HomeMy WebLinkAboutAHAB.Minutes.9.10.24 Orange County Affordable
ORANGE COUNTY Housing
HOUSING DEPARTMENT Advisory Board (AHAB)
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 10t", 2024
300 W Tryon St.
Hillsborough, NC 27278
Staff Present: Blake Rosser,Aaron Rimmler-Cohen
I. Call to Order at 6:07 PM
11. Approval Of Minutes
Motion to Approve Minutes from May Meeting: Passed unanimously with amendment
(community meeting planning meeting).
III. Approval of Change in Location
Motion to move all meetings to Hillsborough or remote, passes unanimously.
IV. Updates
a. Staff Updates
Aaron:The Longtime Homeowners Tax Assistance Program (described program) has
received several hundred applications, please share the link with anyone who might
be interested in applying.We also continue to integrate more evidence and
performance-based processes to support our HOME allocations, in line with this
group's recommendations.
Blake:We are hiring our new Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness
Manager.
b. Member Updates
Lynn:We have been operating without a Board Secretary,which staff has been
serving as. Please refer to the email and let me know who is interested!
Matt:The research project is still happening, but progress will be slow this
upcoming month.
Kyle:To that point, I have downloaded my data and need your support.
Lynn:To that point, is home preservation or rehabilitation an activity that we should
be including the research project?
Kyle:Anything housing related I flagged.
Lynn: I can go back and work through that.
Holly: I did, but I wasn't sure if it was complete.
Orange County Affordable
ORANGE COUNTY Housing
HOUSING DEPARTMENT Advisory Board (AHAB)
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 10t', 2024
300 W Tryon St.
Hillsborough, NC 27278
Kyle:The findings were very interesting! One of the things we always talk about is
how long the timeline for development can be, and that's a reason to be forgiving to
developers.
Tom: I also had an update regarding Carolina Core.The report looks at affordable
housing in 21 counties but did not include Orange County.They have a meeting at
High Point University on September 27'. I'm happy to circulate the report when it
comes out, and you can see my email.
Mary:There was a social media post regarding Habitat for Humanity's post,which
included $32K for a single person household.
Lynn: Habitat supports folks with a higher AMI (60%or above).
Holly:This is part of the problem; if they receive the bulk of the funds and they are
supporting AMI >60%, are we supporting the highest-need individuals?
Kyle: Cedar Village—CASA did not receive money from NCHFA.
V. Annual Meeting
Matt: How do we want to plan for next year?We can look at what we did last year.
Lynn: Can we take notes on the whiteboard?
Aaron: No problem!
Lynn: Let's set aside at least 2-3 months for presentations from partners.
Kyle:Joe from CHP(Chapel Hill/Trinity Court) offered a site visit,which will result in 72
affordable housing units.
Matt:Something else I'd like to add is a data meeting to review the research that has
been performed and to get fresh eyes.
Holly: Is there anything we can do about Cedar Village?
Kyle: Unfortunately, no.
Monica: It would be great if we could use the$500 million surplus at the state level to go
to housing.
Blake: One of the meetings we'll need to discuss is the affordable housing scoring
matrix for the next CIP.We can also schedule a meeting with the OCHA Board.
Orange County Affordable
ORANGE COUNTY Housing
HOUSING DEPARTMENT Advisory Board (AHAB)
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 10t", 2024
300 W Tryon St.
Hillsborough, NC 27278
Lynn: It would be great if the Human Relations committee could also be in our
community meetings;this might also require a joint meeting.
Monica: I really like the idea of visiting other boards.Would it be inappropriate to invite
developers?
Blake:That's completely fine.
Matt:That's a great idea!
Kyle: Developers are largely dependent on the review of boards like this one to receive
funds.They would love to provide feedback in a more informal setting.
Andrew: Do we have the ability to advocate for policy change?We need to increase
supply—how do we look at zoning regulations?Are we allowed to advocate at the
County level?
Blake: So it sounds like you want to meet with the Planning Department?
Lynn: I have a hard time separating between what the"Board"is doing,vs.what a
subcommittee could focus on, such as policy change. Do we want to create that kind of
subcommittee structure?
Andrew: I'd hope that we had the opportunity to contribute to the Land Use Plan and
communicate about the importance of re-zoning to support affordable housing.
Kyle:The Town of Apex is a good case study for how re-zoning can happen, but it is quite
difficult politically.
Lynn: I think we need to stay on topic.
Blake:Two other groups that I would suggest: 1) Fair housing folks,to complement the
HRC; 2)Justice United,who does great work and is in line with your proposals.
Lynn: I'm also happy to share relevant event meetings through our Google Drive.
Matt: I think there's also a great opportunity to point residents in the direction of zoning
and other relevant partners.
Aaron:We also have the Central Pines partner who is working on our Consolidated Plan.
Matt: How long do we want to meet with some of these partners? For example, how long
would we want to meet with the Planning Department. How about combining the
October meeting with Justice United?
Lynn: Do we also want to include specific questions or prompts for people who are
visiting?
Orange County Affordable
ORANGE COUNTY Housing
HOUSING DEPARTMENT Advisory Board (AHAB)
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 10t", 2024
300 W Tryon St.
Hillsborough, NC 27278
Matt: For October, let's combine Central Pines and Justice United.
Matt: For November, let's invite the Planning Committee.
Matt: For December, let's do the data report-out and also invite the OCHA.
Matt: For January, let's discuss the Affordable Housing Scoring Matrix.
Matt: For March and April: Let's do Outside Agencies.
Matt: For May, let's do the Community Meeting.
Matt: For February, let's invite developers to present perspectives.
Lynn: Mariela, could you comment on the HRC's participation? Do you think we should
do a joint meeting ahead of time?
Mariela: I think we need to do a joint meeting ahead of time to set an agenda prior to the
community presentation,to better understand howthey can support the community.
Matt: By June,we can look at a report to be able to send to the Board.
Lynn: So July we're off, and we don't have anything planned for August. Since we always
overrun, I don't think we need a plan necessarily.
Matt:We could also have a second community meeting depending on how the first
meeting goes.
Lynn: Do we also want to create a subcommittee to support onboarding for new Board
meetings?
Mariela:As long as it's optional, I'd be interested in participating.
Matt:We can also e-mail the full group to see who might be interested in supporting
orientation.
Matt:We have a schedule made!That was the main objective. Do we have questions?
Alicia: Do we want to also include additional site visits, like we did with Kyle?
Holly: Motion to adjourn.
Andrew: Seconds.
Motion passes unanimously.
Meeting Adjourned: 7:20 PM
Orange County Affordable
ORANGE COUNTY Housing
HOUSING DEPARTMENT Advisory Board (AHAB)
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 10t", 2024
300 W Tryon St.
Hillsborough, NC 27278