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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 06/12/2014CITY OF FORT COLLINS AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD BOARD MEETING MINUTES City Clerk’s Large Conference Room, City Hall 300 Laporte Ave Fort Collins, Colorado June 12, 2014 4:00–6:00pm Chair: Troy Jones Staff Liaison: Sue Beck-Ferkiss 970-221-6753 City Council Liaison: Lisa Poppaw Board Members present: Tatiana Martin, Terence Hoaglund, Troy Jones, Diane Cohn, Eloise Emery, Jeffrey Johnson Board Members absent: Curt Lyons Staff present: Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Social Sustainability Specialist; Dianne Tjalkens, Board Support Council Members present: None Guests: Jeffrey Coon and Michael Marr, Commission on Disability; Chadrick Martinez, Fort Collins Housing Authority Meeting called to order by Troy Jones at 4:06pm. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. PUBLIC COMMENT None APPROVAL OF MINUTES Tatiana moved to approve the May 1, 2014 minutes as presented. Diane seconded as amended. Motion passed unanimously, 6-0-0. Correction: page 3, bullet 1, strike 3rd sentence. NEW BUSINESS ITEM 1: COMMISSION ON DISABILITY—JEFFREY COON AND MICHAEL MARR Jeff said there are three main topics that continue to come up at commission meetings: employment, transportation, and housing. They have been loosely associated with the national chapter of the MS Society. ASI has four accessible apartment complexes in northern Colorado, including Harmony Road Apartments, two complexes in Greeley and one in Longmont. They are looking at what it would take to build another accessible complex in Fort Collins. The Harmony Road Apartments are ideal for the disabled, especially those who need wheelchair access. ASI is excited about building a facility here and has identified a lot near the hospital. The average wait list for accessible housing is three years for the current facilities. ASI is requesting assistance with a market study. Discussion/Q & A: • Sue said the developer usually does the market study. There is a Housing Affordability Policy Study underway. One distressed population identified in the study is the disabled. She suggested they review data available online to get some indicators. The Housing Affordability Policy Study is looking at how the City can affect creating units and choice in our housing market. Council has directed staff to look at some populations that we can make an impact on and tools to make that impact. The housing system is market driven and much of what is going on is beyond the City’s control. However, low income disabled is one group that does not have enough options in the current market. The Gaps Analysis also quantifies that type of information. • Jeff Coon said the commission makes recommendations to Council and works with other boards and commissions where appropriate. Current ADA guidelines require 5% of new units to be accessible. The commission wondered if the City could have a policy to build 10 or 15%. Also, the accessible units that do exist aren’t necessarily held for those with disabilities. • Diane said FCHA work has mentioned accessible units. • Jeff Coon said accessible is a very broad term. It could mean that the bathroom has bars, but the resident might need wheelchair ramps. • Eloise said there are not many completely accessible units in her development and the bathtubs in wheelchair accessible units are still not accessible. Non-disabled property managers don’t necessarily understand the needs of disabled people. • Jeff Coon said there is not a separate waiting list with FCHA for people needing accessible units. Accessible units may be rented to non-disabled people. • Sue asked if the commission had spoken with the FCHA on this topic. Jeff Coon said yes, but not recently. • Jeffrey asked if FCHA is allowed to create a separate waitlist for disabled people. • Sue added that she has heard if there are federal dollars involved, the lease requires non-disabled people who have been places in accessible units to move to another unit should a disabled person need the accessible unit, but the renters are only required to move if there is another comparable unit available. • Michael said there are two concerns: accessible and affordable. In the Coloradoan they said the average rental rate is $1216. Average social security payment varies from $721 to $1250. At best a person on a fixed income can expect to pay 50% or more of income on housing, which leads people with disabilities to a precarious position in choosing between housing, food, and medical expenses. • Sue added that the $1216 number is for all apartments. Michael said the lowest cost one-bedroom apartment in Fort Collins is $750. • Diane asked how many units are in Harmony Road Apartments. Michael said 22 units. Jeff Coon said the facility ASI would like to build would have 40 units. They are a not-for-profit. He added that the current facility has a three year waitlist. Jeff said many people drop off the waitlist before their names come up. • Michael added that he works at Disabled Resources and the many clients are homeless or on the verge of homelessness. • Jeff Coon added that public housing in Fort Collins has 11 accessible units. • Troy asked if they have spoken with the Greeley developer. He thinks it would be good to do a