FY2000-2004
CONSOLIDATED PLAN FOR THE
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG)
AND HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS (HOME) PROGRAM
Following is the Consolidated Plan for
FY2000-2004, prepared as required by the US Department of Housing and
Urban Development for consideration for Federal funding through the
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home
Investments Partnership Act (HOME) programs.
The CDBG and HOME programs provide funding for communities to
assist low and moderate income persons in the community and to provide
decent, safe and affordable housing throughout the community. Projects
and services funded by grants from these programs include but are not
limited to infrastructure improvements, housing rehabilitation and
emergency repair, first time homebuyer assistance, and funding for
public services.
The Norman CDBG Program celebrated it's 25th anniversary in 1999.
While the accomplishments of these programs are often measured in the
number of homes rehabilitated or the number of feet of water and sewer
mains replaced, the twenty-five years hard work by concerned residents
and city staff have fostered a level of public involvement, citizen
participation and citizen cooperation that other communities can only
dream of. The real success of these programs is that Norman is a better
place to live in than it was twenty-five years ago. The Norman CDBG
program staff look forward to another twenty-five years of working with
the citizens of Norman in making Norman an even better place to call
home.
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Community
Profile
Norman,
Oklahoma, located 30 miles south of Oklahoma City on Interstate
35 is the state’s third largest city and county seat of
Cleveland County. Named after Abner E. Norman, a surveyor
working in Indian Territory, Norman, Oklahoma is a rapidly
growing community of over 90,000 people thanks to a quality
school system, highly educated workforce, recreational
opportunities, and mild climate. Norman is also the home of the
University of Oklahoma with over 23,000 students attending the
main campus. The University of Oklahoma’s 18 colleges offer
degrees in over 250 programs. OU is also home to a variety of
cultural attractions such as the Western History Collection,
Bizzell Memorial Library, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and the
soon to be completed Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural
History as well as nationally ranked collegiate athletic
programs.
Of
the estimated 92,971 persons residing in Norman in 37,170
households, the population is predominately white (87.13%) with
a 12% minority population that represents African American,
Native American, Asian, Hispanic and Other ethnic populations
combined. The average household income is $40,800 with an
estimated 7,619 households (20%) below the poverty level.
While
Norman has been the beneficiary of the recent nationwide
economic boom, Norman’s workforce contains almost 13,000
underemployed persons. This situation has been caused by a
highly educated/skilled workforce combined with a lack of
employment opportunities. Further, the combination of a general
lack of economic/employment opportunities for low and moderate
income persons, inadequate economic/employment education, lack
of an adequate public transit system, and limited after hour
child care creates vicious circle that hinders low and moderate
income persons from improving their economic status.
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Summary
of Consolidated Plan Process
The
City of Norman, Oklahoma, has compiled information from a
variety of sources to formulate a five-year consolidated plan
that would reflect the needs and priorities of its citizens.
This plan is the result of collaboration with citizens, the
private sector, private non-profit agencies, and other
governmental agencies. The goals of the plan are to provide
decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expanded
economic opportunities for primarily low-to-moderate people in
our community. Information was obtained from 1990 Census data as
well as the City of Norman 2020 Plan (long-range comprehensive
plan), reports from the Norman Housing Authority, the Norman
Housing Authority 5-Year Plan, statistics from surveys, service
reports from agencies providing a wide range of services to
homeless and other low-to-moderate income persons, local
ordinances, a recently completed analysis of impediments to fair
housing, and information gathered from local meetings and public
hearings which were attended by City staff.
City staff has also participated in a variety of groups
that work to benefit low-to-moderate income persons in our
community. Included are the Social Services Coordinating
Council, the Norman Community Reinvestment Council, NOAH (Norman
Oklahoma Affordable Housing), and the Continuum of Care Steering
Committee, the Transit Committee, and the Homeless Here
Coalition. In addition City staff has had continued interaction
with many local service agencies for a number of years through
the CDBG, HOME, and Emergency Shelter Grant Programs. CDBG,
HOME, and Emergency Shelter Grants have provided funding
resources for many of the agencies, and staff has had personal
contact with service providers, including attending their board
meetings and observing provision of services.
As a result of the ongoing coordination between the City
of Norman, service agencies, other governmental agencies,
private non-profits, the University of Oklahoma, and other
assisted housing providers including the Norman Housing
Authority, the identification of community needs and the
establishment of goals and objectives have continued to be
assessed and updated. To address needs outside the scope of the
CDBG and HOME (for which the City is an entitlement entity), the
City has utilized CDBG and HOME resources to provide assistance
to bring additional resources into the community.
