Marshall is a small northeast Texas town with a population of 23,682. It is within the Longview/Marshall Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its greatest growth occurred during the first two decades of the 20th century. Marshall continued to grow through 1960, when the population reached 25,809. Despite the decline in the overall population since then, Marshall's college student population began to show significant growth in the late 1980s. Marshall has two private 4-year colleges: East Texas Baptist University and Wiley College. Marshall is also home to the newly created campus of Texas State Technical College (TSTC). TSTC college officials forecast that the student population will reach approximately 1,000 by the year 2000.
Marshall received a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation of $581,000. These funds will be used to create and maintain affordable housing, remove barriers to affordable housing, enhance institutional coordination, reduce the number of households below the poverty line, meet underserved needs, support public housing initiatives, evaluate and reduce lead-based paint hazards, and address other community development needs.
The development of Marshall's Consolidated Plan was coordinated through the city's Planning and Community Development Office. This process involved citizens, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, social service agencies, and representatives from the housing industry. City department directors initially met to discuss each concern. At that time, the Community Development Advisory Committee, a committee appointed by the Marshall City Commission to assist with planning the CDBG program, also became involved in the development process.
The committee's first step was a workshop meeting to discuss the new planning requirements and important issues in the community. The second step was to hold a public hearing for citizens to discuss their needs. A notice of the public hearing was published in the newspaper. In addition, approximately 200 notices were mailed to social service agencies and citizens who participated in the Enterprise Community planning process. Three citizens attended the meeting.
The committee's third step was to agree on strategies to pursue over the next 5 years and activities or projects to be included in the first year's plan. This became the draft of the Consolidated Plan. Following the development of the plan, a public comment period was held. No comments were received.
Marshall's median family income (MFI) has lagged behind Texas and the Nation. Currently, the MFI is $23,961 in Marshall, $31,553 in Texas, and $35,939 in the Nation. One of every five households lives in poverty and one of every three is extremely low income. The income categories are:
More than half of the population is white and 42 percent is African American. Other racial and ethnic groups make up less than 3 percent of the total population. One-third of all households are elderly. Half of all African-American households have incomes less than 50 percent of MFI compared with just under a quarter of white households. At the top of the income scale, the trend is reversed: Half of white households make more than 95 percent of MFI compared with just more than a quarter of African-American households.
Local information indicates that approximately 33 percent of the housing stock was built prior to 1940. About 40 percent of affordable housing was built prior to 1940. Many of these houses were well built and have been maintained. Many more, however, were built using substandard materials and construction methods, or were not properly maintained; they are now severely deteriorated. Approximately 2 percent of the housing stock is currently vacant and condemned. Because so many older homes need repairs, the waiting list for the city's owner-occupied housing rehabilitation program will be more than 5 years if the program's funding stays at its current level.
The cost of new construction in Marshall has almost doubled since 1991 due mainly to increased costs in materials. Higher prices for building materials also affect the ability of low- to moderate-income homeowners to maintain their homes.
Other factors that indicate that housing costs will continue to increase include:
Nationwide, between 1980 and 1990, housing development increased faster than the number of households. Marshall's housing stock grew by 2 percent while the number of households declined by the same percentage. The predominant housing style has been and remains the detached single-family home. New units, however, were almost equally divided between multifamily units and single-family units.
In 1989 approximately 90 percent of the housing units were occupied. Two-thirds of the occupied units were owner occupied; one-third were renter occupied. The vacancy rate for rental units was 9.1 percent, while the for-sale vacancy rate was 2.8 percent. Approximately 65 percent had three or more bedrooms. The number of rental units by bedroom size was more evenly divided. However, there were more two-bedroom units than one- or three- bedroom units.
The vacancy rate for units with three or more bedrooms, which many large families need, is 12 percent. Households with incomes of up to 80 percent of MFI can afford these units. Real estate professionals in the rental market report that the vacancy rate for rental units is 2 percent, which is substantially less than the rate determined by the 1990 census.
