West Hartford, Connecticut, incorporated in May, 1854, is located in central- Connecticut, adjacent to and west of the City of Hartford. It is approximately 100 miles southwest of Boston and Approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The Town encompasses 22.2 square miles and as a residential suburb in the Hartford metropolitan area, has a population of 60,110 people.
In 1995 there remains a moderate level of manufacturing and industrial activity in West Hartford. However, during recent years greater emphasis has been placed on the development of retail and service related businesses in this large town. The Town Government operates three public libraries, an indoor skating rink, two public golf courses and six public parks.
The West Hartford Consolidated Plan provides a program aimed at Community Development in this densely populated municipality. Included is a detailed analysis of the demographic, geographic and economic characteristics used in shaping this program. Also included is a description of how the Town of West Hartford will spend $1.3 million of Community Development Block Grant funds during 1995. Primarily, these funds are to be spent on housing needs for low-moderate income households, social services for the elderly, group home renovations for persons with mental retardation, road construction projects and handicapped accessibility improvements to public parks in low-moderate income areas.
West Hartford, through its Town Council, has appointed a group of citizens to an advisory council which is known as the Neighborhood Planning Committee. This group is charged with reviewing and making recommendations on CDBG activities, including the Consolidated Plan. This committee, which is comprised of representatives of various neighborhoods and interests, met to review proposals submitted by municipal and nonprofit agencies and to make their recommendations. West Hartford residents were given reasonable and timely access to local meetings, information and records relating to the Consolidated Plan.
Representatives from the West Hartford Housing Authority, Fellowship
Housing, The Jewish Federation, and The West Hartford Interfaith Coalition were
instrumental in providing information which supported the needs of residents of
public and assisted housing developments. These representatives and residents
were encouraged to continue their participation and were urged to attend this
and any subsequent meetings.
The U.S. Census Bureau, in its 1990 report indicates that West Hartford experienced a decrease in its total population of two percent since 1980 (61,301 down to 60,110). The State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management has predicted that the town's population would remain relatively stable, hovering around 60,000 through the year 2010.
In 1990, nearly ninety-one percent of the town's residents were white, non-Hispanic, non-Asian. However, since 1990 West Hartford has experienced a large influx of non-white households, particularly in the town's southeast quadrant. Therefore, it is likely that the percentage of white households in town has decreased. Another significant figure is the number of elderly persons in West Hartford. More than twenty-two percent of the residents are older than sixty-five years.
West Hartford's median household income in 1990 was $49,642 compared to
$41,721 state-wide. West Hartford's per capita income was $26,943, which ranked
it third in the twenty-nine town capitol region. Approximately three and
one-half percent of the residents (2,103) were considered to be living at or
below the federal poverty level. In 1992, it was estimated that approximately
fifteen percent of the town's households were living at under 200 percent of the
federal poverty level.
The recession has had a significant impact on the State of Connecticut, the Capitol Region and on West Hartford. Between 1980 and 1990 the number of city welfare cases in West Hartford increased nearly 80% and has gone to an average of more than 260 in 1995. The number of white collar unemployed rose from 601 (1.9%) in 1988 to 1,422 (4.4%) in 1992. By 1990, 71.6% of women with children aged 17 or younger worked outside their home, up from 60.8% in 1980. In August of 1994, unemployment was up to 6.7% statewide and 6.9% in the Hartford Labor Market Area (CRCOG report).
There has been little residential growth in this fully-developed community. Fewer than twenty-five new housing permits were issued from January 1, 1995 through December 7, 1995. Therefore, the maintenance of existing housing stock becomes a priority.
The consolidated Plan presents four categories of housing needs as most crucial for West Hartford. First is the need for owner-occupied housing units. The high cost of owning a home is the most obvious prohibition in the housing market today. Prices are kept high by a relatively low vacancy rate reported in 1990 to be 4.42%. While there may be more homes on the market today than was the case in 1985, prices have not come down, and owners are willing to wait for longer periods of time to get their asking price.
An adequate supply of rental housing is vital to the Town of West Hartford. Apartments have historically served the needs of two populations; persons who cannot afford to buy their own homes as well as those who do not want or cannot have the responsibility of maintaining their own home. Very often these are elderly persons who feel the burden of home maintenance more acutely than does the younger population. In addition there is a need for additional government assisted housing for low-moderate income households and housing for certain special populations such as those who have a disability. .
