HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-30-2005 Housing & Community Development Commission
AGENDA
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
OLD BRICK, 26 E. MARKET STREET, IOWA CITY
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2005
6:00 P.M.
1. Call Meeting to Order
2. Approval of the May 19, 2005 Minutes
3. Public Comment of Items Not on the Agenda
4. New Business
· Review of Allocation Process - Subcommittee Report
· Hannah's Blessing Childcare Center Update
· Announce Upcoming HCDC Appointments
5. Old Business
6. Monitoring Reports
· Eagles Flight Youth Program (Bears)
· ICCSD Wood Resource Center (Hayek)
· Economic Development Fund (Edwards)
7. Adjournment
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CITY OF IOWA CITY
MEMORANDUM
Date:
June 24, 2005
To:
From:
Housing and Community Development Commission
Steve Long, Associate PlannerC)l/
HCDC Meeting on June 30, 2005
Re:
The June HCDC meeting will be held immediately after the Community Development
Celebration at Old Brick, 26 E. Market Street. As you know, the annual Community
Development Celebration will be from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. A short ceremony will begin
at 5:00 pm when Mayor Ernie Lehman will distribute the Community Development
Volunteer Awards and then hand out "big checks" to the FY06 CDBG/HOME recipients.
The following is a short description of the June agenda items. If you have any
questions about the agenda or are unable to attend the meeting, please contact Tracy
Hightshoe at 356-5244 or by email at tracy-hightshoe@iowa-city.org.
New Business
Review of the Allocation Process - Subcommittee Report
A subcommittee was created to discuss any ideas or suggestions made during this
year's allocation process that could improve next year's process. The subcommittee
met and they will give a report to the commission.
Hannah's Blessing Childcare Center Update
Eagles Flight, Inc (DBA Hannah's Blessing Childcare Center) received CDBG funds to
acquire, rehabilitate and operate a childcare center at 1516 Sheridan Avenue for low-
moderate income households. They ceased operations a few months ago and the
property was deeded to the City on May 16. Staff will update the Commission on the
options available for the property.
Upcoming HCDC Vacancies
Mark Edwards, Jayne Sandler, and Jerry Anthony's terms expire September 1, 2005. If
interested in reapplying, please submit your application to the City Clerk before July 13,
2005.
Monitoring Reports
· Eagles Flight Youth Program (Bears)
· ICCSD Wood Resource Center (Hayek)
· Economic Development Fund (Edwards)
MINUTES
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
LOBBY CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2005
PRELIMINARY
Members Present: Jerry Anthony, Lori Bears, Mark Edwards, William Greazel, Brian Richman,
Jayne Sandler, Michael Shaw
Members Absent: Matthew Hayek, Rita Marcus
Staff Present: Tracy Hightshoe
Public Present: Charlie Eastham, Maryann Dennis
CALL MEETING TO ORDER
Vice chairperson Anthony called the meeting to order at 6:40 PM.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM APRIL 21, 2005
Motion: Sandler moved to approve the minutes as submitted with one name correction. Richman
seconded the motion.
Motion passed 7:0.
PUBLIC COMMENT OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA
Hightshoe said that at the last council meeting, the Council approved the budget, but did not approve the
requests for variances concerning financial terms. She said that the Council discussed the requests and
current policy at their May 16 work session and decided to defer it to the next meeting. Council directed
staff to draft a policy that acknowledges that some public facility improvements depreciate over time.
Hightshoe stated staff will present a policy to Council that most likely is based on the dollar amount
assisted, thus larger projects will have a longer financing term than smaller projects. For example, a
project receiving $20,000 might have a four-year financing term (declining balance loan or conditional
occupancy loan); whereas a project receiving $5,000 may only have a one-year financing term.
Richman asked what is the difference between a forgivable loan, declining balance loan and a conditional
occupancy loan. Hightshoe said that a conditional occupancy loan is a loan that never needs to be repaid
unless the property is sold or services stated in the agreement are discontinued. The full amount of the
loan is repaid in either one of these situations (sale of property or discontinuation of the services during
the financing term). A forgivable loan is forgiven at the end of a set time period. A declining balance loan
is a loan where a certain percentage is forgiven each year until the final year of the financing term. Thus
if the financing term is 10 years, the City would forgive 1/10 each year and after 10 years the loan is
completely forgiven. If the property is sold or services discontinued in year 5, 50% of the original amount
would need to be repaid to the City.
Sandler asked if there is a break down of what the Council is looking for with the declining balance loans.
Hightshoe said that the Council gave no direction, just asked the staff to acknowledge depreciating
assets.
Richman said he considers that it is a policy problem that the commission should review. He added that
our federal funds will get tighter and tighter and the commission would need to try to recycle the funds as
much as possible. Richman suggested the commission review the policy as part of the annual review
process. Hightshoe said that the commission could always make recommendations for the next allocation
round (FY07). Hightshoe stated staff is under time constraints with the agreements for the upcoming year,
starting July 2005 (FY06).
