No preview available
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD - MINUTES - 12/05/2024AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING December 5, 2024, 4:00-6:00pm 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room CALL TO ORDER At 4:09 PM the meeting was called to order by John Singleton. 1. ROLL CALL • Board Members Present: • John Singleton, Chair • Josh Beard • Stefanie Berganini • Jorja Whyte • Liz Young-Winne • Kristin Fritz, Ex Officio • Board Members Excused:  Bob Pawlikowski, Vice Chair  Claire Bouchard • Staff Members Present: • Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Staff Liaison • Jessi Kauffmann, Minutes • Guests Present: • Lisa Cunningham • Marilyn Heller • Nina Clark AGENDA REVIEW – No changes. 2. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION – Marilyn shared that her Affordable Housing Team is hosting a program on April 28 called “Supportive Housing.” Update on First Christian Church in Loveland’s potential homeless shelter – Homeward Alliance backed out. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Stefanie Berganini motioned to approve the November 7 Regular Meeting Minutes. Jorja Whyte seconded. Approved 5-0. 4. NEW BUSINESS a. Presentation on the Zoning Atlas Project, Jorja (30 minutes) AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING • Spent 3 months talking to community members, non-profits, developers, other governmental organizations and asked what they thought this project would be most useful for. • Digitizes, demystifies and democratizes information about the country’s local zoning codes. • 81% of jurisdictions in CO are zoned, rest are set to be completed in March 2025 • Jorja Whyte shared the QR code function that leads to an interactive map, which also includes county and city snapshots • Audience includes developers, community members, government officials • This tool is a more accessible way to understand zoning and land-use for community members • Question asked about the plan to keep this updated. The team at Cornell does not have a process to continually and consistently update this, though working on an AI model to read codes and update automatically – problem for Fort Collins is the majority use of imagery and less written coding • Question asked how often the zoning changes, and Jorja shared that it is dependent on municipalities. Fort Collins is more consistent than others • City and County land-use can be at odds with one another • Jorja Whyte emphasized the importance of Youth Engagement, Coalition Building, and Language Justice • Board agreed that parts of this project could be implemented into AHB priorities b. Discuss Camping Memo, Board (15 minutes) • Stefanie Berganini shared that the focus is looking at language and the legislation around criminalization of camping, and protection of unhoused persons • Overarching goal of the memo is that the city may need to have regulations on camping, but encourages the city to adopt a type of response that does not place financial or legal ramifications on camping • Suggested language cleanup, simplification of the memo overall, and focus on car camping • John Singleton shared the importance of car camping with persons that are going in and out of being unhoused • Board member shared that it may be more productive to share what city council can do vs what not to do, example of taking out financial/criminal ramifications – Committee members shared that keeping the language vague supports Police Department shaping the language and is already informal policy. Stefanie shared the clearer language of the board requesting that the informal policy be formalized • Emphasis was placed on the distinction between camping or sleeping outside itself and other activities that can coincide with camping but are separate, like illegal activities, disruption, etc. • Question asked about other codes that exist with examples that are similar to the goal – Nina Clark shared that there is conversation around including resources or other examples Stefanie Berganini motioned to approve to send the Camping Memo to City Council by the chair AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING with the following updates: 1. Additional language to make the link between formalizing the city’s existing non-enforcement policy more explicit, 2. Language to make a clear distinction between criminalizing sleeping vs mechanisms for dealing with problematic behavior, 3. Additional language to add examples where possible of specific changes or ideas. Jorja Whyte seconded. Approved 6-0. c. 2025 Work Plan, Board (30 minutes) • The board briefly went over last month’s agreement to confirm the Work Plan was the most up to date version with added notes • John Singleton mentioned the idea of a board retreat being various options. Sue responded that retreats can be flexible in execution, sharing the example of a listening session, a walking tour of affordable housing, or others • John Singleton suggested each board member select a board or commission to attend/shadow or just read the minutes if unable to attend, and bring back notes to the next monthly board meeting – the goal is to formalize each person’s selection in January, Sue will add this to the January meeting agenda Liz Young Winne motioned to approve and formalize the 2025 Work Plan as written. Stefanie seconded. Approved 6-0. d. Board Priority Committee Reports: Committee Leads and/or supporters (45 minutes) • Knowledge Repository – Bob and John o John Singleton shared that the ideal goal would be to have two tiles on the AHB webpage – Atlas as well as Best Practices - linking research/resources o Checking that the Housing Dashboard is linked on the webpage o Assign responsibility to a point-person on checking the tile to ensure it is up to date • Outreach, Education and Partnerships – Claire and Josh o Claire and Josh have discussed the creation of a list of high priority boards to shadow, dates to attend, as well as less important/relevant to housing o Josh shared the idea of board fieldtrips, meetings offsite, self-tours • Council and Local Legislative Support – Stefanie and John o Camping memo was discussed at today’s meeting • Equity & Justice in Affordable Housing – Jorja and Liz o Jorja and Liz are meeting tomorrow 12/6 o Partnerships with cultural resource centers across Fort Collins, CSU and Front Range – sessions on education on affordable housing realities in the community o What opportunities do we have to reserve rooms and host community outreach? Sue explained that a city employee is required to attend o ASCSU/Housing Caucus Updates  Prospect Plaza Update: letter delivered to CSU Strata – received an email back explaining that the condition of the buildings is reason for AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING redevelopment. They just informed tenants this week of inability to renew leases and the residents have to decide quickly on moving out to another building or terminating leases early. CSU Strata is going to sell to CSU to be exempt to zoning – CSU is going to then sell it back once developed o Renters Right bill is moving forward at the state level in the next legislative session with a narrower focus 5. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS a. Meeting Logistics - The Board will continue to have hybrid meetings for the remainder of 2024. - January 2 moved to January 9 - Discuss Meeting locations for 2025 b. Liaison Reports (10 minutes) - $400K was made available for Utility Fee Offsets to: 100K Habitat’s Harmony Cottages, 100K Heartside Hill Apartments , 100K Village on Impala - Council liaison will meet with board leadership in January and will be ongoing 6. OTHER BUSINESS None. 7. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 6:09 PM.