Bellingham Bay on Puget Sound was explored in 1792 by English Captain George Vancouver, who named it for Sir William Bellingham. The town was founded in 1853; logging and coal mining become the primary industries. Today, Bellingham is the southern ferry terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway. The San Juan Islands, plus 10,778-ft Mt Baker to the east, and several lakes and rivers, provide recreation.

Action Plan

The Bellingham Consolidated Plan presents a strategic vision for housing and community development. The Plan includes a One-Year Action Plan for spending it's 1995 CDBG allocation of $900,000, program income of $724,000 and Section 108 Loan program funds of $3,600,000.

Citizen Participation

The new emphasis on citizen participation for the Consolidated Plan allows citizens to understand the big picture in their community and work with the community to take coordinated actions to turn around their own neighborhoods. Citizen participation activities range from needs assessments and strategic planning, to project selection and all phases of implementation and evaluation. The Community Development Advisory Board (CDAB) and the City Council formally requested citizen comments in June at a public meeting when the annual planning process began. The proposed Plan was available to the public for examination and comment for a thirty day period beginning September 1, 1994 and ending on October 3, 1994. A summary of the Plan and a notice of availability was published in the Bellingham Herald on August 28, 1994, prior to the comment period.

A second public hearing was held at the completion of the thirty day comment period, October 6, 1994, for the draft Consolidated Plan and the draft was approved at that time. The City Council sponsored a public hearing on October 24, 1994, where the Consolidated Plan was presented to them by staff. At all public hearings, citizens are invited to comment on any and all aspects of the plan and process, as well as the projects which are proposed for funding. Additional opportunities were provided to citizens to become actively involved in decision making by attending meetings of Citizen Boards, Commissions, and Committees and by serving on various boards and commissions representing both neighborhood and city- wide interests. The City considered the views of all citizens, public agencies and other interested groups in preparing the final Consolidate Plan submission. Notification of public hearings were published in the Bellingham Herald, ten days prior to the meeting to allow citizens to attend. Technical assistance was provided to groups and individuals so that they could participate fully in developing proposals under the Consolidated Plan.

According to the projections in Property Counselors' report, Bellingham can expect its population to increase to 70,000 by 2010. From 1970 to 1980, Bellingham's population grew at an annual rate of about 1.5%, and from 1980 to 1990, at an annual rate of 1.8%. The Office of Financial Management reported the population of Bellingham in 1993 as 55,480, this is an increase of 3,301 since the 1990 Census figure of 52,179.

The Census data show that while total population increased 13.9 percent from 1980 to 1990, the white population increased only 12.1 percent. Minority populations constituted 6.3 percent of the total population in 1990, compared to 4.7 percent in 1980. The most dramatic change was in the Asian Pacific Islander population which nearly tripled during the time frame.

Conditions

Bellingham's economy has historically been closely tied to the land and sea; based on fishing, agriculture, timber, and related resource industries. However, Bellingham's economy is experiencing a fundamental shift. Although the resource sectors are still present, today they are a far less percentage of the overall personal income in northwest Washington. Several wood product companies and food processors are still among the County's top employers, but many have cut back or closed entirely in recent years. The Bellis Fair regional shopping mall is now Bellingham's largest employer and Western Washington University is the second largest employer in the area. Both the state and Whatcom County have seen a reduction in the percentage of jobs in manufacturing over the last two decades with an increase in the wholesale/retail sector jobs.

The local employment rate has historically been above the national average. For most of the 1980's unemployment stayed between 9 and 10 percent of the labor force. Toward the end of the decade, the local unemployment rate decreased reflecting the large number of new retail-sector jobs created at the new Mall. Since then, the rate has fluctuated broadly with seasonal and other factors from as low as 5.2 percent to over 9 percent. In the early 1990s the unemployment rate has been creeping up again in 1991, the rate was 6.6 percent and for 1992 and 1993 it was 7.9 percent.

Housing Needs

The rehabilitation of existing housing stock and creating more affordable housing are two critical needs identified in the Consolidated Plan.

Market Conditions

The rise in rental rates and the lack of supply of multi-family units has led to many substandard units remaining in use. The rents for these units are more likely to be within the range of families at the lowest income levels. Low and very low-income families are having difficulty in finding "affordable " clean, decent, and safe housing in Bellingham. With very low vacancy rates due to demand exceeding the supply of rental units, there is little economic incentive for landlords to upgrade substandard units. No programs currently exist that present an incentive for landlords to upgrade substandard rental units. Units that are upgraded usually rent for more which places an additional cost burden on those low income families occupying the unit.

