2010-2014 Consolidated Plan - City of Champaign

FY 2010/11 AAP Chapter 3:Affordable Housing Activities to be UndertakenThe following chapter provides a description of the affordable housing activities that the City of Champaignplans to carry out during the next year to address priority goals and strategies included in the five-yearConsolidated Plan and the City’s Neighborhood Wellness Plan. Also included in this chapter are strategiesfor addressing public housing needs, affordable housing for persons with special needs, and residentiallead-based paint concerns. Some of these strategies outlined below will be carried out by the City’sNeighborhood Services Department through the use of federal Community Development Block Grant andHOME funds. However, both City staffing and financial resources are limited and therefore the City willrely on the following set of objectives to facilitate the successful implementation of the goals in this planand optimize the impact on neighborhoods.• Concentrate affordable housing and neighborhood improvement activities in areas identified as havingthe greatest needs. These areas include census tracts or Neighborhood Wellness Planning Areas withhigh concentrations of low- and moderate-income families, deteriorated and aging housing stock, anddeclining property values.• Employ proactive measures to reduce the decline of the City’s oldest neighborhoods throughrenovation of neighborhood housing infrastructure, construction of compatible in-fill housing, andacquisition/clearance of blighted land and dwellings.• Empower residents to continue to play a role in the preservation of neighborhoods through educationalefforts and the organization of neighborhood groups.• Foster partnerships with non-profit developers, Community Housing Development Organizations(CHDOs), as well as other agencies and local units of government to expand the City’s ability to carryout the affordable housing and community development strategies identified in this plan.• Continue to seek additional funding through federal, state, local or private resources to expand servicedelivery. Support projects carried out by non-profit developers that leverage additional resources tomaximize the impact of the City’s funding.Activities PlannedFollowing each of the Goals and Objectives is a listing of activities that will be undertaken in the upcomingyear to achieve the stated objectives. Some of the activities can be carried out within one year, othersmay take longer to complete. Where resources have been identified to carry out the activities, those areindicated in parentheses after each activity. Some of the new initiatives are only in the planning stages, soa funding resource or potential numbers served may not yet be identified. For each activity that will becarried out with federal funds, a corresponding Project Table is provided in the Annual Action Plan Chapter6.Goals and ObjectivesGoal 1: Preserve the City’s housing infrastructure as a valuable community asset. TheNeighborhood Wellness Plan identifies several Planning Areas where the condition of the housing stock andthe value of property are not keeping pace with the rest of the City. Household incomes in theseneighborhoods are well below the area median. The inability to receive a reasonable return creates adisincentive for private investment. Private efforts must be supplemented with public investment if thehousing stock is going to remain a viable component of the neighborhood infrastructure.106 FY 2010/11 Annual Action Plan: Affordable Housing Activities