case study on the elements that went into getting that development completed. Jeff Coon added that the project was done before the recession. If ASI built eight more developments in Fort Collins that accepted vouchers they would all be full. • Sue said she is learning most new developments are done with tax credit opportunities, and that is one layer of many funding streams necessary. She thinks these are the right avenues, but she doesn’t know enough to say whether federal dollars could be used to do a market study. • Troy said the affordable housing funds from the general fund could be used for something like that. The competitive process could fund this, but who would be the applicant? • Sue said if ASI wants to build in Fort Collins and wants support, they should contact Beth Rosen and the Social Sustainability department. It is difficult because the City is passive in that it waits for people to come with projects for funding, rather than seeking out projects. From our ongoing study, the City agrees that it doesn’t have enough appropriate housing for disabled people. Visitable is now also a concept that is coming to light as well. • Jeff Coon said the commission is not prepared to make a recommendation for visitable building codes at this time, but it is an issue in the community. One recommendation they made to Council was to have hearing assistance technology installed in new buildings and remodels and that has become policy for City buildings. • Jeffrey asked about a study completed by the state in conjunction with the county. Chadrick said there was a state funded initiative to study housing needs. Jeffrey said the study was significant and wonders if they drilled down on the accessibility issue. He thinks it would be hard for the City to do a market study; there would be more success in looking through existing data. Chadrick added that a market study is required for financing. • Jeffrey asked if FCHA considers additional accessibility when developing or remodeling or if they just stick to the guidelines. Chadrick said they strive for more accessible units, but at some point it becomes unfeasible monetarily to do more. • Sue said Villages at Plum is looking for financing for remodeling and will have 6 units set aside for families with a developmentally disabled member. • Jeff Coon said as the projects move along, his commission would like to be involved. • Troy suggested using the 3 minute time frame before Council meetings to bring this topic before Council. Jeff Coon said he would appreciate more than one board voicing the same message. • Chadrick said at CARE he had a lot of accessible units, but they were not affordable on a fixed income. • Jeff Coon would like to make a recommendation to Council to fund the market study for ASI. Sue said to see about partnering with other organizations that might be able to solicit donations. • Michael said this issue is complicated, and the more we improve the position for people with disabilities we improve the City overall, which is a City goal. This topic aligns with the idea of becoming a world class city. • Sue said the Housing Affordability Policy Study is continuing and there will be additional opportunities for input. She suggests more people attend the outreach events to get their voices heard. • Chadrick said he would be willing to share their market study for Red Tail Ponds and may be able to tweak it for ASI’s needs. There may be beneficial overlap that would make it viable. • Troy said a stumbling block they may run against is that if they are specific for ASI for the market study, Council may not like this. However, if you do a planning study, one of the City departments may have money to get it done. Troy suggested starting at the staff level in upper City management to see what kind of funding is available for studies. Rather than say ASI needs a study, say that the commission needs a study. Sue said the Gap Analysis is finished and shows gaps in housing and other services for disabled people. It may be a good resource. The Housing Affordability Policy Study final report should be ready by the end of July. • Jeffrey said in terms of funding a study, the first step is an RFP. He wants to know what will be studied and how much it will cost before making a recommendation to Council. Sue added that a general market study of the specific housing needs for his constituency and what is missing would be best. • Jeff Coons added that the Colorado Person-First Festival event is coming up and handed out flyers. ITEM 2: ASSIGNMENT REQUEST OF FCHA FOR 2014 PRIVATE ACTIVITY BOND ALLOCATION Sue explained that there is a request for allocation of private activity bonds that was included in the meeting packet. There is a pot of borrowing capacity given to the state by the federal government. Private activity bonds capital is the permission to raise bonds and acquire debt. The request is to take the City’s entire amount and allocate it to FCHA. They will need more than this bond amount. Left over bond cap from last year’s allocation was saved for Cunningham Corners. Chadrick said if you don’t use your bond cap it gets returned to the state, so last year Greeley gave their remainder to FCHA to keep it in northern Colorado. Sue added that there are no other requests for the bond cap. It can be used for industrial purposes, economic