Dayton targets housing, neighborhood conditions

Kettering also part of plan for federal funding.

Dayton’s five-year plan for federal HUD funding calls for housing affordability and emphasizes cleaning up neighborhoods, improving public safety and expanding residential housing options.

By 2020, the city plans to demolish about 750 abandoned structures, rehabilitate 1,300 housing units and fund programs to add new homes, jobs and services for seniors, the underemployed, youth and low-income residents.

The city also looks to use economic incentives to attract grocery stores to local neighborhoods and create move-in ready commercial spaces to aid start-ups and small businesses.

“The 5-year plan lays out the community’s goals and priorities for the use of HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) entitlement funding,” said Aaron Sorrell, Dayton’s director of planning and community development.

He later added, “In the end, hopefully we’ll have made an impact on poverty rates and the appearance and functionality of our neighborhoods, and our infrastructure will be in better shape.”

Dayton City Commissioners this month approved the 2016-2020 Consolidated Plan, a 205-page document that maps out how Dayton and Kettering propose using federal dollars to address housing and economic challenges.

Submission of a five-year plan is required for communities to receive various funding from HUD, including Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships Program and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) money.

Kettering joins Dayton for the consolidated plan because it is not eligible on its own to receive HOME funds, said Angela Brown, Kettering’s community development manager.

Dayton and Kettering assessed community needs through surveys, social media and public meetings.

Kettering citizens expressed concerns about crime and showed interest in home-repair programs and expanding services to assist senior citizens.

Funds Kettering will receive through the consortium will go mostly toward owner-occupied-housing rehab and down-payment assistance programs, Brown said.

In Dayton, citizens said they wanted the city to fight blight, help homeowners rehab their properties, promote public safety, resurface roads, bridges and sidewalks and support community gardens and other initiatives.

Dayton’s and Kettering’s priorities are to expand economic opportunities and provide decent housing and a suitable living environment for residents. Dayton next year expects to receive about $6.3 million in CDBG, HOME and ESG funds.

Affordable housing is one of the biggest challenges facing Dayton.

Many homes are in substandard condition because of age, landlords not maintaining their properties and a lack of owner investment.

In Dayton, more than one-third of the housing inventory was built before 1940, the plan states.

Incomes in Dayton have dropped since 1999.

Falling wages have contributed to more than one-third of owner-occupied households in Dayton being cost burdened, according to the plan. More than half of Dayton’s households are rentals.

“You have an aging population that is getting poorer that struggles to maintain properties, and this is a big challenge,” Sorrell said.

In the next five years, the city plans to use federal dollars to fund the rehabilitation of about 250 rental units and provide direct down-payment assistance to about 90 homebuyers.

The city plans to develop strategies to diversify the rental-housing product, modernize existing units and support responsible investors.

The plan also calls for demolishing 750 abandoned structures and working with community partners to rehabilitate 1,050 owner-occupied homes.

To address public safety, Dayton proposes improving street lighting, cleaning up abandoned lots and public areas and facilitating partnerships between the police department and neighborhood associations.

Dayton and Kettering plan to repair and improve residential streets, curbs and sidewalks.

Dayton also proposes enhancing job-training programs and increasing marketing of trade schools.

The city intends to create economic development incentives to attract grocery stores to parts of the city that lack them.

Grocery chains such as Aldi’s could succeed in local neighborhoods because they have smaller footprints, affordable prices and fresh produce, the plan states.

“A common theme during public outreach was the desire to address the food desert issue in low-income neighborhoods,” Sorrell said.

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