The Salt Lake County Consortium is comprised of two Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) entitlement cities, Sandy City, Utah and West Valley City, Utah and one CDBG entitlement urban county, Salt Lake County. These three entities created the Consortium in September 1991 for the purpose of receiving funds under Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HOME Investment Partnership Program. The Consolidated Plan was prepared by the three Consortium members on behalf of the citizens of the two cities and the county; and for HUD.

This document summarizes the plan so citizens in the communities can have a quick overview of Salt Lake County's, West Valley City's and Sandy City's, housing and community development problems; their 5-year broad goals, strategies and actions proposed to deal with those problems; and, the specific projects proposed for 1995 to carry out this strategy.

Action Plan

The Salt Lake County Consortium's 1995 Consolidated Plan constitutes a strategic vision for housing and community development in the County of Salt Lake, Utah. It includes a One-Year Action Plan for spending approximately $6,091,000 of CDBG (Salt Lake County $4,307,000, Sandy City $569,000, West Valley $1,512,000), $1,215,000 of HOME Investment Partnership Program, $154,000 of Emergency Shelter Grant funds and program income in 1995. These funds will be spent on affordable housing, neighborhood livability activities and services for abused women and children and the homeless. The Consortium has placed a strong emphasis on the use of HOME funds for the development of additional affordable rental units.

Citizen Participation

The Salt Lake County, Economic Development and Job Training, Community Development and Housing as the lead agency for the Consortium became the lead agency to coordinate with the two entitlement cities the activities to prepare the Consolidated Plan for fiscal year 1995. In the fall of 1994, the County began a process to get citizen input on housing and community needs. Seven public hearings were held to identify needs, set priorities and develop strategies. The County contracted with Panella Consulting and Wikstrom Economic and Planning Consultants to organize the public hearings and citizen participation. They were successful in helping to increase the citizen participation. During the thirty day comment period, a booth was set up in the lobby of the Salt Lake County administration complex with a copy of the Plan, information on the programs and eligible uses of funds, and comment sheets.

Each of the cities receiving HOME and CDBG funds held public hearings and received citizen input. Sandy City and West Valley City gathered citizen input through their CDBG Citizen committee, city planning workshops and city-wide focus groups. West Valley City's citizen involvement was based on participation and coordination in the County planning process. By taking this approach, the city gained a greater understanding of the issues facing the County as a whole. In addition to the public meetings, the County and the entitlement cities consulted with various housing and other service agencies to gather data on needs.

Salt Lake County has Housing and Community Development programs that encompass West Valley City, Sandy City, the unincorporated County and eight incorporated cities of Alta, Bluffdale, Draper, Midvale, Murray, Riverton, South Jordan, and South Salt Lake. According to the 1990 census, the population of the county was 728,000. Since 1990, Salt Lake County's population increased by 64,000 from 728,000 to 792,000. In the last ten years the strongest growth has occurred in the cities of Sandy, West Jordan and South Jordan. Coupled with in-migration is the continued high birth rate. In 1994 alone, the County had natural growth of over 10,000 people and a net in-migration of over 4,000 persons. The growth cycle continues to draw companies and people into the County. Also, the growth of the computer industry in Utah County (which is south of Salt Lake County) with the creation of 3,550 jobs places additional stress on Salt Lake County's infrastructure and housing needs.

The County along with the State as a whole has experienced housing shortages over the past five years. Because Salt Lake City (city is located in Salt Lake County) has limited land available for new housing with little development of new units in the affordable range, the County will have to absorb the majority of the growth in population and the increased need for more housing units. Housing development will continue to use up farm land in the south and west parts of the County.

Many of the problems and issues facing the County as a whole are mirrored in Sandy City and West Valley City. West Valley City has experienced significant rent increases and housing prices are beginning to increase at an alarming rate. West Valley City has a high percentage of rental housing and has developed a Strategic Plan for city government that focuses on many crime related and neighborhood improvement related issues.

Conditions

Utah is projected to have over one million more inhabitants in the year 2020 than were counted during the census in 1990. The factor that continues to fuel Utah's population and economic growth is the computer industry companies, the weak California economy, and the strong support of State and local governments for economic growth. The growth and in-migration has created a dilemma for State and local governments. New residents require government services and place added pressure on the State's infrastructure and education system.

Housing Needs

Salt Lake County along with many other parts of the state are facing housing shortages. The demand for housing is stimulated by the strong economic growth coupled with net in-migration, decreases in average family size and continued high birth rate (compared to the national average).

Eighty-nine percent of renters with income between 0-30% had a cost burden of greater than 30%. Seventy-six percent of the renters in the 31-50% bracket had a cost burden greater than 30%. The lower the income the greater the cost burden of housing. Only 18 percent of households in the 51-80% range have a cost burden of greater than 30%.

