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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 01/08/2015CITY OF FORT COLLINS AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD BOARD MEETING MINUTES CIC Room, City Hall 300 Laporte Ave Fort Collins, Colorado January 8, 2014 4:00–6:00pm Chair: Troy Jones Staff Liaison: Sue Beck-Ferkiss 970-221-6753 City Council Liaison: Lisa Poppaw Board Members present: Troy Jones, Diane Cohn, Curt Lyons, Eloise Emery, Tatiana Martin, Jeffrey Johnson Board Members absent: Terence Hoaglund Staff present: Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Social Sustainability Specialist; Dianne Tjalkens, Board Support Council Members present: None Guests: none Meeting called to order by Troy Jones at 4:11pm. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. PUBLIC COMMENT None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Tatiana moved to approve the December 4, 2014 minutes as presented. Eloise seconded. Motion passed, 5-0-1 (Jeffrey abstained). NEW BUSINESS ITEM 1: AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD WORK PLAN Sue made edits discussed in the December meeting. Discussion/Q & A: • Eloise wondered if the second sentence could add “…and the community at large by taking the following actions…” The third bullet should include Council in addition to staff. • Tatiana noted that the board’s role is to advise Council and Council advises the community. • Eloise asked if our role does not extend to educating the community. • Tatiana said that our role of advising Council is the method by which we advise the City as a whole. • Members agreed to maintain the current language on the first sentence. • Eloise had a grammatical change for the third bullet and a tense change for the remaining bullets, such as “advocate” instead of “advocating.” She asked if the word “research” could be used instead of “investigating.” She also wonders if the board needs to specify how it will work on homelessness. • Sue said registration for the Homelessness Summit just opened, and this, along with talking to Homeward 2020, is what the board does to further the ending of homelessness. • Eloise thinks it is better to look at a project before it goes to Planning and Zoning if there is anything in the project related to affordable housing. There are projects that slips through, that we could advocate for affordable housing to be included in. • Tatiana said that is a role of the liaison. • Eloise asked how the board would know about projects submitted to the City. • Sue said the role of the board is to respond to proposals. The role is somewhat passive. • Eloise said with HAPS she wonders if the board’s role will expand and be in the position to do more promotion for affordable housing. If the board is given the opportunity to weigh in on projects at the beginning, it could have more influence. She would like to be notified when large development proposals come along. • Troy is concerned about adding any more hoops for affordable housing developers to jump through, because there are enough already. • Sue added that if we are involved in the early stages, we might spend a lot of time on projects that never get built. If we asked the development office for information on all new developments, what are we looking at? • Eloise said she would like the opportunity to request presentations from developers. At what point would we be notified of a project? • Tatiana said you can sign up to see development and conceptual reviews through the City website. Members can get weekly emails and look for projects that are related to affordable housing. • Sue noted that Troy is the liaison to Planning and Zoning board, so he can bring that information to the board as well. • Troy said when a development application is presented to the development board where they are asking for something from the City as a result of it being qualified as affordable, the application is routed to staff to certify as affordable. He would hate to have the developer answer to this board, but he wouldn’t mind getting emails from staff to notify the board of these projects. • Sue said there is a senior development currently in the application process that is requesting an exemption in order to build. They have discussed the potential of adding affordable units. • Troy said being aware of these types of requests would be beneficial. Sue said she will let the board know when there are requests for affordable housing certifications. • Curt said if those projects go further, then the board will have background over the year. • Jeffrey asked if the private developers are coming in for exemptions. • Sue said for example a modification of use may have a public benefit requirement. Jeffrey said that would be a staff recommendation as it is outside the code. Sue said yes, but sometimes they need a certification to confirm that the housing will be affordable. • Jeffrey said he would like to know when projects do not accept the incentives. He thinks the existing incentives don’t do much. Then we can understand how the market responds to the existing incentives. • Sue said she hopes with HAPS that incentives will be beefed up. The intention in starting the HAPS was to incentivize the gaps the market is not reaching. • Troy suggested adding to the work plan staying informed of recent certification requests through staff. • Sue agreed to bring this information to the board through the packets or in the meetings. She