HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES PROJECT FOR EXCELLENCE, INC'

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HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES PROJECT FOR EXCELLENCE, INC.
H.O.P.E., INC.

• BILL THOMPSON
• 305-651-4763
• E-mail bill_thompson_at_bellsouth.net

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Where you live makes a difference in the quality
  of your life, what kind of school your children
  attend and the opportunities they will have, the
  kinds of jobs which will be open to you, and
  whether or not your investment in housing will
  grow.
• There are many barriers which limit housing
  choices for residents of Lee County. The shortage
  of Affordable Housing is the area in need of
  special attention.

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DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

• Updated information from Lee Countys
  Consolidated Plan report that the Countys
  population has more than doubled from 205,266
  people in 1980 to 475,073 people in 2003 and is
  expected to reach 547,000 by 2010.

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DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILEBonita Springs
Data Set Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1)
100-Percent DataGeographic Area Bonita Springs,
Florida
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DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILEFort Myers Beach, Florida
Data Set Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1)
100-Percent DataGeographic Area Fort Myers
Beach, Florida
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DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILESanibel, Florida
Data Set Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1)
100-Percent DataGeographic Area Sanibel,
Florida
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CHANGES IN RACIAL COMPOSITION
The most significant population increase in the
Lee County is the increase in the Hispanic
population which increased by 178.5 from 15,094
to 42,042 from 1990 to 2000.
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INCOME
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INCOME
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INCOME
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POVERTY PUBLIC ASSITANCE

• Within Lee County there are over 50 Federal,
  State, local, and private programs currently
  providing services to the community.
• The Lee County Board of Commissioners has
  designated five blighted neighborhoods within the
  County as Neighborhood Districts (ND). The five
  neighborhoods of Page Park, Pine Manor, Harlem
  Heights, Charleston Park, and Dunbar have
  demonstrated a need for community redevelopment,
  affordable housing, increased economic
  development opportunities, and enhancement of
  direct social services delivery. These
  neighborhoods are the primary focus of county
  CDBG and HOME federal funds.

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NEEDS

• HOUSING
• ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICENCY
• DECENT LIVING ENVIRONMENT
• HOMELESSNESS
• HEALTHCARE
• YOUTH

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HOUSING TENURE AND COST

• Housing Needs A key term used by U.S. HUD for
  assessing housing need is cost burden. U.S. HUD
  defines as cost-burdened a household that pays
  more than 30 of its income for housing costs.

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HOUSING TENURE AND COST
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HOUSING TENURE AND COST

• Impediment
• 1. There is a great shortage of affordable
  housing and supportive housing units. In 2002
  there were 51,410 cost-burdened households in Lee
  County paying more than 30 of their income for
  housing. Lower income residents are particularly
  affected by the estimated shortage of over 21,000
  affordable owner units and nearly 6,100
  affordable rental units in unincorporated Lee
  County this year.
• 2. Blighted neighborhoods affect the lives and
  livelihoods of residents and the stability and
  economic well being of the county. The physical
  and human assets of these neighborhoods need to
  be identified and focused on revitalization.

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HOUSING TENURE AND COST

• Recommendations
• Establish an area-wide task force that includes
  representatives from jurisdictions service
  providers and the homeless to identify areas
  which might be appropriate sites for transitional
  housing and to create a plan to create the
  necessary zoning, and service delivery.
• Support an intensive effort to educate housing
  providers, advocates and consumers about their
  rights and responsibilities under fair housing
  laws.
• Require strong affirmative marketing programs for
  all affordable housing developments using County
  administered Federal funds.

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HOUSING TENURE AND COST

• Recommendations
• Encourage housing providers to participate in
  Section 8 program
•  
• Encourage mixed-income and mixed tenure (rental
  and homeownership) developments, especially when
  tax credits or other subsidies are used.
• Support pre-purchase counseling and down payment
  assistance programs to improve home ownership
  opportunities for low and moderate-income
  homebuyers.

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EMPLOYMENT

• The location of the job sites and the
  availability and affordability of housing
  surrounding the job sites can foster integration
  when promoted positively or can result in
  racially motivate violence when racial or ethnic
  minorities attempt to move into the neighborhoods
  where the jobs have become available. Local
  jurisdictions should take into account the fair
  housing implications when creating employment
  opportunities.

