Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority

Annual Report 2016

2

What We Do - And Why

LDCHA Board of Commissioners Chair: Bronson Star Vice Chair: Joshua Powers

Commissioners: Maria Duran, Sue Hack, Dr. Ellen Paulsen

Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority

(LDCHA) was one of the very first housing au-

thorities to be accepted into the Moving to

Work (MTW) program, beginning in 1999. It

allows us to initiate innovative ways to assist

our residents, and to expand affordable hous-

ing in Lawrence and Douglas County.

The MTW designation gives the LDCHA the

flexibility to provide more units of affordable

housing and the opportunity for participants

to increase their self-sufficiency, whether

that is facilitating seniors or persons with

disabilities to live independently, assisting

working families to become economically

independent, or providing youth with learn-

ing opportunities otherwise not accessible.

The MTW Program has 3 objectives:

Reduce cost and achieve greater cost

effectiveness;

Give incentives to assisted households to

increase their income and move toward

economic self-sufficiency by participating

in job training, educational programs, or

programs that assist participants to obtain

employment; and

Increase the quality, quantity and hous-

ing choices for low-income families.

Did You Know?

This provides the LDCHA the oppor-

tunity to continue operating a pro-

gram which is uniquely designed to

meet our community's particular

affordable housing needs.

Message from the Director:

On behalf of the Board of Commissioners

and staff, I am pleased to present this Annu-

al Report. The LDCHA remains committed to

efficiently and compassionately providing

affordable housing, and will continue to

work to expand affordable housing for our

community. In 2016, along with our many

other programs, our efforts focused on

providing more housing assistance to home-

less households, which is highlighted in this

report.

Shannon Oury,

Executive Director

3

Family

Elderly

Who We Served In 2016

2,246

1,441

965

424 471

48 171

498

4

New Horizons Vouchers

LDCHA’s Transitional Housing Program

Did You Know? LDCHA has a long-running

supportive housing program to

transition homeless individuals and

families into permanent housing.

The City, County and LDCHA responded to community concerns about the

large number of families with children living in the Lawrence Community

Shelter by providing the LDCHA with $150,000 in grants to create addition-

al housing vouchers. These vouchers are used to help families obtain hous-

ing and the support services needed to help them transition to permanent

housing. The grants pay for utility and apartment security deposits and rent

for 24 months. In 2016 these grants served:

10 homeless households

42 individuals

26 children

Homeless to Housed

The LDCHA is committed to finding ways to

serve the most vulnerable populations in our

community. In 1992 we began operating a

Transitional Housing Program for the home-

less using a HOME Fund grant. All our Tran-

sitional Housing programs provide 24

months of rental assistance which is paired

with support services provided by various

community partners. Providing this type of

wrap-around services increase the chance a

family will remain stably housed. If the

household successfully completes the pro-

gram, they are transferred to a regular Sec-

tion 8 voucher. In 2016 we served:

64 homeless households

129 total individuals

66 adults

63 children

We have assisted a total of 681 homeless households since 1999. Since 2008, 83% of par-

ticipants have successfully completed the program.

5

New Special Use Vouchers

Next Step Vouchers Youth aging out of foster care are removed from the

state system with very little support once they turn 18,

and often find themselves homeless or without the

basic resources they need to negotiate life. We created

5 Next Step vouchers to help provide an affordable

place to live as they begin work or educational pursuits.

In 2016, the first year for this program, we assisted 3

youth to find a home, paid utility and security deposits,

and will provide rent assistance for up to 36 months.

Safe Housing Vouchers Families fleeing domestic violence often do not have the

resources needed to relocate away from their abuser.

We work with Willow Domestic Violence Center and Fam-

ily Promise to provide rent assistance vouchers to indi-

viduals and families who need a safe, stable place to

live as they rebuild their lives. 2016 was the first year for

this program and we assisted:

9 households

28 individuals

10 adults

18 children

Did You Know? Because LDCHA is a Mov-

ing to Work housing au-

thority, with HUD’s permis-

sion we can use reserve

funds to establish

special programs like

these to meet needs in our

local community.

VASH Voucher (Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) The HUD-Veterans Affair Supportive Housing (VASH) Program combines Housing Choice

Voucher rental assistance for homeless veterans with case management and clinical services

provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The LDCHA has 45 VASH vouchers avail-

able for homeless veterans. In 2016 we housed 48 homeless veterans.

6

Wrenching Crew Bicycle Rodeo – 12 youth earned

bicycles and learned the skills to commute safely to

school and recreation. This brings the total to 36

bike awarded.

Dinner 2 Go Program (with K-State Research and

Extension) – An innovative series of 4 cooking work-

shops. Families leave with a prepared meal, recipe,

nutrition information, and total cost of the meal.

5th Annual ZOMBIE Walk/Bike/Run 100 youth and their

families and 16 community organizations participated.

Partnered with Great Clips to provide more than 60 free hair-

cuts.

Summer Dinner Program Served 806 youth meals and 258

adult meals. This was the first dinner program offered and is

being extended in the community to meet a significant need.

Pumpkin Carving and

Pi-K – Families

carved 80 pumpkins

grown by Juniper Hill

Farm. Youth earned

backpacks by com-

pleting a Pi-K (7 laps

around Edgewood

Homes).

