St. Louis County, Minnesota, is located in the northeastern part of the State. The county is bordered by Canada, the shore of Lake Superior, and the State of Wisconsin. St. Louis County is the lead government in a five-county HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME) consortium that includes Itasca, Koochiching, Cook and Lake Counties. The City of Duluth, which is in St. Louis County, was included in the housing and community development portions of this Consolidated Plan for 1995 but will be submitting its own plan covering HOME & CDBG for 1996, remaining for one more year as part of the consortium for ESG purposes only.
The primary Federal resources expected to be received by the consortium in the first program year include: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds ($3 million for the counties and $3.7 million for Duluth); HOME funds ($735,000 for St. Louis County and $565,000 for Duluth); and Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) funds ($83,490 for St. Louis County and $96,600 for Duluth). These funds will be spent on single-family home and rental housing rehabilitation programs, homeless shelter operations, infrastructure and public facilities improvements, and a variety of social services.
The advisory boards for each component of the plan are made up,
respectively, of a cross section of St. Louis County citizens (CDBG),
individuals from the five consortium counties (HOME), and a coalition of
nonprofit organizations (ESG). These boards meet in central locations and
provide public notice of their meetings. An informational public hearing
preceded plan preparation, and then two public hearings were conducted in May
1994. Following preparation of a draft plan, three public hearings were held in
October 1994, and the plan was made available for written comment. The St.
Louis County board approved the plan at a public meeting on October 18, 1994.
In 1990 there were 269,558 persons in the consortium, represented by 106,503 households. The population decreased 10 percent between 1980 and 1990. Ninety-six percent of the 1990 population was white. Native Americans were the largest racial or ethnic minority, representing about 2 percent of the population. Throughout the area more than one in five residents is over age 60.
The 1990 median family income (MFI) for Duluth was $30,561; the MFIs for the
other counties ranged from $27,252 to $28,067. Out of the total consortium
households in 1990, 13,019 were extremely low-income (0-30 percent of MFI);
14,537 were very low- income (31-50 percent of MFI); 18,741 were low-income
(51-80 percent of MFI); and 8,517 were moderate-income (81-95 percent of MFI).
About one-quarter of white households but almost half of Native-American
households had incomes below 50 percent of the median in 1990.
The consortium area includes Native-American reservations, national and State forests, numerous lakes, and recreation sites, such as the renowned Boundary Waters. Duluth is the largest urban area in the consortium and is a major Great Lakes port for the shipment of ore, grain, and coal. During the 1980s about 5,000 mining industry jobs were lost in the area.
In the overall consortium area, the 1990 census recorded 24,810 renter households, almost half of whom lived in Duluth. There were 106,503 homeowner households in 1990, of whom about 28 percent lived in Duluth.
During the decade of the 1980s, because of abandonment, demolition, and the lack of new construction, the supply of affordable housing decreased in the consortium area. Very few houses are for sale in the region. Market rents are too low to support the debt landlords often need to carry out maintenance and repairs.
The rental vacancy rate of almost 8 percent is high, but this statistic does not accurately describe the situations in individual locations in such a large area as St. Louis County. In addition, most vacant units are very small and in some areas are mostly vacation units. There is a shortage of larger rental units. Older housing stock seems to be in fair-to-poor condition, except in Duluth, where a long-term city commitment to rehabilitation has paid off.
Households are considered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to have housing problems if they pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing; if they are overcrowded; or if their housing has a serious physical deficiency, such as a lack of complete plumbing. Households that pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered to have a housing cost burden; if they pay more than 50 percent of their income for housing, they are considered severely cost-burdened.
There were 7,301 extremely low-income renters and 5,718 extremely low-income homeowners in the consortium in 1990. Seventy-three percent of the renters and 71 percent of the owners had housing problems. Among the renters, 71 percent were cost- burdened, and almost half had a severe housing cost burden. Among the homeowners, 68 percent were cost-burdened, and 38 percent were severely cost-burdened.
There were 5,538 very low-income renters and 8,999 very low-income homeowners in 1990. Among the renters, 61 percent reported housing problems; 59 percent reported a housing cost burden of at least 30 percent of their income; and 17 percent were severely cost-burdened. Among the homeowners in this income group, 29 percent reported housing problems; 28 percent had a housing cost burden; and only 8 percent were severely cost- burdened.
Only 33 percent of low-income renters and 17 percent of low-income homeowners reported housing problems in 1990. Even fewer reported housing cost burdens in this income group. Of all renters across income groups, half of all large related households (five or more persons) reported housing problems, as did 48 percent of elderly households and 41 percent of small related households. Only 14 percent of all homeowners reported housing problems.
While almost all identified homeless persons in the area are in Duluth, requests for assistance with serious shelter problems are increasing in the rural areas. An estimated 250 single men (many of them Native Americans), 40 families, between 60 to 75 individuals with mental health problems, and 50 female-headed households are homeless and need various types of assistance. There are at least 68 temporary shelter beds and 100 transitional housing units in the area covered by the plan.
