The CAPER report represents a collaborative effort between the Arizona Department of Housing and the Arizona Department of Economic Security. This document outlines the State’s affordable housing and community development resources, their methods of distribution, geographic funding objectives, and actions by the State to meet those objectives during the past fiscal year.

The State of Arizona Consolidated Plan represents a collaborative effort between two state agencies, the Arizona Department of Housing and the Arizona Department of Economic Security. This document outlines the state’s affordable housing and community development resources, methods of distribution, geographic funding objectives and other actions to be taken by the state.

The Consolidated Plan is a document required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be submitted by all jurisdictions that directly receive HUD formula funds. The Arizona Department of Housing is the state agency responsible for developing the Consolidated Plan. The goal of the Plan is to create a five-year strategy that identifies priorities and resources for affordable housing and community development projects and services.

The Consolidated Plan determines priorities, establishes strategic goals, and allocates resources for the HUD funded programs administered by the state of Arizona Department of Housing, namely: the Community Development Block Grant Program, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS and the Emergency Shelter Grant Program administered by the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires all government entities receiving federal low-income housing and community development funds to prepare an Annual Action Plan. This is a one-year plan to address the low-income housing and community development needs in the state of Arizona, with a special focus on serving the small cities and rural areas of the state. It consolidates the planning, application, and funding requirements for several programs funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Community Development Block Grant; HOME Investment Partnerships Program; Emergency Solutions Grant; and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS. The federal and state-funded housing and community development projects and programs described within the Action Plan are administered and implemented by ADOH, the Arizona Department of Economic Security, units of local or regional government, or non-profit agencies.

In March 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requested information on efforts to monitor and protect children from exposure to lead in drinking water at schools. The Arizona Department of Health Services reviewed the state lead poisoning registry, and analyzed drinking water samples from 45 randomly selected schools. The Office of Environmental Health provided this consultation to help document our findings and supplement our response to the EPA. This work was also undertaken to help provide useful information should hazardous waste sites be discovered in the future near these schools. We also wanted to apply the ATSDR health assessment process in support of state and federal efforts to protect the health of children.

This Additional Site Characterization Work Plan presents a strategy for collecting site characterization information at the closed Maricopa County Cave Creek Landfill to support ongoing remedial action planning for trichloroethene-impacted groundwater underlying the site. The Work Plan supplements previous remedial investigation work plans prepared to characterize the nature and extent of site contamination.

To evaluate whether VOCs are migrating out of the landfills into the vadose zone, a soil vapor survey of the soil beneath the landfill bases was performed. Permanent vapor monitoring probes were installed and then sampled twice for VOCs. Groundwater beneath the landfills has been impactd by VOCs, namely TCE, DCE, and toluene.