development, etc. However, from 2008-2013 we did nothing with our bond cap and let it revert to the state. Staff has drafted an internal process for times when there is competition for the bond cap. Staff is asking the board’s support in assigning the full allocation amount to FCHA for the rehabilitation of Cunningham Corners. Discussion/Q & A: • Jeffrey said if we give it all away now, if someone comes in November, we have none left. Is there a problem giving it away in June when it precludes anything we are not aware of yet? Do you have to claim it by December 31? Sue said December 13 it reverts back to the state if it is not assigned. Jeffrey asked if it is too soon. Sue said no, we need time to move it through the process. It goes to Council in September. She has talked to Economic Health to make sure there are no other potential projects and there are none to date. • Troy asked if the private activity bond is guaranteed by the federal government. Jeffrey said they are tax- free bonds so there is a market for them. • Chadrick said if we look at last year’s allocation, that process if already moving forward. First Bank is buying the bonds, doing the construction, and carrying the mortgage for the rehabilitation of the Village on Plum. Last year they came up with just over $19 million. Villages on Cunningham Corner has over 200 units to rehab, so it will take more. They are requesting the allocation from the county as well. They have a balloon payment in 2015, so they are on the clock to get the project going. • Jeffrey asked about the bond cap. Chadrick said in 4% deals, you must have 50% in PAB funded. They project the project to be $41 million, so they will issue $25 million in bonds. • Sue said it is more efficient to do it in one bond issue and FCHA will carry the burden of issuing the bonds. That is one advantage of allocating the bonds: it releases the City from having to issue the bonds and keeps our credit from being involved. Chadrick said there are upward of $200,000 in legal fees with this finance structure. Sue added that this is HUDs preferred method of funding affordable housing. • Chadrick added that its best to ask the local municipality first because the state is looking across the state’s needs. • Jeffrey asked when they expire. Sue said three years. • Sue added that even if someone else came forward this year, they could most likely get what they need from the state, as they have several years of returned PABs. • Troy asked if Chadrick is requesting a recommendation to Council to have the full PAB allocation for this year. Chadrick said yes. Troy moved that the Affordable Housing Board recommend assignment of the full $7,408,350 2014 Private Activity Bond allocation to Fort Collins Housing Authority for the purpose of rehabilitating Villages on Cunningham corners. Jeffrey seconded. Motion passed unanimously, 6-0-0. ITEM 3: DISCUSS TIMELINE FOR 2015-2020 AFFORDABLE HOUSING STRATEGIC PLAN Sue said HUD requires a Consolidated Plan which looks at all of the City’s housing programs every five years. It also looks at human services funded by the competitive process. We are due for a new one for 2015-19. Heidi Phelps will be the staff person working on the Consolidated Plan. An RFP was issued, but with no response. Staff will issue another to get consultant help with the plan. The timeline works well with the Affordable Housing Strategic Plan. We will likely not get consultant help with the Strategic Plan, but the Housing Affordability Policy Study will inform the plan. The Strategic Plan sets priority goals for the City and indicates funding requested. We may not dramatically change our four goal areas because there is still work to be done in these areas. The process last time was that the board formed a subcommittee to complete the work. The plan must be final by March of 2015. Discussion/Q & A: • Diane said the first step is to look at the current strategic plan and see how we are doing. • Eloise asked if it would be helpful to have Heidi recommend a process. • Sue said she could give context on the whole consolidated plan. Megan Bolin was the lead on this last time. Sue will ask her to present the process that was used last time to the board. • Troy likes that we have a whole new board and new staff liaison so we can choose the best process. • Tatiana added that last time the subcommittee had two members from the Affordable Housing Board and two from the CDBG Commission. She found this in the meeting minutes. • Sue will email a link to the previous Strategic Plan. • Jeffrey asked if the Consolidated Plan must be done this year, and if the board’s strategic plan informs the Consolidated Plan does the timeline needs to be changed. Sue said the timing may be somewhat flexible. • Diane asked if the shift that may happen in the board structure in the City and how this board may be functioning is relevant to this process. • Jeffrey said if this plan is done every five years and annually we are measured against the plan, he would like to hear about the measurements. He would like to set realistic goals and know how it will be used. Sue said the Consolidated Plan is used that way, but the Strategic Plan is used to inform the board’s annual work plans. If the Strategic Plan is incorporated into the Consolidated Plan he would like our work to play nicely with HUD’s