CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL

PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION REPORT

CITY OF KENT, OHIO

PROGRAM YEAR FY2008

CITY OF KENT

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

930 OVERHOLT ROAD, KENT, OHIO 44240

330-678-8108

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary i

Section One – Introduction and Scope of Report 1

Section Two – Summary of Investments and Households Assisted 3

Summary of Investments 3

Persons and Households Assisted 5

Section Three – Description of Activities 7

Introduction 7

Housing Activities 7

Public Improvements 10

Subcategory: CDBG-R Substantial Amendment 11

Homeless Assistance 12

Economic Development 13

Public Safety 14

Grant Administration 15

Actions to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing 15

Actions to Address Analysis to Impediments 17

Real Property Acquisition 18

Addressing Obstacles to Meeting Underserved Needs 18

Leveraged Resources 18

Compliance with Program and Comprehensive Planning Requirements 18

Section Four – Assessment of Five-Year Goals 20

Introduction 20

Performance Measurement System 20

Priority Needs Breakdown 21

Outside Funding Sources 24

Actions Taken To Improve Performance of Goals 24

Certifications of Consistency to Consolidated Plan 24

Performance Outcomes 25

Section Five – Affordable Housing 27

Introduction 27

Overall Progress 27

Number of Units Benefited 27

Actual vs. Projected Levels of Assistance 29

Actions to Foster Affordable Housing / Eliminate Barriers 30

Public Policies 31

Institutional Structures 33

Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction 34

Section 215 – National Affordable Housing Act 34

Actions to Improve Public Housing and Resident Initiatives 35

Actions to Reduce Persons Living Below Poverty Level 36

Section Six – Citizen Participation 38

Section Seven – IDIS Reports 39

Activity Summary Report: C04PR03 AS1-AS34

Summary of Consolidated Plan Projects: C04PR06 CPP-1-CPP-40

Rehabilitation Activities: C04PR10 R-1-R-4

Summary of Accomplishments: C04PR23 SA-1-SA-11

Grantee Summary Activity Report: C04PR08 GSAR-1-GSAR-7

Financial Summary: C04PR26 FS1 – FS8

Program Income Details by FY and Program: C04PR09 1-4

Section Eight – Appendix 40

Maps 41

Public Comments 42

TABLES –

Table 1 – FY2008 CDBG Investments by Activity 3

Table 2 – FY2008 Persons and Households Assisted by Income Level 5

Table 3 – Persons and Households Assisted by National Origin 6

Table 4 – Actual Uses of Federal, State and Local Funds

Program Years 2005-2009 22

Table 5 – Impact of Leveraged Outside Funding Sources 23

Table 6 – Number of Affordable Housing Units Benefited, FY2008 28

Table 7 -- Owner and Renter Occupied Units Assisted, By Income

Level FY2008 28

Table 8 – Actual Number of Owner Occupied Units Assisted

FY2005-FY2009 30

FIGURES –

Figure 1 – FY2008 CDBG Expenditures 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The City of Kent is required under Title I of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 to submit a Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) within 90 days of the end of its CDBG program year. This report contains information concerning CDBG expenditures and accomplishments covering the FY2008 program period which began August 1, 2008 and ran through July 31, 2009.

The FY2008 CAPER highlights the activities undertaken during the program year and compares those accomplishments to the goals the City set for itself in its Five-Year Consolidated Plan (2005-2009) which was adopted in 2005. The FY2008 CAPER provides information about each activity as well as a comparative analysis of actual achievements compared to projected goals presented in the 2005-2009 Consolidated Plan. The FY2008 program year represents the fourth year of the FY2005 Five-Year Consolidated Plan.

The CAPER also incorporates reports downloaded from HUD’s Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS) program as required by CAPER requirements. These reports provide detailed information on funded activities, program performance, and CDBG program financial data.

The City of Kent spent a total of $254,275.67 in CDBG funds during the FY2008 program period. This total expenditure includes portions of the City’s FY2008 CDBG allocation, as well as unexpended funds from prior year allocations and revolving loan funds (RLF). The City utilized these funds to fund activities that provided city-wide benefits as well as direct benefits to 97 low and moderate income households in the City of Kent. Some of the activities undertaken this year are highlighted below:

One (1) house was rehabilitated through the CDBG-funded Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Program.

Thirteen (13) households were assisted through the CAC Energy Efficiency Program and ten (10) homes were assisted with the Project SAFE program.

Three (3) rental units were assisted with rehabilitation work through the Coleman Rental Rehabilitation project.

Fourteen (14) residents were provided technical assistance as part of the Small Business Development Center. The Kent Business Incubator tenants received over 400 hours of support services as a result of the CDBG funding. Two (2) new businesses were started in the City through these efforts.

Ninety-six (96) homeless households received emergency shelter and essential supportive services through the Homeless Programs.

The City also continued its CDBG funding of the Community Policing Program. This program is implemented in various neighborhoods in the City where it is estimated that approximately 8,000 residents benefited from the program.

Final work was completed on the basketball court as part of the Plum Creek Park public improvement project. Work also was completed on the two-year storm sewer improvement project in the Harris Street / West Street area of south central Kent.

In summary, FY2008 CDBG expenditures were allocated to the following funding categories:

Public Improvements (33%)
Housing (22%)
Economic Development (11%)
Public Safety (9%)
Homeless Assistance (8%)
Grant Administration, including Fair Housing (17%)

SECTION ONE

INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF REPORT

Introduction and Scope of Report

As part of the requirements associated with the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), the City of Kent is required to prepare and distribute for public comment a comprehensive report detailing the use of CDBG funds at the end of each program year. This report, known as the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), will describe activities undertaken with CDBG funds during the FY2008 program year that covers the period August 1, 2008 through July 31, 2009.

In 2005, the City adopted a Five-Year Consolidated Plan which outlined the City’s priorities for the utilization of its CDBG funds based on needs identified in the community. The FY2008 program year constitutes the fourth year of the five-year period.

Including this Introduction, the report is divided into eight (8) sections. The Second Section, Summary of Investments and Households Assisted, will provide an overview of expenditures, and the number and types of households and/or persons assisted. It is important to note that all CDBG funds expended during the FY2008 program year were used to assist low and moderate income persons, in accordance with federal CDBG guidelines.

Section Three will provide a detailed Description of Activities which have been funded with CDBG assistance in the FY2008 program period. Each activity area will be discussed with regard to overall achievements and the identification of any leveraged funds applied to the project from other public or private funding sources. This section will also include a description of the actions that were undertaken by the City of Kent’s ’s fair housing provider during the FY2008 program period to affirmatively further fair housing in the community.

The Fourth Section, Assessment of Goals, will analyze and discuss the City’s progress towards meeting its Five-Year Consolidated Plan goals and objectives. This section will also identify actions taken by the City to improve its progress towards meeting these goals and objectives, and those actions taken to assist projects by other entities which are consistent with the community’s goals.

Section Five will provide an analysis of the City of Kent’s efforts to promote and preserve Affordable Housing in the City. This Section will highlight actions taken to foster more affordable housing, as well as those actions designed to eliminate barriers to affordable housing. Efforts taken to reduce the dangers of lead-based paint will also be discussed in this Section of the report.

Section Six of the report will describe actions taken by the City to promote Citizen Participation and input on the FY2008 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). The CAPER provides residents with an opportunity to review how the City utilized CDBG funds to assist low and moderate income populations, and its efforts to promote a higher quality of life within the community during the FY2008 program period.

The reports that are required to be downloaded from HUD’s Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS) for inclusion in the CAPER and the Financial Summary are included in Section Seven of the report. The reports provide information on which activities were funded in FY2008, the status of activities funded in FY2008, lists activities not yet completed which were funded in prior CDBG program years, and provides programmatic financial information.

The last Section of the report, Section Eight, is the Appendix and contains various documents referenced in the body of the report, including maps that depict the location of funded activities within the City of Kent.