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EMPLOYMENT
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STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT

• The governing board for Lee County Government is
  the Board of Lee County Commissioners.  The five
  commissioners are elected by all voters, but also
  represent the districts in which they live.
• IMPEDIMENT
• County officials may not be sufficiently familiar
  with the fair housing laws and how those laws
  affect (or should affect) the performance of
  their duties.

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STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT

• Follow the Fair Housing Performance Standards for
  Acceptance of Consolidated Plan Certifications
  and Compliance with Community Development Block
  Grant Performance Review Criteria and Submissions
  for Community Planning and Development Programs
  to establish a standard for determining if the
  jurisdiction's certification regarding
  affirmatively furthering fair housing is
  inaccurate, outlined in 24 CFR Parts 91 and 570.
  Docket No. FR-4133-P-01 RIN No. 2529-AA81.
• Identify and provide fair housing training for
  all County employees who are involved in housing
  related activities
• Provide optional fair housing training for all
  County employees

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AREA FAIR HOUSING PROFILE

• The National Fair Housing Alliance 2003 Fair
  Housing Trends Report announced that a total of
  25,246 fair housing complaints were filed in
  2002.1 According to Shanna Smith, President of
  the National Fair Housing Alliance, this number
  is less than one percent of the estimated
  incidence of illegal housing discrimination that
  occurs each year in the United States. This
  reflects an increase of more than 3,000
  complaints since 1999. The 2003 report reveals
  that the highest levels of housing discrimination
  complaints filed in 2002 were from African
  Americans and people with disabilities. Race
  accounted for, thirty percent of all complaints,
  followed by disability (twenty-seven percent),
  familial status (fifteen percent), and national
  origin (twelve percent). 1 National Fair
  Housing Alliance 2003 Fair Housing Trends
  Report is based on 2002 complaint data compiled
  from 91 private, nonprofit fair housing agencies,
  the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
  Development, the U.S. Department of Justice and
  95 Fair Housing Assistance Program agencies which
  are state and local government agencies whose
  laws are substantially equivalent to the federal
  Fair Housing Act.

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TESTING EVIDENCE

• WHAT IS IT?
• WHO CAN CONDUCT TESTING?
• EXAMPLE OF TESTING

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ENFORCEMENT AND LITIGATION

• Fair Housing Complaint Profile From 2001 to
  present, the Lee County Office of Equal
  Opportunity has investigated housing
  discrimination complaints in Lee County on behalf
  of HUD. From 2001 until June 2004, twenty-five
  (25) housing discrimination cases were
  investigated and closed by the Office of Equal
  Opportunity.

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ENFORCEMENT AND LITIGATION
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RACE AND HOUSING CHOICE

• Throughout the country, neighborhood integration
  has remained a goal of public policy and popular
  opinion because it is seen as proof of the
  American ideal of equal opportunity.
  Unfortunately, the 2000 Census shows that growing
  ethnic diversity in Lee County is accompanied by
  an increase of residential separation.

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RACE AND HOUSING CHOICE
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SEGREGATED HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT

• There is still a White-Hispanic-Asian-Black
  divide in Lee County, an analysis of the 2000
  Census data reveals that while Hispanics, Asians
  and non-Hispanic Whites were mostly integrated,
  non-Hispanic Blacks are more segregated. The
  Countys non-Hispanic Black population
  experienced an increase in the segregation of one
  group from another since the 1990 census As a
  result non-Hispanic Blacks continue to live in
  isolated settings and housing in the County is as
  segregated as ever and increasing.

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INCREASING RACIAL DIVERSITY

• The U. S. level of segregation (the Index of
  Dissimilarity) foreign-born group members,
  compared with U.S.-born residents, was 18.8 in
  1990 and 25.5 in 2000. The table on the next page
  shows segregation statistics for persons in
  different racial/ethnic groups classified by
  nativity in Lee County. If nativity differences
  were a major cause of residential segregation, we
  would see that segregation is much lower when we
  compare natives to natives and immigrants to
  immigrants. It would be much higher for the
  groups as a whole, not taking into account
  people's nativity.

