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III. HOUSING NEEDS
For purposes of the CDBG program, HUD defines extremely low-income households to be those with income less than 30% of the median family income for the local area. Low-income households are those between 30 and 50% of median. Moderate-income households are those between 50 and 80% of median, and middle-income households are those between 80 and 95% of median. (Under the HOME program, the term “low-income” is defined as at or below 80% of median and “very low-income” is at or below 50% of median.) Cost Burden, Overcrowding and Substandard HousingHUD receives a special tabulation of data from the Census that analyzes it by income group, household type, and housing problems in data sets called the “CHAS.” These data sets identify three types of housing problems – cost burden (paying more than 30% of household income for housing), overcrowding (more than one person per room) and lack of complete plumbing or kitchen facilities. Cost burden becomes “extreme” when households are paying more than 50% of their income for housing. Overcrowding becomes “extreme” when there are more than one and a half persons per room. In Burlington, for both renters and owners, at all income levels and across all household types, cost burden is the most pressing housing problem. Among renters, not surprisingly, the level of cost burden decreases as income increases, with very few middle income renters experiencing problems. Cost burden is most acute among extremely low-income renters.
Among homeowners, cost burden is an issue across all income levels, with the highest number of affected homeowners in the moderate-income level.
Elderly, Small Families, Large Families and Other HouseholdsThe next set of charts shows housing need data for different types of household – elderly (age 62 and older), small family (2 to 4 members), large family (5 or more members) and other (mostly single adults) – through the middle-income level. The first column shows the total number of households within each household type. The next column shows the total number of households with any type of housing problem (i.e., cost burden, overcrowding or lack of plumbing/kitchen). The third column shows the total number of households which are cost-burdened. The last column pulls out the number of households which are extremely cost-burdened. (For middle-income households, information on housing problems is only available for cost-burden, and not for other housing problems.) When households are broken out by household type, the large college student population in Burlington affects the data, particularly for renter households. The approximately 6,000 college students living off campus principally show up in the “other” category of renters and inflate the level of need that appears there. The level of need among small family renter households and elderly renters is more accurately represented. Large family renters are a relatively small group in Burlington. Proportionally, they experience more housing problems than do small family renters – but in overall numbers, the need is less.
Among homeowners, there are roughly equivalent levels of need among small family and “other” households. Elderly homeowners are experiencing the next highest level of need, with large families again being the smallest group among the four types of households.
Overcrowding is not a significant problem in Burlington, even among large families. Overall, there were a total of 219 (or 2.4%) of renter households experiencing overcrowding, with 94 experiencing severe overcrowding. Although there is no way to measure, it seems likely that most overcrowding may be occurring among student renters. It is also possible that some level of overcrowding occurs among refugee households. Among homeowners, 58 (or 0.9%) are experiencing overcrowding, with only 4 households (all at greater than 95% of median income) experiencing severe overcrowding. According to the CHAS data, there were 79 renter households and 27 owner households in Burlington that lacked complete kitchen or plumbing facilities. The city’s code enforcement office would not allow this situation to occur, so it is difficult to understand the reported data. The city was unable to determine from HUD whether SRO’s and boarding houses may be counted here, which would account for some of this data. It is also possible that some units were undergoing renovations and temporarily lacked plumbing or kitchen facilities. Public Housing Units
The Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) has an approved PHA plan which covers all of the 343 units of public housing in the city:
The Public Housing units are all in good physical condition, as evidenced by the HUD Real Estate Assessment Center physical inspections conducted in 2006. BHA has been designated a High Performer under the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) advisory score, with a score of 95 on 10/01/2007. Because of the age of the buildings, extensive capital improvements are required over the next ten years. Under its 10 Year Capital Needs Plan, BHA expects to spend $4,000,000 for capital projects utilizing anticipated HUD Capital Fund Grants and Public Housing Reserves. The city supports BHA’s Capital Improvement Strategy and the preservation of these public housing units in the community. BHA conducted an updated 504 analysis of its public housing developments and rental assistance program in its fiscal year 2001 and has implemented recommendations contained in that analysis. Waiting Lists As of July 2005, when BHA’s most recent PHA plan was approved, the waiting lists for public housing and for tenant-based Section 8 looked as follows:
As with the analysis of all renter households, the greatest need as reflected in the waiting lists appears among extremely low-income households. The waiting lists reflect higher needs among families with children and families with disabilities than among elderly families. There is a disproportionately higher need among black households on the waiting lists – which is consistent with overall disproportionate need, discussed next. Disproportionate Need
Assessing disproportionate need in Burlington on a percentage basis is complicated by the relatively low number of minority households in the city. Using HUD-defined housing problems (i.e., cost burden, overcrowding and lack of complete plumbing/kitchen) as the definition of need, the next two charts below show, by race/ethnicity and income, the difference between the percentage of households overall which have a housing need and the percentage of households in each group which have a housing need. Among renters, on a percentage basis disproportionate need appears among the following groups:
Among homeowners, disproportionate need appears among the following groups:
Looking at homeownership rates among minority groups, all minorities have disproportionately lower homeownership rates in the city:
Homeownership for minorities is affected by lower income levels (see the chart on the following page) and by discrimination in the market. A Real Estate Sales Practices Audit of Fair Housing Law Compliance in Vermont (pdf), conducted by the Fair Housing Project of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity in 2002 with grant funding from HUD, found evidence of racial discrimination in 48% of the test cases with major real estate agencies.
