Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 01-10-12 regular — reading text

relies on the CDBG program funds yearly to implement important community development and housing objectives. Additional cash resources are scarce for the program, but the following list describes the pooling of in -kind resources from many different agencies in order to accomplish the goals of the program. In addition, the list below outlines the institutional structure for the program and the coordination among agencies: I. Okaloosa/ Walton Homeless Continuum of Care Opportunity, Inc - Health clinics, provision of bicycles, and other essential needs beyond the capacity of individual members. 2. Waterfront Rescue Mission — The target population is men with substance abuse and other disorders. 3. Bridgeway Center, Inc. — Assists men and women requiring crisis stabilization and detoxification. 4. Salvation Army —The target population is men. 5. FRESH Stan Center — Targets working parents and single women, primarily transitional housing for persons with jobs. 6. Shelter House — Women and children in imminent danger of harm from domestic violence. 7. Family Life Center— Provides assistance to pregnant and unwed mothers. S. Lutheran Services —Provides assistance to runaway teens. II Paeket Pg. 37.  F82. 9. JADA —Provides services to men and women with substance abuse disorders; must agree to enroll in Christian recovery program. 10. Catholic Charities — Transients, emergencies. There is not a shelter but there are limited funds for hotel stays. 11. Red Cross — Provides services to persons rendered homeless by fire or other natural disasters. No shelter, but has limited funds for hotel stays. 12. Harbor House — Men with substance abuse disorders; transitional housing only. 13. Habitat for Humanity in Okaloosa County — Build affordable homes for low -income families. 14. White Sands Manor — Provides HUD subsidized housing for very low -income disabled senior citizens. w 15. Okaloosa County Development Corporation ( OCDC) — Administers the S. H. LP. and a HOME programs for the City of Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa County through an o interlocal agreement between both jurisdictions. m 0 16. Striving for Perfection Ministries — Provides emergency benevolence, food, and utilities for low- income people. c 17. Okaloosa County Head Start —Provides child care services for low -income families. No 0 18. Okaloosa County Council on Aging — Coordinating agency for support services for the elderly, including housing and transportation. mN 19. Fort Walton Beach Housing Authority ( FWBHA) — An independently operating agency chartered by the City in 1968; provides housing units for low- and moderate -income w families and individuals. U 20. Harbour Place Apartments — Twelve units of transitional housing for women and families. The City is confident in the institutional structure and coordination among agencies to carry out the program and is not aware of any gaps that would impact the priority needs established in the program. The City continually strives to extend and strengthen partnerships among all levels of government and the private sector, including non -profit and for -profit organizations, for the provision of public services, affordable housing, and economic opportunities. 4. Other Aspects of the Strategic Plan Meeting Onderserved Needs in all categories. The primary target of activities funded by the CDBG program is improvement of living conditions for low- to moderate- income persons. The activities are focused on assisting persons in the community to obtain and maintain suitable housing and adequate living standards in stable or improving neighborhoods. The activities included in the Annual Action Plan are designed to overcome obstacles and meet the underserved needs of low- and moderate -income persons. Housing program activities for improvement of occupied housing, expansion of decent and attractive affordable housing stocks, 12 Packet Pg 38  8. 2. a and assistance to persons to enable them to live in decent and sustainable housing are direct methods to improve living conditions. Activities that improve infrastructure improve the quality of life and raise the standard of living for all of the people in the neighborhood served by the infrastructure. Public services and facilities that meet community needs, particularly for the young and the elderly, provide a means by which persons may receive needed services and benefits that will enable them to live decently; and, in the case of children, develop the future capability to provide for themselves. Obstacles in all categories. The primary obstacle to meeting underserved housing and community development needs of the City is available funding, which is shrinking each year. Demand for assistance exceeds the supply of available resources. The number of lower income individuals, families, and neighborhoods in need, coupled with the complexity of issues they face is steadily increasing in both scale and cost. The combination of these factors places substantial new burdens on an already strained housing and community development delivery system. The City developed a Resource Guide that identifies all of the various agencies and services within Okaloosa County. United Way now maintains the guide and it can be found on their web site at httv:// www. united- way.orR/ FCFH.htm. Anti- Poverty Strategy. The City plans to work closely with the above mentioned organizations through the CDBG program to reduce poverty. The City provides funding to these agencies through the CDBG grant program applications targeting homeless, very low, and low income households. 