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INCREASING RACIAL DIVERSITY
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RACE AND HOUSING CHOICE IMPEDIMENTS

• 1.11.Existence of a strongly segregated housing
  market in the County creates barriers to housing
  choice, regardless of whether discrimination is
  occurring, because it requires home-seekers to
  overcome powerful personal and community
  expectations that they live in a neighborhood
  with people like themselves.
•  
• 2. Discrimination on the basis of Race, Color,
  National Origin, Familial Status and Disability.

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RACE AND HOUSING CHOICE RECOMMENDATIONS

• Increase fair housing education and training to
  housing providers to ensure compliance with fair
  housing laws Increase the fair housing
  education/outreach presentations for the
  community to help consumers identify and
  challenge housing discrimination.
• Acknowledge the need for county-wide cooperation
  to eliminate barriers to fair housing choice, and
  actively support the development of specific
  inter-jurisdictional cooperative mechanisms to
  make fair and equal access to housing a reality.
• Increase and enhance the availability of
  comprehensive fair housing enforcement and
  education outreach services to address
  discrimination in all forms of housing and
  housing related activities.

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ROLE OF THE MEDIA

• The local media (newspaper, TV and radio
  industry) is continually perpetuates negative
  stereotypes and attitudes about the African
  American/Hispanic community, highlighting the
  negative and minimizing the positive
  contributions/relationships in the community. The
  use of human models in Real Estate advertising
  fails to show diverse groups that reflect the
  make-up of the population. There are a number of
  weekly newspapers that offer different
  racial/ethnic viewpoints and perspectives in
  different languages, which also contribute to the
  racial/ethnic stereotypes and attitudes. Since
  many of the barriers to housing choice are a
  result of racism and attitudes the media can be a
  contributing factor in healing the racial/ethnic
  divisions in the community.

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ROLE OF THE MEDIA IMPEDIMENT

• IMPEDIMENT
• The local media contributes to and promotes
  racial/ethnic division and hinders community
  cooperation. The local media (newspaper, TV and
  radio industry) continues to perpetuate negative
  stereotypes and attitudes about the African
  American and Hispanic communities by highlighting
  the negative and minimizing the positive
  contributions and relationships in the
  communities Advertising practices in Lee County
  fail to emphasize the availability of housing on
  an equal basis and to encourage housing choice.

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ROLE OF MEDIARECOMMENDATIONS

• Disseminate a fair housing media campaign
  utilizing PSA in local TV/newspapers, local
  municipal TV channels highlighting national,
  statewide, and local fair housing
  news/information.
• Ensure that the Countys own advertising reflect
  and appeal to a diverse community.
• Institute an annual award, to be given jointly by
  the entitlement jurisdictions within Lee County,
  for the advertisement that most successfully
  market the strengths of a diverse community.
• Appoint a committee to interact with the media to
  discuss racial/ethnic issues and monitor the
  release of information that would increase race
  and ethnic based tensions.
• Facilitate access to the Countys cable
  television channels as a source of fair housing
  information.

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BARRIERS TO HOME OWNERSHIP

• Why Do Low-Income Homeowners Get Into Trouble?
  There are a number of factors that can turn the
  American dream of homeownership into a nightmare
  for low-income households
• Loss of Household Income
• Home Maintenance, Repair, and Utility Costs
• Increases in Property Taxes
• Increases in non housing Expenses
• Poor Financial Management Skills
• Increases in Homeowners Insurance

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEEDS
Homeownership by Race and Ethnicity Within Lee
County
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BARRIERS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING

• The barriers to affordable housing fall into two
  categories (a) barriers effecting new housing
  construction and (b) barriers effecting existing
  housing. Due to the vast and rapid growth of the
  area, both new and rehabilitation construction
  face shortages of materials and particularly
  skilled labor, this pressure forces up unit
  prices and reduces affordability. Housing
  discrimination is also seen as a barrier in both
  of these areas.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING IMPEDIMENT

• IMPEDIMENT
• There is no area-wide corporative effort to
  provide affordable housing because the majority
  of housing choices for low and moderate income
  families are limited to the urban city.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING RECOMMENDATIONS