There are 1,325 units of public housing owned and managed by local housing authorities in the consortium area outside of Duluth, of which 971 are one-bedroom or efficiency units. The time typically spent on the waiting list for this housing ranges from 6 months to 2 years.
The plan identifies eight barriers to affordable housing in the consortium area:
St. Louis County took steps to advance fair housing in 1994, including publicity for fair housing ideas through workshops and distribution of a pamphlet. An analysis of fair housing conditions in the consortium area will be conducted in the near future.
It is estimated that three-quarters of low-income people in the consortium area live in houses that contain lead-based paint. Eighty-eight cases of elevated levels of lead in the blood were reported outside of the Twin Cities in Minnesota in 1992, most of them from Duluth. The State has adopted more stringent rules on lead-based paint exposure. Duluth has targeted several low-income neighborhoods for participation in an expected Federal demonstration program on lead-based paint exposure.
The elderly represent an increasing share of the consortium population. There are estimated to be 3,330 persons who are elderly and frail and who have very low incomes. Waiting lists for assisted housing for the elderly have been reduced from as much as 5 years to 3 months or less in many jurisdictions.
Persons with severe mental illness in the area had been served by Moose Lake Regional Treatment Center, which closed in 1995. Appropriate alternatives to housing this population at a reasonable cost are not available.
There may be as many as 2,868 households with a physically disabled member needing supportive housing and another 1,121 households with a developmentally disabled member needing supportive housing. Between 5,000 and 15,000 people may need supportive housing because of chemical dependency.
The Minnesota AIDS Project estimates that there are 32 to 79 persons in the consortium area who are HIV-positive. The Minnesota Department of Health has found that most persons with AIDS have serious housing needs and that providing housing "is a prevention strategy" for reducing HIV infection.
The consortium has identified a number of generally common barriers to community and economic development:
The Community Development Division of St. Louis County prepared and will
coordinate this plan. In addition to the participating local governments, the
division coordinated with Federal and State housing agencies. The division will
be increasing its coordination with the local public housing authorities, human
services departments, and the St. Louis County Health Department.
This plan seeks to provide decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expanded economic opportunities. These goals will be sought by, in order of priority, funding for housing, physical improvements, economic development, and public services.
The plan's housing priorities are listed by category of housing. For owner-occupied housing, the consortium's priorities are to provide:
For rental housing, the consortium's priorities are to:
To respond to lead-based paint hazards, the consortium's priority is to provide information to housing projects on the dangers of high blood-lead levels.
To meet public housing needs, the consortium's priorities are to:
To address the needs of the homeless, the priorities are to:
To respond to populations with special needs, the consortium's priority is to provide supportive housing for elderly persons, persons with developmental disabilities, persons with HIV/AIDS, and persons with mental illness.
To respond to fair housing needs, the consortium's priorities are to educate the public on fair housing and assess local barriers to affordable housing.
Maintenance, improvement, and development of public facilities will be funded for the following: senior centers, youth centers, township halls (used as community centers), child- care centers, recreation sites (especially where families or tourist attractions are located), and health clinics.
Infrastructure priorities include: planning for flood prevention, replacing and extending old water lines and sewers, surfacing roads, demolishing unsafe buildings, and replacing unsafe wells and septic systems.
Public services to be started or continued through the Consolidated Plan include: services for youth, the elderly, and the disabled; transportation; substance abuse counseling; employment training; crime awareness; housing counseling; child care; and health care.
Economic development priorities include loans and technical assistance for microenterprises.
Also needed are elimination of architectural barriers for persons with disabilities in older public buildings, preservation of historic buildings, and more funding for community planning studies.
Job creation is seen as the greatest antipoverty need. Strategies for promoting job growth include: funding entrepreneurial technical assistance for low- and moderate-income people, funding projects that may create jobs, and supporting projects that promote self-sufficiency for low- and moderate-income people.
Projects using ESG funds will receive matching funds from organizations or programs such as the Minnesota PATH Program, United Way, the Minnesota State Bar Association, and various foundations and lenders.
Creation of a strategy for continued and expanded coordination is paramount for the success of the Consolidated Plan in the next 5 years. Such a strategy will involve all levels of government, community organizations, and the private sector. The strategy will integrate new statistics, trends, and information and will guide the consortium's planning efforts.
St. Louis County will continue to consult with housing groups and coordinate
plan activities. The county will provide technical assistance to localities
developing their own plans. Technical assistance on housing will be provided to
community housing development organizations, nonprofit organizations for which a
portion of HOME funding has been set aside. Groups working with the homeless
will continue to meet and coordinate activities through the Rural St. Louis
County Housing Coalition.
The following is a sample of federally funded Consolidated Plan projects to be implemented in the first program year. The projects are divided by funding source.
CDBG projects include:
HOME projects include:
ESG projects include:
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.
MAP 6 is a map, sectioned by neighborhood, which depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects.
MAP 7 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects within one of the four neighborhoods indicated in MAP 6.
MAP 8 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects within another of the four neighborhoods indicated in MAP 6.
MAP 9 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded project(s) from a street level vantage point; in addition, a table provides information about the project(s).