SUMMARY OF INVESTMENTS AND HOUSEHOLDS ASSISTED

Summary of Investments

The City of Kent spent a total of $254,275.67 in CDBG funds during the FY2008 Program Year. These expenditures include portions of the City’s FY2008 CDBG allocation of $298,370.00, revolving loan fund (RLF) monies, and portions of prior year funds.

Funds spent in FY2008 were allocated to a variety of activities including, housing rehabilitation, public facilities and the completion of infrastructure improvements, public services, energy efficiency, small business development and technical assistance, the provision of needed supportive services for transitional housing tenants and the homeless, fair housing, neighborhood policing, the rehabilitation of housing for persons with special needs, the installation of smoke / carbon monoxide detectors, and grant program administration. A detailed breakdown by each activity category is provided in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1

FY2008 CDBG INVESTMENTS - BY ACTIVITY

A better comparison of how CDBG funds in FY2008 were spent can be shown by grouping expenditures into the generalized categories of housing, public improvements, homeless assistance, economic development, public safety and grant administration. Figure 1 below presents this information in a pie chart format with each of the categories identified by its percentage of the total expenditures reported for the FY2008 program year.

As depicted in Figure 1, the largest percentage of expenditures was in the category of “Public Improvements,” which made up 33% of the expenditures in FY2008. The majority of the public improvement funding was used for the completion of a two-year project known as the Harris Street/West Street Storm Sewer project. The second largest category of expenditures (22%) was in the area of “Housing.” These expenditures included funding that the City made available for the Owner Occupied Housing Rehabilitation program, the CAC Energy Efficiency Program, the CAC Project SAFE Fire Prevention Program, and the Coleman Rental Housing Rehabilitation activity.

The remaining categories of expenditures were in the areas of Economic Development (11%), Homeless Assistance (8%), and Grant Administration, which included fair housing (17%).

Persons and Households Assisted

The primary national objective for the Community Development Block Grant program is to assist low and moderate income persons and/or households. The FY2008 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) identifies demographic information, including race and income data, for persons and households assisted with CDBG funds on a per activity basis. The orientation of the beneficiary varies depending on the nature of the project.

In most housing related activities, the beneficiaries are designated by the number of households assisted. In the case of job training or economic development activities, the beneficiaries are persons. Projects such as those involving the construction of public improvements or the provision of public services, which are of a nature that the defined benefit area is broad in scope, persons assisted are identified utilizing available census tract data. For area benefit activities that benefit low and moderate income persons residing throughout the community, these activities are defined as city-wide benefit activities. In the City of Kent, 55.3% of all of the households have reported household incomes that are at 80% or below the area median income (AMI). For each year the City receives CDBG funding assistance, the City must ensure that it commits a minimum of 70% of its CDBG annual allocation to support projects and activities that benefit low and moderate income persons. A detailed breakdown of beneficiaries per activity is provided in the “IDIS Reports” section of this report beginning on Page AS-1. Table 2 and Table 3 below provide a cumulative breakdown of the persons and households assisted in FY2008 by low-to-moderate income category, female-headed households, and national origin.

TABLE 2

The “# of Persons” column in Table 2 above identifies the number of low and moderate income persons assisted for area benefit activities, including city-wide benefit activities. Area benefit activities, which include infrastructure projects and public facility improvements, typically are of such a nature that it is difficult to determine direct beneficiaries so available 2000 census data on low-to-moderate income persons is used to establish the number of beneficiaries. The “# of Households” column in Table 2 identifies the number of households assisted by low-to-moderate income category for projects underway in FY2008 that are of such a nature that data can be collected on the actual number of households assisted. A total of 95 different households, comprised of 148 persons, were assisted in FY2008. Of the 95 households assisted, 77% have household incomes at 30% and below the area median income, 8% have reported household incomes between 31-50% of the area median income, and 15% of the households assisted in FY2008 had household incomes between 51%-80% of the area median income. A total of 37% of all of the households that received direct assistance in FY2008 across all three income categories listed in Table 2 were identified as female-headed households.

The data shown in Table 2 concerning the number of beneficiaries by income level in terms of area benefit and direct benefit activities reflects the fact that the City has committed all of its FY2008 funding to activities that meet the nation objective of benefitting low and moderate income persons.

Table 3 below provides a breakdown of persons and households assisted classified by national origin. According to available 2000 census data, the City has a minority population of approximately 14%.

The “# of Persons” column in Table 3 above identifies the City’s total population categorized by national origin and race. These figures are applicable to activities completed in FY2008 that would be categorized as area benefit activities that result in a city-wide benefit. These area benefit and city-wide benefit activities include the Neighborhood Policing Program, the Harris Street / West Street Storm Sewer Project, and the Plum Creek Park Project. The “# of Households” column in Table 3 identifies households that received a direct benefit from a CDBG-funded program or activity in FY2008. The data depicted in Table 3 closely reflects the racial composition of the City as identified in the 2000 Census. The Census data identified approximately 14% of the population as minority and Table 3 above shows the percentage of minorities receiving direct assistance was 18% (16% Black + 2% White/Hispanic).

SECTION THREE

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES

The City of Kent provides funding assistance for an average of 12 projects each program year. The purpose of Section Three is to describe each of the activities which were undertaken in FY2008, the funding amount committed and expended for each activity, and the benefits of the activity to the beneficiaries and the community at large. Maps showing locations of the activities have been included in the Appendix, under the subsection titled Activity Maps.

The purpose of the Owner Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Program is to conduct moderate rehabilitation on structures where one or more major improvements are required to bring the structure into Housing Quality Standards (HQS) compliance. Currently, the City will provide up to $30,000 per home for repairs needed to make a home safe and code compliant, including any work that may be needed to mitigate lead paint hazards. Assistance is provided in the form of a deferred loan that is not paid until the owner sells or transfers the title out of his or her name. All rehabilitation loans provided through the City of Kent’s Owner Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Program are structured with an annual percentage rate of 3% simple interest for the first 10 years of the loan. After 10 years, interest stops accruing and converts to 0% interest at that time.

The Owner Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Program is the longest running CDBG-funded program in the City of Kent and has been in operation for more than 25 years. For the first several years of its existence, the program was structured to provide rehabilitation assistance in the form of a grant. Since 1984, however, the structure of the program was converted to a deferred loan program and this format is still utilized today. The program is funded through a revolving loan fund (RLF) account which allows for the continuation of this program in future years as older loans are paid off and new rehabilitation loans are issued. During the FY2008 program year, the City committed $50,000.00 of its CDBG RLF funding to the FY2008 Owner Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Program. The City expended a total of $28,060.00 of its committed funds on the completion of one (1) full rehabilitation project. This amount included $25,825.00 for the actual rehabilitation work completed and $2,235.00 for project implementation/soft costs. Numerous repairs were completed on the project including, the replacement of the windows and garage door, electrical upgrades to make the home code compliant, HVAC repairs, roof replacement, and the installation of insulation in the attic. To increase utilization of the City’s program in the FY2009 program year, the City has been promoting the program in various venues and has seen an increase in Owner Occupied Housing Rehabilitation projects which will be detailed in next year’s CAPER.

The Down Payment Assistance Program was established to provide assistance to low and moderate income families in order to facilitate the transition from renting to homeownership. The household receiving assistance through the program selects a property from ones available on the market and obtains mortgage financing from a private lending institution. The City of Kent’s program provides a low interest loan that is used to contribute the 20% down payment most lenders require for the purchase of a home. The City provides the loan with an annual percentage rate of 1% interest for a period of fifteen (15) years. The City committed $10,000.00 of its available Down Payment Assistance revolving loan fund to this activity for the FY2008 program year.

