HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 07/12/2012CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD
MINUTES
REGULAR BOARD MEETING AND
JOINT MEETING WITH CDBG COMMISSION
281 N. College Ave.
Fort Collins, Colorado
July 12, 2012
4 to 6 p.m.
Chair: Dan Byers
Staff Liaison: Ken Waido 970-221-6753
City Council Liaison: Lisa Poppaw
Board Members present: Dan Byers, Troy Jones, Karen Miller, Mike Sollenberger,
Wayne Thompson
Board Members absent: Ben Blonder, Jeff Johnson
Advance Planning Department Staff present: Ken Waido; Beth Rosen, Affordable
Housing Administrator
Council Members present: None
Other Staff present: Kurt Ravenschlag, Interim General Manager of Transfort; Kate
Jeracki, Note Taker
Guests: Bill Reinke, CARE Housing; Ray Roth, citizen
Meeting called to order with a quorum present at 4:10 p.m. by Chair Dan Byers
AGENDA REVIEW
There were no changes to the agenda as presented.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
NEW BUSINESS
APPROVAL OF MINUTES — Dan Byers said that the Board still needs to adopt a
position on the owner-occupant requirement for the Provincetowne covenants, as outlined
in the June 7, 2012, minutes. He asked Ken Waido if sending a memo to the entire Board
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to determine their position would suffice. Waido approved. The minutes were approved
unanimously on a motion from Wayne Thompson seconded by Troy Jones.
MASON CORRIDOR PLAN — Kurt Ravenschlag, Interim General Manager of
Transfort, provided an update on the Mason Corridor Plan. Troy Jones invited Kurt to
address the Board in relation to considering linkages between affordable housing and
mass transit.
Planning for the Mason Corridor bus rapid-transit project dates back to the 1990s, when
the City first started looking for ways to relieve congestion on College Avenue.
Ravenschlag said the MAX project currently under construction between Harmony Road
and Cherry Street combines the best features of buses and light rail.
Buses will stop at a dozen stations every 10 minutes. Ravenschlag said the buses won’t
be traveling faster but the process of boarding will be streamlined. There will be racks for
four bicycles inside each bus, and the platforms will be flush with the floor of the bus for
easy access.
An overpass will be built over the railroad tracks at the Spring Creek Station by Whole
Foods and just east of the National Resources Research Center, a major employment
center.
Transfers to other routes and regional service will be available from the North and South
Transit Centers. The South Transit Center will be on College Avenue next to Woodley’s
Furniture and feature 12 bus bays, 125 park-n-ride spaces, ample secured bike parking,
and a host of passenger amenities and retail space.
MAX fares will $1.25, 60 cents for seniors and free for anyone under 17, with a variety
of passes available. Tickets will be purchases on the platform, like Denver’s light rail
system, with random checks on board.
Construction will continue through December 2013, with test rides in the first quarter of
2014 and regular service scheduled to begin about two years from now.
Total cost of the project is $87 million; of that, $69 million is federal funding, $18
million is local matching funds and $4 million from Fort Collins. The cost of running the
system will be $1.3 million more than current annual Transfort operations. Ravenschlag
estimated the 18 percent of costs recovered by Transfort through ridership revenues could
increase through rider ridership on MAX. However, there are no changes to the current
routes or expanded service in the budget at this time, he said.
MAX will run from 5 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday; the Transportation
Department has submitted at BFO offer to add Sunday service as well. Wayne Thompson
would like to see late-night service on Friday and Saturday nights; Ravenschlag said
while the budget is constrained, if the department hears a demand for extended hours, it
could be a possibility.
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Dan Byers asked if there were plans to redesign east-west Transfort service. Ravenschlag
said numerous scenarios have been studied, but no additional lines are in the budget.
Wayne Thompson asked if CDBG funds could be used to subsidize linkages to affordable
housing. Ravenschlag said it might be possible, but a bus route that provides service once
a hour costs about $200,000 per year, more than CDBG could afford.