The 1990 census for West Hartford indicates that there is a total of 25,021 housing units; 17,621 of which are owner-occupied (70.4%), 6,295 that are renter-occupied (25.2%), and 1,105 vacant units (4.4%). The housing stock is considerably older than that of surrounding towns which are often used as a comparison to West Hartford. Of the 25,021 units of housing, 21,918 (87.5%) were built prior to 1970 and almost 30 % were built prior to 1939.
The aging nature of the existing housing stock has significant meaning not only with regard to the town's continuous housing and infrastructure improvements, but to the existence of potentially extensive lead hazards. West Hartford has an estimated total of 4,162 low to moderate income housing units with lead. Of these approximately 3,860 are renter-occupied and 302 are owner-occupied.
The most significant characteristic of the housing stock in West Hartford is that 70.4% is owned, and 25.2% is rented. A total of 23,900 housing units were available in 1980, as compared to 25,021 units in 1990. The number of renters who paid more than 30% of their total income was 39% as compared to 20.7% of owner households who were burdened by the cost of housing. It is evident that the lack of affordable housing is a serious housing need facing the Town of West Hartford, In particular, the rise in the cost of housing when compared to the rise in personal income, has caused an "affordability gap" where the average family can no longer reasonably afford market rate housing in Town. While housing costs have recently stabilized somewhat in the area, there is no indication that sale price of homes or rent payments have decreased sufficiently to accommodate the needs of low- moderate income households. The exceptional increases in the cost of housing and related expenses in the past 10 to 15 years have resulted in mortgages and rent payments which far exceed the limits of affordability. The need for additional affordable housing is further indicated by the demand for Section VIII assistance in this town. The waiting list is closed to new applicants because of its length, and those on the waiting list can expect to wait several years before admission to the program.
Due to the limited number of homeless residents in West Hartford, there is limited impact on the Town. The Town of West Hartford has a cooperative relationship with the shelters in Hartford in the event that West Hartford residents may be in need of shelter. The West Hartford Motor Inn has also accommodated the Town in sheltering intact families in an emergency situation. We do not anticipate that homelessness will be a problem for the Town of West Hartford in the next five years. We can qualify this statement based on the six (6) homeless people that received shelter assistance from the Town this year. In the unlikely event that this number doubled, this would still be a very low priority for the Town.
As of August, 1992 there were a total of 2,409 units of housing in West Hartford which received some form of ongoing subsidy or were in some other way financially assisted with government or private, nonprofit funding. The West Hartford Housing Authority administered the greatest number of these units with 546 (373 Sec VIII Certificates, 25 Vouchers and 148 units of public housing). Other large blocks of assisted housing is administered by Fellowship Housing and Federation Square (301 units for the elderly and for persons with disabilities).
The need for additional units of housing of this type is perhaps best illustrated by the lengthy waiting lists existing for all programs within this category. Presently the West Hartford Housing Authority has a policy of not accepting new applicants to its waiting list for Section VIII Certificate or for its Voucher programs. This applies even in cases when the applicant meets the criteria necessary to place them in "federal preference" status. Once the waiting list opens up to new applicants the waiting period is still several years at best. This is the scenario is typical of all housing assistance programs not only in West Hartford, but throughout the Capitol Region.
Separate consideration should also be given to the needs of West Hartford's elderly citizens. These individuals represent a considerable proportion of the Town, and have needs which are unique. In addition to living on reduced and fixed incomes, persons over the age of 65 may need housing which is smaller and easier to maintain. They may also require varying levels of care. While the Town offers subsidized housing for older persons who can live independently and those in need of 24 hour nursing care, there is no alternative for those individuals in need of subsidized congregate housing. This alternative can prove the best option for those persons who are not yet ready for a nursing home but who may need such limited services as one congregate meal each day and on-call medical care. In light of the trend toward aging of the population, and given the likelihood that life expectancy will continue to increase, it is critical that the needs of West Hartford's older citizens be included in any needs assessment.
***It is important to note here that West Hartford has recently begun a HUD funded program, The Hope Program, to meet the needs described in the above paragraph. This program is conducted in partnership with the West Hartford Housing Authority and is too new to determine whether it will sufficiently meet these needs.