The City did not receive any applications from households interested in seeking assistance through this program during the FY2008 program year. This marks the second program year in which down payment assistance has been made available, but was not utilized by potential first-time homebuyers. The current situation with regards to the nation’s economy has created challenges for many low and moderate income households that has limited their ability to move towards homeownership. Unemployment, more stringent loan requirements from financial institutions, and negative credit issues have made it difficult for many low and moderate income households to benefit from this program. The City will be beginning its next Five-Year Consolidated Plan process in the fall of 2009 and will be seeking input from the community, private sector representatives, and area nonprofit administrators to evaluate the effectiveness of the program and determine the efficacy of the program in its current form in light of current market conditions.

The Community Action Council of Portage County (CAC) received $49,000.00 in FY2008 CDBG funding to continue its Kent Furnace Inspection and Targeted Replacement Program. The Kent Furnace Inspection and Targeted Replacement Program provides assistance to low and moderate income households in the community by making funding available for CAC staff to conduct energy audits within a home and to install new furnaces and / or hot water heaters that operate more efficiently than the older units being replaced. During the FY2008 program year, a total of thirteen (13) households were assisted and $17,055.16 in CDBG funding was spent on this activity. The CAC utilized an additional $9,414.08 in outside funding (non-City), including HEAP and HWAP assistance, which brings the combined total of CDBG and other leveraged funds for this activity to $26,469.24. The City anticipates the remaining unexpended FY2008 funding committed to this activity to be expended by December 2009, once the colder weather sets in and more low and moderate income households experience problems with their heating and hot water systems.

Given the increasing costs of utility services, this program has benefitted numerous low and moderate income homeowners within the City of Kent by offering assistance that improves energy efficiency which allows the household to conserve energy and save money on heating and electric bills. A map showing the location of the assisted units is provided in the Appendix.

The City provided FY2008 CDBG funding to assist Coleman Professional Services with the rehabilitation of rental housing units that it owns and operates within the City of Kent. These units provide affordable permanent housing for persons suffering from a chronic mental illness. Tenants residing at the rental property receive needed mental health and supportive services as well as Section 8 voucher assistance which reduces their risk for homelessness and need for institutional care.

Coleman Professional Services expended $9,055.00 in prior year CDBG funding in FY2008 in order to complete needed rehabilitation work at a rental property that provides affordable permanent housing for three (3) extremely low income persons who suffer from a chronic mental illness.

A total of $26,983.00 in FY2008 CDBG funding was committed to the Coleman Rental Rehabilitation Project. Funding will be used to provide needed exterior repairs to two separate rental properties, including the installation of siding on both rental units and the replacement of a porch roof and installation of a handrail along the porch steps at one of the properties to make it ADA compliant. A total of six (6) extremely low income persons, who suffer from a chronic mental illness, will be assisted through this activity. This activity is expected to be complete by September 2009. A map showing the location of the units to be assisted is provided in the Appendix.

The implementation of Project SAFE, which was initially funded in FY2004, continued during the FY2008 program year. This program provides combination smoke detectors / carbon monoxide detectors to qualifying low and moderate income owner occupied households located throughout the City. The program is administered through the Community Action Council of Portage County (CAC). The program has not been utilized as much as originally anticipated so the CAC offers assistance through Project SAFE to persons who are also assisted through the CAC administered Kent Furnace Inspection and Targeted Replacement Program described earlier in this section. Residents are advised on how to use the devices and how to change the battery, which ensures that the devices are actually installed in the home and maintained in a manner that allows for continued safety.

In summary, the City expended $55,319.16 of its CDBG funding for various housing related activities during the FY2008 program year. These funds assisted a total of thirty (30) households. The CDBG funding committed to these housing activities helped to leverage an additional $18,472.02 in additional funding which was used to support the above listed FY2008 housing activities.

Kent obligated FY2008 CDBG funding to assist with two public improvement projects in the City of Kent. These projects provide a benefit to larger populations, such as projects completed in census block groups that have been designated as having 51% or more of the households meeting the low-to-moderate income criteria. Other CDBG-funded projects are of such a nature that they are considered to be city-wide benefit activity. Based on available 2000 Census data, 55.3% of all households within the City of Kent have reported household incomes that are at 80% or below the area median income so city-wide benefit activities offer a benefit to these low and moderate income households.

The City committed $47,600.00 of its FY2008 CDBG funding for the completion of improvements along the Portage Bike and Hike Trail Project. The portion of the trail that extends through Kent was opened in 2008. The trail itself was completed in partnership with the Portage Parks District, Kent State University, and the City of Ravenna. FY2008 CDBG funding was allocated for needed improvements along the trail, including the installation of benches, picnic tables, waste receptacles, spot landscaping and historic interpretive signage. This activity is considered an area benefit activity with the improvements benefiting the entire City population. Funds were not expended on this project in FY2008 program year, but the project is expected to be underway by the spring of 2010.

A total of $40,000.00 in FY2008 CDBG funding was committed to the replacement of the roof at the Kent Social Services building. The building is owned by Family & Community Services and the nonprofit agency uses the building to provide free meals and food bank services for low and moderate income persons who reside throughout the City. The project was bid in the summer of 2009 and work is expected to be complete by September 2009. The building is located in Census Tract 6014, Block Group 2 which has a low-to-moderate income percentage of 79.9%, but the hot meal program and food bank services provided at the facility are available to low and moderate income persons residing throughout the City.

A total of $84,114.31 was expended in FY2008 for the completion of this two-year project, which was funded with 2006 and 2007 CDBG program funding. The project involved the restoration and improvement of a stretch of substandard storm water sewer in a neighborhood which is located in a census tract in which 75.2% of the residents are classified as low and moderate income. Improvements included the clearing of debris and silt from open culvert storm water ditching and the replacement of two (2) catch basins which will allow for better channeling and release of storm water in the residential area.

The City expended $541.81 in CDBG funding in FY2008 to complete the final items needed for the installation of the new basketball court at Plum Creek Park. The improvements will expand the functional use of the park and recreational opportunities for low and moderate income residents residing throughout the City.

Although it was not part of the City of Kent’s original CDBG FY2008 allocation, it should be noted that the City received $81,024.00 in additional CDBG assistance through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This one-time allocation has been labeled as CDBG-R funding by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The CDBG-R funding had to be committed to a public improvement project that could be implemented and completed in an expeditious manner. As a recipient of CDBG-R funds, the City of Kent prepared a Substantial Amendment to its FY2008 Annual Plan and submitted it to HUD for review and approval. The City’s Substantial Amendment requested that all of the $81,024.00 in CDBG-R funding be obligated to the “Haymaker Parkway Light Repair/Replacement Project” and the Substantial Amendment was approved by HUD in July 2009. The project is being completed by the City of Kent Engineering Department and involves the design and phased repair and replacement of an anticipated 81 street light foundations which have been identified as having deteriorated and corroded anchor bolts. The total budget for the project is anticipated to be $650,000.00, which means the leveraged funding generated through the CDBG-R funding is almost $569,000.00. The project has been categorized as an area benefit activity that will benefit low and moderate income households throughout the City.

In summary, the City expended a total of $84,656.12 in FY2008 on public improvement projects. The City also committed a total of $87,600.00 in FY2008 CDBG funding and another $81,024.00 in CDBG-R funding to additional public improvement projects which will benefit low-and moderate income persons living throughout the community.

The City provides funding annually to assist with homeless services. Funding is used to support programs for the homeless that provide direct emergency shelter services and transitional housing. Transitional housing is an important element in the continuum of care established for the homeless. Transitional housing allows homeless families and individuals to become stabilized while making the transition from homelessness to permanent housing and self-sufficiency.

The City expended $17,000.00 in FY2008 CDBG funding to assist with the costs associated with the provision of shelter nights at the emergency homeless shelter known as Miller Community House. A total of 67 homeless persons received emergency housing at the shelter. The 67 persons assisted received a combined total of 2,531 shelter nights, with 37 days being the average length of stay per person assisted. Needed supportive services were also provided, including case management services, counseling, transitional housing placement assistance, life skills training, referrals to local agencies for mental health and addiction services, childcare, employment and transportation assistance.

