|
The national Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME
Investment Partnership programs have been principal revenue sources
for the City to address the roots and consequences of poverty. These
funds have helped to alleviate some of the most pressing needs in
Burlington, beginning with housing needs. During the past two
program years:
- CDBG dollars, together with HOME funds and technical assistance
from the Community & Economic Development Office, helped nonprofit
housing developers complete 259 new affordable housing units in
Burlington and adjacent municipalities, with an additional 20
assisted living units due for completion this spring and 40 more
units in the predevelopment phase.
- CDBG funding for capacity costs
at the Neighborworks®HomeOwnership Center, together with CDBG EDI
Special Project funds administered through CEDO, helped 32 new
low/moderate income Burlington residents realize the dream of
homeownership.
CDBG dollars also fostered economic development in the city,
focusing on economic opportunity for those on the lower rungs of the
ladder of prosperity:
- CDBG economic development expenditures helped to create 758
jobs and to retain 123 jobs, leveraged over $78 million in private
and $13 million in public investment, developed over $550,000 in new
property taxes, and supported the development of 185,000 square feet
of commercial space, with over 600 associated construction jobs.
- Each year, CDBG dollars helped to provide quality, affordable child
care for around 100 children from low and moderate income families.
CDBG dollars helped social service agencies provide for basic
needs of city residents as well as fostering equal access, health,
public safety and senior and youth services:
- Each year through the help of CDBG grants, over 2,000
low-income households were fed by anti-hunger programs; 850 to 1,000
homeless people (including families with children and victims of
domestic violence) had a safe, warm place to sleep; and 400 to 500
households kept their heat on.
- Each year, around 800 youth
participated in after-school recreational, academic and social
enrichment programs and over 1,100 seniors received meals, health
care, help with public benefits and/or social activities.
- More
than 80 residents with disabilities were able to live more
independently. à Over 70% of those served by CDBG-funded social
service programs were “extremely low” income – which for a family of
four in 2001 meant an annual income of less than $16,700.
Community facilities and public infrastructure also benefited
from CDBG dollars:
- CDBG funding is helping the Community Health Center create a
much-needed dental clinic, moving the North Street Revitalization
Plan forward, and helping community members improve their
neighborhood streets and parks.
Despite these successes, there are critical issues that the
community must confront in the next five years. Poverty in
Burlington is disproportionately affecting:
- Children: 20% are living in poverty.
- Households Headed by
Women: 31% overall are living in poverty, and 41% of those with
children are living in poverty.
- The Old North End: 32% of
families, 60% of female-headed households with children, and 39% of
children are living in poverty.
- Minorities: According to racial
self-identification, 9% of white families are living in poverty -
while 26% of black and American Indian families, 17% of Asian
families, and 60% of families identifying themselves as “some other
race” are living in poverty.
- Residents with Disabilities: 50% of
children and 31% of working age adults with disabilities are living
in poverty.
- The Working Poor: 49% of families living in poverty
had at least one working adult in the household, and 11% had at
least one adult working full-time, year round.
Burlington is home to a regionally disproportionate number of
impoverished residents. The geographic concentration of basic human
services and affordable housing within Burlington, coupled with
inadequate mass transit, forces individuals with limited resources
to locate within the City – so that as some residents move out of
poverty and no longer need services, new demands continually arise.
State and federal resources are shrinking with no corresponding
decrease in needs.
Despite some long-awaited softening in rental vacancy rates, a
regional housing crunch continues to have a serious impact on
low-income residents, creating homelessness among the working poor
and potentially inhibiting the City’s economic vitality. Despite a
rising trend in city homeownership and major additional new
resources for city homebuyers, too many residents lack adequate
opportunities to acquire this most basic asset.
Burlington continues to be the largest job center in Chittenden
County, which in turn serves in many ways as the economic engine of
the state. While local unemployment rates remain lower than state
and national rates, the local economy necessarily reflects broader
trends from the current recessions in the state and national
economies. The City must act to ensure that it can achieve
sustainable growth and that all of Burlington’s residents enjoy the
benefits of that growth.
Since the 1980’s, Burlington has used six principles to guide its
community and economic development:
- Encourage economic
self-sufficiency through local ownership and the maximum use of
local resources.
- Equalize the benefits and burdens of growth.
- Leverage and recycle scarce public funds.
- Protect and preserve
fragile environmental resources.
- Ensure full participation by
populations normally excluded from the political and economic
mainstream.
- Nurture a robust “third sector’ of private, nonprofit
organizations capable of working in concert with government to
deliver essential services.
Based on its assessment of housing and community development
needs, the City of Burlington has developed the following priorities
and goals for its Community Development Block Grant and HOME
programs for the next five years. Recognizing that poverty is a
regional and national issue, and that many factors contributing to
poverty lie outside of local control, the City’s principal goal is
nonetheless to reduce the number of people living in poverty in
Burlington, and most especially those groups disproportionately
affected by poverty. As the City addresses the priorities of this
Consolidated Plan, it will focus its CDBG and HOME resources in ways
that most effectively address the needs of Burlington residents
living in poverty.
Priority 1: Produce Affordable Housing
Goal: Gaps in the housing
tenure ladder which currently exist are filled and the overall
supply of housing in the community is increased.
Priority 2: Promote Homeownership and Household Mobility
Goal:
The rate of homeownership in low and moderate-income neighborhoods
is increased by 15%.