Increasing the percentage of home ownership is a key component of any effort to revitalize neighborhoods. A housing condition survey indicated the need for the construction of more affordable single family homes in certain parts of the county. The number of owners with severe cost burden is relatively high. It is one of Salt Lake County's highest priorities to continue to support the existing home ownership programs offered by local non-profit developers, the housing finance authority, local banks, FHA and Fannie Mae.

Of the owner occupiers with incomes in the 0-30 % range of the median income, 86% have a cost burden greater than 30%. This implies that many very low-income homeowners, especially the elderly, are trying to stay in their homes even though the cost burden of the mortgage takes greater than what they should generally be attempting to pay. The other incomes groups cost burden is not as great but they too are in need of assistance.

Housing Market Conditions

The quality of housing varies greatly within the county. The more affluent and new neighborhoods are all in good condition. Data from the last County housing survey (1976) indicated 20 percent or 31,000 housing units were in need of minor to substantial repair. A survey of Magna and Kearns, older mining communities, shows that around 58% of the housing units are in need of repair. Thirty-eight percent of all housing in the county has some type of housing problem. In the lower income neighborhoods this increases to over 58%. The economic growth has increased the need for more housing, transportation systems, schools, and additional infrastructure.

Affordable Housing Needs

Salt Lake County's rehabilitation program alone receives over 1,000 application yearly but are able to only help about 100 applicants.

Homeless Needs

It is estimated by the State of Utah that on any given day in Salt Lake area that there are approximately 1500 to 2400 homeless persons. The number of homeless persons sheltered or on waiting lists grew 25% for 2 years in a row. The largest increase in recent years has been in families with a large number of children (5+). All shelters in the area are constantly full. Currently nine shelters serve the County, most are located in Salt Lake City.

More temporary housing beds that are linked to support services are critically needed for people that are homeless in County. The shelters provide beds for a total of 900 persons per night. The critical component of the homeless problem in 1992, 1993 and 1994 compared with previous years, is the dearth of low-income housing in Salt Lake County. Because of the lack of transitional and permanent housing, the Community Shelter has changes its policy of a 90 day stay to a length determined by case management. The paucity of low-income housing also creates a dilemma for the Housing Outreach Rental Program which sees over 500 families per year who are on the street, temporarily living with friends, family, or are living out of their cars.

Public and Assisted Housing Needs

Both Salt Lake County and West Valley Housing Authorities have waiting lists of a combined figure of over 5,000. The waiting lists for Section 8 programs suggest that elderly and persons with disabilities are in need of housing assistance. There is a large demand for affordable housing for 2 and 3- bedroom subsidized rental units utilizing Section 8 certificates and vouchers.

The Salt Lake County Housing Authority will modernize a number of the housing units they own. Lead based paint abatement and substantial rehabilitation of older stock is the main focus of their efforts. West Valley Housing Authority needs to increase the supply of homes for their lease/purchase program. Homes need to have at least three bedrooms because of the large families in the community. Families will occupy the home for up to five years while building a cash account that will eventually be utilized to purchase the unit.

Barriers to Affordable Housing

The greatest barrier to affordable housing has been a growth in Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY), Citizens Against Virtually Everything (CAVE) and NO Place Ever (NOPE). All communities have support the notion that high-density development can be an important part of the community mix, but generally they have not allowed for this type of development anywhere in their communities. Each of the cities and unincorporated county have varying polices that have a major impact on where and how much of the affordable housing is built. To counter the bias against the development of affordable housing, the Councils of Government formed a task force to examine what can be done to ensure that there is a fair distribution of affordable housing.

Lead-Based Paint

In all of Salt Lake County there are 123,876 housing units which were built before 1980. Of these 71 percent or 87,851 have some lead based paint somewhere inside the unit. In the nest five years Slat Lake County will implement a lead based paint reduction plan.

Community Development Needs

Priorities for the next five years are to eliminate conditions in the neighborhoods that are detrimental to the health, safety, and public welfare; to conserve and expand the County's housing stock, develop affordable single family homes and multi-family units; to continue the development and improvement of senior centers, recreation centers and parks; and to expand and improve the quality and quantity of public and community services.

Coordination

The homeless needs are coordinated through the Salt Lake County Homeless Coordinating Committee. Salt Lake County Consortium members, Salt Lake City and the State of Utah have in the past and will continue to be involved in joint projects. The three entitlement agencies coordinate activities with their respective housing authorities, as applicable and other entities in the communities involved in community development and housing issues.

Housing Priorities

All three Consortium members have common housing priorities to increase the supply of affordable housing and reduce the cost burden for low income households, to assist the elderly in keeping their homes in good repair, to increase the supply of rental housing for which is handicapped accessible, and in addressing the housing needs for large families.

