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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 04/03/2008CITY OF FORT COLLINS AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD MEETING MINUTES 281 N. College Ave. Fort Collins, Colorado April 3, 2008 Denise Rogers Rogers, Chair Ken Waido, Staff Liaison, 970-221-6753 City Council Liaison: Lisa Poppaw Board Members Present: Denise Rogers Rogers, Ben Blonder, Dan Byers, Pete Tippett, and Ashley Monahan. Board Members Absent: Robert Sullivan and Mane Edwards Edwards. Advance Planning Department Staff Present: Ken Waido and Kara Smith. Council Members Present: None. Board Chair Denise Rogers called the meeting to order with a quorum present at 4:04 PM. Open Public Discussion None. Approval of the Minutes of the March 6, 2008 Meeting Ashley Monahan moved that the minutes of the March 6, 2008, meeting be approved. Dan Byers seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously 6-0. Kim Cooke Colorado Housing Investment Fund Coalition. Robert Sullivan had passed out packets at the March meeting on the Colorado Housing Investment Fund Coalition and staff was asked to invite Kim Cooke to do a presentation at the April meeting. Denise Rogers wished Mane Edwards was present at the meeting due to her strong opinions on this topic. The following is a summary of discussion at the meeting: Q: Would this create a burden for people who don't have much money and are ls` time home -buyers? And, was there any conversation about excluding more expensive homes? A: That was considered, but it wouldn't raise as much money. In terms of the 1" time home buyer, the seller could offer to pay that additional $80 as part of the closing cost. Denise Rogers asked Pete Tippet about how he feels being a realtor? Pete indicated it is a matter of education, the uninformed realtor is against it. Kim indicated she is finding that individual realtors are for it but the realtor organizations are against it. Dan Byers as a banker doesn't see the fee creating barriers. Kim noted that this is going to be hard to pass. There are lots of people who are anti -tax. The support campaign needs to be structured as a grassroots effort. People who understand affordable housing need to talk to other people about this. Chadrick Martinez from CARE Housing talked about being supportive of this from the beginning. As CARE goes forward as an agency they are losing dollars at the federal level. As a developer they are seeing less funding, the Division of Housing has expended their funds, construction prices have gone up. CARE has been able to meet their projections in the past but it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so. The market studies in Fort Collins show that the 30% of AMI target group is where housing needs are the greatest. CARE is looking at this from a development aspect. They have a unique rent structure. With the $25-35 million from a State Trust Fund it would go towards some really good things. Q: What other states that have had this pass and is there anything different that they did that may be considered? A: Florida is the most successful program and they have $500 million dollars. Homebuilders and realtors were behind their fund. Q: How would the funds be distributed? A: The funds would be collected by the Division of Housing and then from there it would be allocated out. 60% goes to local communities. Communities would be required to have a current needs assessment and a housing plan. It would be up to the municipality how they want to distribute the funds. Q: Would funding be allocated on a population basis? A: Right now, no. That was their proposed idea. Q: Is there going to be some standard for doing the hosing needs assessment? A: The State does state wide needs assessment, DOH is beginning to fund needs assessments for smaller markets and for less sophisticated communities. Some of the funds can be used to do the needs assessments, for communities that may not have the staff to do the studies. Q: What was the population cut-off for this? A: 26,000. When it passes they will have to come back and hash out the details. The smaller communities could apply through the county. Staff indicated that they would hope that people look at this effort as more like a war than a battle. Similar to the efforts that the activists went through to get a sales tax passed for acquiring open space. They went to the ballot 3 or 4 times and ended up winning 77%- 23%. It was decided to wait on the issue before having additional discussion since they have to get it on the ballot first. OLD BUSINESS Staff indicated that the staff from neighborhood services are coming in May — Beth, Mike, Felix are going to come and talk about the revised property maintenance code. What is left is fences and dirt yards. The Natural Resources Department wants to come in and do a climatology discussion. Chair Rogers is concerned about this, thinking the City Council members who support the passage of this would only support it if it did not impact low income people. She believes that the Board will need to go back to council in May when we hear back from the Neighborhood Services staff. Staff updated the Board on the search for a replacement for the Affordable Housing Planner position — it has been advertised internally as an entry level planning position. Meeting adjourned at 5:17 PM