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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAHAB minutes 061119 Orange County Affordable Housing Advisory Board Minutes Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 6:00 pm Southern Human Services Center 2501 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Members Present: Douglas Boemker, Keith Cook (Chair), Olivia Fisher, Tammy Jacobs, Ellie Kinnaird, Allison Mahaley, Mae McLendon, Noah Oswald (starting at 6:55 pm), Narayanan Venkatakrishnan Parlikad, Blake Rosser and Arthur Sprinczeles Members Absent: Alison Brown, Nannie Richmond, Jenn Sykes and Cain Twyman Invited Speaker Present: Jackie Jenks, Executive Director, ICF and Affordable Housing Coalition Representative Staff Present: Sherrill Hampton, Housing and Community Development Director and Diane Beecham, Community Development Specialist I. Call to Order/Introductions — The Chair, Kevin Cook, called the meeting to order at 6:06 pm. II. Presentation on Development Review Principles — Ms. Hampton introduced Ms. Jenks who was representing the Affordable Housing Coalition. Ms. Jenks and a Coalition subcommittee worked to develop a series of "guiding principles" which would assist with working with the development community early on in the development process as it relates to affordable housing. The principles are intended to let the development community know what the Affordable Housing Coalition wants in terms of affordable housing as early as possible, particularly before the developers submit a formal application. Ms. Jenks indicated that area developers have been waiting for these principles. The developers might think that it is a "heavy" list but it represents the dire need of affordable housing in the community. Naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) is coming off the market at the same time it is desperately needed. Ms. Jenks said that 40% of Orange County residents are eligible for affordable housing, yet only 3% of the housing stock is considered to be affordable. The principles are as follows: 1. Development should incorporate affordable units on-site whenever possible and provide 15% of any proposed multi-family rental units as affordable. 2. Ensure any affordable units are rented at a rate affordable to households with a gross income a little less than 50% of the area median income (AMI). The Coalition wants housing to be affordable for a two-person household who Page 1 both earn the Orange County living wage, which ends up being a little less than 50% AMI. 3. Commit to a 30-year period of affordability. 4. Partner with an affordable housing agency, local government or third party agency to screen tenants for income qualifications. 5. Accept Housing Choice Vouchers for the affordable units. 6. Dedicate all affordable units to households that are not comprised entirely of full-time students. 7. Promote access to housing by including extenuating circumstances for applicants who may have criminal or credit issues. 8. Ensure the affordable units are integrated appropriately into the development as a whole, including similar bedroom-counts and exterior appearance. Mr. Cook asked why developers do not want to do the income verification. Is it too complex? Ms. Jenks responded that she will get an answer to that question and relay it back to the Advisory Board. Ms. McLendon said that if a potential employee works in the public section then their income/salary data is public information. If it is in the private section, then the income verification requires a fee. Ms. Jenks also stated that income verification requires a more rigorous and administrative burden to ensure that a tenant's income is below 50% AMI. Landlords are used to doing a background check just to make that the tenant is working so that they can regularly pay the rent. Sherrill Hampton stated that with regards to the 30-year affordability period, each jurisdiction will have different ways to impose this requirement. All commitments and/or concessions made part of the development process negotiations must be in writing. Ms. Kinnaird stated that it will be difficult to enforce restricting student housing. Mr. Boemker stated that he shares Ms. Kinnaird's concerns about using zoning enforcement as the way to keep units affordable. Arthur Sprinczeles relayed a situation that he was aware of in which a couple was involved in a domestic argument. The police were called and it ended up being a he said/she said situation in which both parties denied that they were involved. He learned that the wife was thrown off the HCV waiting list because of the domestic violence call even though she did nothing wrong. Page 2 Mr. Cook said that it may be better to have the affordable housing provisions in some type of unified ordinance that all the jurisdictions used rather than a mix of different ones. There is also the issue of developers who now almost uniformly choose payment in-lieu-of developing affordable housing on-site. III. Approval of Agenda — On a motion by Ms. McLendon and seconded by Ms. Mahaley, the Advisory Board unanimously approved the agenda for this meeting. IV. Approval of Minutes — On a motion by Ms. Kinnaird and seconded by Ms. McLendon, the Advisory Board unanimously approved the minutes of the May 14, 2019 AHAB meeting. V. Message from the Chair— Mr. Cook stated that he did not