Non-Housing Community Development Priorities

Salt Lake County: economic revitalization of the downtown area of Magna, rehabilitation of a building to house the Magna Ethnic and Mining Museum, Millcreek Community neighborhood revitalization and infrastructure needs, a comprehensive study of the Millcreek area to set forth directions the County could take to help revitalize the area, development of parks and recreation centers in low/moderate income area of the County, purchase land and proceed with the development of two parks in the Millcreek neighborhood, to continue development of Cougar Park and an additional larger park in Kearns, to continue development of Pleasant Green Park in Magna, to add one more park near the West Valley City and Magna boundary, gap financing for small business and to develop markets for local businesses, to assist low-income families in finding jobs and training which will help them to end up with higher paying jobs.

West Valley City: address the need for public improvements on the old major streets within the city and to accomplish the objective of creating safer roads, more friendly pedestrian streets, and a complete and functional storm drainage system, assist in the completion of storm drains, curb, gutter, and sidewalk on 4000 West, continue with the development of park facilities within the neighborhoods as outlined in the city's overall General Plan; lineal parks and natural parks along the Jordan river, neighborhood, district and citywide parks throughout the residential portion of the city coupled with trails and pedestrian walkways to connect these parks, foster increased community pride in the 40 plus neighborhoods of the city through beautification, minor public improvements projects, and clean-up programs.

Sandy City: provide a recreational and social center for current and future senior citizens, continue to provide recreational and social services to the citizens and to update these facilities as needed, infrastructure improvements are a high priority because high commercial and population growth continues to put a strain on the city's streets and overall circulation; creates a need for better pedestrian access and new sidewalks, and for improvements to existing sidewalks; and to provide adequate street lighting, identify Public Services needs and to allocate resources to meet such needs. business and visitors are protected.

Anti-Poverty Strategy

Salt Lake County has many programs to assist individuals and families to eventually escape from poverty. They are: housing assistance so an individual or family can spend more of their resources on education and job training, strong job training programs designed to move people from no skills to having skills to get and keep a good paying job, and self-sufficiency programs run by the housing authorities that create incentives for individual to be come self- sufficient and off public housing. Coordination take place between agencies and programs designed to assist low income families.

Housing and Community Development Resources

In addition to the Federal resources are resources available form the State of Utah general funds and the Utah Housing Finance Authority, the Board of Realtors, and various local agencies which include churches.

Coordination of Strategic Plan

The Slat Lake County Community Development Department is responsible for the coordination of the strategic plan for HOME Program activities for the Consortium. Each of the CDBG entitlement community development departments retain the responsible for coordination of activities within their communities.

Description of Key Projects

Salt Lake County:

Pleasant Green Park - $170,000 for the completion of the activity area providing basketball court, volleyball courts, and horseshoe courts.

East Side Senior Center - $200,000 for the development and construction of a senior center.

Midvale Center Streetscape - $131,000 to continue the renovation of Center Street, the main business and shopping street for the community.

Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund - $300,000 for loans to business to create jobs for low and moderate income persons.

West Valley:

4000 West Street Sidewalk - $154,985 for the construction of curb, gutter, sidewalk and asphalt pavement.

Community oriented police program - $90,000 for salaries and operating costs.

District 3 Park - $120,000 to complete the construction of the neighborhood park.

Sandy City:

Historic Overlay/Sidewalks - $386,021 to reconstruct and overlay the roads in historic Sandy and construction of sidewalks for pedestrian safety.

Neighborhood Patrol Officer - $35,000 for locating a police officer in historic Sandy for education activities and crime prevention.

Locations

Housing Goals

A home ownership program is a key component of any effort to revitalize neighborhoods. A housing condition survey indicated the need for the construction of more affordable single family homes in certain parts of the county. The number of owners with severe cost burden is relatively high. It is one of Salt Lake County's highest priorities to continue to support the existing home ownership programs offered by local non-profit developers, the housing finance authority, local banks, FHA and Fannie Mae.

Of the owner occupiers with incomes in the 0-30 % range of the median income, 86% have a cost burden greater than 30%. This implies that many very low-income homeowners, especially the elderly, are trying to stay in their dwelling even though the cost burden of the mortgage takes greater than what they should generally be attempting to pay.

Rehabilitation of housing: the greatest needs for many low income families, those with special needs, and especially physically disabled is the rehabilitation of their housing unit.

The County will continue to provide funding to the Community Action Program to do housing outreach, foreclosure prevention, and other counseling as needed to help families keep the housing unit or acquire one.

The construction of affordable rental units, especially three and four bedroom units.

To develop additional housing for those with special needs or circumstances.

To assist families paying more than 50 percent of their income for housing with tenant-based rental assistance.

Maps

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 depicts Neighborhood Segments and streets with proposed HUD funded projects; in addition, a table provides information about the project(s).

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Fax: (801) 468-3684