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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHousing Catalyst - Minutes - 08/19/2021 Housing Catalyst Board of Commissioners Meeting August 19, 2021 Attendees Commissioners: Cathy Mathis, David Bye, Jennifer Wagner, Hep Wilkins, Emily Gorgol, Ann Green, Lizette Mill Legal Counsel: Jim Martell Guests: none Staff: Kristin Fritz, Michele Christensen, Traci McGraw, Carri Ratazzi, Rachel Gaisford, Jeanna Nixon, Carly Johansson, Sam Seitz Call to Order Chairperson Mathis called the meeting to order at 7:31 a.m. Approval of Minutes from July 15, 2021 Commissioner Wagner made a motion to approve the minutes of the Housing Catalyst Board of Commissioners from July 15, 2021. Commissioner Green seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously. Action Items Private Activity Bond Carryforward - RES. NO. 2021-08-02 Chief Real Estate Officer Kristin Fritz explained that Housing Catalyst is accumulating Private Activity Bond (PAB) cap needed to fund new affordable housing developments. To utilize the PAB totaling $14,998,888, that was assigned to Housing Catalyst in 2021 in future years, the amounts must be officially carried forward. Resolution 2021-08-02 from the Board of Commissioners of Housing Catalyst will approve this carryforward, which will make this amount of PAB authority available to Housing Catalyst through the year 2024, the maximum allowed under federal law. Upon issuance, Housing Catalyst will be charged a 0.027% Issuance fee for both Direct Allocations and allocations for Statewide Balance Awards. Housing Catalyst mitigates the fiscal impact with fee negotiations through the structuring of new partnerships. Commissioner Bye motioned to approve Res. No. 2021-08-02, Commissioner Wilkins seconded the motion, which then passed unanimously. Public Records Policy Update - RES. NO. 2021-08-01 Jim Martell explained that the Public Records policy is being updated to reflect current law, though it remains substantially the same. Commissioner Bye requested that a provision be added that Housing Catalyst has the right to waive fees for copies at its discretion. Commissioner Bye motioned to approve Res. No. 2021-08-01 with the requested changes, Commissioner Wilkins seconded the motion, which then passed unanimously. Staff Updates Moving to Work Application Draft Review Director of Housing Assistance Programs Traci McGraw provided the presentation created for the required public hearing for this application to get feedback, suggestions, and questions from the Board of Commissioners, to be followed by a resolution at next month’s meeting. Moving to Work was originally authorized by Congress in 1996 with the purpose of allowing Housing Authorities to design and test innovative strategies to accomplish three statutory objectives: find ways to be more cost efficient; incentivizing self-sufficiency; and increase housing choice for low-income families. The benefits of the program are that it aims to expand our pool of available properties and owners to offer increased number available to voucher holders; by increasing the number of landlords, it can help to grow community participation with the voucher program; and it will allow Housing Catalyst to reeducate the community on the benefits of participating with voucher recipients. The program does not affect residents. They will still hold a voucher and recertify as they normally would. Housing Catalyst has solicited input from voucher holders and landlords to create its MTW plan. It is in draft form and posted on our website; currently we are in the public comment period. Adjustments to the draft will be made based on the public input. The application will be submitted to HUD no later than October 15, 2021. Activities for Landlord engagement are: • Payment Standards/ Small Area Fair Market payment standard changes: Payment Standard 80% to 120% SAFMA, FMR 80 to 150% • Vacancy loss: Housing Catalyst may pay up to one-month contract rent as reimbursement for time the unit spent vacant between Voucher participants. • Damage Claims: HC may pay reimbursement for tenant-caused damages after accounting for Security Deposit, not to exceed lesser of cost of damages or two months contract rent. • Other landlord incentives: Housing Catalyst may provide incentive payments up to one month to incentivize landlords to participate. • Pre-Qualifying or Alternative inspections schedule: we may allow units to be pre-inspected, 90 days before participant occupies unit. We could offer an alteration to the current biennial inspection, less frequently but must be inspected at least once every three years. All complete applications will be put into a lottery and approximately 30 agencies will be selected by HUD and offered MTW designation. If selected, along with carrying out the planned landlord incentives, Housing Catalyst would have the opportunity to use waivers that are currently afforded only MTW agencies as well as future waivers that may become available which are typically around the ability to use funding in more flexible way. Development Updates Manager of Real Estate Development Carly Johansson provided the following updates: • Oak 140: Construction has begun, a crane is now up and demolition of the existing building will occur in the next several weeks. We are communicating with neighboring property owners and businesses each month about the activity we anticipate happening for the month. • Swallow Renovation: The renovation is a little over 25% complete. Our development team along with CARE Housing’s team works to temporarily move residents out of two buildings at a time. Each building contains four units. Those buildings are then fully renovated and the residents move back in. Most of the work to date has been completed inside the buildings however starting this month we will start to see improvements the exterior of the buildings as well as to the property grounds. • Village on Bryan Renovation: We are moving through the due diligence items that are required of the awarded CDBG funding from the City of Fort Collins. We are formulating our design and construction team which will help us nail down our scope and budget. The project will likely begin construction in the late spring of 2022. • Impala Renovation and Redevelopment: We are structuring the logistics of the financing, due diligence, and the design team. The project is closely tied to the section 18 Disposition Process since the redevelopment portion will take place on land that currently has public housing homes. • Wellington Section 18 Disposition: The units that were held as public housing units are now under the ownership of Wellington Community Housing. We have successfully transferred ownership of those units as well as utilized all the reserve funding. • Fort Collins Section 18 Disposition: We have approval of the first of two applications where we will sell and transfer units out of public housing. This involves both selling units to Elevations Land Trust for affordable homeownership opportunities as well as selling units to ourselves that we will then own. Resident Services Updates Director of Resident Services Carri Ratazzi discussed efforts to bring residents back into the community after the isolation of COVID in partnership with the Food Bank, HP, the City of Fort Collins, and Larimer County including: • A cooking event for parents/caregivers and children and a food distribution to children • A Story Stroll that took place at the Village on Shields to engage kids in reading and being active; the Bookmobile came every week; and a reading program at Village on Horsetooth • Craft projects at Shields, Horsetooth, Plum, and Redwood • A program that provided fresh fruit and vegetables to residents • HP donated 10 computers that were provided to residents with a specific work or personal goal • A program to help residents beautify their patios along with a contest and prizes • A partnership with Poudre School District that was very successful with a back-to-school day to meet with principals and teachers with food, music, and giveaways to get families back engaged and comfortable with the return to in-person schooling. Legislative Update Fort Collins: Commissioner Gorgol reported that the Council will return in August and will start the budget process. In October, Council will talk about rental licensing, which will be followed by land use code updates that are currently being discussed at public meetings. Legal Issues Jim Martell indicated that there are no legal issues. Other Business/Upcoming Events City Council Proclamation - Housing Catalyst 50th Anniversary August is the 50th anniversary of the Authority’s formation by the City Council. On September 7, the City Council will read a Proclamation. On September 9, there will be a small event for staff and Commissioners at City Park to celebrate the milestone. Adjournment Chairperson Mathis adjourned the meeting at 8:38 a.m.