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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009 - Affordable Housing Board - Annual ReportAffordable Housing Board 2009 Annual Report The following lists the major items the Affordable Housing Board was involved with during 2009: 1. Land Bank Program: The Board requested a review of the City’s Land Bank Program, its goals, acquired properties, etc. The Board was questioning if it may be time for the City to sell some of the properties. Staff indicated that the City was doing appraisals on all Land Bank properties to see if they are increasing in value as expected when they were purchased. Staff’s 2010 Work Program includes an analysis of the Program which has used all of its available funding to acquire five properties containing a total of 51 acres. 2. Competitive Process for Allocating City Funds for Affordable Housing: Worked with the CDBG Commission in advising the City Council on the funding for affordable housing projects in the spring and fall cycles of the competitive process. 3. Presentation on the Community Scorecard. Jeff Scheick, Director of Planning, Development, and Transportation Services, presented the results of the 2008 Community Score Card survey. The results included an indication that the average cost of a single-family home and the average rent for multi-family units were increasing at a rate far greater than the increase in median family income. This means that there was a reduction in the number of families in the city that could afford to buy a new home or pay the average rental costs. The report also indicated that because of market conditions and a reluctance of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure financing, only one new affordable housing rental project had been constructed in the city over the last couple of years. 4. Three-Unrelated Occupancy Regulations. The Board heard two presentations from the Neighborhood Services staff on the City’s Rental Occupancy Ordinance. The staff was preparing for a detail review by the City Council at an October 2009 work session. 5. Non-Approved Dwelling Units Program. The Board was presented with the implementation strategies for enforcing the new rental property codes for units that had not received Certificates of Occupancy and conformed to required safety features such as escape windows in basement bedrooms. A 6-month amnesty period would be granted to allow for units to be brought up to code and not need to pay City fees. 6. Agreement for Affordable Housing. Staff discussed the drafts of an agreement to provide affordable housing units to be signed by developers who utilize some of the City’s incentive programs, but none of the City’s financial assistance programs. The project remains a work in progress. 7. The BFO Process. Staff regularly updated the Board on the City’s 2010 & 2011 budgeting process known as Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO). 8. One or Two Cycles of the Competitive Process. Staff asked for the Board’s opinion as to whether there should be a return to only one cycle, in the spring, of the competitive process. The Board supported the current system of two cycles, one in the spring and one in the fall. 9. Competitive Process Point Chart. The Board’s two members of a subcommittee continued to work with two members of the CDBG Commission to evaluate and recommend changes to the criteria in the chart used to begin the ranking of affordable housing proposals received by the City requesting financial assistance. 10. State Housing Board’s Competitive Process Application Cycle Process. The Board was asked to comment on the State Division of Housing’s proposal to change to a competitive funding process, similar to the competitive process used by the City, to make funding allocations to affordable housing projects and programs. 11. Making Affordable Housing More Energy Efficient. Staff from the Utilities Department presented background information on a project that would eventually establish regulations and standards to make all housing more energy efficient, use less water, and basically be more environmentally friendly. Also known as the Building Green Program, the utilities staff will be returning regularly to the Board with updates as the project moves through its development process. 12. Pathways Past Poverty. The Executive Director of the United Way of Larimer County’s Pathways Past Poverty Program explained the programs goals including a “housing first” emphasis to stabilize living situations before dealing with other social issues, such as job training and dealing with physical and mental handicaps, including substance abuse. 13. City-wide Relocation Policy. The approval of a neighborhood shopping center at the intersection of N. College Avenue and Willox Lane, containing a King Soopers Grocery Store, which would eliminate several affordable housing units created a need for a City-wide relocation policy to supplement the Uniform Relocation Act that is invoked when federal funding is used in development or redevelopment projects. The new Policy is on staff work program for 2010. 14. Updating the Affordable Housing Needs and Strategies Report. The process to update the City’s Priority Affordable Housing Needs and Strategies Report was started with the completion of the Larimer County Housing Needs Assessment. The Priorities document sets the City’s affordable housing funding priorities, policies, goals, and objectives for the next five years. Information from both documents will help in the development of the City’s HUD required Consolidated Plan which establishes the guidelines for the use of federal CDBG and HOME Program funding. The Board appointed two members to work with two members of the CDBG Commission in the development of a new City of Fort Collins Affordable Housing Strategic Plan. 15. Update on the Mountain Vista Subarea Plan. The Board was asked to comment on a proposed revision to the Mountain Vista Subarea Plan. One property-owner proposed reducing the density requirements for a portion of the subarea. The density reduction would make it more difficult to develop multi-family housing which would have a negative impact on the potential development of affordable housing. The Board voted not to support the property owner’s request and forward comments to the City’s Planning and Zoning Board. 16. 2009 AHB Work Plan Review. The Board reviewed their 2009 Work Plan in detail in preparation for a meeting with their City Council liaison Lisa Poppaw. 17. Discussion with Lisa Poppaw, City Council member Lisa Poppaw, the Council’s Liaison to the AHB, met with the Board and discussed their 2009 and proposed 2010 Work Plan, the proposed 2010 & 2011 City Budgets, potential change in the Board meeting time to after 6 PM, and attendance/quorum issues. 18. 2010 Work Plan. The Board worked to complete a work plan for the year 2010.