• Implement mixed income affordable housing
  projects dispersed throughout the county,
  utilizing consolidated plan process, rather than
  in concentrating the developments in certain
  areas
• Support continued fair housing education to
  ensure that housing providers using public funds
  for development understand their
  responsibilities.
• Require all developers utilizing public funds to
  develop and implement affirmative marketing plans
  which reach and appeal to all segments of the
  community.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING RECOMMENDATIONS

• Continue to support pre-purchase counseling and
  down payment assistance programs designed to
  improve home ownership opportunities for low and
  moderate income buyers.
• Emphasize mixed income housing in all
  neighborhoods being targeted for redevelopment
  (including the downtown urban areas), to create
  racially, ethnic and economically diverse
  neighborhoods.
• Provide financial incentives for low-income
  homebuyers who make pro-integrative moves.

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LENDING

• HOME MORTGAGE DISCLOSURE (HMDA) DATA ANALYSIS

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ISSUES AFFECTING FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN
NUMBER
PERCENT
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ISSUES AFFECTING PERSONS WITH DISABLITIES
Data Set Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) -
Sample DataGeographic Area Lee County, Florida
http//factfinder.census.gov/home/en/datanotes/exp
sf3.htm.
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ISSUES AFFECTING PERSONS WITH DISABLITIES

• Reasonable accommodations and modifications
• Disability and income
• Group homes and other congregate living needs

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PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IMPEDIMENTS

• An insufficient number of accessible housing
  units are available which meets the needs of
  persons with disabilities in the County.
• People with disabilities are denied housing
  because of their disability, and do not take full
  advantage of the protection of the law. These
  special needs populations are being turned away
  from over-loaded treatment and shelter facilities
  with no local recourse.
• There is a crisis level shortage of supportive
  housing and services for the mentally ill,
  substance-addicted and other special populations.
  

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PERSONS WITH DISABILITES RECOMMENDATIONS

• Make the County a leader in the effort to
  increase housing accessibility by making a highly
  visible public commitment to enhancing
  accessibility in housing.
• Provide financial support for education and
  enforcement of fair housing laws (including
  testing) to ensure that people with disabilities
  have access to housing.
• Support an intensive effort to educate and
  encourage housing providers using County funds
  (including the Housing Authority) to use
  universal design features in new construction and
  rehabilitation whenever possible.

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ISSUES AFFECTING THE HOMELESS

• Lee Countys homeless population is visible in
  the City of Fort Myers and relatively invisible
  in small camps hidden from the general public and
  dispersed throughout the county.

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ISSUES AFFECTING THE HOMELESS IMPEDIMENTS

• Over 1,900 residents are homeless. An
  insufficient number of housing units for the
  homeless in the County severely limits the
  housing choices for this segment of the
  population. Homelessness undermines the well
  being of entire County along with that of the
  homeless individual and family.
• Reduce homelessness by increasing emergency
  assistance and the Continuum of Care which
  provides temporary housing, treatment and
  training of individuals and families and for
  permanent housing.

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ISSUES AFFECTING THE HOMELESS RECOMMENDATION

• Establish an area-wide task force which includes
  representatives from jurisdictions service
  providers and the homeless to identify areas
  which might be appropriate sites for transitional
  housing and to create a plan to create the
  necessary zoning, and service delivery.

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TRANSPORTATION
QT-P23. Journey to Work  2000 Geographic
Area Lee County, FloridaData Set Census 2000
Summary File 3 (SF 3) - Sample Data
http//factfinder.census.gov/home/en/datanotes/exp
sf3.htm.
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TRANSPORTATION IMPEDIMENT

• The area transportation system is inadequate to
  service the needs of the working class. Increased
  housing costs are forcing families to move
  farther away from jobs in order to find housing
  they can afford which increases their
  transportation expenses.

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TRANSPORTATION RECOMMENDATIONS

• Support a regional transportation system that
  provides services to low and moderate income
  households through the tri-county area.
• Expand public transportation service to meet the
  needs of employers not currently served
  Geographically and for employers with second and
  third shifts, and employers with weekend shifts
  examine use of car and van pools coordination
  programs.