made edits to the work plan. • Jeffrey asked about participating in the community’s efforts to end homelessness. To him that sounds like an activity outside of advising Council. • Eloise asked how we will participate. • Sue suggested using the word “monitor” to clarify the board’s role. She will make edits and bring a new draft to the board in February. ITEM 2: SCHEDULE CDBG RANKING MEETING The board received the competitive process schedule in the meeting packets. Staff and this board have recommended having a single spring competitive cycle with all funds available, and an optional fall process if there are unallocated or additional funds that become available. This recommendation is going to Council January 20. Applications are due on February 19, and will be available to the board on March 5. Sue can ask if the board can view the applications sooner, or the board will need to schedule an additional meeting, as it has done in the past. Discussion/Q & A: • Troy asked where we are with HAPS. • Sue said staff has been asked by leadership to give a follow-up memo to Council and to start investigating the affordable housing capital fund. It will not go to Council on January 20. Sue has Land Bank meetings next week, and will continue to brief the board, but staff is backing off the Council schedule as there is nothing that needs Council action at this time. Staff will go to Council with implementation strategies as they are developed and Sue will bring this information to the board. She agreed to share the memo with the board. Some progress has been made already; the homebuyers’ assistance fund has been increased and minimum house size has been removed from code. Then there are issues like waivers and backfill, which need more work. • Troy said one thing in HAPS was a suggestion to not call it a waiver, but to use a separate fund for backfill. • Sue said she would like to get board input as these topics begin to gel, over the next year or two. There used to be a rebate program for affordable housing, but it is not as easy to build into the funding formula. The board will have HAPS related topics throughout the year. • Jeffrey asked if the housing presentations will be joint, including this board and CDBG. Sue said there are still no presentations scheduled for the board. • Diane asked if this recommendation was decided on or just left hanging. • Sue said the consultants made recommendations. The director at the time was told to implement the recommendations. Then there was political pushback, and leadership decided to slow the process down. Then, the board was told it would continue to rank the application. • Diane said she thinks the question and answer part of the presentations would be more effective if this group was allowed to sit at the table and ask questions. • Jeffrey asked if that concept is going to Council on January 20. • Sue said no. The idea that we would change the current code, which requires two funding cycles, is going to Council. • Jeffrey said the presentation structure is not in the code and could be done administratively. • Sue said with agreement from the CDBG chair, there could be a joint meeting. • Jeffrey suggested having one representative of the AHB attend the commission presentations in order to ease into a new format. • Curt asked if it is a big deal to make this request. • Sue said she thinks it is reasonable to request being able to attend the presentations and ask questions. • Eloise asked if the board could send a written request to the commission. • Sue clarified that the request is to make the March 24 meeting a joint meeting. • Troy said he agrees with Jeffrey’s suggestion would be to have a representative. He prefers a joint meeting, but if there is pushback, it would be nice to have a designated representative. • Jeffrey said he doesn’t recall anyone asking questions at the presentations he attended, and it would be helpful to allow us to ask questions. • Diane said it would ease process to allow the board to ask questions rather than having to submit questions via email. • Sue will talk to Beth Sowder about the best way to run this question through and will bring suggestions at the February meeting. Diane moved that Troy write the board’s request for different options for attending and participating in the CDBG meeting on March 24 at which the Housing Applications are presented, and be able to submit that in a timely manner. Eloise seconded. Motion passed unanimously, 6-0-0. Thursday, March 26 4:00-6:00pm the board will hold a special meeting to rank Housing Projects. ITEM 3: HOUSING AFFORDABILITY POLICY STUDY, POST WORK SESSION NEXT STEPS Presentation Discussion/Q & A: • Curt asked if anything was done for fee adjustments. No one can afford to build a smaller house with the current fee structure. • Sue said the Finance department has been looking at rebalancing. She will ask Jessica Ping-Small to come speak to the board. • Eloise said she attended the housing focus group meeting, and the consultants talked about an approach similar to a sliding scale. • Sue added the open house for the Consolidated Plan is Monday evening. • Troy said ultimately it comes down to Council and right now they see it as a fee waiver. Another solution we should continue to put energy into is a grant fund, a pool of money, which could pay those fees for small houses and other things we need. We keep hearing there is no political will for waivers. • Jeffrey said it doesn’t strike him as