U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Community Planning and Development


Consolidated Plan Contact

CITIZEN'S SUMMARY

The City of Hopewell is located at the confluence of the Appomattox and James Rivers. The city is part of the Hopewell-Petersburg-Colonial Heights Tri-cities area that has recently been combined with the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hopewell is located 25 miles south of Richmond, the capital of Virginia.

Action Plan

The City of Hopewell's Consolidated Plan (CP) presents a strategic vision for housing and community development. The one-year action plan includes a budget of $310,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. These funds will primarily be spent on housing and public service activities.

Citizen Participation

The City of Hopewell and the Hopewell Redevelopment and Housing Authority, were jointly responsible for the development of the Consolidated Plan. The City collaborated with numerous local agencies, other city departments, a Special Resources Committee, the Hopewell Health Department and Hopewell Department of Social Services. The CP process required the City to hold two public hearings which were held at sites accessible to persons with disabilities and advertised in the local newspaper. Public comments were received and incorporated into the CP. The CP was approved by City Council in May 1995.


COMMUNITY PROFILE

The City of Hopewell's population declined slightly during the 1980's from 23,397 to 23,101. This decrease was accompanied by changes within the overall structure of the population, as white, non-hispanic populations decreased all other populations increased. The current population is 71.2 percent white, 25.4 percent black, and 3.4 percent other.

The median family income in Hopewell lags behind both the median family income for the nation and the metropolitan statistical area.


HOUSING AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

Conditions

The City of Hopewell has not grown in population over the last 10 years and there has been a decline in the, historically significant, chemical manufacturing for it's economical base. However, with the opening of I-295, Hopewell now has direct access to the interstate system. This, plus Hopewell's position on the tourist route to Williamsburg/Newport News area, puts the City in good position for the expansion of its hospitality industry.

Housing Needs

Seventy-five percent of the existing housing in Hopewell is at least 30 years old and in the latter half of its practical life span. In several sections of the City, the older housing is deteriorating and contributing to the decline of the neighborhood in the surrounding subdivision. Critical housing needs are identified in the CP and include strengthening the condition of existing housing to avoid population loss and on weakening future growth of the City.

Housing Market Conditions

The City of Hopewell has a total of 9,625 units of year-round housing. The number of occupied units 9,014. Owners occupy 5,141, or 57 percent of those units, while renters occupy 3,873, or 43 percent of those units. Single family housing development was vigorous in the 1970's but sluggish in the 1980's. This sluggishness was due to two reasons: a lack of readily available, developable land, and economic events. These problems have contributed to the low housing values and has increased the desire of many young, well-employed citizens to locate outside the community. The average house value in Hopewell is $54,300.

Affordable Housing Needs

The City has a limited supply of vacant residential land available for future growth. Therefore, the City is making every effort to fully utilize its existing land resources to their full potential. Based on the 1990 census data, Hopewell has 1,801 rental households and 940 owner households classified as very low-income. Most of the rental housing within the City is affordable to low-income persons, since a large percentage of the rental stock rents for less than $499 per month. Because the overall housing values within the City remain low many low-income families are able to move from the rent to homeownership.

Even though there appears to be a reasonable statistical match between income levels and housing costs (values or rents), it is apparent that for larger families, older families, families with special needs, and families inhabiting older homes actual housing cost can become a financial burden.

Homeless Needs

The actual number of homeless persons in the City is difficult to establish. However, the District 19 Community Services Board noted that between the period of January 1992 thru June 24, 1993 a total of 12 homeless persons were served by the Projects for Assistance in the Transition from Homelessness (Path). However, most of the homeless in the area receive services through the Crisis Assistance response Emergency Shelter (CARES) located in Petersburg, a nearby City. CARES reported serving a total of 1,537 individuals in 1992.

Hopewell's homeless needs are effectively served by CARES. The City of Hopewell is one of the many supporters of CARES and this support is evidenced by a financial commitment.

Public and Assisted Housing Needs

The Hopewell Redevelopment and Housing Authority (HRHA) owns and operates 500 units of public housing. All are available for occupancy except those which may be subject to on-scheduled modernization.

Barriers to Affordable Housing

The scarcity of buildable vacant lots and funding resources, due to cutbacks in housing and community development programs, are identified as the most significant obstacle to meeting underserved need. The City government is aware of issues relating to their tax policies, land use controls, zoning ordinances , building codes, and other restrictions but feel these are necessary for reasons of public safety and good public policy.