requirements. • Diane asked to see previous feedback from the last few years and what HUD had to say. • Troy said the Affordable Housing Strategic Plan is the framework we use to communicate with Council. It is our priorities and what Council wants from us. One thing that is new in the last five years is the Provincetowne covenants issue. Five years ago there was no market to build that type of product. We should probably get to the bottom of the issue of homeownership deed restrictions. There may also be other new issues that come up within the next five years. • Eloise asked about the deed restriction. Sue said the concept came up to Council and they said that it had been done unsuccessfully. The units were not discounted up front, and when they went to sell them later, they could not. Due to this issue many went into foreclosure during the recession. In an inclusionary housing ordinance, you have deed restrictions, but our conditions do not make that an attractive option. • Troy added that two years ago Council was looking solely at rental for affordability. Now the Housing Affordability Policy Study is looking at ownership issues as well. • Diane asked to have our Council liaison attend the meeting and give some direction. We could let her know what we see as the higher priorities and ask if she has anything to add. • Tatiana said a subcommittee could go through the last Strategic Plan and bring their findings back to the board. • Sue said homework could be to read the last Strategic Plan before the next meeting. • Jeffrey said that policy lags behind the market. We need to come up with policy that works in any market. • Sue added that Provincetowne is working now, since the market is back up. But the question is whether it would have done the same without the policy. • Jeffrey said the covenant came to the City in a unique manner, to get return on investment for the City. • Troy said in looking more at deed restrictive homeownership to have affordability for 25 years to perpetuity, we need to look at what other communities have done and the problems we have encountered. • Terence said Lafayette has a deed restricted development that has been successful. Sue said that at Provincetowne the deeds were not restricted; it was a covenant. Terence added that he was not sure if the Lafayette project was deed restricted or covenant. • Sue said the units are getting sold for about the same as the purchase price. It hasn’t given the residents a leg-up. Terence said they never do. You can get in, but you can get out. Eloise asked how you maintain the affordability. Terence explained how Habitat arranges their mortgages to forgive a portion each year. OLD BUSINESS ITEM 1: HOUSING AFFORDABILITY POLICY STUDY—DEBRIEF FROM CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Sue gave an overview of direction given by Council. The internal technical team will be meeting next week. She expects a final report from the consultants mid- to late-July. We will continue to do research on certain options. Council said the scope was too broad and wants more specific items it can vote on. Sue said we showed them that we looked at everything. Council wants staff to look at distressed populations and what effects policy could have on those particular populations. Discussion/Q & A: • Jeffrey asked about the relationship to the mall agreement. Sue said it did not come up in the work session. We have some ideas. If we applied them to the mall, what would it mean? Most of the strategies we talked about would not reach the mall. The incentive policy could. Where we give you a public benefit, we can ask for a contribution. Jeffrey said the public benefit is tax increment financing. He said a program benefitting from municipal credit and in which the developer benefits in raising funds, the City is justified in asking the developer to do something short term. What the City does with the money is the second question. • Sue said Carrie is concerned about this method and that it may require additions/revisions to the mall agreement. Sue feels it would work because the mall agreement has consented. Jeffrey said if it is only applicable to projects that get public benefit and the cost is spread over long term financing package, it is worth pursuing. If it is applicable only to big projects that warrant public funding, those are special circumstances that don’t affect the whole market. It puts the cost on sophisticated developers. • Sue added that staff is talking with Economic Health for goals for the URA and projects that meet specific guidelines. They will look at affordable housing in this process. Carrie’s concern is that the agreement would have to be rewritten. Jeffrey said if it is tied to a TIF, it is conceptually quite different. Sue said the incentive policy is still on the table. Council gave direction to look more at Land Bank properties. She hopes to get them appraised. Sue has asked the consultants for short-term, mid-term, and long-term options. The technical team will look at who needs the most immediate help. • Tatiana said that is not looking long-term or big picture. Sue said if there is relief for the bottom, we may be able to push the alignment back into place for those with more money. • Tatiana thinks there need to be more incentives for builders, and the home buyers’ assistance program through the City