|
|
 |
Getting Started in Community Development Programs
by Emory M. Counts
|
OK, you've just been named community development director of a medium-sized city ... Now what?
Alarmingly, this is the case in a significant number of cities. At a recent Community Development Block Grant training session put on by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), more than half of 48 people in attendance had been in the field less than a year. How do you catch up, and get in position to carry out your new duties, in the same capable way that people have come to view your past efforts?
Right away, you must admit that nothing can take the place of knowing the applicable regulations and experience in the field over time. But you, too, may do a pretty credible job if you break projects into manageable parts, and proceed with great zeal. Here are some helpful tips:
1. Getting Started. Join your state community development association. The Florida Community Development Association has a network of community development practitioners equipped with the time and experience to help you. Its membership includes community development directors, managers, coordinators, specialists, inspectors and counselors with years of practical housing experience. There is nothing totally “new” under the sun, and what you are facing in your own locale has been faced and conquered before. Having the support and wisdom of this network will be invaluable. You won’t have to make the mistakes they did! There are also the regional and national community development associations, which provide outstanding networking opportunities and advocacy on policies and regulations affecting community development.
2. Assess the Landscape. What’s going on in your community development area? List your top 10 area needs, and the programs that address these needs. What are reasons these strategies have been used in the past? What could be done to improve results? In order to gain optimal results, you must start properly by talking with many groups including staff, city administration, elected officials, clients, HUD, the state, and partners such as lenders, nonprofits and contractors. Using a form to collect information from these groups is more efficient. It can elicit useful information on how to solve a particular barrier, and in the process clear up logjams that cost you time and money. But be sure to leave enough room on the form for open-ended comments about programs, and creative ways to improve services.
|
|
3. Evaluate Assessment Data and Potential for Implementation. The evaluation should compare the method now in operation against what it would be like with the “new” implementation. Having talked to many people and agencies involved in the community development process, and assessed community needs, get with your staff and decide a direction. Talking it out can uncover potential problems with the implementation. What partners are needed at what level of participation? Is it likely that all will participate? Are there any short-term or long-term advantages or disadvantages? If answers to these kinds of questions still indicate a good project, then it is likely time to put it all together.
4. How Are Things Accomplished in Your Jurisdiction? What are the internal and external steps you must go through? Who needs to be noticed? What are the financial and political hurdles? Each jurisdiction will have a process that may include board review and recommendation, and final commission or council action. For this, I recommend sitting with your city clerk and city attorney. They are the experts on process, and are knowledgeable on the political and financial “juggernauts” at play. You should be aware of these juggernauts, even if their interests are in line with your item, policy or program. They can be very helpful when you agree on a position, but if you disagree, state your reasons and take your chances for success on that item.
5. Read, Read, Read, and Communicate. Information is power, and don’t you forget it! Be the expert in the community development field, and have the resources to research an item quickly if it’s not on the tip of your tongue. Many a battle can be won with the ability to get the right information and communicate your thoughts cogently in a persuasive style. “Luck” is preparation meeting opportunity. Familiarity with the material will allow you to read the information, rearrange it in the context of forces at play, and understand the portent of any new arrangement. Wise men call it being able to “think on your feet.”
6. Attend Trainings. You are not so smart that you can’t learn something new. If you are, then attend training anyway and show others what they may be doing less efficiently. Ask questions at trainings. You will be surprised at how soon you’re answering questions for others, and you’ll discover new strategies that will prove more effective in your city or county.
|
|
7. Compliance Efforts. Accountability of funding and delivery of services are the two most important things you must remember under this topic, and this is true for all your partners in program activities as well. In recent years, HUD has come under great scrutiny for the way its financial and project information was reported. Congress was considering draconian cuts in funding and elimination of Housing from the Cabinet. Out of the efforts to save HUD, the Integrated Disbursement Information System was born to aid compliance, accountability and reporting. In brief, it connects money-in from allocations and program income to money-out and projects accomplished. This type of reporting was more agreeable to Congress, and underscored in practical format what was accomplished in members’ districts and at what cost. HUD field offices today focus on technical assistance, which is helpful to local programs. If you have an issue, do not hesitate to call your HUD representative.