5. Leveraging Resources Lead Agency Profile The City of Fort Walton Beach' s Engineering & Utility Services Department prepares the Annual Action Plan as part of a collaborative process to establish a unified vision of community development actions. This process creates the opportunity for strategic planning and citizen participation to take place in a comprehensive context at the local level. It also provides a method to measure progress of the various program goals, specific objectives, and annual goals set by the Engineering & Utility Services Department. 6. Citizen Participations/Comments The City of Fort Walton Beach has many processes for involving citizens in its decision making including neighborhood meetings, numerous board and committee meetings, and City Council meetings; all designed to solicit public comments both informally or by utilizing formal public hearings. Citizens' comments on the use of CDBG funds are specifically solicited by a way of a citizen advisory group. The Citizen' s Advisory Committee ( CAC) advises staff on the use of the City of Fort Walton Beach' s annual CDBG fund allocation. Each year, the Citizen' s Advisory Committee ( CAC) comes together to plan for the CDBG budget for the coming fiscal year. The CAC reviews all applications submitted for the City' s annual allocation of grant funds. At least 13 Packet Pg. 39  82. three advertised public hearings or meetings are held each year to address housing and community development needs, development of proposed activities, and review of performance for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). This year, the Citizen Advisory Committee met on March 16th and 25th, 2010 to review and consider applications for the CDBG funds, to allocate program funding for the fiscal year. The minutes are attached to the back of this document. The FY2010 -2011 Annual Action Plan was made available for a 30 -day public review and comment period from March 26, 2010 to April 27, 2010. The CAC gave their approval for the 2010 -2011 Annual Action Plan on March 25, 2010. The City Council of Fort Walton Beach considered and approved the Plan at a publicly advertised meeting on April 27, 2010. The CAPER was available for a 15 -days public review and comment period beginning November I I through November 26th. The CAPER for the Community Development Block Grant program for 2010 -2011 for the City of Fort Walton Beach was available for comments at the following locations: Fort Walton Beach City Hall Annex, Development Services Division, 105 Miracle Strip Parkway S. W., Fort Walton Beach City Clerk' s Office, 107 Miracle Strip Parkway, Fort Walton Beach Library, 185 Miracle Strip Parkway SE and Fort Walton Beach Housing Authority, 27 Robinwood Drive SW, Fort Walton Beach, Florida and on the Fort Walton Beach City website at www. fwb.org. Two public meetings were held for public participation on the CAPER on November 29th and December 7th at Chester Pruitt Recreation Center. Both meetings were advertised in the Northwest Florida Daily News. To ensure broad -based participation, extensive communication efforts are used during the implementation of the City' s Consolidated Plan citizen participation plan. Public notices for public hearings are published in the local newspaper, on the City' s website and announced in local churches. The various printed notices notify where copies of the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report are available and invite persons to either speak at the public hearings and/ or submit written comments. Public hearings are handicap accessible and sign language interpretation is available at public hearings. The Citizen' s Advisory Committee continues to be at the core of the public participation process. The City' s Community Development Block Grant staff promotes public awareness and opportunities for participation by making available documents such as the annual action plan, five -year consolidated plan, consolidated annual performance evaluation report, analysis of impediments to fair housing, etc., and by advertising their availability in the local news media and on the City website. The City continually strives to organize and present data in a manner that is easily understood and evaluated by our citizens and welcomes comments on the Annual Action Plan and how future reports might be improved. Documents Available to the Public 14