Did You Know? In 2016 our Full Circle Wrenching Crew won both a NAHRO

Award of Excellence and a Nan McKay Resident Services

Award for its bike safety, giveaway and repair program!

Full Circle Youth Program

Babysitting Certification Class

Highlights of the Full Circle Year:

Pumpkin Carving

Bike Rodeo

7

Using MTW funding flexibility, the Resident Services’

Vehicle Repair Funding program helps MTW tenants

to keep their job or stay in school despite a car break-

ing down. Tenants are eligible for up to $500 of assis-

tance paid directly to a car repair vendor. Due to the

success of the program and the positive impact it had

on tenant employment and educational pursuits, fund-

ing was doubled from $10,000 in 2015 to $20,000 in

2016.

We fixed 44 cars in 2016 for a total of $19,543!

Vehicle Repair Program

RSO provides a full service Employment Center that in-

cludes on-site computer labs, workshops, employment

training, post-secondary and vocational education op-

portunities and support. During 2016, tenants achieved

the following successes:

Over 350 households received financial lit-

eracy, employment and support services

154 individuals obtained a job or kept a

job obtained prior to 2016

3 Bachelor’s Degrees earned

27 individuals are in enrolled in a 2 - 4

year education program

$2,785 spent on tuition assistance & fees

including health care careers (CNA, CPR,

Pharmacy Tech, and RN), Business Office

Certification at JCCC, and driving school

for jobs requiring a driver’s license

$1,000 scholarship to Van Go Arts Train, a program for at-risk youth between the

ages of 18-21 to learn job and life skills

44 families were linked to childcare to support employment by our Early

Childhood Program

Highlights of the Resident Services Year:

Did You Know? Because LDCHA is a Moving to

Work agency, we were able to ex-

pand our Resident Services to pro-

vide a wider range of services as-

sisting residents to obtain employ-

ment and education - and even to

buy a home! 81 households

purchased a home since 2001.

8

The LDCHA is committed to helping senior

residents successfully age in place. A signifi-

cant component is transportation. In Septem-

ber of 2016, we purchased a new 12-

passenger handicap-accessible Babcock Bus

for transportation support for our partici-

pants at Babcock Place and Peterson Acres.

It is primarily used for transportation for

medical appointments Monday through

Thursday. Other activities include transporta-

tion to Theater Lawrence plays, a monthly

‘Lunch-Out’ program, and twice a week shop-

ping trips. Transportation services like this

enable our tenants to continue to live safely

and independently as long as possible.

In 2016 we provided almost 2,000 rides:

1,241 personal rides and 745 program

rides.

Creating a Community and a Home For the holiday season 2016, we bought sev-

en beautiful new holiday trees for Babcock

Place’s lobby and the solariums on each

floor. The tenants decorated the trees by floor at

‘Tree Decorating Parties’ arranged by the Babcock Tenant Association.

Did You Know? LDCHA has several developments for

senior independent living, and over

30% of the residents we serve are

low-income seniors.

Painting Class, Clinton Place Apartments

Shoppers and the New Bus

Babcock Place Bowlers

Senior Resident Services

9

Public Housing Section 8 Section 8

VASH HOME Clinton Place

TOTAL Expanded Housing

Elderly 20 10 2 0 5 41 4

Disabled 14 48 7 7 3 82 3

Family Households 27 47 5 23 0 108 6

Total Move-Ins 61 105 14 30 8 231 13

Households with Minors 27 41 5 23 0 96 0

% with Minors 44% 39% 36% 77% 0% 42% 0%

Households Housed from the Waiting List in 2016 This is the total number of households we were able to take off the waiting list and provide hous-

ing assistance for during 2016.

Public Housing Section 8 VASH HOME Clinton Place

10 months 23 months 1 month 18 months 2 months

Average Wait Time in 2016 This is the average amount of time households were on the waiting list in 2016 before we could

provide the type of housing they needed.

Public

Housing / Section 8

Babcock Place/ Peter-

son Acres

HOME Transitional

Housing Clinton Place

Expanded Housing Total

Elderly 69 66 1 41 7 184

Non-Elderly, Disabled 125 88 30 49 3 295

All Others 233 77 90 24 14 428

Total 417 231 121 114 24 907

Waiting Lists by Head of Household Status

High Demand for Housing

10

2016 Finance$ Clinton Place HUD

Subsidy $267,939 , 3%Clinton Place

Rent $155,110 ,

2%

Section 8/VASH

HUD Other

$9,196 0%

Section 8/VASH HUD Subsidy

/ LDCHA Reserves

$5,188,974 63%

Peterson Acres II

Rent $75,737 ,

1%

Peterson Acres II

Other $649 , 0%

Public Housing

Rent $1,302,396

16%

Public Housing

HUD Subsidy

$778,898 10%

Public Housing Other

$402,894 , 5%

Clinton Place

$285,645 , 4%

Section 8/VASH

$5,125,282 ,

70%

Peterson Acres II

$36,281 , 0%

Public Housing

$1,920,904 ,

26%

2016 Income 8,181,793

2016 Expenses $7,378,112

11

Program Overview

12