should be modified to get renters into ownership (more money and looser eligibility). • Jeffrey agreed that the 50-80% AMI range is fairly neglected in our market. They can afford their rent, but cannot afford to buy and cannot save money for a down payment. You cannot ignore 30-50% AMI. That need will always be there, but we are ignoring another segment of the community. Sue said the mayor is concerned with the 30-80% AMI bracket: workforce housing and services housing, not just subsidized housing. Jeffrey said up to 120% AMI needs attention. If you could get money off the mall agreement and target it to buy land for Habitat, rather than allocating all the money to the 30% projects, that could help the market. • Tatiana added that 120% AMI may be looking for a larger home for a bigger family, and if they can buy it opens a smaller house for a first time homebuyer. • Sue said this is very complicated. We are seeing the same thing across the country. • Terence said new mortgage rules are making it more difficult for first time homebuyers. Plus there is a lack of inventory. • Jeffrey said we can control very little of this, but there has to be something we can do. • Sue asked if we should put the Land Bank properties into a land trust, or sell them. Terence said to do a land trust, keep the property for the City, and rent the land. There was a project in Longmont that has been very successful that is on a land trust. • Sue said there are manufactured homes on leased land. Jeffrey said that is common for manufactured homes. You own your home, but on leased land. It’s affordable because the cost of the land is pulled out of the mortgage. The leases are very long term. • Troy said we might want to address criteria in the Strategic Plan for the Land Bank properties. If we are encouraging growth near Max, and we have some near it, we may make different decisions with those properties than others. • Terence said there is no exit strategy for Land Bank. Jeffrey said it gets used when someone else pays for the infrastructure. • Sue said the last time we had these appraised College had appreciated even though infrastructure was not in. The idea is to have at least 12% appreciation in order to sell below market value, while recuperating the City’s costs. • Jeffrey asked what FCHA said about these properties. Sue said Chadrick told her there is not much other available land. FCHA would be interested in any of the Land Bank properties. Terence said there are other properties for sale. • Sue said we have more 100 acre lots now because we have annexed. It may not be good for development, but it exists. There is interest in our properties and it is a good time to look at them. Council said we can reopen the question of waivers and what needs to be backfilled, because last March that program was gutted. She is having discussions with the City Attorney’s office on what needs to be backfilled. Making that determination will be important. • Jeffrey would like to see incentives looked at more. He is not a fan of inclusionary zoning. • Tatiana asked if there will be another work session. Sue said she doesn’t think so. She is to come back to Council with specific options at the October 7 meeting. OTHER BUSINESS ITEM 1: OPEN BOARD DISCUSSION • Board elected to cancel the July meeting. • August meeting may start earlier to allow more time. • Terence attended a Building Department meeting on new building codes and regulations. There will be much more paperwork and there is tracking of where trash goes. Everyone left the room wondering why they are building in Fort Collins. It is getting more difficult to do projects. Affordable housing policy need to look at the trickle-down effect of the cost of green codes and other new regulations. • Jeffrey agreed with Terence. He said it gets more complicated every year, which makes it harder for developers. • Jeffrey said in the work session there was a concept of licensing landlords. Landlords hire property managers. This is a bad idea that would complicate issues and raise rents. He can think of no reason this is a good idea. There are other ways to deal with bad landlords. • Tatiana said it is about property management companies. Sue said she thinks the idea was to have landlords understand expectations and have a direct line of communication between the landlord and the City. • Terence said the cost of water will have a huge impact on the cost of building across the region. Raw water cost in Fort Collins is low, if you can find places to build. There is no storage for water and this will become a major issue. ITEM 2: LIAISON REPORTS • None ITEM 3: FUTURE MEETINGS AGENDA • Jeffrey would like to talk in August about the Housing Affordability Policy Study and how the mall agreement is being addressed. • Diane suggested drafting a memo to Council after we have full information. • Jeffrey asked that the consultants be requested to include an incentive based policy in the final report. ITEM 4: CITY COUNCIL SIX-MONTH PLANNING CALENDAR REVIEW • Sue asked the board to think about other meeting topics and presenters the board would like in September. – Meeting adjourned at 6:35 pm by Troy Jones. – The next meeting of the Affordable Housing Board is scheduled for: August 7 at 4:00pm Participants will meet at: Fort Collins City Hall Council Information Center 300 Laporte Ave