want the AHAB to lose its enthusiasm. He wants to members to continue attending other non- profits' meetings and then report back to the Advisory Board in order to learn more about what other organizations are doing in the realm of affordable housing. Ms. McLendon stated that the Advisory Board should meet with the area's affordable housing providers. Ms. Hampton said that she will resend the list of area affordable housing providers to the AHAB. VI. Updates from Board Members — Ms. McLendon stated that the IFC food pantry building on W. Main Street in Carrboro is slowly being demolished. Their new building will be finished in December 2020 which will house the now separate food pantry and community kitchen. In the interim, the administrative offices and food pantry will relocate to the old Town Hall on W. Rosemary Street, the site of the current community kitchen. VI I. Updates from the H&CD Department — Ms. Hampton stated that she recommends that the Affordable Housing Bus Tour be held in Spring, 2020. She also wanted the AHAB to remember that a bus tour was hosted last year by the Affordable Housing Coalition, which focused on Chapel Hill and Carrboro since there is not much affordable housing in the rural parts of the County. There is one development in Efland and one in Hillsborough. It would be useful to think about the goals of the next bus tour and what the Advisory Board wants to accomplish. Ms. Mahaley asked if the County has had discussions with Belleview about whether the development will take vouchers. Ms. Hampton responded that she talked to the Town about it early in her tenure but can revisit the issue. Ms. Mahaley asked what can be coupled with existing local and federal funding to incentivize landlords to participate in the voucher program. One Page 3 possibility is the master leasing program like the one that is now being set up in Chapel Hill because it will cover some days that might be missed in terms of the start of new leases because of the timing of the required inspections. Ms. Hampton responded that there may be a possibility to a do a project- based voucher program for a targeted population. The vouchers stay with a particular project rather than with the individual. Mr. Rosser said that he was interested in knowing more about the master leasing program that will be located in Glen Lennox. Ms. Hampton responded that at this time the project has not gotten off the ground. In response to a question, Ms. Hampton said that homes fixed or rehabbed under the Urgent Repair and Single-Family Rehabilitation Programs can be included in the bus tour but have to be mindful that there are confidentiality issues and will have to get permission from the owners. Ms. Hampton said that the Department can send 2-3 AHAB members to the state affordable housing conference which is being held this year October 7- 8. As for the Local Voucher Program, the public ads will be in the newspapers tomorrow; there will be a program briefing held for social service providers tomorrow; and the application portal will be open staring June 19tn As for the Rapid Rehousing Program, the specifics of how the program will be administered are still being discussed. The applicants will go through the existing coordinated entry program to access the program. As of the end of June, a total of 40 units will have been fixed or rehabbed through the Urgent Repair or Single-Family Rehabilitation program in the past two years. Ms. Hampton stated that she is still waiting to hear back about additional Racial Equality Institute (REI) training sessions and when she know the dates she will inform the AHAB. VIII. Old and New Business — Mr. Cook stated that the Advisory Board needs to develop an agenda for the meeting they will have with board members of local affordable housing groups. Ms. Hampton responded that the Orange County Collaborative and the Affordable Housing Coalition is in the process of setting up this type of meeting. They have selected the topics that they want to focus on including mobile home park closures and housing for those who Page 4 are at 30% AMI or less. Thy meeting is to be held in July or September. Ms. Hampton recommended that the AHAB not duplicate the efforts that are now already underway, The Advisory Board will be invited to this meeting. Ms. Jacobs responded that if this meeting is not held by September then the Advisory Board should go ahead with setting up their meeting. Ms. Hampton recommended that the Advisory Board set up a subcommittee to develop an agenda for the upcoming community meetings. She suggested that the Advisory Board use their August meeting to serve as a planning meeting for the community meeting. Ms. McLendon agreed that August meeting should be used for this purpose instead of getting a speaker for that month. Mr. Sprinczeles stated that he though a better way to get the community's input about affordable housing is to instead to go to community events and meetings and talk to the people that attend them as well as provide affordable housing information at these events. He does not think that they will be a good turnout for a meeting community meeting on affordable housing. IX. Adjournment —On a motion by Allison Mahaley and seconded by Arthur Sprinczeles, the Advisory Board voted to adjourn at 7:35 PM. Submitted by Diane Beecham, Community Development Specialist Page 5