An example of this coordination and collaboration led to
the successful applications for both a Section 202 and a Section
811 project to meet identified housing needs for the elderly and
persons with severe and persistent mental illness. The City used
CDBG administrative funds to hire a consultant to make
applications for both projects although private non-profit
entities were the applicants. The City also used CDBG funds to
purchase materials, and a City crew constructed a sanitary sewer
main to the site of the 811 project, now named McKinzie Gardens.
The Norman Housing Authority will be managing both projects,
with McKinzie Gardens having full occupancy by April 2000. The
202 (Northcliff Gardens) is scheduled to open in May 2000. Other
major players in the McKinzie Gardens project were: Action,
Inc., a private non-profit, that served as the initial sponsor;
the State of Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance
Abuse which leased the land for the project and is providing
on-site case management services; Thunderbird Clubhouse, a
psycho-social agency that facilitated client input, outreach for
potential residents, and screening of applicants; the Oklahoma
Legislature, that approved a special 50-year lease for the land
through the authorship of our local State Representative Wallace
Collins (his first bill); and Republic Bank of Norman, for
providing a low-interest rate, short-term loan for the up-front
costs that were required before the grant funding was
accessible.
Another example of collaboration has been the provision
of additional "neighborhood centers," a need
identified in the City’s previous five-year plan. The City has
worked with the Center for Children and Families, a private,
non-profit, to create and fund several centers. Funding has been
from a variety of sources including the Oklahoma Department of
Human Services for a three-year "Providing Save and Stable
Families" grant.
The Consolidated Plan process requires needs assessment,
goal setting, and monitoring of accomplishments through
coordination and consultation. The City remains committed to the
continued, ongoing dialog and collaboration with the citizens of
Norman to allow for a continued focus on identifying and solving
problems.
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Summary
of Citizen Participation
In 1995 the City
developed a citizen participation process for the Consolidated
Plan that expanded upon the process which had been in place
since 1975. The process includes neighborhood meetings at least
twice per year for all target neighborhoods; a City-wide meeting
(Community Dialogue) held in September of every year; a
42-member Policy Committee representing a wide-range of people
in Norman, with emphasis on target neighborhood residents and
service agencies providing services to low-to-moderate income
persons; outreach to service providers; subcommittees and ad hoc
committees on housing, homelessness, public facilities and
improvements, economic development/anti-poverty, and citizen
participation; technical assistance; access to information;
public hearings; performance reporting; and a procedure for
complaints. The Policy Committee voted to retain the exiting
citizen participation process, but recommended that the
Consolidated Plan be made accessible on the City of Norman web
site. This year will be the first year that this avenue has been
available, and the City will provide a link on the City of
Norman home page to allow review of the plan, and information on
how to comment. The address is www.NormanOK.gov.
Eight-one people served as representatives or alternates
on the Community Development Policy Committee for the
development of this five-year Consolidated Plan. Through the ad
hoc committees that included non-members of the Committee,
almost 100 additional people were actively involved in the
development as well. Neighborhood meetings, the Community
Dialogue, and Policy Committee meetings brought in another 200+
citizens. The formal public hearing before the City Council is
scheduled for April 25, 2000, at which additional citizen input
will be solicited, with the City Council to vote on the
recommendations of the Policy Committee prior to submittal of
the plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
The process began in the Spring of 1999 when targeted
CDBG neighborhoods began working with City staff to develop
five-year plans for their neighborhoods. Additional neighborhood
meetings were held in July 1999 and again in the Fall of 1999 to
finalize recommendations to the Infrastructure Subcommittee of
the 42-member Policy Committee. A Community Dialogue was held in
September 1999 which provided an overview of the citizen
participation process, and to solicit information about problems
and needs in Norman. Also in September 1999 information was
solicited from service agencies on needs, and the Policy
Committee began a series of meetings to review, discuss and make
recommendations for the 5- year plan and the Action Plan.
As a part of the process, the Policy Committee
established subcommittees on Citizen Participation, Public
Services, and Infrastructure from the members and alternates of
that body. In addition the Continuum of Care Steering Committee
was asked to assist and make recommendations on homelessness,
NOAH was asked to address affordable housing, and the Norman
Economic Development Coalition were asked to make
recommendations in their areas of expertise. Staff was asked to
work with the contractor on the analysis of fair housing and on
the issues related to lead-based paint. These groups met
throughout the process with final recommendations made to the
Policy Committee on March 1, 2000.
Throughout the process, members of the Policy Committee
continued to relay information to the community groups that they
represented, and were therefore able to provide information back
to the committee on the comments of additional numbers of
citizens. As a result of the extensive and thorough work
accomplished by all the subcommittees, the Policy Committee
voted unanimously to approve their recommendations on both the
five-year and the one-year plans.
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LOW
AND MODERATE INCOME AREA MAP |
CDBG
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