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Home My WebLink AboutAHAB Meeting Minutes 8.12.2025 August 12, 2025 AHAB Roster AHAB Members Present in Person (3): Lynn Nilsson, Matthew Ferguson, Alicia Reid AHAB Members Present Online (6): Holly Meschko, Todd Orr, Andrew Semmes, Monica Palmeira, Mary Towell, Kyle Myers AHAB Members Absent (5): Thomas Grastly, Anna Jefferson Sarah Adams, MZ K Johnson, Mariela Hernandez (Monica check in with these 3 members to confirm AHAB membership) Staff Present (1): Aaron Cohen ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Approve Minutes from May and June meeting • Did not have quorum in June, may not need to keep minutes from this meeting. Monica will circle back with Willie if there were some June notes just for the record. • Matthew move to approve May minutes, Lynn seconds, all approve. (2) Updates: • Inventory ■ Matthew made a few changes (formatting) ■ Matthew moves to submit to Blake, Lynn seconds, all in favor ■ Blake will review, then will go to County Commissioners • Work Planning ■ Will prioritize for the October meeting • Long Time Homeowners Tax Assistance Program ■ 90% increase in applications, to be expected with property tax reevaluation ■ Increase in funding allocation from County. Carrboro and Chapel Hill are matching funds. ■ Will be able to complete payment process sooner than last year, which will be more helpful structured as a deduction in bill. ■ Anyone who qualifies will get some amount of$$. Use a formula to help figure out how much across all applicants. ■ Last year was in the $300s, which is significantly less than what folks expect. This year might be even less. ■ Staff considering recommending lowering home value limits. • Currently the max values are set by County Commissioners and reference HUD limits • Might consider looking at reducing AMI from 80% to 70% and from 100% HUD value limits to more like 85% HUD value limits ■ Will be visiting churches to provide technical assistance, organized by Justice United • HOME Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan ■ Both approved by County Commissioners ■ Annual Action Plan - Repair and Rehabilitation, Tenant Based Rental Assistance, Land Acquisition • Findings from most 2019 and 2023 Audits ■ Working on resolving all outstanding issues with HUD • Collaborating with Habitat on Tropical Storm Relief ■ Fast track repair projects ■ Governor working on getting additional funding (in addition to Helene relief) • Collaboration with Climate Action Planning and Extreme Heat (3) Community Meeting Planning: • Last one was in Cedar Grove • April meeting we considered Chapel Hill and Efland. RHNA Center on Rogers Road a possibility, will check on availability. • For now let's focus on one, in Chapel Hill, aiming for September or October already designated meeting time. • AGENDA • Focused on what the County is able to do for folks like property tax assistance and rental assistance • What to do about serious concerns about tax reevaluation? ■ It's a tax issue, not a housing issue. Set by tax office. ■ Timing with property tax program might be helpful, have a resource to point to • Notecards and pens with questions if folks would like to participate in other ways • Suggestions with what can help with affordability in the County • What have we accomplished? CIP Funding, Inventory, etc • Allow public comments? • Make sure folks are aware of constraints, etc. • Want to prioritize hearing people's voices, want to be conscientious about time limits • Staff table with technical assistance and information (tax assistance and repair/rehab work) • Ground rules at the beginning • Break up items with discussion/Q&A • Matthew will put together rough draft PPT and draft agenda, which we will finalize during September meeting ■ https://docs.google.com/document/d/18n0u2- LtN4xr8G8U9uQBGXyGkcibgNOuxFMSIK35kiA/edit?tab=t.0 o We will take concerns, info back to Housing Staff and Board of Commissioners ■ Encourage folks to contact elected officials • PUBLICITY o Reach out to housing groups, News of Orange County, other housing providers. o Staff will solidify date and venue, will confirm with AHAB and we can all start reaching out. Staff can lead on outreach and let AHAB know who we should reach out to ourselves.