Mike Sollenberger asked if there were any incentives for affordable housing in the
transit-oriented development overlay along the Mason Corridor. Ken Waido said there
are incentives for mixed-use development, and some relaxed land-use requirements to
help redevelopment.
RELOCATION PLAN FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS DISPLACED BY
REDEVELOPMENT
Ken Waido made the first of what he promises will be monthly presentations on creation
of a good model for dealing with low-income residents forced to move when their rental
housing or mobile home park is sold for other uses. The impetus for the plan was the
closure of Bender Mobile Home Park, but pressure has been building for years on
manufactured housing, which is an important part of the housing stock for low-income
residents. The plan will also look at condo conversions displacing renters and the whole
issue of keeping housing affordable through a variety of methods. There are two policies
in Plan Fort Collins that require the city to find ways to mitigate displacement, and
Waido said there is federal money available for the planning process. He added that Fort
Collins state Reps. Kefalas and Fischer are willing to work on any legislative changes
needed at the state level.
The fast-track timeline for the brand-new project is to have a consultant hired by the end
of the month to conduct research with primary stakeholder groups: residents,
managers/property owners, lenders, and affordable housing/social service agencies. The
plan goes before a City Council worksession in October for direction, then will return in
January or February for adoption.
Mike Sollenberger said that he can’t think of anything worse for affordable housing than
the proposed moratorium on student housing projects in Fort Collins. The city should
study the issue but not put a stop to new projects, because students can always go to non-
student housing. A one-year moratorium would turn Fort Collins into Boulder overnight,
he said, and the Board should have been consulted on the proposal.
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JOINT MEETING WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD TO REVIEW
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS TO FAIR HOUSING CHOICE
ALSO PRESENT:
CDBG Commission Members:
Kay Rios, Chair; Catherine Costlow, Jamaal Curry, Margaret Long, Emily Sander,
Kristin Stephens
BBC Research and Consulting:
Heidi Aggeler, Jen Garner
Fort Collins Staff:
Heidi Phelps, Beth Rosen, Sharon Thomas, Ken Waido
Public:
Bill Reinke, CARE Housing
Ray Roth, Citizen
PUBLIC COMMENT
Bill Reinke, Executive Director, CARE Housing, addressed the Commission and the
Affordable Housing Board about concerns regarding how his organization is represented
in the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice. He also submitted his comments
in writing to both the Commission and the Board.
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS TO FAIR HOUSING CHOICE
Heidi Phelps provided an overview of the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing
Choice (AI) document. The purpose of the document, which is required by HUD every
five years as a condition of providing funds to the City, is to determine whether barriers
to obtaining housing or discrimination against protected classes exist in Fort Collins.
BBC Research and Consulting of Denver was hired to create the AI. Consultants
reviewed everything the City does with housing, assessed both availability and
affordability of housing in Fort Collins, and studied policies of both public and private
housing providers. Public input was gathered through workshops, surveys, focus groups
and stakeholder meetings.
The AI identified four Impediments and two Observations regarding housing choice in
Fort Collins. In addition, the Fair Housing Action Plan recommended action in six areas
to improve the fair housing environment in the community. Impediments are direct or
indirect causes of restricted housing availability, while Observations have no direct link
to housing availability. Phelps said this was an improvement over the study done in 2007,
which found 10 impediments.
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The four Impediments:
1. Some housing discrimination occurs in Fort Collins, especially for low-
income residents.
2. Hispanics have much higher mortgage loan denial rates than non-Hispanics.
Ms. Phelps said City staff challenged the consultants on whether this means there
is discrimination in lending or if issues such cultural factors come into play (such
as Hispanics being more likely than other groups to be unbanked), which affects
qualification of mortgage loans. She added that staff needs to do a better job
getting the word out about existing programs that can help bridge lending gaps for
potential homeowners.
