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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunity Development Block Grant Commission - Minutes - 03/24/2021 CDBG COMMISSION & AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD JOINT WORK SESSION Wednesday, March 24, 2021 5:30pm Remote/ZOOM due to COVID-19 0 3/24 /2021 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL At 5:33 PM the meeting was called to order by Josh Johnson. • CDBG COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: o Olga Duvall o Steve Backsen o Ethnie Treick o Sara Maranowicz o Mike Kulisheck o Pat Hastings o Nick Verni-Lau o Sam Stoltz o Josh Johnson, Chair • AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: o Jen Bray o Daphne Bear o Diane Cohn o Tatiana Zentner o John Singleton o Bob Pawlikowski o Kristin Fritz, Chair (recused from discussions, attendee • STAFF MEMBERS: o Adam Molzer, Staff Liaison, CDBG Commission – City of Fort Collins o Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Staff Liaison, Affordable Housing Board – City of Fort Collins o Beth Rosen, Social Sustainability – City of Fort Collins o Lindsay Ex, Social Sustainability – City of Fort Collins • PUBLIC ATTENDEES: Cathy Hager DocuSign Envelope ID: 964B3682-D64C-4695-8CBF-65208E015DCB 03/24 /2021 – M I N UTES P age 2 2. AGENDA REVIEW 3. INTRODUCTIONS The members of both groups (Affordable Housing Board & Community Development Block Grant Commission) introduced themselves. 4. PRESENTATIONS Beginning at 5:45pm, the three (3) affordable housing applicants conducted presentations for the CDBG and AHB members, each followed by question-and-answer periods. • Housing Catalyst • Mercy Housing • Neighbor to Neighbor (two presentations) 5. PRELIMINARY REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROPOSALS FOR FUNDING THROUGH THE COMPETITIVE GRANT PROCESS Adam Molzer began by iterating that the discussion goal of the evening will be a “high-level,” collaborative discussion to review four (4) funding applications for affordable housing. The primary goal for individual contributions from both groups and an occasion to gain a better understanding of the perspectives each group brings to the subject matter. • Total requests: $2.7M, total funds available: $3.284M ($584,000 excess funding). • If every project received full funding, the excess would be City dollar funds (Affordable Housing Fund) and would be reappropriated to 2022. • To determine the need for a fall Competitive Process, Beth Rosen will contact housing providers to see if there are any anticipated needs for funding before next spring’s Competitive Process. For a fall process, a project would need to be shovel ready. • A fall Competitive Process is triggered by two things: (1) excess funds exceed $500,000 and (2) there is a project that has critical timeliness issues that it’s urgent to deploy the funding. • There will not be a third-round allocation of CDBG CV, but we expect to have an allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds through the HOME program. Permanent housing and housing development is one use of those funds, with program restrictions for services related to housing stability. We will know the allocation by end of April and can act on funds in June, but funds won’t need to be fully expended until 2025. DocuSign Envelope ID: 964B3682-D64C-4695-8CBF-65208E015DCB 03/24 /2021 – M I N UTES P age 3 • HOME program is about housing stability, supportive services, converting hotels to non- congregate shelter, acquiring or building new units of housing, and tenant-based rent assistance (voucher-type program). Funds could be used to subsidize long-term rent assistance for a partner. The goal is to stabilize people in target populations in housing long-term. • There are no restrictions to funding the community center portion of the Coachlight project (as combined with the renovation) and there would be a 20-year deed restriction against all 68-units to require them to be affordable, as a function of receiving the funding. Each resident receives a calculation for 30% rent payment and then Neighbor to Neighbor receives a monthly total assistance for the difference of those market rents directly from HUD under their contract. The Housing Catalyst project will also require a 20-year agreement of restrictive covenants. • The strategic plan has goals for both new development and rehabilitation projects. It’s important to maintain existing affordable housing stock while also adding new inventory. • It’s reasonable to see rehabilitation requests every 15-20 years and to expect operating budgets to have limitations in ability to reinvest. When we have more requests than budget, it’s important to look at how best to prioritize funding on rehabilitation and new construction projects to ensure we do not miss out on an opportunity to increase the affordable housing inventory. • Beth is working on the backend to determine which projects best align with each funding mechanism. HOME funds have a timeframe of two years to get funds allocated to a project whereas, CDBG funds have a timeline to expend the funds. HUD does a timeliness test to ensure the City doesn’t have more than 150% of the annual allocation not in contract. • There are no staff concerns on the Coachlight project and the developer capability. Neighbor to Neighbor has a strong history as an owner and manager of affordable housing and have no issues with their performance on complying with federal funds. This is the first time they have entered into a tax credit, but it appears they have brought on experienced consultants to support the project. • While Mercy is not a local developer, they have experience working in Fort Collins and they have a strong Colorado presence. • Mercy Housing’s presentation didn’t fully explain the restructure in their request. Their market analysis came back that there wasn’t demand for units above 60% (to help offset the costs for lower rents) and they had to re-run numbers. Income averaging is complicated, and the IRS is looking closely to make sure average underneath that 60%. • Villages is the nonprofit arm to Housing Catalyst. Their perform on this property shows that the property does not have a loan on it, they will not have a loan against it, and they will not be servicing debt on this property. Sometimes there may be one property producing enough cash to carry another property. DocuSign Envelope ID: 964B3682-D64C-4695-8CBF-65208E015DCB 03/24 /2021 – M I N UTES P age 4 • For a request to receive CHFA, once the applicant receives recommendation from the Commission, they can get their 4% showing they have filled all gaps (4% is accepted on a rolling basis, 9% has a static date). There is no risk to the City to do a conditional allocation to demonstrate in their application to all other funding activities that they have local support and funding from the City and unused funds can be rescinded and reallocated to the next year’s competitive process. • It’s important for an organization to be able to demonstrate they have local support and helps secure funding from statewide entities. 6. OTHER BUSINESS Adam Molzer noted that the CDBG Commission’s next meeting will be on April 7, 2021 at 5:30pm. The AHB’s next meeting will be on April 1, 2021 at 4:00pm. Adam thanked everyone for their time and energy this evening. 7. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM. Minutes were finalized and approved by the CDBG Commission on ____________________ City of Fort Collins Staff Liaison: ____________________________________________ Adam Molzer DocuSign Envelope ID: 964B3682-D64C-4695-8CBF-65208E015DCB April 7, 2021