Fair Housing

From 1984 through 1989, the City under the auspices of its agent the HRHA, sponsored a Fair Housing program. The program, provide a clearinghouse for the dissemination of fair housing information and literature and the referral of fair housing complaints. This program operated in conjunction and cooperation with the Southside Virginia Community Resources Board in the promotion of fair housing initiatives. Through the 1994 CDBG, this effort has once again been funded and is operational.

Lead-Based Paint

Both the City's Health Department and the HRHA have on-going information and education programs to make citizens aware of the potential for lead-based paint hazards. families with children identified as having elevated blood levels are subject to interim, personalized counseling. Health Department data, to-date, do not reflect significant incidences of elevated lead blood levels.

Community Development Needs

There is a need for Public Facilities, Infrastructure Improvements, Public Service Needs, Historic Preservation, Economic Development, and Code Enforcement which could be accomplished through the CDBG program. There is a need for a wide variety of neighborhood facilities, such as child care centers and seniors centers, improvement to public streets, housing and land space use, to name a few. However, the City only receives a little over $300,000 per year and must be very selective as to the projects it funds. In addition, the lack of usable land for housing and other development is a critical factor which must be overcome.

Coordination

The City works extensively with the HRHA and all other City departments as well as many surrounding localities in the planning and on-going work of the programs reflected in the CP.


HOUSING AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Vision for Change

The overall goals of the CP program is the creation of safe, affordable, and decent housing, while at the same time improving the viability of the City for future development and livability.

Housing and Community Development Objectives

HUD funding through CDBG is critical to the continued success of existing and proposed projects. Housing and community development objectives and priorities include the elimination of spot blight, housing rehabilitation, homeless prevention, economic development opportunities, and public housing homeownership initiatives, to name a few.

Housing Priorities

Housing priorities includes a five-year implementation of the Spot Blight Removal Program wherein vacant, uninhabited houses not suitable for rehabilitation are acquired, cleared and the lot made available for single family new construction. The Housing Rehabilitation Program will provide financial and technical assistance to those qualified homeowners who are not financially able to resolve their own housing deficiencies.

Non-housing Community Development Priorities

Non-housing Community Development (CD) needs include additional public facility development to include the expansion of parks and recreation facilities, flood drain improvements, sidewalk installation, and water/sewer improvements. The City is also committed to improving economic development, through improvements to commercial-industrial properties, infrastructure and any other improvements necessary such as railroads, docks equipment upgrading, etc. Due to the deteriorating housing stock, code enforcement is a high priority to stabilized the loss of affordable housing units.

Anti-Poverty Strategy

The City of Hopewell recognizes the need to continue programs that strengthen its economic base and reducing the poverty level number of families as an important part its anti-poverty strategy.

Housing and Community Development Resources

The resources expected to be available to the residents of the City for housing and supportive services and community development are from public or private sources. These sources are through Federal, State, local, and private programs. Some of these resources and their respective programs are delineated below. The Primary Federal resources include the CDBG and Section 8, public housing programs.

Coordination of Strategic Plan

The City of Hopewell's Department of Development will coordinate the delivery of services with all subrecipients. The HRHA has established relationships with many public and private partners. All of which will cooperate as players in program delivery. The City Department of Development will be responsible for program compliance and monitoring of all CDBG funded activities.


ONE-YEAR ACTION PLAN

Description of Key Projects

The City of Hopewell's' One-Year Action Plan outlines the proposed use of $310,000 from the entitlement program. The majority of all the projects are City wide.

Locations

A substantial amount of the CDBG funding for FY 95 is spent for Spot Blight removal and is a citywide effort to stabilize the housing.

Lead Agencies

The City Department of Development and the Hopewell Redevelopment and Housing Authority under contract with the City is responsible to carry out the CDBG program. The City provides oversight and monitoring.

Housing Goals

The number of households expected to be assisted in the Spot Blight program has been estimated to be five.

Maps

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.

TABLE (without associated map) provides information about the project(s).

To comment on Hopewell's Consolidated Plan, please contact:
Mr. Milton Martin
Director of Development
PH: (804) 541-2267
Return to Virginia's Consolidated Plans.