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Home My WebLink AboutAHAB Meeting Minutes 5.13.2025 May 13, 2025 AHAB Roster AHAB Members Present in Person (7):, Andrew Semmes, Lynn Nilssen, Todd Orr, Thomas Grasty, Kyle Myers, Monica Palmeira, Alicia Reid AHAB Members Present Online (2): Holly Meschko, Mary Towell AHAB Members Absent (5): Sarah Adams, MZ K Johnson, Mariela Hernandez, Matthew Ferguson, Andrew Robinson Staff Present (3): Willie Hilliard, Aaron Cohen, Blake Rosser Guests Present: Quinton Harper (Pee Wee Homes), Delores Bailey (EMPOWERment), Latanya Davis (EMPOWERment), Leah Adeniji (EMPOWERment), Richard Turlington (Habitat for Humanity), Cornelis Verkerk (CASA), Representative from Community Empowerment Fund ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Approve Minutes from last meeting: Todd moves, Andrew seconds. All approve. (2) Updates: o Staff Updates ■ Consolidated Plan draft: Community wants to focus on preservation and homelessness services. Homeownership assistance was a distant 3rd place. ■ June 2025: Annual Action Plan and 5 Year Consolidated Plan approved prior to Board recess. Should get final award amount from HUD following that. • AHAB: How can we weigh in? o Submit email comments individually or as a group, even incorporating comments. o Lynn can email group and can collaborate on how to weigh in. ■ Urgent Repair Program • Support for Long Time Homeowner Assistance Program (LHA) • Completing audits now • Recommending increase funds to this program to deal with tax increase challenges (3) Developer Session: o How do we, as AHAB, engage in development? How do we hear about the process for getting funds? We should ask them! o We reached out to everyone that has applied in the last 1-2 years to get feedback on the process of applying for funds. ■ Empowerment • Approximately 70 units in portfolio • Collaboration with the County has been key, especially for new PEACH project (10 units) • Took 5 years to make this project happen, multigenerational, different size units • Interested in preserving naturally occurring affordable housing. Purchase is expensive, put subsidy into it to prevent displacement. • Much easier to access bond funds than HOME funds. o Processes are annual, and can't take advantage of acquisition opportunities in a quick way. • Compete with affordable housing providers. Empowerment specializing in low-income rentals. Need for 30-60% AMI in particular. Gap of 1200 units per year is not getting filled. • Continue to be challenged by making the case for affordable housing and who these communities are. • CHDO as well. ■ CASA • Nonprofit affordable housing developer. Focus on people experiencing homelessness and people with disabilities. • Very low income focus. • Applying for CIP Bond funding was smooth, staff was very responsive. • Opportunities in Orange County are challenged because of availability of land and zoning (easier in places like Wake County). • Low-Income Housing Tax Credit development. Good parcel in Hillsborough. Tie breaker in LIHTC skews towards Chapel Hill rather than Hillsborough. o Is there a way to work more closely with the Towns to coordinate on pipeline? o Competing against each other, and for-profit developers. • Predevelopment costs are high, difficult as a non-profit. • County continues to be helpful in seeking funds. • Coordination o Chapel Hill has CDBG $$, County has HOME $$. o Work together in many spaces. o Pipeline planning is still a need. How to formalize is a question. o The state is also pitting people against each other. The way places are scored (small towns, for example) may change. o LIHTC and jurisdictional challenges. Evaluate projects in the pipeline, and by working together, could sequence projects in a way to make them all more likely to be successful. o How does the County organize the waiting game amongst the developers? o Also true outside of LIHTC, for other funding programs. The need for coordinating allocation of funding, so we don't cancel each other out all the time. • Wake County example o Triplex owned since the 90s, was able to access resources to rehab o Don't have to do as much process, and they have more money for supportive housing o Chapel Hill - gearing towards LIHTC and not supportive housing as much o Zoning, entitlements, amount of money available • Need to involve other agencies within the County o Make the case to new County manager, make challenges known to them o Need to be strategic about how to create changes in zoning (politically) • UDO in Chapel Hill o Trying to make missing middle work, some of the changes might work o Raleigh got a lot of backlash to changes, including density minimums in some places o Can't develop more than single family in a lot of Chapel Hill, even in broader Orange County • Developers providing feedback on parcels o Helpful to hear what sites are feasible and what is not feasible ■ Pee Wee Homes • Finding sites, developing, supporting residents coming out of homelessness (30% AMI and below) • Concerned about maintaining attention on 30% AMI and below, and the immense need. • Finding land is extremely challenging. Finishing 3 homes in Carrboro, only made possible by support/collaboration/investment from Orange County subsidizing over 50% of the cost, and Town of Carrboro providing land. • Identify land where homes can be built even if they would normally be built. Where are there opportunities to build in the County and rurally? Transportation and access are still important. • Won't be seeking funds for new development right away, but interested in discussing spacing funding and what commitments can look like. • Building only a handful of units at a time might put certain developers at a disadvantage. But these developers serve important niches. Don't want to get lost in the race to get more homes, and not consider the specific needs of permanent supportive housing. ■ Habitat for Humanity • Emphasis shifting to preservation. Increased budget for repairs, aiming for$500,000. Costs going through the roof. Scope of repairs is also greatly increasing (not just a deck, for example). o Any funds for repairs is much needed. • Homeownership and new construction. Trying to use land more wisely, build more densely. • How to get construction costs down is a goal, but everything before that (predevelopment) coming from government, donation, or selling lots to market builders. • Serve 30-80% AMI. • Leaned on bond funding for a long time, but costs are easily 4 times more now. • Do need money for larger projects to get infrastructure in the ground. Appreciate how the County spreads money around as much as possible. ■ Discussion • Home Repair pipeline: Habitat has about 6 month waiting, aim to do 40-50 repairs per year. • UNC has identified $2 million in repair costs in the County (for folks that have applied and we have identified). About 195 households. Capped at $60,000 per home. Many have needs that are much higher. • Churches with land o Don't know how to use it or how to access County money. o They are not always on transportation routes, but have lots of land. o Could do outreach to churches on an annual basis? • Mobile home parks o An important community and constituency o Programs to support these folks (beyond just urgent repair) • DMAP - Orange County and Empowerment program (?) • Figure out way for County to supplement repair money for mobile homes? • Habitat- building a home on a lot with mobile home, moving resident into that. But only works because resident owns the land. • Limitations on bond funding for mobile home parks. • Shelters • Only 1 male shelter and 1 female shelter in the entire County. • Folks are not getting help, they are out there, many working. • Applying for CIP specifically, feedback? • Scoring rubric disadvantages smaller developers and projects (less units). • Submitting multiple projects is cumbersome (redundant information). How to automate? Not currently in a portal. • Large files submitted via email are challenging. Need a system to receive the information that is being requested. • Quarterly reporting - helpful to submit in a portal. More streamlining in reporting (across quarters). • Prequalification of applicants - Screen applicants before going through entire process. ■ Motion to adjourn Mary moves, Andrew seconds. All approve. Meeting adjourns.