The Portage Area Transitional Housing (PATH) Program expended $3,000.00 in FY2008 CDBG funding which was used to assist with the costs associated with the provision of needed supportive services for the persons assisted through the PATH program. PATH provides needed transitional housing for individuals and families that were assisted at the emergency homeless shelter or the battered women’s shelter and need to transition to more stabilized housing. The primary objective of the PATH program is to provide transitional housing and continue needed supportive services that were started at the emergency shelter. The PATH program provides this assistance for up to 24 months which allows adequate time for the persons assisted to make the transition to self-sufficiency and permanent housing. In FY2008, a total of 29 persons were assisted through the PATH program. A map showing the location of the assisted property is located in the Appendix.

Between the two above listed programs, the City committed a total of $20,000.00 which was expended in FY2008 to assist with the provision of needed supportive services for a total of 96 homeless persons in the City. The use of CDBG funds totaling $20,000.00 helped the agencies that provide services for the homeless to leverage more than $790,000.00 in additional funding during the FY2008 program period.

The City is not a direct provider under the Continuum of Care (CoC) process, but it supports needed services for the homeless by committing some of its annual CDBG allocation, and an additional $100,000.00 in social service funding available through the City’s General Fund budget, to assist nonprofit organizations that provide an array of needed services for the homeless. The two (2) agencies in the community that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the provision of supportive services and housing for homeless persons are Family and Community Services and Coleman Professional Services. Other agencies also provide ancillary services that help to address the many needs of the homeless, including Townhall II, Catholic Charities of Portage County, the Area Agency on Aging, Community Legal Aid, Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority and the Community Action Council of Portage County. The City also participates in the Portage County Housing Services Council and one of the primary functions of the group is to evaluate and approve the programs to be included in the Continuum of Care application for Portage County.

Through its collaboration with all of these agencies, the City of Kent remains aware of the needs of the homeless and those at risk of homelessness and works to identify services and programs that can help to reduce homelessness throughout the community. Utilizing its CDBG and local social service funding, the City attempts to help local agencies address some of the needs of the homeless population by helping provide both shelter and an array of supportive services for the homeless.

The City of Kent uses a portion of its CDBG funding to help promote economic development within the City of Kent. During FY2008, the City committed CDBG funding to the Small Business Development Center and Business Incubator programs to promote small business development for low and moderate income persons interested in starting their own business in the City of Kent. The City also allocates revolving loan fund monies to support a Downtown Façade Grant/Loan Program, which has been developed in order to provide a funding mechanism for the renovation and improvement of storefronts in the downtown area of the City.

Small Business Development Center / Business Incubator

Administered through the Kent Regional Business Alliance (KRBA), the focus of this activity is to address the following two objectives:

1) To facilitate the growth of small businesses in the City of Kent by providing technical assistance to Kent residents, and

A total of $28,668.66 was spent on this activity during the FY2008 program year. During the program year, a total of fourteen (14) Kent residents were provided training and technical assistance.

KRBA also obtained funding in the amount of $150,500.00 from outside agencies, including the Small Business Administration, Portage County and the Ohio Department of Development to support the services provided by KRBA. The technical assistance provided by KRBA included helping the entrepreneurs to formulate a business plan, bookkeeping and accounting, legal assistance, and help in managing a business.

404 hours of technical assistance were provided to persons utilizing the Small Business Development Center. The offices of the Kent Regional Business Alliance (KRBA) recently relocated to the City of Kent’s downtown business incubator site, which will improve accessibility for low and moderate income City of Kent residents seeking assistance for new business development. The services provided by KRBA helped two (2) new businesses get started in the City and led to the creation of 3 new jobs with more job creation expected by December 2009 when one of the businesses (retail) becomes fully operational. A map showing the location of the Incubator and the SBDC is provided in the Appendix.

The City allocated $5,000.00 during the FY2008 program year to the Downtown Façade Grant / Loan Program, but the City did not receive any applications from area businesses seeking assistance during the program period. The poor economy and the adverse effect it has had on small businesses locally may have been a key factor in the lack of interest in this activity during the FY2008 program year. The program provides a grant combined with a loan, and although the loan terms are far below market rates, many businesses are avoiding borrowing even small amounts until the state of the economy improves. The City will continue committing a portion of its available revolving loan fund (RLF) monies to this program and expects interest in this program to increase once local small businesses feel the overall economy is improving.

Neighborhood Policing

The City of Kent allocates a portion of its CDBG funds each year to its Neighborhood Policing Program which is implemented through the Kent Police Department. The program focuses on providing an increased police presence in lower income neighborhoods in the City as well as areas that have a concentration of federally-assisted housing complexes. The City spent $23,275.00 on this activity during the FY2008 program year period.

Areas of targeted intervention include the downtown region, adjacent residential areas, and targeted regions located near the Kent State University campus. The increased community policing intervention has created a better sense of community in these areas and improved relations between the police and residents living in areas that traditionally have a large number of rental units and increased incidences of crime and/or public disturbances. The Neighborhood Policing Program focuses on several primary issues, including, drug prevention, drug enforcement and education. The bike patrols, which were started in last year’s program, continue to be an important element in carrying out the Neighborhood Policing Program.

The City estimates that approximately 8,000 low income residents benefited from this program during the past year.

Kent uses a portion of its annual CDBG allocation to pay for direct administrative costs associated with implementing the CDBG program. These costs include payroll expenses for staff time spent working on grant activities, office supplies, travel and training related to the CDBG program, advertising and printing, and other miscellaneous costs. During the FY2008 program year period, the City spent $24,940.06 on grant administration.

The City of Kent contracted with the Fair Housing Contact Service (FHCS) agency in Akron, Ohio during the FY2008 program year to provide needed fair housing services for the City of Kent. During the FY2008 program year period, the City spent $17,416.67 for fair housing services, which includes $1,583.34 in remaining FY2007 funding and $15,833.33 in FY2008 funding committed to fair housing initiatives.

Each year, Fair Housing Contact Service (FHCS) assists many residents in the City of Kent. FHCS provides a variety of fair housing services, including assisting people with questions and concerns on various housing situations including discriminatory practices, tenant/landlord relations, pre and post purchase issues, refinancing, default and foreclosure concerns, predatory lending practices and reverse mortgage concerns. In addition to providing information to consumers who contact the agency by phone or in person, FHCS also provides systemic testing, outreach, education, and distributes literature to housing providers, social service agencies, and others seeking fair housing information.

During the FY2008 program period, FHCS received requests for assistance with investigating housing discrimination complaints from nine (9) individuals and families seeking housing in Kent. In two (2) instances, FHCS contacted landlords concerning fair housing complaints regarding issues clients experienced at the landlords’ properties. FHCS conducted testing at these sites to determine if fair housing violations were occurring and the results of the testing did provide evidence in support of the compliant. Formal charges were filed.

FHCS’s Tenant /Landlord Help Line logged 440 calls from the City of Kent, with most of these calls involving questions regarding tenant/landlord duties, rental agreements, landlords not completing needed repairs, security deposits issues and eviction procedures. As part of the Tenant and Landlord Counseling Program, FHCS makes several sample documents available to assist clients, including, illegal entry letter, repair letter, 3-day eviction notice, late payment letter, unauthorized occupant letter, 24 hour notice, and the Ohio Tenant/Landlord Law. In June 2009, FHCS conducted a training workshop in Kent for area landlords. Approximately 10 landlords were present for the training session and received information concerning the City of Kent’s health and housing codes, appropriate way to structure a lease, the eviction process, and printed materials including sample letters and updated fair housing information.

During the FY2008 program period, FHCS conducted one (1) HECM reverse mortgage counseling session, one (1) first-time homebuyer received assistance, and fifteen (15) persons dealing with default/foreclosure issues received counseling and agency referral assistance. Nine (9) of the fifteen (15) assisted with default/foreclosure were referred to FHCS through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counsel referral system known nationally as the “Save the Dream” program.

