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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunity Development Block Grant Commission - Minutes - 01/13/1994• 0 PUBLIC HEARING CDBG COMbIISSION January 13, 1994 Council Liaison: Bob McCluskey Staff Liaison: Ken Waido The January 13, 1994 CDBG Commission/Public Hearing began at 6:30 p.m. in the CPES Conference Room, 281 North College Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado. Commission members present included Chair Linda Coxen, Vice -Chair Dan MacArthur, Jim Elias, Holly Sample, Harvey Nesbitt, Bill Steffes, Joe Zimlich and Tom Dougherty. Commission members absent included Richard Ramirez, Richael Michels, Bobbie Guye, Tom Byington and Bill Bertschy. Staff members present included Ken Waido, Jackie Davis, Interim Planning Director Ron Phillips and Kayla Ballard. PUBLIC HEARING Pat McKinley was present on behalf of Disabled Resource Services. She introduced her son, Paul Strobel, who is a part of the job coach program. Paul Strobel stated that he was currently attending CSU and has been a teacher's aide at Putnam Elementary School for the past year. He added that he really enjoyed his job. He stated that Jackie, his job coach from Disabled Resources, currently supervises him. He added that last summer he worked for JoAnn Haglan at the Larimer County Courthouse. Sister Mary Alice Murphy, Community Affordable Residences Enterprises (C.A.R.E.) encouraged funding for affordable housing. She stated that she appreciated the funding that C.A.R.E. has already received for affordable housing on Butch Cassidy Drive which is currently underway. She stated that the funding that was received was increased eight -fold. She commented that affordable housing in this community is difficult but very much needed. She believed that new construction should be looked at even though it is not one of the guidelines. She commented that new housing stock was needed. Mary Cosgrove, Project Self -Sufficiency, believed that affordable housing was an important issue but also believed that PSS provides the services that coincide with this issue. She stated that she supports the funding that they have received for the past three years and hopes that the Commission will continue to support projects such as PSS. Rochelle Stephens, Fort Collins Housing Authority, concurred with Sister Mary Alice that there is a need for affordable housing and recognized that there is a need for housing services. She stated that there is a need for housing with accessibility to the disabled as well as a need for low income housing and SROs. She stated that the Housing Authority is anticipating getting involved with SROs through funding at the Federal level. She encouraged the Commission to be sensitive to the community's needs of housing and housing services. CDBG Commission Public Hearing January 13, 1994 Minutes Page 2 Nancy McCambridge, Neighbor -to -Neighbor, Inc., stated that this agency has been funded by CDBG for many years for a variety of projects. She concurred that there is a need for additional new stock of housing and that rehabilitation is no longer a viable option. She commented that housing services were also needed because providing a house doesn't necessarily mean that a person would have the tools to make them successful and to move on. She stated that the funding for the counseling services that goes along with housing is an integral part of the success of the entire program. She commented that she was appreciative of CDBG support in all ways. She stated that their clientele continues to grow with different people, not the same people that come to them time after time. She stated that this community has an affordable housing problem where Neighbor -to -Neighbor is available for assistance in housing counseling. Rusty Collins, lecturer at CSU, spoke representing the disabled population of the community. He stated that for the last two years he has done research on 2 projects. One was the true need to locate wheelchair accessibility housing in Fort Collins. He stated that up until the time that he finished his research, there was no comprehensive data available for a person with a disability to locate accessible housing. He stated that he created a survey instrument and software program to gather all the information on all the accessible units in Fort Collins. He stated that he performed an inventory of the number of accessible units compared to the total number of empty units in Fort Collins, then compared that to the need for accessible housing. He stated that what he discovered was that there is approximately 16,000 rental units in the community. He stated that of that 16,000, 3.9% are accessible. He stated that 4.7% of the potential renting population has to use a wheelchair in a residential environment. He encouraged the Commission and the City to be more aggressive towards funding for and providing more accessible housing and encouraged CDBG funding for architectural barrier removal programs. He stated that for the 1, 2, and 3 bedroom accessible units available in town, the cost is higher than a non - accessible unit. Member Steffes asked Mr. Collins if his apartment rental survey coincided with the CHAS. Mr. Collins stated that he used the most current census data that was available. Mr. Phillips stated that he did some quick calculations, using 16,000 population, and arrived at 629 accessible units with a demand of 750-760 units. Tom Sibbald, Shields Street Corporation, asked, out of the 150 shortfall difference, what percentage should be 1, 2, or 3 bedroom units. Mr. Collins replied that the majority of ABRs should be dedicated to 1 and 2 bedroom units. He stated that the average one -bedroom accessible unit price in Fort Collins is $430. Member Elias asked, in general term, what was the typical cost to make a unit accessible. CDBG Commission Public Hearing January 13, 1994 Minutes Page 3 Mr. Collins stated that this was difficult to estimate since disabilities have a wide range. He estimated that it would