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PUBLIC AND ASSISTED HOUSING

• The major components of federally supported
  public housing in Lee County are the Fort Myers
  Housing Authority (FMHA), Lee County Housing
  Authority (LCHA) and the Section 8 rental
  vouchers administered by the Fort Myers Community
  Redevelopment Agency (FMCRA).

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PUBLIC AND ASSISTED HOUSING IMPEDIMENTS

• Public and assisted housing tends to segregate
  residents by race/ethnicity/income, depriving
  lower income families the access to the
  opportunities available in more diverse
  neighborhoods. Historically, public and assisted
  housing available in Lee County is segregated by
  race and ethnicity.
• Crime, delinquency and other problems of youth
  are a universal concern in the county. School
  dropouts, teenage pregnancy, delinquency, crime
  and substance abuse undermine the future of the
  individuals and the county.

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PUBLIC AND ASSISTED HOUSING RECOMMENDATIONS

• Review zoning ordinances to ensure that
  multi-family developments are approved for use
  in a variety of neighborhoods throughout the
  metropolitan area.
• Encourage mixed-income and mixed tenure
  (Homeownership and rental) developments,
  especially when tax credits or other public
  subsidies are used.
• Support the establishment of a consolidated
  regional waiting list for assisted housing, in
  which applications could be made to one central
  repository and encourage applicants to consider a
  variety of options in diverse neighborhoods.

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PUBLIC AND ASSISTED HOUSING RECOMMENDATIONS

• Provide information and counseling to current
  certificate and voucher holders about the full
  range of their housing options and encourage
  diversity.
• Require all developers using public funds to
  market their housing stock to a diverse
  population of potential tenants/homeowners.

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THE ROLE OF ADVERTISING

• The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in
  advertising for housing. This includes all
  advertisements for sale or rental of a dwelling
  be they in print, online, or verbal, in which,
  they contain statements indicating a preference,
  limitation, or discrimination based on race,
  color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status,
  or national origin or the intent to make such.

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ADVERTISING IMPEDIMENTS

• The local media contributes to and promotes
  racial/ethnic division and hinders community
  cooperation. The local media (newspaper, TV and
  radio industry) continues to perpetuate negative
  stereotypes and attitudes about the African
  American and Hispanic communities by highlighting
  the negative and minimizing the positive
  contributions and relationships in the
  communities.
• Advertising practices in Lee County do little to
  emphasize that housing is available on an equal
  basis and to encourage housing choice.

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ADVERTISING RECOMMENDATIONS

• Provide continued support for enforcement and
  education to ensure compliance with fair housing
  laws
• Provide continued support for enforcement and
  education to ensure compliance with fair housing
  laws
• Ensure that the Countys own advertising reflects
  and appeals to a diverse community

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ADVERTISING RECOMMENDATIONS

• Institute an annual award, to be given jointly by
  the entitlement jurisdictions within Lee County,
  for the advertisement which most successfully
  market the strengths of a diverse community.
• Appoint a committee to interact with the media to
  discuss racial/ethnic issues and monitor the
  release of information that would increase race
  and ethnic based tensions.

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FAIR HOUSING SERVICES

• Local Government support
• IMPEDIMENT
• Fair Housing Program Initiatives staffing and
  support are inadequate to meet the responsibility
  to affirmatively further fair housing throughout
  Lee County. Lee County employs one individual who
  has the responsibility for both employment and
  fair housing enforcement and education/outreach
  program areas for the entire county.

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FAIR HOUSING SERVICES

• RECOMMENDATION
• Lee Countys three entitlement jurisdictions
  should form a fair housing partnership utilizing
  CDBG funding as either a public service under CFR
  Section 570.201 (e) (activities cited
  education, fair housing counseling") or as an
  administrative cost under CFR Section 570.206 (c)
  Fair Housing Activities." To adequately fund fair
  housing cost eligible activities under the CDBG
  program, including fair housing services designed
  to further fair housing enforcement, education
  and outreach throughout the county

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PUBLIC PERCEPTION

• FAIR HOUSING SURVEY

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FAIR HOUSING PLAN

• WHAT IS IT?

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HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES PROJECT FOR EXCELLENCE, INC.
H.O.P.E., INC.

• BILL THOMPSON
• 305-615-4763
• E-mail bill_thompson_at_bellsouth.net