Fair Housing Contact Service conducted seventeen (17) systemic tests in the City of Kent. The distribution of these tests by type is shown in the graph below:

FHCS conducted numerous education and outreach sessions, which included mailings of literature/brochures, postcards, sample letters, and booklets. Articles also were published in the Tree City Bulletin community newsletter, which is distributed to residents throughout the City. Information packages (i.e. agency brochures, post cards, & tenant/landlord laws) were also distributed and mailed to Townhall II, Councilman-At-Large Robin Turner, Center of Hope, Family and Community Services, Freedom House, Portage County Job & Family Services, and individual clients.

Throughout the year, FHCS provided “Renters' Rights’” workshops for the Job Club at the Portage Workforce Connection. These workshops were conducted once a month for two-hours and were attended by 246 clients, 81 of which were City of Kent residents.

In November 2008, FHCS participated in the Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority’s (PMHA) Home Ownership & Self Sufficiency Workshop, which was attended by 22 people. For this event, FHCS had an informational table and distributed literature on a variety of fair housing issues.

Emergency Assistance Network (EA Network and United Way of Portage County), has been a major resource for communicating to the community about FHCS and the services provided by the agency. FHCS’s continued participation in the EA Network’s quarterly gathering of advocates (city, county officials, community organizations and other interested parties) ensures that FHCS staff are kept informed of critical issues affecting those in need in the community. FHCS gave short presentations on available fair housing services and provided updates on changes that occurred in the area of fair housing law.

The FHCS Assistant Director regularly participates in the Portage County Housing Services Council (PCHSC) meetings and the agency is listed in the Council’s Provider Directory which is used to inform those in need of housing or housing-related assistance about available resources throughout Portage County.

In March 2009, the City executed a contract addendum with Fair Housing Contact Service (FHCS), the City’s fair housing provider, to expand FHCS’s scope of fair housing services to include the development and completion of an Update to the Analysis of Impediments (AI) to Fair Housing Choice for the City of Kent. The FY2009 Update to the AI is well underway and FHCS has already identified and updated needed demographic information, conducted phone and in-person interviews with various representatives from throughout the Kent community, and has held two (2) public meetings. FHCS is expected to have the draft report complete by mid-October, with the final version available by October 31, 2009. Once the final report has been read and approved by the City’s Community Development staff and City Council, the FY2009 Update to the AI will be made available to the public and a copy will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for final review. During the FY2008 program period, the City continued its efforts to address impediments identified in the FY2003 Update to the AI by continuing education / outreach programs and the City’s review of the current zoning code. Based on the findings and recommendations listed in the completed FY2009 Update to the AI, the City may need to develop an updated list of actions that will need to be undertaken in order to address any impediments that may be identified in the new report.

The City did not fund any activity in FY2008 that involved the acquisition of real property so URA compliance was not applicable.

Other Actions Taken in Action Plan to Address Obstacles to Meeting Underserved Needs

The weak economy has increased the challenges facing many low income households in the community. Rising unemployment and weak housing values have resulted in a drop in household income for many and has moved many families and individuals from middle income to low-to-moderate income status. Despite this increase in need throughout the community, the City of Kent CDBG funding has remained fairly stagnant in recent years. In order to address the underserved needs in the community and maximize the number of persons assisted, the City obligated 100% of its FY2008 CDBG project funding to activities that would benefit low-to-moderate income persons. Funding was provided for homeless and transitional housing services and the replacement of the roof at the Kent Social Service building, which provides free hot meals and food pantry services to those in need in the community. The City also tries to obligate its CDBG funding to projects where they can leverage other public and private funding, which increases the resources available to assist with essential services throughout the community.

Leveraged Resources

The Community Development Block Grant program continues to be an effective tool in leveraging additional outside resources that compliment and augment the use of CDBG funds in the community. During the past program year, additional outside funding has provided financial resources for several activities over and above what CDBG funding alone could not accomplish. As noted in the previous discussions in Section Three of this report, a number of the activities funded with CDBG dollars also used other funding sources to complete projects or to allow for the provision of needed services. In total, CDBG funds leveraged or complimented a total of $958,972.00 of additional public and private funds. This represents a leverage ratio of $3.77 of non-CDBG funds to every dollar of CDBG funds expended during the program period. The City of Kent does not require subrecipients to provide match for CDBG-funded projects, but applicants are encouraged to utilize CDBG funding to leverage other public and private resources to meet the increased needs throughout the community.

At the start of the FY2008 Annual Plan process, the City solicited proposals from local agencies and City Departments in order to identify potential projects and activities that were aligned with the goals the City outlined in its Five-Year Consolidated Plan. Potential applicants were provided written guidance on the City’s Consolidated Plan goals to ensure the proposals submitted for consideration would be for activities that would allow the City to further the goals and objectives articulated in the Five-Year Consolidated Plan.

Once projects have been identified and approved for CDBG funding, Community Development staff are responsible for ongoing oversight and management of all funded projects to ensure compliance with all CDBG programmatic and federal regulatory requirements. Community Development staff also conduct on-site monitoring visits on an annual basis for all subrecipients that receive CDBG funding. Subrecipients are provided with a written monitoring report following the on-site monitoring visit, which outlines any issues or corrections that need to be addressed to ensure continued compliance.

SECTION FOUR

Introduction

One of the primary functions of the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) is to assess the City’s progress in meeting the goals established in its Five-Year Consolidated Plan. The Five-Year Consolidated Plan currently in effect was adopted in 2005 and modified in 2006, and extends through the FY2009 program year. The FY2008 program period represents the fourth year of the current five-year planning period.

The assessment in this FY2008 CAPER will include an assessment of FY2008 expenditures and associated activities and determine to what extent those actions facilitated the accomplishment of the City’s Five-Year goals and objectives. In addition to looking at actual spending and comparing it to projected target levels by priority need categories, this assessment will also discuss actions taken by the City to improve its progress towards meeting its Five-Year goals. Finally, this Section of the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report will review current public policies and institutional structures as they relate to program implementation and performance with regard to meeting goals outlined in the City’s FY2005-FY2009 Five-Year Consolidated Plan.

Performance Measurement System

In September, 2003, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued Notice CPD-03-09 recommending that local grantees adopt and implement a method for measuring performance related to their HUD-funded programs. Critical elements of such a system relate to the productivity of the local program and its impact on the community. The Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report is the logical place in which to conduct such an assessment, and it has been the practice of the City of Kent to use this section of the report to evaluate both its performance in administering its CDBG program, and the impact the program is having in the community.

The following pages in this section will provide an analysis of actual expenditures of funding in FY2008, which marks the fourth (4) year of the City’s Five-Year planning period. This analysis examines how current program year expenditures furthered the City’s efforts to address the priority needs identified in the Consolidated Plan initially adopted in 2005 and modified in 2006. This analysis will also include a review of outside funding sources, which will highlight not only the impact CDBG funding has in the community, but also how the City’s limited CDBG resources leveraged other outside funds which were used to address needs in the community. This section also will include a narrative discussion of the actions taken by the City to address performance goals in order to ensure available resources are directed towards meeting goals and objectives articulated in the City’s Five-Year Plan. This section will conclude with a discussion of outcomes related to the various activities funded in the FY2008 program year.

Priority Needs Breakdown

Through the Five-Year Consolidated Plan process, the City identified priority needs within the community and projected levels of spending that could be utilized to help address those needs. A copy of the Priority Needs Tables for housing, community development, and the homeless and associated homeless subpopulations as reported in the Portage County Continuum of Care, which were included in the City’s Five-Year Plan as amended in FY2006, has been included in the appendix of this report for reference purposes.