a waiver at all. The capital impact fees have to have a rational basis. The backfill issue would not be applicable to a rebalancing of fees for smaller versus larger homes. He wonders if Council is concerned about a change that might call into question the validity of impact fees. It seems logical to have a discussion on this issue. • Sue said she had two studies come across her desk. One was for Greeley, which included a regional analysis that found Fort Collins to be on the low end for fees. • Jeffrey said there have been other studies that found the same thing, but that is a different issue. • Sue said she saw another study that commercial is on the higher end, but residential is middle to low. • Jeffrey said if we are trying to encourage affordability, density, and walkability, which is more sustainable, that has nothing to do with competition with other municipalities. What are we doing to not discourage that kind of development? People would like to build a smaller product, but cannot do it with the fees. The fix seems easy, in a revenue neutral manner. • Curt added that a smaller house is more expensive to build per square foot, but you can make a much less expensive product. But if the fees are the same, it adds cost per square foot. You can’t make the numbers work. • Eloise said it discourages the building of affordable products. What committee does the board need to attend to get this issue moving forward? • Troy said Council is not differentiating between the fee waiver and the fees for smaller houses not being accurate to their impact. • Curt said Jessica Ping-Small presented a few years ago and the permits issued for 1200 square feet or less were minimal. Even before the fees went up it still wasn’t affordable to build. • Jeffrey said it might be easier to talk about removing road blocks rather than creating incentives. • Diane said it is simply a percentage of the cost of building, and it makes sense to balance that out. • Troy said the board can approach this by adding researching this topic to the work plan with the intention of advising Council. • Sue said HAPS speaks to this issue. • Troy asked if we have gone into the details of how a smaller home has a lesser impact. • Sue added that the board can look at the HAPS language to see if it does what we want, add some examples, and status reports, and the board could write a memo that this rebalancing is a piece that is not getting the attention it needs. She will also talk to Jessica about her fee study to make sure this topic is really addressed. • Jeffrey requested to ask Jessica to speak at the February meeting about what she has been tasked to do and how it relates to HAPS. • Sue spoke with the Chamber about HAPS and they asked about the fee study. Jessica and Mike Beckstead agreed that these studies could be more aligned. • Eloise suggested finding jurisdictions that have sliding scale fees for smaller homes. • Curt said Cameron Gloss would most likely be up on that topic. • Troy said he and Cameron understand ADUs, and what he alluded to in his presentation was that there was not support from Council to make ADUs easier, especially in the Old Town area. They have embraced ADUs in newer neighborhoods, though. • Sue noted that the south side of town has higher water tap fees as it is in the Fort Collins-Loveland water district. • Curt added that infill fees should not be the same as building on the periphery. • Tatiana said redevelopment fees depend on whether you maintain the footprint of the previous building. • Curt said the infrastructure is all already there. • Eloise said there needs to be a traffic improvement fund to have roadways widened, etc. to accommodate infill. • Curt said that is in the fee structure. • Jeffrey said he would like to get sound bites in to Council on a more regular basis. He is willing to go to Council meetings and speaking to HAPS and things that are getting accomplished. • Troy suggested developing bullet items during the board meetings so that representatives can have something to discuss at Council meetings. • Jeffrey would like to make sure HAPS does not stall out and that when we come back with the fee rebalancing, it is not a surprise. • Sue said HAPS is not stalling; it will move forward in bits and pieces. • Sue will prepare bullets on HAPS successes and email to the board. Jeffrey will go to Council and present. • Diane will email out the dates of the regular meetings and schedule members to attend. • Jeffrey requested Sue suggest bullet points for presenting to Council. Sue said the Five Year Strategic Plan will have topic for discussion as well. ITEM 4: 2015-2019 HOUSING AFFORDABILITY STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE Sue said there have been two subcommittee meetings. Members are using the former plan as a starting place, updating data points, looking for new ones, and adding structure. Members looked at peer city plans and the subcommittee noticed that our plan does not have overarching themes. Subcommittee members are trying to give some examples of occupations at various AMIs, set context for the plan, and determine what the goals are. Monday’s meeting will look at numbers to determine if the current goals are still relevant. The current four goals haven’t changed much, but we have looked at expanding as Homebuyers Assistance to “Homeownership Assistance,” to broaden the scope. Discussion/Q & A: • Troy said the homework is to go through the existing plan and bring