Affordable Housing Needs

The growth of low-wage employment, particularly in the service and retail sectors, and the increase in housing costs is forcing many low and moderate income families to pay a higher percent of their income for housing expenses. In particular, Bellingham is continuing to experience an extreme shortage of housing affordable to very low-and extremely low- income households.

1990 Census data show the total number of low/mod income renter households paying more than thirty percent of their gross income for housing costs was 4,515 or 68.1 percent of all low/mod renter households. In particular, households at or below 50 percent of median income showed an 82.1 percent incidence of cost burden and a 55.8 percent incidence of severe cost burden.

Homeless Needs

Homelessness continues to be a growing problem in Bellingham. Due to the rising housing costs and general unavailability of affordable housing for extremely low- and very low- income households.

A community Human Services Needs Assessment conducted by staff during June-July 1994, identified affordable housing as the number one need in the community. The greatest problem areas cited were subsidized housing/living, support services/case management, financial assistance, and counseling. The following information was developed from a variety of sources, including consultation with service providers in the community:

• The waiting lists for subsidized housing is increasing. Transitional shelters are seeing an increase in the length of stay by one to four months, or longer.

• Service providers report the need for services for female single parent families. In particular, child care and subsidized housing with support services are becoming less available.

• Emergency facilities are needed that allow families to stay together. Many times families are forced to split according to gender in order to find emergency shelter.

• There is a need for additional prevention and follow up services that are broad based community approach.

• The two shelters that provide services to homeless individuals report that medical attention and the availability of Spanish interpreters are just a few of the supportive housing needs of their clients.

• The need for services and housing for migrant farm workers increases throughout the summer and taper off in November. Bilingual services are a priority for migrant farm workers.

The City has also determined the needs of the major sub-populations of the homeless population such as the mentally ill, alcohol drug addictions, victims of domestic violence, homeless youth, homeless persons diagnosed with AIDS and related diseases and the needs of persons threatened with homelessness. Additionally, the City has compiled an inventory of existing facilities and services.

Public and Assisted Housing Needs

Public housing financially assist low income residents by only charging households thirty percent (30 percent) of their adjusted income for rent. In public housing, the owner/landlord of the property (units) is the Housing Authority (HA). Therefore, this type of assistance stays with the unit and is not transferable when the tenant vacates.

The Bellingham/Whatcom County Housing Authority owns and manages 397 units of elderly and disabled housing at Lincoln Square, Washington Square, and Chuckanut Square. These three complexes have a total of 202 studios, 184 one bedroom units and 10 two bedroom units,. Two buildings owned by the council on Aging, Catherine May and Birchwooe Manor, are managed and maintained by the HA. These two buildings have a total of 74 one bedroom units.

The Housing Authority owns and manages 128 units of family housing distributed throughout the city. There are also 24 single family dwellings located throughout the city that are "scattered site" projects. In addition, the Housing Authority owns and manages an eighteen unit multifamily building.

The Bellingham/Whatcom County Housing Authorities financially assist 731 families through the Section 8 Program in Whatcom County. This consists of 488 certificates and 267 Vouchers. There are also 96 units available through the Mod-Rehab program.

The Bellingham Housing Authority's waiting list was recently opened indefinitely which resulted in a large increase in the number of people on the list. The waiting list currently has 768 households seeking Section 8 Rental Assistance and 886 households seeking public housing.

The Housing Authority's Physical Needs Assessment and Management Needs Assessment of the Comprehensive Plan provides a five year action plan (1992-1996) for physical improvements. These improvements include rehabilitation, parking improvements and remodeling some of the units to the new requirements of Federal Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Barriers to Affordable Housing

As part of the update to the Bellingham Comprehensive Plan, the City is reviewing it's policies and practices to determine the impact of affordable housing. Changes to zoning and land use policies will be based upon those determinations and current and projected needs. A variety of affordable housing techniques are being evaluated, such as inclusionary zoning, density bonuses, and accessory units. If appropriate, these and others will be recommended in the implementation plan that will accompany the new Bellingham Comprehensive Plan.