cost approximately $2,00045,000 for major wheelchair accessibilities. Chair Coxen made a point of clarification that questions directed to the public should be raised by the Commission members only. Agie Herman, 2300 W. County Road, stated that she did not represent an agency. She stated that there is a major difference between what is accessible and what is useable. She encouraged the Commission to, if accessible residences would be considered, spend time with disabled people and find out what types of changes they need. She stated that none of the accessible apartments in Fort Collins has a roll -in shower for the disabled. A roll -in shower is very expensive. Angela Byme, 1742 Norwood Lane, stated that she was not representing an agency. She stated that she concurred with Ms. Herman in that there is a major difference between what apartment is accessible and what is liveable. She stated that she has a list of accessible housing from Disabled Resource Services and the Fort Collins Housing Authority. She stated that all of the accessible residences are taken. There are none available. She stated that she is on Section 8 however, she has not found any landlords that were willing to accept Section 8. She stated that the kitchen and bathroom are the most difficult rooms for a disabled person. She stated that this was her first opportunity to live by herself but it would be difficult to do unless she lives in an accessible apartment. Scott Abram, 2300 W. County Road, stated that he reiterates everything that has been mentioned regarding accessible and non -accessible residences. He stated that he was aware of one or two accessible units with roll -in showers, however, they were occupied and the occupants had no intention of moving. He recommended the removal of architectural barriers and the construction of accessible housing for the disabled. Marjorie Walsh, Car -A -Van, stated that, because of the American Disabilities Act, they will focus their application towards people with disabilities. She stated that they are implementing a system called "Dial -A -Ride" where Transfort and Care -A -Van and S.A.I.N.T, and Checker Taxi will all cooperate and provide a high level of transportation. She stated that City Council also decided that they will try to provide, as far as the dollars go, transportation to people 60 and over. She stated that they do not have all of their Human Resources allocation as yet. She stated that they will have to begin telling people that they can not be of assistance unless they have funding. Mr. Waido presented information regarding the City of Fort Collins, Fort Collins Housing Authority, the Loveland Housing Authority, Loveland CDBG Program, CSU Housing Department and the Chamber of Commerce have been meeting for over two years to determine CDBG Commission Public Hearing January 13, 1994 Minutes Page 4 methods of updating and providing accurate information on community housing needs and services. He stated that although the Fort Collins CDBG grant this year is going to be larger than previous years, and the community is becoming eligible for other federal funding sources such as the HOME programs, state HOME monies, we cannot become frivolous with the CDBG monies even though there will be more. As more money becomes available, we will see more demands placed on that money because the needs are actually out there. The agencies that were referred to have put together a program, under the direction of the Larimer County Department of Human Development, to develop a methodology of acquiring and developing up-to-date information on the housing and human service needs. The total program will cost approximately $35,000 to initiate and will cost about $2,500 a year to operate. The operating expenses are not a major concern since the data can be sold at a reasonable rate to make the program self- sufficient. He stated that currently, in the $35,000 category, there is a shortfall of about $10,000 to 15,000. Some sources are available to fill in that gap. One of those potential sources is CDBG funds. Several individuals that spoke this evening provided tremendous information to us but also expressed frustration in that, as the CHAS was developed, a lot of time and energy does not need to be expended to just fulfill a HUD requirement that the City has a CHAS document. He stated that the CHAS needs to mean something and begin to utilize in the community in helping to determine what those needs are. The system is a major component that would help everybody receive information that can then be translated and utilized through the CHAS. Chair Coxen closed the Public Hearing portion of the meeting at this time. Mr. Waido explained to the public that the CDBG Commission has met with City Council to discuss the CDBG program 's procedures and selection criteria. He stated that in terms of the higher priority criteria, the following six items are the most important: leveraging, acquisition project versus operation, success rate of the applicant, ability to complete the proposed project within one year, meeting community needs, and long term impact projects. He stated that lower priority criteria consisted of: the ability to deal with partial funding, competing projects or providers, and alternate funding,. He added that other considerations would be equal competition and no sequential grants,. APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 4 1993 MEETING MINUTES Member Nesbitt moved to approve the November 4, 1993 meeting minutes. Member Steffes seconded the motion. The motion to approve passed 8-0. LARIMER HOUSING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM REVIEW Mr. Waido stated that the City of Fort Collins CDBG Program, Fort Collins Housing Authority, the Loveland Housing Authority, Loveland CDBG Program, and the Larimer County Department of Human Development were approached by the Colorado Division of Housing to • CDBG Commission Public Hearing January 13, 1994 Minutes Page 5 see if there was a need and a willingness to establish