Priority 3: Preserve and Upgrade the Existing Housing Stock
Goal:
Existing affordable housing, whether subsidized or not, is preserved
and no residents live in substandard conditions.
Priority 4: Protect the Vulnerable
Goal: The City’s neediest
residents can successfully confront the various obstacles and
problems they face in the housing market.
Priority 5: Press Regional Solutions to Housing Issues
Goal: A
healthier regional balance of affordable housing in each community
in the greater Burlington region, proximate to jobs and affording
mobility and choice to low income residents, is achieved.
Priority 1: Targeted Districts: A Strong and Vital Downtown
Goal:
The quality of life in Burlington is enhanced by a strong, diverse
and vital downtown.
Priority 2: Targeted Districts – Waterfront
Goal: Burlington's
waterfront is developed as a cultural, recreational, social and
economic resource for the entire community through the
implementation of the Urban Renewal Plan for the Waterfront
Revitalization District.
Priority 3: Targeted Districts - North Street and Other
Neighborhood Activity Centers
Goal: Businesses that offer essential
goods and services are located within the City, readily available to
all residents.
Priority 4: Targeted Districts - South End Arts & Business
District (Enterprise Zone)
Goal: The startup and expansion of
businesses is nurtured, including the support of a readily
accessible core of centrally located business services.
Priority 5: Targeted Districts – Intervale
Goal: Burlington's
200+ acre agricultural breadbasket - home to market farming,
community supported agriculture, community gardens, farmer training,
and composting - thrives.
Priority 6: Targeted Strategies - Growth and Development of
Locally-Owned Businesses
Goal: Burlington continues to generate a
strong, diverse base of locally-owned enterprises.
Priority 7: Targeted Strategies - Brownfield Redevelopment
Goal:
Sites with real or perceived contamination issues are redeveloped
into productive use.
Priority 8: Targeted Strategies - Equal Opportunity / Livable
Wage / Child Care
Goal: Quality employment supports and
opportunities are available for those who are traditionally
underserved, and workers are earning a livable wage.
Priority 9: Targeted Strategies – Transportation
Goal:
Transportation needs are addressed, traffic congestion reduced,
access in and around downtown improved, and greater use of alternate
modes of transportation promoted.
Priority 10: Targeted Strategies - Targeted Industries
Goal:
Burlington's competitive advantages are maximized by supporting the
development of targeted industries, including tourism;
telecommunications intensive businesses; the environmental
technology industry; financial services; specialty foods; media,
printing and publishing; the arts; and sustainable natural resource
promotion.
Priority 11: Targeted Strategies - Cooperative Relationships
Goal: New cooperative relationships are developed between the City
and other communities in the region in order to strengthen the
regional economy for the benefit of all.
Priority 1: Basic Services
Goal: All residents have access to
food, shelter, heat, clothing, healthcare and other basic services.
Priority 2: Families and Youth
Goal: The City is a desirable
place for families to live and raise their children; children and
youth are prepared for a successful transition to adulthood and are
supported in their development, health and well being; and families
are supported in achieving these goals for their children.
Priority 3: Seniors and People with Disabilities
Goal: Older
adults and people with disabilities have the necessary community
supports to live independently - with advocacy, recreation and
social services appropriately available.
Priority 4: Equal Access / Civil and Human Rights
Goal: The City
is a place of equality where there is equal access to community
resources for all people.
Priority 5: Health, Prevention, Public Safety and Quality of Life
Goal: All Burlington residents have access to quality, affordable
and appropriate personal and family health and prevention services;
all residents are assured of safety and quality of life in their
neighborhoods and in their homes; and residents have access to
restorative justice methods for repairing harm caused by community
conflict and criminal behavior.
Priority 1: Neighborhood Infrastructure and Public Facilities
Goal: All residents enjoy livable, attractive neighborhoods, with
safe, accessible and tree-lined streets and sidewalks; community greenspace and diverse public open spaces; quality parks and
recreational areas, and a wide range of recreational opportunities;
and with bicycle and pedestrian connections among neighborhoods and
to the City center.
Priority 2: Environmental Quality
Goal: The City’s environmental
assets are preserved, protected and enhanced for the health and
enjoyment of residents and visitors.
Priority 3: Waterfront
Goal: The waterfront is a vital,
year-round part of the community, providing safe and environmentally
sustainable cultural, recreational, social, and economic
opportunities that are accessible to all regardless of income,
ability or lifestyle.
Since 1983, the City of Burlington has involved its citizens in
its Community Development Block Grant program through the
Neighborhood Planning Assemblies (NPAs), semi-autonomous grassroots
organizations existing in each of the City’s seven wards. The NPAs
review local low and moderate-income neighborhood needs and develop
their own applications for CDBG funding each year with the
assistance of Community & Economic Development Office staff. Those
applications are then reviewed by a Neighborhood Development Grants
Board, which makes funding recommendations to the Mayor and City
Council; seven of nine members of that Board are elected by the NPAs.
The NPAs also elect half the members of the CDBG Citizen Advisory
Board, which reviews all non-neighborhood applications for CDBG
funding each year and makes recommendations to the Mayor and City
Council on the allocation of the bulk of the City’s entitlement
funds. Two additional members of the CDBG Advisory Board are elected
through the community organizing mechanisms of neighborhood
associations in low-income areas of the City. The City continues to
welcome the input of its citizens – and particularly of its low and
moderate-income residents – on community needs and priorities.
Next
|
