Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 03/04/2010CITY OF FORT COLLINS AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD MEETING MINUTES 281 N. College Ave. Fort Collins, Colorado March 4, 2010 Ben Blonder, Chair Ken Waido, Staff Liaison, 970-221-6753 City Council Liaison: Lisa Poppaw Board Members Present: Ben Blonder, George Bryan, Dan Byers, Marie Edwards, Karen Miller, Wendie Robinson, and Mike Sollenberger Board Members Absent: None. Advanced Planning Department Staff Present: Ken Waido, Megan Bolin Council Members Present: None. Other Staff Present: None. Board Chair Ben Blonder called the meeting to order at 4:06 PM Open Public Discussion: Marilyn Heller invited the Board members to a League of Women Voters affordable housing team panel discussion entitled “Families at Risk: The Changing Face of Homelessness.” It will be held on April 12th. Bryce Hach with Homewood 2020 addressed the Board. He stated that Homeward 2020 is trying to get a sense of how many homeless individuals there are in the City and the demographics of the homeless community. They will attempt to match that up against the inventory of housing. This should shed light on what needs to be done strategically throughout the entire jurisdiction to prevent homelessness. They have hired Dr. O’Brien, who has conducted homeless studies throughout the state. He believes that every agency that has contact with the homeless is participating in this study. Waido asked if the data would be available by June and will arrange for Mr. Hach to make a presentation of the study to the Board members. Ms. Robinson also passed out an invitation to the Board members for Neighbor to Neighbor’s “Home is Where the Heart Is” luncheon. It is a mission-based event to discuss what Neighbor to Neighbor does, and client testimonials will be given. Board members were asked to RSVP if they desire to attend. New Business. 2 Approval of Minutes: Mr. Bryan made a motion to approve the minutes from the January 7, 2010 Affordable Housing Board meeting. Mr. Sollenberger seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously passed. Mr. Blonder stated that the Affordable Housing Strategic Plan Update will be discussed before the Plan Fort Collins topic. Affordable Housing Strategic Plan Update: Waido previously distributed a preliminary draft of the plan to the Board to bring them up to date and see if there were any major gaps or concerns that the subcommittee should address. A public review draft will be completed by the end of March. It will be posted on the City web site and sent out to some agencies. The Plan will be open for public review for about a month. Comments and suggestions will be recorded, some editorial changes will be made, and then it will be presented to City Council at their May 11, 2010 work session. Staff did present the four priority goals of the Plan to City Council at their February work session. Discussion ensued regarding item #4, provide financial assistance for first-time homebuyers. One Board member felt it should not be part of the Strategic Plan because home ownership is not the same as affordable housing and individuals who are not ready to be home owners have been lured into ownership. The first priority should be to get individuals off the street and into housing. Other Board members expressed that, conversely, getting an individual into home ownership stabilizes them. For those who do have stable incomes, it’s a great move into self-sufficiency and frees up more rental units for people who need to rent. It was stated that because it is the last priority item on the list, it would not receive funding until the other three priorities have been met. An opinion was also expressed that home ownership can be affordable. For individuals under 50% AMI, there are units in Fort Collins in the under $100,000 price range. There was discussion about why Item 1, increase the inventory of affordable rental housing, and Item 2, preserve existing affordable housing units, were in that particular order. They could be on the same line, but the rankings are such that the top priority continues to be low income rentals which have been the top priority since the first Strategic Plan was prepared in 1999. The second item is the retention of existing units. If the base numbers can’t be maintained, inventory cannot be increased. Item 3, addressing people with special needs, represents fewer people statistically, but those individuals have an extremely high need. It was reiterated that the Strategic Plan is a tool to help this Board and the CDBG determine funding priorities. The ranking will be completed as usual, but the Strategic Plan will serve as a framework to make decisions. There was discussion that this Strategic Plan Update will replace the 2004 Affordable Housing Strategic Plan. In response to a Board question regarding the differences between the 2004 plan and this updated plan, Waido stated that the top priority continues to be the low income rentals. Item 3, the increase in housing and facilities for people with special needs was not addressed in the 2004 plan. Home ownership financial assistance has dropped to priority 4. 