suggestions. The other city plans are useful to see how they categorized, what data they looked at, and how they formatted their plans. • Diane said the easier to read plans with more graphics and sidebar stories are better to navigate and get information quickly. • Sue said in the current plan, there is an annual plan built in. That is helpful and can be done again. She saw a plan with some very specific goals, such as number of units to be built. • Troy said next month the subcommittee will have more to report. • Sue added that we are scheduled for a super board meeting at the end of February and we need to determine how to best use that time. • Eloise asked if the strategic plan would address the Land Bank. • Sue said it is a specific program and the strategic plan is so big, but it might be good to include the program in the plan. We can align the studies in the plan. OTHER BUSINESS ITEM 1: OPEN BOARD DISCUSSION • Jeffrey asked if the City, through the Municipal League, is monitoring or lobbying at the state level for the product liability issue. What is the status? • Sue said Representative Ulibarri is planning on carrying a bill. Nothing has been introduced. Our legislative committee has identified it and recognizes this as a major issue. Dan Weinheimer is our person. The Colorado Municipal League has also taken this on as an issue. • Troy asked if the board could advise our state representatives, or if we have to go through Council. If we want to push this through state legislature, why not engage our legislators? This issue comes up every time we discuss affordable housing. • Tatiana said individually we can express personal opinions. • Sue said you may be able to recognize that the City has made this part of their priority legislative agenda and point that out to the representatives. • Eloise requested Sue draft language for individual letters. • Sue agreed to find out if the board can directly contact the state legislature. She added that the education pieces the board is going to bring to Council are important in helping them understand the issues. • Diane announced that Interfaith Council will have affordable housing as primary focus this year. Interfaith Council is a collaboration between faith organizations and nonprofits in the community. There will be various programs and she will be involved in them. • Jeffrey said that is great because Interfaith gets things done. • Sue said the Fort Collins church network is now giving more support too. They are opening a benevolence center by the Genesis Project. They will have a coffee shop and be a day center for homeless and others. There will also be a benevolence center where people can go to get help. • Troy asked about the Point in Time Count. • Sue said the 21st is the Homelessness Summit, and the following week, 27-28th, is the PIT. Members can sign up to interview people at Homeward 2020’s website. It will be a shorter questionnaire this year. • Tatiana asked what the City is doing to educate HOA managers about licensing. • Sue said she thinks the state is pushing that out. She will check with Neighborhood Services. • Jeffrey said the law goes into effect in the summer and requires HOA managers to be licensed. He doubts the City will get involved as it is being promoted hard by DORA. It does not impact volunteer boards. • Tatiana said the City used to have HOA classes. • Curt asked why municipalities believe affordable housing is a good thing and have interest in it. How do cities see that it benefits them, whereas if a city gentrifies there can be more revenue? Why does the city care if the employees drive from other communities? • Sue said here, with the triple bottom line, the driving has negative environmental impact, so it is beneficial to have housing within the city. To be strong and healthy, we need diversity. Economic diversity necessitates a diverse workforce. • Troy said whether you want diversity or not, it has to exist in an economy, as you have the service industry and a variety of things the economy does. You have a population of citizens at different income levels. The charge of the government is to care for the citizenry. • Sue added that we already have low income people here and the mission of the government is to serve all the people of the community. • Diane added that this includes people who cannot work. • Curt said this is too big a conversation for tonight. There are many communities where people cannot afford to live and have to commute in. Economic diversity gets overlooked a lot, and is the last legal discrimination. • Troy added that you don’t want to give a loan to someone who can’t pay it back, but if you are a landlord you can’t base your decision to rent to someone on other diversity factors except income and credit score. • Sue said Boulder is looking at source of income as a protected class and adding Section 8 as a source of income. • Curt said for Fort Collins, Boulder, and Steamboat, people want to get in and live here. It creates underemployment. Landlords and employers know it. • Sue agreed to do more research on Curt’s topic. ITEM 2: LIAISON REPORTS • None. ITEM 3: FUTURE MEETINGS AGENDA • Not discussed. ITEM 4: CITY COUNCIL SIX-MONTH PLANNING CALENDAR REVIEW • Not discussed. – Meeting adjourned at 6:13pm by Troy Jones – The next meeting of the Affordable Housing Board is scheduled for: February 5 at 4:00pm Participants will meet at: Fort Collins City Hall Council Information Center 300 Laporte Ave