Whether engaged in housing, public services or capital improvements, some required community development reading in Florida includes regulations regarding implementation of the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the HOME Program, and the Relocation Act. Many jurisdictions have those funding sources, and others include HOPE 3, Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA), and HOPE VI. Each funding source has its own applicable set of eligibility, administrative and reporting criteria. When combining funding sources to leverage activities, the rule usually is to use whatever criteria is most stringent, as long as you do not use funding for something that is not eligible. For example, you cannot use CDBG funds to pay for down-payment assistance for moderate-income clients, but you could use SHIP dollars.
|
|
Additionally, you need to know about a number of other resources, including the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, the Florida Department of Community Affairs, enterprise zones, and other business incentives. As you gain more experience, read more about the Economic Development Initiative (EDI), the Brownfield Economic Development Initiative (BEDI), and Section 108 funding.
You will need to know when one of these may be appropriate or inappropriate for your circumstance. In the long run, you must become familiar with the particular nuances of these programs – but what do you do if a project has to be completed now? First, in addition to HUD, look to your staff and to your network of colleagues. Also, developers often bring a wealth of experience to the table, but you want to take care not to be at their mercy. Accept the help, but research your own facts.
Although you may be involved in many different aspects of community development, housing is HUD’s primary interest. Typically, your housing program will include intake, assessment, credit and housing counseling, and strategies for relocation, new, existing, rental, and even special-needs housing. Each process may be different, but also may have some things in common, depending on the type of housing selected.
In Daytona Beach, Kottle Estates, Loomis Trails and Cardinal Estates are single-family housing unit developments of 14, 15 and 55 units, respectively. In brief, typical steps to their completion included acquisition or gift of the land, clearance, infrastructure, design, construction, client selection from an eligibility list, financing, down-payment assistance, and ultimately homeownership. In this list, I have combined many sub-steps into broader categories, because there is no way to address each aspect of this process fairly within these pages. (Just a discussion of credit and housing counseling could take volumes!) Chances are, you are not starting from scratch in your community development responsibility, so some of the programmatic infrastructure already will be there.
It is important, however, that you know that in many cases, things don’t always go as quickly or as smoothly as you would hope. There could be problems from the neighborhood, site restrictions, or other barriers in the development’s success. Then again, those same forces could help! Daytona Gardens Apartments, all 246 units, was a deteriorated eyesore and able to be seen from one of the most well-traveled roads in the city. Code enforcement efforts had failed to persuade the owner to fix the property, and neighbors and elected officials pondered a course of action. Affordable Housing Solutions (later called AROVOT Inc.), the Heritage Company and the City of Daytona Beach worked out details for a $10-million rehabilitation of the property using the Florida Housing Finance Corporation’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. When we started we knew little about this process, but learned much as we enlisted the aid of external consultants and internal experts on our team, from the City Attorney’s Office to the Finance Department. Daytona Gardens is now about 70 percent complete and looking good!
As a final note on the practical implementation of community development programs, much more time should be spent on getting grass-roots buy-in, what it takes to remain in compliance, and how to work in a highly politicized environment. In community development, you grow by doing. Each development you put up and program challenge you put down adds a little something to your repertoire. It’s a yeoman’s task, don’t get me wrong – but it’s doable, and the personal rewards are great! How many people can look at their efforts and see families, neighborhoods, and even whole cities made better because of your team’s efforts?
We are blessed to be in this field, but we must quickly get up to speed on programs and their implementation. Your competence helps secure future funding of housing, public services and capital improvements for low-income persons. Your commitment to excellence helps attain and sustain a better quality of life for all of us.
Emory M. Counts has been community development director for the City of Daytona Beach for nine years.
Reprinted from Quality Cities September/October 2002
Back to Top
Back to Quality Cities Resource Library Listing
|
|
|