Extremely low-income households have the most severe housing problems, followed closely by low-income households. More than 90 percent of large families with extremely low incomes have housing problems.
Extremely low-income owners are just as likely to have housing problems as extremely low-income renters. However, low-income owners face significantly fewer problems than both low-income renters and extremely low-income renters. Only 22 percent of all homeowners in the city have housing problems, while 71 percent of extremely low-income households have housing problems.
More than half of the extremely low-income households in the community have severe needs. These households pay more than half of their income for rent, live in seriously substandard housing, or are homeless. They are not receiving Federal Government rent assistance, even though they would receive priority for this assistance if they applied.
Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of Marshall's population is considered homeless. No homeless persons were visible in street locations during a 1995 count. The census and local information indicated that shelters housed 29 persons. Marshall has 13 emergency shelter beds and 18 transitional housing beds.
There is a total of 852 assisted housing units and tenant-based rental assistance certificates and vouchers in Marshall: 423 certificates and vouchers and 396 assisted housing units. The Section 8 certificate and voucher program and 74 units of publicly owned housing are administered by the Marshall Housing Authority. The remaining 349 assisted housing units are privately owned.
Marshall does not anticipate losing any of its public housing units. The inventory is generally in good condition, although 24 units are almost 10 years old. Improvements to these units are likely to be needed in the next 5 years.
A gap exists between the number of households that are eligible for assistance and the number that are actually receiving it. For example, slightly more than 50 percent of the renters who are eligible for rental assistance actually receive assistance.
Marshall does not have any public policies that affect the provision of affordable housing; therefore, no strategy is necessary to remove or ameliorate any negative affects.
CDBG funds in the amount of $10,000 are targeted for conducting a study to determine if there are impediments to fair housing.
Approximately 8,400 housing units were built prior to 1980, before lead-based paint was banned. No data are available on the number of units occupied by low-income or extremely low-income households that contain lead-based paint hazards. The Health Department reports less than one case of lead-based paint poisoning per year.
The following nonhousing community development needs were identified:
The city of Marshall plans to address the following housing priorities during the next 5 years:
The city of Marshall plans to address the following nonhousing community development priorities over the next 5 years:
Marshall's poverty rate is one-third higher than that of the rest of the State. To reduce poverty, Marshall has developed two policies to create educational and employment opportunities. First, in order to provide citizens with a high-quality education and training in advanced technologies, the city has attracted an extension campus of the Texas State Technical College. Its training programs will improve the academic and technical skills of the local workforce. Second, Marshall plans to emphasize economic development in three areas: business recruitment, business development, and business retention.
The city is eligible for HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME) First-Time Homebuyer, Rental Assistance, and Rental Housing funds through the State. The State also operates a First-Time Homebuyers Program with the assistance of private lenders, which includes a Downpayment Assistance Program. The State will have funding available through the Rental Housing Construction/Rehabilitation Program, the Multifamily Bond Program, and the Statewide Housing Assistance Payments Program.
An Owner-Occupied Housing Rehabilitation, First-time Homebuyers, Housing Repair and Weatherization Assistance Programs are operated in Marshall. Local financial institutions and the city of Marshall joined together to form a community development corporation. One of their goals will be to develop housing for low-income persons.
Marshall participates in an interagency council that brings together housing, social service, and mental health and other health-care resources. The participation in the council by low- and moderate-income housing providers will improve the coordination between public and assisted housing providers and private and public health, mental health, and social service agencies.
Marshall proposes to undertake the following activities during the next year in support of its 5-year strategy:
The location of the projects to be funded under the 1-year action plan are either citywide or in low- and moderate-income areas defined by the census.
The lead agency for the implementation of the Consolidated Plan is the Marshall Department of Planning and Community Development.
MAP 1 depicts points of interest in the jurisdiction.
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; as well as, provides a table with information about the project(s).
