to provide affordable housing to low to moderate income individuals. Improvements proposed include building of houses with yards, infrastructure improvements, neighborhood revitalization and a planned park area. Citizens interested in purchasing a home will make an application to M & R Concepts who will have a staff of volunteers to provide housing counseling to determine if applicants qualify.
Foster Public Housing Improvements and Resident Initiatives
The City of Tyler would encourage all tenants in any public housing complex to become more involved in the management of their facility and to participate in possible homeownership. We are willing to write letters of support, sponsor owner/tenant education programs on home maintenance and tenant/landlord relations, give technical assistance in requesting CDBG funding for improvements, and help write grants to secure additional federal dollars. As the word "foster" indicates, we would want this assistance to be temporary until permanent assistance is in place.
Public Housing
The City of Tyler is encouraging private non-profit organizations to work to improve the housing stock in the city. There is no present plan to promote public housing in the City of Tyler. There are several complexes receiving funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They are Liberty Arms Apartments, Village East Apartments, Texas College Garden Apartments, Tyler Square Apartments, and Bent Tree Apartments.
While the apartments are well run, the city has made the decision to not get involved in the funding of Public Housing. Emphasis is being concentrated in the areas of housing assistance to first-time homebuyers and assistance to renters wanting to become homeowners.