The City of Kent projected that it would be able to commit just over $3.6 million throughout the five-year Consolidated Plan period to address identified priority needs throughout the community. This $3.6 million projection included public and private funding resources, including CDBG funds, CDBG program income; State funding such as Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) grants, and other local sources of funding such as Supportive Housing Program (SHP) funding for the homeless. Through the end of the FY2008 program year, which marks the fourth year of the City’s five-year Consolidated Plan period, the City and other partner agencies in the community have spent a total of $2.32 million dollars, most of which was comprised of CDBG and CHIP funds. Table 4 on the following page, provides a detailed breakdown of projected and actual spending designated by specific activity categories.

Overall spending in the FY2008 program year, when combined with expenditures from the three previous Consolidated Plan years, enabled the City to achieve almost 64% of its projected overall five-year goal. This amount of spending represents an increase of 11% from the FY2007 program year, which is significant, but below the City’s anticipated goal of 80% for the end of the fourth program year. Decreases in the City’s CDBG allocation, along with receiving somewhat less CHIP funding than had been originally anticipated, have been contributing factors to expenditures falling below anticipated levels. The City does anticipate an increase in FY2009 expenditures, which is the last year of the City’s five-year Consolidated Plan period. Reasons for this expected increase in expenditures include a slight increase in the FY2009 CDBG allocation and the City also received just over $81,000 in CDBG-R funding, which has been committed to a project that will be moving forward in the coming months.

Specific activity categories where the City is at or above its four-year target of achieving 80% of its five-year goal expenditure amount at the completion of the fourth year include:

It should be noted that while the City is below the target goal in some specific activity categories, it has exceeded its four-year goal of 80% in the overall categories of “Homeless,” with 150% of goal already obtained, and 88% of the City’s “Community Development” goal achieved at the end of the City’s fourth program year period.

As shown in Table 5 above, the inclusion of other private and public funding sources, in addition to those obtained directly by the City of Kent, enabled the City to exceed its total five year goals in several areas. The influx of funding from multiple sources is needed in order to address the priority needs in the community. The City tries to allocate its limited CDBG funding to projects that can use the CDBG funds to leverage additional dollars from other sources and further address priority needs in the community. Much of the outside funding is obtained by the agencies that the City works with (subrecipients) year after year to implement some of its CDBG programs. The bulk of this funding is from state and local agencies but also includes private funding and even other local public funding, such as funding from United Way and Portage County.

Since FY2008 is the fourth year of the five-year Consolidated Plan period, few if any adjustments are contemplated at this time. The City’s CDBG allocations for the past three years have been fairly level which means the City does not have additional funding with which to make significant changes in priorities or funding amounts awarded to subrecipients. The City also did not file a FY2009 CHIP application due to the need to re-evaluate some of its traditional housing programs based on the changing residential housing market and the difficulties many low and moderate income households are experiencing because of the weak economy. The City will likely submit another CHIP application in 2010 in an attempt to generate more funding for housing related programs. With CDBG funding alone, it is clear that the City cannot adequately address identified needs in the community, but when counting outside funding obtained through other agencies, the accomplishments fall closer to the goals. This again underscores the importance of maintaining the relationships the City has developed over the years with the various housing and service agencies that work to meet the needs of Kent’s residents.

Certification of Consistency with the Consolidated Plan

All of the projects and activities the City funds in full or in part with its annual CDBG allocation, are reviewed prior to the commitment of funds to ensure they are consistent with the goals and priority needs identified in the City’s five-year Consolidated Plan. The City also is asked to provide “Certifications of Consistency” for projects being pursued by other agencies. These certifications provide an indication to the State or federal agency reviewing the project that the proposed project is consistent with the needs and goals set forth within the City’s Consolidated Plan. During the FY2008 program year, the City provided Certifications of Consistency to the following projects:

Performance Objectives and Outcomes

Beginning with the FY2005 Annual Performance Reports, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has required that grantees identify each of their activities by objectives and outcomes using the new Performance Measurement Framework released by HUD. Using this framework, there are nine potential combinations of outcomes and objectives in which to classify a local activity. Each of the nine combinations will be identified below and all CDBG funded activities reported in this CAPER will be assigned to one of the nine based on which is most appropriate for the activity. All communities that receive CDBG funding are responsible for determining where a project should be categorized based on the overall need/goal an activity seems to address. The amount of funding expended on each activity during the FY2008 program year will also be provided and funds will be totaled by classification. The new Performance Measurement Framework is part of a larger effort by the federal government to measure the outcomes and effectiveness of all federally-funded programs across the country.

1. Accessibility for the purpose of creating Suitable Living Environments (SL-1)

2. Affordability for the purpose of creating Suitable Living Environments (SL-2)

3. Sustainability for the purpose of creating Suitable Living Environments (SL-3)

* Grant administration related expenses are not included in any of the above totals.

SECTION FIVE

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Introduction

Two of the primary goals of the City’s Community Development Block Grant program are to promote the development of new affordable housing and support housing initiatives that are designed to preserve the existing affordable housing stock within the community.

Section Five of the FY2008 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report will focus on the City’s efforts to encourage the development and preservation of affordable housing. It will identify the City’s overall progress in these two areas, the number of households assisted, actual progress in reaching projected goals, public policies and actions that can be taken to eliminate barriers to affordable housing, the local institutional structure that supports affordable housing, lead-based paint initiatives, and the City’s progress in meeting the requirements specified in Section 215 of the National Affordable Housing Act.

Overall Progress – Affordable Housing Efforts

FY2008 is the fourth year of the five-year Consolidated Plan period and the City has seen some progress with regards to meeting its five year goals for housing. Some significant progress was made in the following areas:

In total, the City spent $55,319.16 of its available CDBG funds on activities related to the preservation and development of affordable housing during the FY2008 program year. This represents almost 22% of all CDBG expenditures during the FY2008 program period. Throughout the first four years of the five-year Consolidated Plan period, the City has expended a total of $977,614.57 on affordable housing related activities.

Number of Units Benefited

Table 6 on the following page provides a summary of the number of affordable housing units that were assisted with CDBG funding during the FY2008 program period.

As shown in Table 6, a total of 27 housing units were assisted with CDBG funding during the FY2008 program period.

Table 7 below identifies the number of renter and owner occupied households assisted with CDBG funding during the FY2008 program period categorized by household income level.

As shown in Table 7, the majority of households assisted were classified as low income, with reported household incomes of 31-50% of the area median income (AMI). The number of owner occupied households assisted was eight times the number of renter households assisted. Table 7 does not include all households assisted with CDBG funds, just those assisted through housing related activities during the FY2008 program period.

Actual vs. Projected Levels of Assistance

Section Four of this CAPER discussed the City’s level of performance with regard to expenditures in the fourth year of the five-year Consolidated Plan period. The City of Kent’s 2005 – 2009 Consolidated Plan included projections on the number of housing units that would be assisted during the five-year period. This breakdown was provided on the basis of owner and renter occupied units.

Through the utilization of available CDBG funding and with the help of other agencies that have received private and other public sources of funding for projects implemented in the City of Kent, the City has done reasonably well in terms of the level of funding invested in projects that have helped to address many of the housing and community development needs in the community during the FY2008 program year.

The City did not apply for FY2008 CHIP funds because it had been granted two extensions on its FY2005 CHIP grant. The City also is in the process of evaluating several of its owner occupied housing rehabilitation and homeownership programs due to changing housing market conditions and the difficulty being experienced in the financial lending market. This will likely impair the City in meeting its five-year housing goals identified in the Consolidated Plan. The City will likely pursue CHIP funding in FY2010, but it may be limited only to owner-occupied housing rehabilitation programs.

The specific section of the Housing Needs Table addressing owner occupied households provides estimates for the number of housing units to be assisted on the basis of those with physical defects and those where cost burdening (spending in excess of 30% of the family income on housing expenses) inhibits the family’s ability to obtain housing ownership or maintain the house they currently live in.