3. Lack of affordable housing disproportionately affects some protected classes,
especially persons with disabilities.
4. Fair housing awareness and knowledge could be improved.
The two Observations:
1. Some residents perceive an inequitable distribution of resources and public
amenities. Heidi Phelps said data shows the northern part of town actually has
more parks than the southeast, and while the city tries to be equitable, staff needs
to do a better job telling the City’s story. At the same time, some parts of the city
still have dirt streets with no curb or gutter (such as on the west side of N. College
Avenue), which she views as unconscionable. It’s an issue that requires the
political will of the community to address.
2. Some elements of the Land Use Code could be improved. These included
better language in the Code such as the definition of disability, neighborhood
zoning issues that may be pressuring affordability, and the convoluted treatment
of overnight shelters.
The six action areas suggested in the Fair Housing Action Plan:
1. Improve the housing environment for persons with disabilities. This area
includes not only constructing more visitable units, but also doing a better job
getting the word out that such units are available.
2. Strengthen fair housing information, educational and training opportunities.
3. Support efforts to improve residents’ creditworthiness.
4. Continue efforts to pursue infrastructure and public amenity equity.
5. Continue efforts to make community amenities accessible to all residents.
6. Make improvements to Land Use Code.
Ms. Phelps said the next steps are to communicate the findings of the AI to City
departments and stakeholders and be proactive in collaborating, given the resources
available. Staff also hopes to add some great fair housing information and helpful links to
the City’s website.
The CDBG Commission and Affordable Housing Board will soon begin reviewing
applications for the Fall cycle of the Competitive Process, and should take fair housing
components into consideration.
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Chair Kay Rios opened the discussion up to questions. In reference to the concerns from
CARE Housing, Heidi Aggeler of BBC said the team will consider making changes to
the document based on the information provided.
Rios said the summary of the document did not contain specific numbers or percentage of
respondents, and while the specifics are in the complete document, she would like to see
more detail included in the snapshot that will be read by the most people. Members of
both the Commission and Board agreed.
Beth Rosen said it would be important for the document to note that Hispanics, a
protected class, has a higher poverty rate, which is a factor in mortgage denial.
Heidi Aggeler said BBC hasn’t seen as big a gap between groups with the decline of
subprime lending. Income can be a proxy for creditworthiness, but the denial rate is
something to keep an eye on to make sure there isn’t something else going on in the
market.
Mike Sollenberger shared that he had difficult in understanding the reported lack of
accessible units, when, as a landlord of hundreds of units, he has found the accessible
units the most difficult to fill.
Rosen said the Bridges and Circles programs, sponsored by the Bohemian Foundation,
are looking at cultural issues of poverty, and financial literacy classes are available
through CSU Extension and other sources. The important message to communicate is that
if you want middle-class success – for example, a home mortgage – you need to play by
middle-class rules – using credit wisely to build a FICO score. Sharon Thomas pointed
out that living on cash makes it hard to build a credit history.
Dan Byers said that in today’s regulatory climate, it’s almost impossible for lenders to
discriminate, but lending parameters make it harder for borrowers to fit in the eligibility
box. Kay Rios said as a City, we have to make sure we are doing what we can to reach
out to as many people as we can so they understand their options. Jamaal Curry said that
it is ultimately the individual’s decision and responsibility to take the initiative.
Ms. Phelps will send copies of any public input received on the draft AI to members of
both the Commission and the Board after the public comment period closes on August
8th and before the final version is sent to HUD in August.
FUTURE MEETING AGENDAS
The Aug. 2 meeting is canceled.
At the Sept. 6 meeting, the Board will discuss:
Fall Cycle of the Competitive Process
2013-14 City Budget Update
Relocation plan for low-income residents displaced by redevelopment.
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At some future meeting:
Further revisions to Board bylaws, if needed.
Review of the city’s Green Building Code and housing affordability.
Clarification of Boulder student housing policy.
-- Meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m. by Chair Dan Byers. --