Specific actions that will be reviewed and may be incorporated into the new Comprehensive Plan, the new implementation plan, or the land use ordinance include the following: (1) up- zone to higher densities, increasing the number of units per acre thereby reducing the land costs per unit; (2) inclusionary zoning mandating a certain percentage of new developments to include units affordable to low/moderate income households; (3) density bonus incentives; (4) revised subdivision standards; (5) increase the number of accessory dwelling units; (6) maintain an efficient permit and development review process; (6) encourage mixed use projects; (7) encourage denser "urban development centers"; (8) preserve existing affordable housing units; (9) use of reasonable discretion when enforcing modern building code requirements on renovation of older structures; (10) encourage renovation and conversion of existing buildings to residential uses.

Fair Housing

HUD is encouraging each local jurisdiction to conduct an analysis of impediments to fair housing choice. Actions to address those impediments would be developed under a Fair Housing Plan which is anticipated will be a required component of the Consolidated Plan. The Analysis is not required to be submitted as part of the Consolidated Plan, but the city must certify that it will complete the analysis.

As required by HUD, the City will undertake actions each year to affirmatively further fair housing and/or to address one or more of the identified impediments to fair housing choice, or actions taken to maintain the affirmative fair housing market, where there are no impediments identified. In addition, where the City foresees future impediments, it will take actions to address those impediments.

Due to limited time and resources and the lack of final regulations, the City was unable to provide adequate time for a through analysis of impediments, however, the City will undertake an analysis during the 1995 program year.

In the interim the City will undertake the following actions:

• Review Comprehensive Plan in terms of relevant policies/regulations;
• Revise, publish and advertise the City's fair Housing Ordinance;
• Establish a system to monitor and track fair housing complaints;
• Hold a workshop, on a city-wide basis, on equal access to credit;
• Conduct training sessions with local police officers to increase awareness of illegal housing practices and the appropriate remedies;

Lead-Based Paint

National reports suggest childhood lead poisoning is an epidemic. Lead is currently the number one environmental health hazard to children in the United States. The Whatcom County Health Department reports, as of August 1994, there were three cases of elevated blood-levels in Whatcom County. All three cases were at levels that are not necessarily considered dangerous.

Age of housing is the key variable for estimating the number of housing units with lead- based paint. Lead was banned from residential paint in 1978. It is estimated that more than three-fourths of pre-1978 homes contain lead-based paint. The older the property, the more likely it has lead-based paint. Nationally, the percentage of units containing lead increases with age of the structure. Using national averages, approximately 12,468 to 15,238 housing units in Bellingham contain lead-based paint. That is approximately 54 to 66 percent of the total housing units.

The City's overall goal for the coming three years is to gather additional information and undertake strategic planning to significantly reduce or eliminate lead-based paint hazards and prevent childhood poisoning.

Community Development Needs

The rapid growth of low-wage, part-time employment, particularly in the service sectors, has seen rise to several additional and unforeseen social costs. These include the lack of or diminishing employee benefits, particularly medical insurance, associated with part-time employment. Underemployment is also a chronic and severe problem in the economy of Bellingham due to the increasing prevalence of lower-wage, non-career track retail and service sector jobs.

The police department has seen the number of incidents requiring police assistance nearly double in the last 10 years and they have initiated a full range of crime prevention, planning and educational programs.

The City has developed a the 1994 Bellingham Comprehensive Plan which provides a detailed discussion of public facilities, including streets and sidewalks, street lighting systems, traffic signals, water systems, storm and sanitary sewer systems, parks and recreational facilities, and schools. Public services including law enforcement, fire protection and suppression, public health, education, recreation, environmental protection, and other governmental services are also discussed.

The Transportation Element of the City's Comprehensive Plan considers the location and condition of the existing traffic circulation system, identifies transportation problems, projects future transportation need while maintaining established level of service standards.

The City also prepared an Open Space, Parks and Recreation Plan. The Plan is intended to survey existing open space, parks and recreation facilities and programs, establish policies and guidelines for the acquisition and development of new facilities, improvements to existing parks and open space, and management of recreational programs and services and to develop strategies for financing improvements

Coordination

The Community Development Division of the Planning and Community Development Department is the lead agency responsible for coordinating the City's Consolidated Plan.

Vision for Change

The City's strategy is developed to achieve the following statutory goals, principally for low- , and very-low, and extremely low-income residents:

• provide decent housing
• create suitable living environments, and
• expand economic opportunities

Housing Priorities

(1) Housing for low income renters is a priority and the City will continue to fund, through its CDBG allocation, the Housing and Development Fund. This fund provides resources that can be leveraged by other private and public sources in the following ways:

• Fund acquisition of land to be utilized by other entities for the provision of low income rental housing (e.g., Housing Authority's Low Income tax Credit Program);

• Provide local matching funds for other entities to acquire state funds from the Housing Finance Commission, Housing Trust Fund or private financing sources;

• Make small grants to complete projects that have experienced cost overruns or unexpected costs;

(2) Preservation of existing low income housing stock is also a priority. The City will continue to fund the Opportunity Council to provide services such as minor home repairs to very low income home owners.