a county -wide rehabilitation program. Since early December, they have been working with those agencies gathering logistics of a total county -wide housing rehab program. He stated that the State is willing to earmark between $250,000-300,000 of a combination of state CDBG funds and state HOME monies for this purpose. HOME monies require a match and in order for any of those entities to receive HOME funds, there would have to be a 25% match. This has been discussed, at a staff level with the other agencies, about what participation from the various jurisdictions could be. He stated that our component of the program could rehab about six units per year which would require about $22,500 in order to receive sufficient HOME funds. He added that the Loveland Housing Authority is the lead agency in compiling the information and making the application to the State for the establishment of this program. He stated that letters of support from the CDBG Commission, the Affordable Housing Board and the City Council would be critical to the State allowing this program to be established. He commented that the critical decision as to where the matching money will come from in order to get additional HOME funds. The rule on the HOME funds is that you cannot match those federal monies with other federal monies. He stated that the only monies he saw as a non-federal source would be the money that has been earmarked as affordable housing funds by City Council out of General Revenue. He stated that the Affordable Housing Board discussed this possibility and were concerned about even considering any allocation out of that pot of money until philosophies, criteria, and procedures are established. He stated that the Affordable Housing Board believes that an application to match potential HOME monies is a viable use of that money. He added that another source is the $425,000 of HOME money that the City is in line to receive as a "participating jurisdiction." With that money, we will need $106,000 of non-federal money. He stated that the Commission will need a consensus to draft a letter of support for the concept of the program to be included into the application. He stated that this letter needs to state that no local source of funds has yet been identified but there is a potential source. He stated that this letter will need to be completed and in the application by the beginning of February. He stated that he could draft a letter in a day or two, send copies to the Commission, and if there are concerns, the letter could be altered. Member Steffes asked what percentage of the monies is the City matching compared to the County. Mr. Waido replied that it would be up to the local agencies to determine what their needs would be and what their demands would be. He stated that Council, in two separate budgets, has allocated $350,000 for affordable housing purposes. This is being viewed as a potential source. He stated that the major difference between HOME money and CDBG money is that HOME money can be used for new construction. Member Steffes asked if this was a one year grant. CDBG Commission Public Hearing January 13, 1994 Minutes Page 6 Mr. Waido stated that this is earmarked for a ten year period with the idea that the rehab grants would be in the form of a zero interest loan or a very low interest loan so that the program would eventually recapture that money and become self-perpetuating. Member Dougherty stated that it has already been demonstrated that building at -large units for ADA requirements is impossible. He believed that every need is specific. He stated that he has not seen a good result of the designs and accessibility. Member MacArthur moved that Staff draft a letter and that Chair Coxen review and sign the letter on the Commission's behalf. Member Steffes seconded the motion. The motion passed 8-0. OTHER BUSINESS Member Sample asked for a recap of the CDBG Commission/City Council work session since she was unable to attend. Chair Coxen stated that the following two major issues were resolved: 1) The Commission's eligibility criteria was agreed upon by City Council . However, they did want to reserve the right to overturn their decisions but were willing to meet with the Commission prior to hearing the grant so more specific details can be discussed. 2) That City Council could make the determination, on a case -by -case basis, of funding going back into the pot if an applicant or program changes. Member Nesbitt added that it was decided that another work session would be scheduled between the CDBG Commission and City Council. Chair Coxen stated that National Community Development Week is March 28 - April 4. City Council will present a proclamation at the March 15 City Council hearing. Staff is working on other events for NCD Week and there is a possibility that the C.A.R.E. project and the LCSI building will be completed and be the highlighted projects for the event. Chair Coxen informed the Commission that there will be a joint meeting of the Chairs and Vice - Chairs for the Affordable Housing Board and the CDBG Commission January 20 to discuss funding, no duplication of resources and how the two boards can work closely together. Council member Janett also suggested that various board Chairs meet quarterly to discuss their boards' issues. Member MacArthur stated that he received a call from a representative from Habitat for Humanity. He was uncertain as to how to handle these kind of meetings with potential applicants and felt uncomfortable discussing with them whether or not he would be supportive of their application this year. • CDBG Commission Public Hearing January 13, 1994 Minutes Page 7 Mr. Waido stated that this issue has arisen with the Planning and Zoning Board in the past to visit a propose site. Their procedure is to decline such invitations to meet with them on a one- on-one basis. Member MacArthur moved to adjourn the meeting. Member Steffes seconded the motion. The motion passed 8-0 and the meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.