The Town of West Hartford is an older suburban community which has historically been a desirable community in which to live, and as such has been "built out". In other words, most of the land which could be developed in Town already has been, leaving very little left to be developed for affordable housing. This is underscored by the fact that in the last four years, the Town has increased it's stock of housing by only 3.3%. This number is significantly lower than the units added in most other Capital Region communities, with Hartford the only city or town which grew at a slower pace. Farmington, for example, added to its housing stock by 26.5%. The Town of Windsor increased its housing stock by almost 24% during the same four year period. Given the limited amount of remaining land and the built-up nature of West Hartford's residential areas, it is unlikely that large numbers of housing units will be added to the Town in the future.
This situation poses a problem to the provision of affordable housing in West Hartford. First, the limited available land coupled with the fact that West Hartford has long been a desirable community had contributed greatly to the increase in housing costs here. Since this scenario is not expected to change in the foreseeable future, the cost of privately-developed single family homes and apartments should remain high in West Hartford. Second, there are no large tracts of land in which a developer can build some low or moderately priced units. Since the size of the developments are limited, so is the developer's return, and he or she will choose to build higher-priced units to get the most profit that they can. While there may be some exceptions to this scenario, it is doubtful that under the present conditions the private market will offer sufficient affordable housing for low and moderate income persons.
In West Hartford there is a large number of households who are renting which makes the issue of fair housing one of great concern. The Town offers residents the services of a Fair Housing Officer, a Town employee as well as the services of the Housing Education Resource Center. Through these two sources landlords and tenants can access services such as counseling, mediation and referrals with regards to rental issues. Typically these issues include such topics as discrimination, fair rent, leases, security deposits, evictions, lockouts and general repair questions West Hartford also has a Fair Rent Commission. This is an official arm of the municipal government (allowed under Connecticut statutory authority), charged with hearing evidence and then adjudicating disputes brought before them.
The hazards of lead-based paint are directly addressed by the Town of West Hartford Public Health Nurses. In the past year, they have responded to 43 cases of elevated blood lead. Program responses ranged from educating parents on lead prevention to assisting in the relocation of a family with a lead poisoned child. Additionally, a presentation was made at Morley Elementary School for their PTO regarding the hazards of lead.
The Housing Rehabilitation Program has implemented standards for all single and multi- family structures which are eligible for assistance. The process begins with the identification of any children living in the home who are age 6 years and under. The Public Health Nurse informs the owner(s) of the health risks associated with lead hazards and provides the owner(s) with information on poisoning prevention. The Public Health Nurse will recommend the screening of all children age 6 and under to determine elevated blood lead. With parental written release, the results of the lead screening will be made available to the Housing Rehab Specialist assigned to the project.
All lead inspections of the property shall be performed by Town sanitarians in compliance with all applicable regulations and in compliance with adopted policy and procedures. All defective paint surfaces shall be tested regardless of who occupies the unit.
According to the 1990 census data, approximately 3.7% of West Hartford's total population lives at or below poverty. This represents a minor change in comparison with 1980 census data. However. considerable economic change has occurred since October, 1989 when census data was collected.
West Hartford ranks 12th highest in the state in population density, with 2,708 persons per square mile. It is comprised of only 22 square miles and has 205 miles of accepted streets and 245 miles of sidewalks. It is a predominantly residential community with over 65% of its developed land used for residential purposes. The existing pattern of land use is basically fixed having been in place for over 25 years; vacant land is scarce.
West Hartford's infrastructure needs to be thoroughly evaluated in order to determine what expansion, replacement or new construction needs to take place. A large influx of money will be required in order to encourage the needed maintenance, repairs, replacement, improvements or expansion of utility systems, streets, sidewalks, bridges, open space and recreation areas. In addition, greater attention needs to be paid to public safety and educational facilities in order to meet present and future needs of the town's residents and businesses.
In the next five years the Town will need to increase funding allocation to
address the public facility and infrastructure improvements required. The Town
is exploring the availability of additional funding to address deterioration and
obsolescence in public infrastructure, open space, sewer systems, storm water
drainage systems, streets/curbs/sidewalks, bridges, culverts and asbestos
removal.
The Town of West Hartford's Consolidated Plan represents a new comprehensive and collaborative approach to planning for Housing and Community Development. This plan integrates economic, physical, environmental, and human development in a coordinated fashion to respond to the multifaceted needs of the community. The Consolidated Plan has followed a process involving many community-based organizations, service providers, housing authorities, advocacy groups, neighborhood groups, and numerous Town of West Hartford Departments.