To produce a comparison of actual vs. projected expenditures for owner occupied households, this report will identify the number of units assisted in the first four years of the 2005 – 2009 Consolidated Plan period and compare those numbers to the estimates provided in the Housing Needs Table. All of the owner occupied units assisted this year fall under the category of “Addressing Physical Defects”, although it should be noted that clients assisted through the Acquisition-Rehab-Resale Program, would also be aided with “Cost Burdening” problems.

Table 8 on the following pages identifies the projected number of owner occupied units to be assisted over the entire 2005 – 2009 Five-Year Consolidated Plan period with the number of units actually assisted identified per Consolidated Plan year. Table 8 includes units assisted with either CDBG and/or CHIP funds. The table also shows the percentage of the projected goals actually met compared to goals for the entire five year period.

As can be seen in Table 8, the City is making significant progress in addressing its five-year Consolidated Plan goals for assistance provided to owner occupied units.

The City of Kent uses federal and state funds (CDBG, CHIP) as its primary sources of capital to address its affordable housing needs. Since the early 1990’s, the City has provided funding through the above noted programs to capitalize low interest loans for a City Down Payment Assistance program, however, this program is seldom utilized currently and is being re-evaluated for its effectiveness. The City’s deferred loan program for Housing Rehabilitation has been in place since the mid 1980’s. Several years ago, the City imposed a 90% loan-to-value limit in order to prevent potential borrowers from reaching “negative” equity situations, which have been common in recent years as a result of programs marketed by predatory lenders. The loan-to-value limits are warranted, but these limits did reduce the housing rehabilitation applicant pool to some degree. In attempt to allow more households in need of housing rehabilitation services to participate in the City’s program, in the spring of 2008 City Council agreed to adjust the loan-to-value standards to 115%, which open the program up to more people. The City has seen an increase in rehabilitation applications with the new loan-to-value standards in place and expects to complete significantly more rehabilitation projects in the FY2009 program year then reported in this FY2008 program period.

The Energy Efficiency Program operated through the Community Action Council of Portage County has helped address the problem of high energy costs and the need for replacement units in the homes of lower income residents. Heating and energy costs continue to be problematic for many households so anything that can be done to reduce the burden on lower income households is important. This program has grown to become a very popular program and the City has committed larger amounts of its CDBG funds to this program over the past several years.

The Energy Efficiency Program, in conjunction with the City’s Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Program, has removed a barrier for low and moderate income households with regards to accessing needed capital for housing repairs and rehabilitation activities. These programs have allowed the City to facilitate the rehabilitation of homes that may otherwise continue to deteriorate, thus benefiting both the inhabitants of the structure, as well as persons residing in the surrounding properties in the neighborhood. This helps to encourage further investment in the neighborhood and promotes civic pride and responsibility.

Efforts to place lower income families in home ownership situations continues to be difficult and lower income families attempting to purchase a house in Kent continue to be faced with a number of barriers. One of the most significant barriers relates to the cost of residential properties in the Kent market. Even with the declines in the housing market in the last two years, the purchase price for a residential property in Kent is still high for most low income households and moving forward with the purchase of a home often times cannot be done through conventional mortgage lending institutions. A second primary barrier is the financial condition of the family. Most families with limited incomes do not have the ability to generate savings that can be used for a down payment on a house. Not unique to Kent, loan structuring and underwriting standards typically used by conventional banks and lenders have tightened over the past two years and it has become increasingly difficult to get borrowers qualified for the loans needed to acquire a home. These barriers, coupled with the income limits of the programs funded through CDBG and CHIP, result in a very small applicant pool for the City’s programs that have been developed to foster greater homeownership.

The City does provide homeownership counseling for any household interested in trying to purchase a property through the City’s programs. This counseling helps to prepare the families for dealing with budgeting and credit issues, the responsibilities of owning a home, and how to avoid certain pitfalls that can threaten ownership and lead to possible foreclosure. The City also has expanded its fair housing services to provide general mortgage counseling free of charge to any Kent resident wanting to use the service. This service will address some of the predatory lending issues in the area and will provide residents with useful information on how to access loan programs available through private lending institutions in the community.

The City will need to continue to evaluate the changing needs related to these programs in order to continue to adapt them to the economic conditions within the community.

The City’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) are two key elements that the City of Kent utilizes to enhance the City’s affordable housing stock for lower income residents. By using these programs, the City also has fostered key partnerships with other agencies, which has brought additional sources of public and private financing to the community. These partnerships allow the City to be more productive with its housing programs than it could be by just using its own limited resources.

The competition for rental housing continues to be an on-going issue in the City of Kent because both students attending Kent State University and families with limited incomes are both trying to identify acceptable and affordable rental units in the community. Given the constant demand for housing by the student population, apartment complexes and smaller rental units are able to realize higher rents than would otherwise be charged in communities without a college student population. This anomaly in the Kent market causes the rental market to be higher priced and less accessible to lower income populations which has limited the availability of affordable housing in the City.

The City’s FY2003 Update to its Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice identified the difficulties experienced by low income individuals and families with Section 8 vouchers trying to find landlords willing to accept the vouchers. This problem is exacerbated by the high demand for rental units by the student market, which in turn supports rent structures well in excess of Section 8 Fair Market Rents (FMR). Unfortunately, the City has no control over the rent structures within the community. In view of the high demand for rental housing in the community, the City has attempted to aggressively enforce its zoning regulations so as to preserve as much of the single family housing stock as possible. With its rental rehabilitation program, the City has instituted a requirement that housing assisted through the program guarantee access to Section 8 recipients. This program, however, has not been utilized by many rental property owners in the City and to this point, has not been a productive means of increasing available rental units. With the decrease in CDBG funding year after year, there are no easy solutions to this problem.

Subsidized rental housing also presents both an upside and downside to the rental housing problem. On one hand it helps to address the high market rate rent structure by providing lower subsidized rents to lower income persons. On the other hand, however, the City has the largest number of subsidized rental housing units in Portage County, causing competitive pressures from other areas of Portage County for rental units in Kent. Demand for assisted housing remains high in the area and the Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority has a wait list of applicants that that may not receive any Section 8 Voucher assistance for as long as two years.

Another problem the City has been experiencing in recent year involves the issue of single family homes being purchased by out-of-town parents who secure the home in order to provide housing for their children who will be attending Kent State University. This alternative to traditional rental housing is seen as a better financial investment for the parents, but ultimately it becomes an illegal rooming house when two or more friends move in as additional renters and the property’s new rental status deteriorates property values in traditionally single family residential areas.

Since any new subsidized housing in the City would not necessarily be limited to Kent residents, increasing the number of subsidized units does not necessarily address Kent’s problem. It will be difficult for the City to effectuate a positive change to market rent structures and as such, the City feels its emphasis on facilitating affordable single family housing is justified and productive for families who rent longer term, to find homes that they can afford to purchase.

The City’s housing market continues to see modest increases in the number of new single family homes. Most of the homes being built are not within the affordable range of lower income households and are generally ranging in price from $150,000 to $300,000. Many existing homes in the City sell for prices ranging from $100,000 to $120,000 thus limiting conventional financing access to the existing housing stock to lower income families. Generally a home selling for more than $85,000 would present a cost burden to lower income families, unless some other subsidy is provided.

Given the high price of housing and some of the other limitations previously noted, it will be increasingly more difficult for the City to address some of its housing goals. This may, in fact, cause the City to revert back primarily to its housing rehabilitation programs and not venture significantly into homeownership related programs. This issue will be evaluated further in the next five-year Consolidated Planning period, which will begin in the fall of 2009 to determine if homeownership assistance programs are still a viable option in the next five-year Consolidated Plan period.

The City of Kent maintains a strong housing and zoning code enforcement program with the intent of preserving the existing housing stock. Without this enforcement, many housing units would be subject to conversion to rooming and boarding houses to be marketed to students. As such, much of the existing affordable housing stock in the community would be lost to the rental market and due to demand, would be rented higher market rates that lower income persons could not afford. These conversions would also negatively impact the neighborhood and would likely lead to further deterioration of the overall living conditions in the residential areas of the community.