3 Plan Fort Collins – Answer the 4 Questions: Waido stated that Plan Fort Collins: Innovate, Sustain, Connect, is the name given to the planning process to review and revise City Plan, the City’s Comprehensive Plan, and the Transportation Master Plan. Boards and commissions input is an important component of the public outreach. The following responses were provided by the Board members to the four questions: (1) What are short term (1 – 5 year) challenges that the city faces, related to your board’s focus area? ◦ More affordable rental units below 30% AMI. ◦ Lack of money in the Affordable Housing Fund and general lack of capital. ◦ Affordable rentals – Many people are being forced out of home ownership because of the poor economy and foreclosures. ◦ More Affordable 3 and 4 bedroom units to provide larger housing to 50% AMI or below. (2) What are long-term (5 – 30 years and beyond) challenges and opportunities that Plan Fort Collins should address related to your board’s focus area? ◦ Is the current Land Bank Program sufficient to meet the needs of the future? ◦ Baby boomers and aging – There will be a much larger aging population, they will need different housing, and their overall needs will be different. ◦ The city planners and economic development group needs to bring in new jobs to minimize housing issues. ◦ The need to have affordable housing units be affordable for more than 20 years. When the units that are affordable right now revert to market rates, the number of affordable units will decrease which is the opposite of what needs to happen. (3) Do you know of other communities or organizations with “cool tools” or “best practices” the city should explore related to your board’s focus area? ◦ Land Bank Programs ◦ Other cities have taken all sorts of commercial space and turned them into residential units. Further research on how they have accomplished that and a review of the associated costs could be beneficial to the City. ◦ California has a tool called redevelopment agencies which is TIF (tax incremental financing) financing. Those cities get to keep the incremental provided they kick 20% of that into a kitty for affordable housing; a lot of that has to go to 30% or below AMI. (4) Do you have other ideas unrelated to your board’s focus area? 4 ◦ The city needs to spend more time focusing on art. It is part of our culture and brings a lot to the community. ◦ The city needs a better transportation system -- The new trend is on- demand transportation. Section 108 Update: Bolin stated they have not met with City Council’s Finance Committee, and Section 108 has been moved to the March agenda. Waido stated that the Affordable Housing Coalition has discussed the Section 108 program, and a draft position paper was prepared postulating the coalition was against the City applying for a Section 108 grant. They wanted to submit it, but Waido informed them that a decision has not been made about proceeding with the application. Bolin said that the Finance Committee is the first step in the process, and, to date, City Council has not heard about the program. Competitive Process Affordable Housing Proposals: Waido stated the applications closed the third Thursday in February. There are two housing applications. There was discussion about the ZoomGrants Program. Waido will send out emails to each Board member providing them with the link and their password so members can view the applications on line. Paper copies of the applications will be provided to those members requesting them. The application is web based; therefore, Board members will not be able to modify or make notes on the documents, but will need to print out the pages that require specific comments. Ms. Robinson stated that she will arrive at the next meeting at 4:30 because of a conflict of interest. Brainstorming/Establish Work Session: Board members agreed that a special meeting be scheduled to accomplish the brainstorming activities. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 31st, from 12:30 to 3:00. Waido stated it would be a noticed meeting. Board members were reminded to bring their own lunch. Other Business. None. Next Agenda. The next agenda will devote time to the two housing applications. The City will be in the review stage of the Affordable Housing Strategic Plan. There will also be a brief update on the Consolidated Plan. Bolin will present the report on the appraisals of the Land Bank Properties and will provide a Section 108 update. Mike Gebo will also speak to the Board at the May or June meeting regarding building code changes. Meeting adjourned at 5:57 p.m.