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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAHAB minutes 051419 Orange County Affordable Housing Advisory Board Minutes Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 6:00 pm Conference Room 204 131 W. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC 27278 Members Present: Keith Cook (Chair), Olivia Fisher, Tammy Jacobs (Vice Chair), Ellie Kinnaird, Allison Mahaley, Mae McLendon, Noah Oswald, Narayanan Venkatakrishnan Parlikad, Jenn Sykes Members Absent: Alison Brown, Douglas Boemker, Nannie Richmond, Blake Rosser, Arthur Sprinczeles, Cain Twyman Staff Present: Sherrill Hampton, Housing and Community Development Director and Diane Beecham, Community Development Specialist I. Call to Order/Introductions — The Chair, Mr. Kevin Cook, called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm. There were no suggested changes to the agenda. II. Approval of Minutes — On a motion by Ellie Kinnaird and seconded by Allison Mahaley, the Advisory Board unanimously approved the meeting minutes of April 23, 2019. On a motion by Jenn Sykes and seconded by Mae McLendon the Advisory Board approved the March 26, 2019 minutes. On a motion by Tammy Jacobs and seconded by Ellie Kinnaird, the Advisory Board unanimously voted to reopen the vote on the April 23rd minutes to make the change that Ellie Kinnaird gave the report on the Family Success Alliance, rather than Jenn Sykes. III. Message from Chair— Mr. Cook stated that he wanted to address the letter to the Advisory Board from the County Attorney. He stated that the Advisory Board has been tasked to accomplish a number of items, including giving a housing report to the BOCC. The Advisory Board needs to start moving forward on this. The County Attorney's letter stated that the Advisory Board requested a separate budget apart from the Housing and Community Development. Mr. Cook said that the Advisory Board was not requesting a separate budget, but instead wanted to be part of the Department budget and have funds available for such items as the affordable housing bus tour, attendance at the annual convention in Raleigh and having food provided at the new member orientation. Mr. Cook stated that a new member orientation is very important because he thinks that one reason new members often do not ask questions or participate in the discussion is that they do not know enough about what is being discussed. Presently, the new member orientation is only 30 minutes long and held right before a regular meeting. He would like to have a luncheon orientation. Mr. Cook stated that he was on the Department of Aging Board and through activities on that Board was able to know every Board and staff member. One of these activities was a breakfast meeting with local ministers that over time became very well attended. He would like to have a similar type of meeting with ministers and affordable housing advocates. Also, Mr. Cook wants the agencies that come before the Advisory Board to come to a meeting at least once a year so that Advisory Board members can learn more about these agencies. He indicated that he would like to have the support of the Director for this proposal. Ms. Page 1 McLendon stated that these proposals sound great but has a concern that it will add to the staff's workload. The department's staff members have more responsibilities than the monthly AHAB meetings. It will require a lot of work to plan and coordinate a meeting such as the ministers' meeting. Mr. Cook responded that he has known other boards that regularly meet out in the community. Mr. Cook said that he wants the Advisory Board to become experts on affordable housing and so should regularly talk to professionals about their duties and responsibilities. The County has requested the Advisory Board to do specific things that it is not currently doing. [Mr. Cook read the charge and responsibilities of the AHAB]. He said that at this time, the Advisory Board has not done anything as required by this charge. If the Advisory Board is to increase awareness of affordable housing issues then it has to go out into the community rather than sit in a conference room. Ms. Hampton stated that the County attorney laid out the process to schedule AHAB meetings outside of their regular schedule. Also, she understood that the Advisory Board wants to change the meeting locations as opposed to adding additional meetings to the schedule. Ms. Hampton went over the process that the County Attorney indicated in his email which required that the AHAB petition the BOCC to make the change. A letter has been drafted for the Advisory Board's consideration which includes proposed community meetings to be held at community centers on June 11th, September 10th and November 12th. The August AHAB meeting should be used as a planning meeting for the members to develop an agenda for the community meetings. In addition, the Affordable Housing Coalition and the Local Government Affordable Housing Collaborative have been discussing a possible schedule for a meeting of all area affordable housing representatives and Ms. Hampton will make sure that the AHAB is invited. Ms. Hampton stated that there will now be a full two hour orientation for new members rather than for thirty minutes prior to a regular meeting. All program staff members will be in attendance. A new Community Development Manager position, which includes real estate experience, has been created and once this position is filled this person will attend AHAB meetings. Both OCHA and AHAB members are also invited to the annual landlord and tenant meetings as well as to other meetings and public hearings. The Advisory Board is also regularly sent relevant information that comes to the OCH&CD Department and a follow up section has been added to the Director's report to make sure that there is follow up on information and requests. Departmental funding is being to last year's level but there is sufficient funding allocated for a couple of AHAB members to attend the annual conference. Lastly, Ms. Hampton said that the Affordable Housing Coalition has developed a series of guiding principles for the development of affordable housing and wants to present them to other affordable housing groups and so she has asked them to present them to AHAB at its June meeting. Ms. Hampton also said that the letter to the BOCC requesting a change in its meeting schedule should go before them at their June meeting since they do not meet during the summer. She will follow up on the availability of the community centers and staff will be responsible for the logistics of the meetings. The Advisory Board should create a subcommittee to develop an agenda for these meetings. Page 2 In response to a question, Ms. Hampton stated that she is not opposed to having programmatic staff attend an AHAB meeting to discuss Department activities and programs. [There was discussion about the fact that both community centers cited in the letter to the BOCC are in northern Orange County. It was decided to broaden the geographic location by including the Carrboro Century Center, Seymour Center and Hargraves Community Center, among others.] On a motion by Allison Mahaley and seconded by Jenn Sykes, the Advisory Board unanimously voted to send the letter to the BOCC requesting permission to change the regular locations of their meetings to other locations around the County, to include the Carrboro Century Center, Seymour Center and Hargraves Community Center, among others. IV. Updates from Board Members — Jenn Sykes reported on the rezoning petition before the Hillsborough Planning Board to rezone the area at Nash & Tryon Streets to allow for three single family homes. She reported that affordable housing was often mentioned at the hearing and the Planning Board gave a favorable recommendation to the Town Council. Mae McLendon reported that that the Rogers Road community is looking for funding to help pay for water and sewer residential connections to the new public system. Also, they want to review the zoning in their area in light of the new public water and sewer. V. Director's Report — The new Local Voucher Program will go live during the week of June 17-24th. A briefing for service providers will be held on June 12th and the announcement for the new program will be made to the public on June 3rd. The announcement will be in three newspapers, on the County's website and all service providers will receive copies of the announcement. The Rapid Re-Housing Program will be launched on June 12th. The amount of funds available is $25,000 and assistance is provided for a two-year period. It is anticipated that ten families will be served. The FY 2019-20 HUD HOME program public hearing is scheduled for May 21St at 7:00 pm at the Southern Human Services Center. The AHAB will receive the quarterly reports from the outside agencies that received funding. This practice was started last year. The Department received a $80,000 grant from the NCHFA for its Urgent Repair program. VI. Old and New Business —Allison Mahaley stated that she will follow up on the possibility of AHAB members attending a Racial Equality Institute (REI) training session. Adjournment — The Advisory Board voted to adjourn at 7:40 pm. Page 3 Submitted by Diane Beecham, Community Development Specialist Page 4