The City recently adopted the portion of the International Property Maintenance Code that deals with exterior maintenance issues. This new code is broad in scope and covers numerous enforcement issues that were not addressed in the City’s local exterior maintenance code. Enforcement of this code should greatly improve the exterior of many units in Kent and improve the overall look in many residential neighborhoods throughout the City. In the past year, the City has also hired a full-time Code Enforcement Officer who is responsible for enforcing all aspects of the zoning code and the new exterior property maintenance code, which should greatly enhance the City’s ability to get property owners to comply with the applicable code requirements. Both of these efforts should allow the City to be able to place even more emphasis on code enforcement in the coming years since it is becoming more critical to preserving the aging housing stock in older neighborhoods.

The Community Development Department is the primary City Department engaged in the delivery of the City’s housing programs, as well as the code enforcement programs referenced in the previous subsection. The City continues to maintain a strong working relationship with a number of area agencies involved in housing related programs. Family and Community Services, Inc., the Community Action Council of Portage County, and Coleman Professional Services all play a substantial role in the delivery of affordable housing, homeless services, and transitional housing in the community as evidenced by the City’s continued support of these programs through its CDBG funding.

Neighborhood Development Services (NDS) continues to assist the City with the implementation of many of its housing programs. NDS has also served as a mechanism to bring additional funding sources to activities that the City itself could not access alone. This relationship with NDS has allowed the City to get much more productivity from its housing programs than the City’s CDBG funding alone could provide.

The City also maintains positive working relationships with private sector financial institutions in the community, as well as other agencies, including Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority and Habitat for Humanity. In non-housing areas, the Kent Regional Business Alliance has managed the City’s Small Business Development Center and Business Incubator for a number of years. The City will continue to work with these agencies in the future in the hopes of expanding and improving the local housing delivery system and its non-housing community and economic development programs.

The City participates in the Portage County Housing Services Council which is an organization comprised of most of the agencies and governmental agencies delivering housing programs within the County. The organization meets every other month and provides a forum for discussion of housing related issues facing the community and attempts to address problems that confront many of the member organizations.

The City continues to implement the new Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction requirements and has not seen the program have a substantial negative effect on its housing rehabilitation programs. There seem to be an adequate supply of contractors who have been trained and certified in the respective areas. The staff of NDS have been trained in lead safe practices, assessment and clearance so that they can provide the City with the expertise needed to administer the current requirements, with some of the testing hired out to firms certified to conduct this testing. The requirements have added some additional cost and time to the implementation of rehab jobs, but only a limited number of projects have required temporary relocation during a portion of the work so it has not been problematic to this point.

Section 215 of the Title II of the National Affordable Housing Act sets definitions for the purpose of defining “Affordable Housing” in the application of various housing programs. These definitions are provided below:

Rental Housing - Units are considered affordable if occupied by a low income person (income of person or family is 80% or less of median income) and bears rent the lesser of:

b) 30% of the adjusted income of a family whose income equals 65% of the median income.

Homeownership - The purchaser must be low income, a first time homebuyer and must use the home as a principal residence. The home must also have sold at a price that does not exceed the 203(b) mortgage limits.

Housing Rehabilitation - The existing owner must be low income and use the home as their principal residence. The value of the home after rehab may not exceed the 203(b) mortgage limits.

Using these definitions, none of the housing units assisted with CDBG funds during the FY2008 program year meet Section 215 requirements.

Public Housing programs provided to Kent residents are administered by the Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority (PMHA). The Housing Authority sponsors a number of activities for its public housing residents. PMHA adopted the following Year 2009 Strategies:

· PMHA will continue to achieve property management results for Public Housing that equate to High Performer Status.

· PMHA will review and amend admissions preferences in 2009 after community consultation and assessment of housing needs in Portage County.

· PMHA will continue assessing opportunities for simplifying rent calculations.

· Admission preferences will be reviewed and amended as necessary to meet community needs.

· PMHA will continue to achieve program results equating to higher performance standards.

· Five households will become homeowners through the Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership Program in 2009.

· PMHA will review and amend admissions preferences in 2009 after community consultation and assessment of housing needs in Portage County.

· PMHA will continue assessing opportunities for simplifying rent calculations.

· Admissions preferences will be reviewed and amended as necessary to meet community standards.

· A pilot program will be launched in 2009 to explore the effectiveness of electronic funds transfer for the purpose of Housing Assistance Payments to landlords involved in the Housing Choice Voucher Program.

· PMHA will determine the feasibility of an electronic debit card system for the distribution of utility allowance payments to residents of Public Housing and participants in the Housing Choice Voucher Program.

· During 2009, electronic direct deposit for PMHA employee payroll will be offered as a voluntary benefit.

· The YARDI software will be upgraded and staff provided training in the applicable features of the program for managing PMHA programs and operations.

4. Collaborate with Community Partners to Leverage Resources to Benefit Households Assisted by PMHA and Portage County.

· PMHA will investigate new funding opportunities to continue supportive services and housing for transitional housing programs operated by PATH and PMHA.

· PMHA will investigate methods of inter-agency cooperation that will lessen barriers to assistance for applicants and participants.

The City also allocated $7,400.00 of its 2009 Social Service funding to PMHA to continue the “Good Neighbor Program,” which is a program designed to promote greater responsibility among public housing residents and Section 8 recipients in Kent and encourage better maintenance of their homes and surroundings.

According to available 2000 census data, approximately 25% of the City’s population lives at income levels at or below the poverty level. Most of these individuals and families have incomes less than 50% of the area median family income (AMI).

One of the economic development components of the City’s CDBG program is somewhat directed towards helping the poor find income opportunities. The services provided by the Small Business Development Center, operated by the Kent Regional Business Alliance, promotes business development and sustainability for low income persons striving to operate their own business. Having the ability to improve or increase employment earnings is a key element in being able to move from poverty into self-sufficiency.

The City’s housing and homeless assistance efforts also offer assistance in trying to transition households out of poverty. These programs support housing needs and try to prevent homelessness. Families living in poverty cannot usually afford to make needed repairs to their home and run the risk of having to leave that home without assistance. The City’s Owner Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Program provides assistance to these types of families, thus preventing an undesirable situation from getting worse. PMHA and NDS have also implemented a program with regard to helping Section 8 clients move into homeownership opportunities and the program has had a small amount of success. While the City has been able to maintain its current programs in the face of reduced funding from various sources, it has not been able to expand or create new programs to assist with moving families out of poverty.

SECTION SIX

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

As part of the preparation for the FY2008 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), the City seeks public review and comment as a means of gaining input on the City's performance with regard to affordable housing and community development activities.

The City provided a fifteen (15) day public comment period in order to allow the public a reasonable opportunity to review the CAPER report and return comments to the Community Development Department. The comment period commenced on October 7, 2009 and extends through October 21, 2009. Copies of the report were made available at the Community Development Department, the Office of Kent City Council, the Kent Free Library, and at the Kent State University Library. The public could obtain free print copies of the report from the Community Development Department upon request. The document was made available in electronic format on the City’s web page and could be emailed or copied onto CD-ROM upon request.

The City also conducted a Public Hearing on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 7:20 p.m. in City Council Chambers in order to provide another forum for taking public comments on the FY2008 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report.

In addition to the general solicitation for comments that was advertised in the local newspaper (the Ravenna-Kent Record Courier), the City's Community Development Department also solicited specific comments directly from the following agencies because of their involvement in the delivery of housing related services. The following agencies and non-profit organizations were contacted:

SECTION SEVEN

IDIS REPORTS

The following reports generated from the Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS) are included within this Section:

7. Program Income Details by Fiscal year and Program (pages 1 through 4) [C04PR09]

SECTION EIGHT

APPENDIX

MAPS

PUBLIC COMMENTS

To be inserted after the close of the 15 day public comment period (10-7-09 to 10-21-09)