III(A). Nature and Extent of Homelessness
HUD defines the homeless to be: (1) an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence; and (2) an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is (a) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); (b) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or (c) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. This definition does not include people who are doubling up or finding other ways of avoiding shelters and the streets. All of the homeless providers in the city do an annual “point-in-time” count, usually in mid-winter. (The 2004 point-in-time count was conducted in the summer.) On a given night, they count the number of people in shelter beds. They also reach out to other agencies that serve the homeless, collating the data to eliminate duplication. These counts show a decline in the number of chronically homeless, but no overall declines in homelessness. And between 2006 and 2007, the number of households seeking state-funded motel stays in Chittenden County (available when the shelters are full) dramatically increased, from 370 to 774 households.
Data from the January 2008 point-in-time count is not yet collated. The most recently available local point-in-time count, conducted in January 2007, found 176 homeless people, sheltered and unsheltered, in our community:
Vermont had the highest rate of homelessness in New England in the winter 2007 point-in-time count. (It isn’t possible to tell, however, how much of the variance among states arises from differences in accuracy and depth of counting efforts.)
The following table analyzes gaps in the facilities and housing available to homeless residents:
Information on the race and ethnicity of the homeless is available from the Annual Performance Reports of the Chittenden County Continuum of Care. These reports show the following data from participating providers:
The chart below compares the six-year average percent for race and ethnicity among the homeless against the percent of the city’s population as a whole (as measured by the 2000 Census). As with disproportionate overall housing needs, racial and ethnic comparisons are complicated by the relatively small numbers of minorities. However, there are disparities, with all minority groups except Asians – and most particularly blacks – being over represented among the homeless.
The populations most at risk of becoming homeless are:
III(B). Supportive Housing Needs
Residents with special needs, like all city residents, need a range of housing options – beginning with housing that is affordable. Beyond that, it is the policy of the state (which the city supports) to provide supportive services to people in the setting of their choice to the fullest extent possible – be that that in a single family or multi-unit home, in congregate housing, in other community settings, or in an institution. As of the 2000 Census, there were 5,054 Burlington seniors age 65 and older. Not all of those residents have supportive service or supportive housing needs. However, 40% of Burlington seniors (a total of 1,444) reported having some kind of disability. That includes mental illness as well as physical disabilities. Thirty-two percent were living alone, and 27% had no vehicle. The CHAS data tabulations computed households where there were mobility and/or self-care limitations among the occupants. (A self-care limitation is a condition lasting six months or more that makes it difficult to dress, bath or get around inside the home. That roughly corresponds with HUD’s definition of “frail elderly.”) That data showed the following needs in the city:
Extra elderly households in these tables are one- to two-member households where one person is 75 years or older. Elderly households are, again, one- to two-member households where one person is 62 to 74 years old. Households which are also cost-burdened are a subset of households with a limitation. Having a mobility and/or self-care limitation is not necessarily correlated with a housing affordability problem:
Challenges for the elderly in maintaining an independent living environment include:
Non-elderly residents with mobility and self-care limitations share many of these challenges. Also, as residents with mental illness and developmental disabilities age, they also share the challenges of changing medical and physical conditions. According to an analysis by the National Institute of Mental Health, about 2.8% of the U.S. population over age 18 have a severe mental illness, defined as a mental illness that markedly interferes with social, occupational and/or school functioning. The diagnoses that met the criteria included schizophrenia and related disorders, manic-depressive (bipolar) disorder, autism and related disorders, as well as severe forms of major depression, panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Using this estimate, around 912 Burlington residents suffer from severe mental illness. It is estimated that roughly half of those who suffer from severe mental illness are also affected by substance abuse. Service-enriched housing needs for this population range from affordable, independent apartments with support services provided by visiting mental health workers to 24-hour supervised “group home” settings. Right now, there is a need for additional supportive housing at all levels for those living with severe mental illness. There is a need for at least 12 to 15 additional community care home beds, with 24 hour, 7 day a week double staffing; for at least 12 more permanent supportive housing units; and for addition case management services to support residents living in the community. As defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with developmental disabilities have problems with major life activities such as language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living. Developmental disabilities begin anytime during development up to 22 years of age and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) task force report on psychiatric services to mentally retarded and developmentally disabled adults estimates the overall prevalence of developmental disabilities at 1.6 percent in the total population and 1.49 percent in the adult population. Applying the overall percent to Burlington’s population, there are an estimated 637 residents with developmental disabilities. Overall, there is adequate funding and services to meet the housing and service needs of residents with developmental delays. Those who choose to live in a family living situation or in one of a few remaining supportive group homes can access plentiful funding support. Those who choose an independent living situation are accommodated by Section 8 and other subsidized housing programs; they do not have preferential status on the waiting lists for those programs but do have other housing options while they wait. However, Cathedral Square Corporation has identified a need for a specialized shared living arrangement for individuals who are deaf/hard of hearing and who have developmental disabilities or mental health disorders, with staff who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), knowledgeable in deaf culture and trained to work with this special needs population to ensure that they are getting the services they need. And, those who are just above the defined cut-off for a diagnosis of development delay but who nonetheless struggle with some degree of delay sometimes fall through the cracks. According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health prepared by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an estimated 9.6% of the population age 12 and older need treatment for a substance abuse problem. Applying that percent to Burlington’s population, there are 3,319 residents age 12 and older in need of substance abuse treatment. Treatment and recovery require affordable, appropriate, alcohol-free and drug-free housing with a range of management and supportive services, from a high level of on-site management (for treatment and early recovery) to self-management in housing such as Oxford Houses to self-management in an at-home setting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as of the end of June 2005, there were 223 adults and adolescents and 2 children under 13 living with AIDS in Vermont. Source: CDC HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2005, rev. ed. 2007, p. 23. Because of confidentiality concerns arising from the small population numbers, an estimate of the number of Burlington residents living with HIV/AIDS is not available. Those living with HIV/AIDS need stable and medically appropriate housing in order to comply with complex medical and medication regimens and avoid costly inpatient hospitalizations. The Burlington Housing Authority estimates that 234 public housing residents need supportive services.
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