City of Thomas - Thomas Economic Development Authority

PROJECT PURPOSE

The City of Thomas, and the Thomas Economic Development Authority (TEDA) are seeking to redevelop the former Thomas Hospital & Nursing Home Complex brownfields site. Hereinafter referred to as the ?Site.? HOSPITAL BUILDINGS After being vacant for many years, the hospital portion of the Site has become blighted due to lack of maintenance and upkeep of the prior private owners. The buildings (original hospital, kitchen/cafeteria, and east wing) suffer from compromised roofs and significant water damage. Additionally, the original portion of the hospital building has contaminants identified in targeted brownfields assessments (phase I & II) completed by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2019. The phase I assessment was conducted on all buildings at the site. The phase II inspection and sampling activities were conducted only on the original ?old hospital? buildings built in 1950 and 1961. Most of these buildings need to be demolished. NURSING HOME The former Thomas Nursing Home built in 1978 is a 20,000+ square foot brick building with vinyl tile flooring, painted or wallpapered drywall, and drop ceiling with ceiling tiles, all in fair to good condition. A few areas of water damage do exist, but not a significant amount. During the phase I environmental assessment, only minor issues were noted that can be easily addressed. The facility has potential to be remodeled into new use to benefit the community.

EVIDENCE

Affordable housing and healthy neighborhood environments are critical to public health and economic outcomes. Services improving vacant or abandoned properties to address the public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic on disproportionately impacted households in communities are necessary to improve the long-term economic and health outcomes.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

Thomas is a community in northeast Custer County, Oklahoma. The population was 1,143 at the 2020 census. The city has 478 total households. The median household income in Thomas is $45,278 (Oklahoma MHI is $52,919, U.S. MHI is $62,843). In Thomas, 24.4% of the population live at or below the poverty line as compared to 15.2% of the Oklahoma population, and 11.2% of the total U.S. population. The discussion of impacted and disproportionately impacted population in the ARPA legislation and Treasury?s final rule are complex and confusing to say the least. The median income for residents in the City of Thomas is not below the poverty guideline threshold as noted above. However, Thomas is in a very rural part of the state of Oklahoma. The population is small at 1,143 and local resources are in very limited capacity. A quarter of the Thomas population (24.4%) live at or below the poverty line. Under the interim final rule recipients can also identify other households, populations, or geographic areas that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and provide services to respond. The City of Thomas residents should be considered disproportionately impacted by the pandemic based upon these factors

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

This project will increase the number of housing units for senior populations. It will also increase social, nutritional, and health services for the disproportionately impacted population through the community/senior center portion of the facility. Commercial development will help to create jobs in the community.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

One-time project will not need continued funding