(3) Housing for low income home buyers is needed and the City will continue to make available down payment assistance to first time home buyers through the Housing Development Fund. This assistance will take the form of grants to private non-profit housing organizations who will operate approved first time home buyers programs.

(4) The City has placed a priority on homeless prevention services to low income families and individuals, housing for homeless families and individuals and will support financially a Continuum of Care program through a homeless services system. The project will consist of three components: (1) outreach/emergency shelter/assessment effort; (2) transitional housing and supportive services; (3) permanent housing or permanent supportive housing arrangements.

Non-Housing Community Development Priorities

In addition to quality housing, there are several other key elements that combine to provide a livable lifestyle for low and moderate income people:

• Employment paying a livable wage, including benefits;

• Small business development through financing, technical assistance and problem solving;

• Safe, clean, and healthy neighborhoods (Neighborhood Initiatives program - funds to target neighborhood groups for capital improvements);

Anti-Poverty Strategy

The following goals, programs and policies will be used to reduce the number of households with incomes below the poverty line:

Goal: To address the causes as well as the symptoms associated with poverty and the quality of life of low and moderate income persons:

• Design programs to address both causes as well as the symptoms of poverty.

• Support early intervention anti-poverty programs.

• Explore alternatives for increasing the wages and/or benefits of the working poor, such as encouraging the provision of child care and health insurance.

• Preserve and increase the supply of housing affordable to low and moderate income homeowners.

• Provide rehabilitation loans, grants, and services to low and moderate income homeowners.

• Provide rehabilitation loans, grants, and services to owners of residential property which is occupied by low and moderate income persons.

• Provide assistance to low and moderate income persons in acquiring housing.

Goal: To enhance delivery of human services to low and moderate income persons.
Maximize to the largest extent possible the effective use of local option resources by:

• Acquiring and rehabilitating facilities as necessary,
• Purchasing equipment and materials,
• Supporting staff costs, and
• Encourage the use of all community resources for the support of human services.

Goal: To support the creation of new employment opportunities for low and moderate income persons:

• Provide financing to "for-profit" and "non-profit" businesses.

• Assist businesses in expanding within the City of Bellingham.

• Provide pro-active economic development services, targeting areas such as import- substation/local production, local raw material/value added export production, higher- paid service sector employment, and producer cooperatives.

• Provide businesses with support in retaining jobs within the City.

• Encourage entrepreneurship, local business start-up and ownership, and self- employment/business start-up.

Housing and Community Development Resources

Resources available of the City to implement the Strategic Plan during the 1995-1997 time frame will be limited to the use of CDBG funds and program income, General Fund and Continuum of Care program funds. The Housing Authority will pursue a variety of resources for the development of affordable housing. Discretionary grants from the Federal and State governments for housing and community development purposes will be pursued when and if they become available. Public/Private partnerships will also be encouraged.

Coordination of Strategic Plan

The City of Bellingham has organized the Community Development Division of the Planning and Community Development Department to be responsible for the planning, development and implementation of its CDBG program.

Description of Key Projects

Public Services

• Intervention and counseling for at-risk youth - $19,691
• Therapeutic childcare services - $16,142
• School based youth intervention - $21,800
• Strategic mental health services - $20,000
• Pre-cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment - $8,897
• Affordable childcare services - $17,285
• Intervention and counseling for Hispanic youth - $20,507
• Physical care, medical case management - $23,680
• Emergency financial assistance for people with AIDS - $4,000
• 24 hour domestic violence helpline - $5,138
• Continuum of Care Project - $25,860
• Subrecipient Technical Assistance - $22,895

Economic Development

• Storefront Improvement Program - $315,407
• Business/Real Estate Development Projects - $3,600,000

Rehabilitation

• Revolving Loan Fund - $473,179
• Minor Home Repair

First Time Home Buyers Program

• Housing Development Revolving Loan Fund - $105,760

Acquisition

• Housing Development Revolving Loan Fund - $402,120

Public Facilities & Improvements

• Neighborhood Initiatives Program - $136,808

Program Administration

• Oversight, management, public information, fair housing - $112,754

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

Steve Price
Community Development Manager
(360) 676-6880