The goal of the new policy is to increase the concept of community development and assure long-term financial resources in West Hartford. Community Development, as referenced in the Plan, is defined as an on-going process of growth, maintenance, and restoration of facilities, resources and services in a neighborhood, municipality or region to improve the quality of the physical, social, economic and housing environments.
Priorities for housing will mainly include the continuation of support for those activities and programs which are specifically aimed at increasing the number of decent, safe and affordable housing units in town. This will be accomplished through rehabilitation of the existing deteriorated housing stock for both rental and owner households.
The Town will continue its collaborative efforts in working with the West Hartford Housing Authority and the State of Connecticut and with the nonprofits operating in town in order to encourage continued growth in the number of affordable housing units on the market. Such housing units are those that carry some sort of subsidy or that are available for certain populations who may have special needs (those residents who have a physical disability for example).
Because the Southeast Quadrant of West Hartford has been identified as in the greatest need of stabilization and revitalization, efforts of this nature will be concentrated there. This quadrant is also the section of West Hartford with the highest concentration of low-moderate income households.
Partnerships with private developers need to be expanded upon in order to tie economic development together with neighborhood improvement. Recreational resources and facilities need to be improved, developed and expanded so that they become more accessible to all potential users. Infrastructure improvements and maintenance in this part of Town is vital in order to enhance the quality of life for its residents.
The Government of West Hartford continues to recognize its leadership role in promoting anti-poverty activities. As the recession has taken its toll on the area the Town has taken the lead in regionalizing a training program for unemployed residents from five area towns; the WHEAT Program. This program provides participants with training in the unique job search skills needed in the mid-1990's and offers supportive services such as group discussion, transportation and access to computers for the coordination of resume writing and job application activity.
The Town's Division of Social Services has created a program in collaboration with the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber's newsletter, on a semi-annual basis, encourages its membership to give hiring priority to West Hartford residents active on the General Assistance Program (city welfare). Brief resumes on as many as twenty active clients are included. Many have found jobs through this project.
These and other such efforts will be explored and developed to the greatest degree possible over the next year and on into the future. It is this sort of creative thinking which is necessary as economic resources have become more scarce.
As mentioned earlier the West Hartford Housing Authority is the lead agency in town with regards to housing resources. The Town government is also a significant resource allotting $300,000.00 this year in CDBG funds to its Housing Rehabilitation Program. Other key agencies providing housing resources include the West Hartford Interfaith Housing Coalition, Fellowship Housing, Federation Square and to an ever-lessening degree, the State of Connecticut, Department of Housing.
The list of primary resources in the area of non-housing community development includes the state and federal government. Other resources include the Metropolitan District Commission (regional water supply agency), the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the Capitol Region Council of Governments and the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority.
Ultimately, the responsibility for the coordination of the strategic plan lies on the Town of West Hartford's chief executive officer/town manager, Barry M. Feldman. He has been authorized by the Town Council engage in a contract with HUD and to receive CDBG funding on behalf of the Town.
However, the day to day activities of this plan are carried out by the
Town's Department of Human Services, Division of Housing. Offices for both the
Town Manager and the Division of Housing are located at 50 South Main Street,
West Hartford, CT, 06107. The main telephone number for all Town offices is
(860)523-3100. The Housing division can be reached at (860) 523-3250.
The Town of West Hartford's One Year Action Plan will is an outline of the intended usage of approximately $1.3 million in Community Development Block Grant Funds. Projects funded are can be largely categorized into housing, health services, social services, recreational facility improvements, community policing and transportation for persons who are elderly or ho have a disability.
Specifically, the key projects to be funded include:
The locations of the key projects listed in the One-Year Action Plan vary and are not particularly centralized. However, most of these projects are concentrated within the town's Southeast Quadrant, the sections having the highest concentration of low-moderate income households.
No specific quantitative housing goals are set for the One-Year Action Plan. However, it is likely that the Housing Rehabilitation Program and the Home Security Program will serve approximately sixty units of housing for low-moderate income households. Another six individuals will be served through the renovation of the group home operated by The Hartford Association for Retarded Citizens. Fellowship Housing has 213 separate units of housing for persons who are elderly or who have a disability and will be a sub-recipient in this year's plan.
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 in addition: a table provides information about the project(s).
MAP 6 depicts neighborhood streets and proposed HUD funded projects, as described in the table under MAP 5.