Dennis said that part of the intent of HUD is to provide money for cities to keep projects going. She said
that if the intent is to get the money back, as an organization they have a history of repaying loans and
would be happy to continue doing so for future projects.
Eastham said that it would helpful to find ways to use HOME and CDBG funds to maximize the number of
rental and owner occupied housing that could be built over a certain time.
Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes
May 19, 2005
Page 2
Sandler said at this point there is hardly any money coming back. Hightshoe stated the City has various
housing projects repaying the City for funds invested in affordable housing. HACAP, GICHF, Burns &
Burns projects, and a few other housing providers make monthly or annual payments to the City for
mostly rental housing projects.
Richman said they would have to decide what would serve the community over the long term. He added
that there would be a whole set of policies that would need to be considered.
NEW BUSINESS
Review of Allocation Process - Creation of Subcommittee
Hightshoe said that each year the commission reviews the allocation process. The commission may
either create a subcommittee or review the process at a regular meeting. Members agreed to establish a
subcommittee to review the entire funding process and make recommendations. Richman, Sandler and
Greazel volunteered to be on the subcommittee.
Greazel suggested that the subcommittee meet with a few applicants and determine the difficulties with
the application process to make the process more user-friendly. Richman stated his goal would be to get
the application process, with its scoring and ranking evaluations, in sync with the goals of the City and
HCDC.
Sandler mentioned that everyone looks at scores and rankings differently and creating some guidelines
would help. Anthony said that the subcommittee should also look into the issue of the proforma. Edwards
said that the scoring is generally used to determine whether the applicant would meet the threshold to be
funded or not. Bears said that she hopes that the applicants would still be required to attend the training
session.
Hightshoe encouraged the subcommittee to review project timeliness in each application and the
applicant's capacity and skills to complete a project within the required time periods. CDBG funds are
evaluated based on timeliness. The majority of non-housing projects should be able to be completed
within a year. Hightshoe also requested the commission review how much documentation, not requested
by HCDC, may be submitted by applicants. This year several items were submitted after the application
deadline, but during the commission review process and question/answer session.
Summer Schedule
The commission decided to not have a meeting in July unless important matters need to be discussed.
The June HCDC meeting will be held after the Community Development Celebration.
Upcoming Appointments
Hightshoe said that Sandler, Edward and Anthony's terms expire September 1, 2005. The deadline to
reapply is July 13, 2005.
OLD BUSINESS
Discussion of National Community Development Week Celebration
Hightshoe said that the date for the celebration has not been set. She said that it would most likely be
June 29th or 30th. She added that Old Brick volunteered to host it. Hightshoe announced that this year's
celebration would focus on volunteerism. She mentioned that there would be a guest speaker and
approximately 4 awards given out to outstanding community volunteers and/or organizations.
Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes
May 19, 2005
Page 3
MONITORING REPORTS
Shelter House
Richman said that the Emergency Assistance Program provides help with security deposits, emergency
rent or utility assistance. He said that there is about $100 available for each family, available only once a
year, to help pay for rent, secure housing, or pay utility bills. He said that since July 2004 Shelter House
provided assistance to 52 families, 32 households with the CDBG funds. As of March 2005, they've
spent $2,736 of the CDBG funds.
Richman said that the way the program works is that the assistance is a grant to the assisted family,
except for security deposits. Security deposits that are repaid to an assisted family get returned to the
program to be recycled for assistance to another family.
Hawkeye Area Community Action Program
Hightshoe said that the project was for the acquisition of two properties for the transitional housing
program. She said that HACAP acquired the properties and two families are in the units. HACAP received
$148,000 for two units.
United Action for Youth
Edwards said that they had their progress slowed by a couple of factors. He said their fund raising
campaign did not go as expected and took much longer than anticipated. The historic preservation issue
concerning the windows slowed them down due to the research and expense of finding the right windows
to use. Edwards stated they hope to start the project in June.
City of Iowa City - Housing Rehabilitation
Edwards said that the City uses CDBG and HOME funds to rehabilitate existing homes. He said that the
lead issue is slowing them down and increases expenses, but they are still on track with their project.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION: Edward moved to adjourn. Greazel seconded the motion.
Motion passed 7-0.
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 PM.
Minutes submitted by Bogdana Rus.
s:/pcd/minutes/HCDC/2005/05-19-05.doc
Exhibit A
CDBG and HOME Program Investment Policies
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Economic Development
Economic development projects making application to the CDBG Economic Development Fund will be reviewed by the
Council Economic Development Committee. The Council Economic Development Committee will make a recommendation
to the City Council for each project proposed for funding. Said recommendation shall include the amount of CDBG
assistance to be allocated and the terms of investment.
Typically, for-profit business projects will receive low-interest loans; whereas, non-profits may be recommended for
forgivable loans or grants. Decisions regarding investment terms for economic development projects will be made based
on the nature of the project including, but not limited to, the risk, potential for growth, the number of and quality of jobs
created for low-moderate income persons, the ability to repay a loan and the amount of other funding leveraged.
Housing
The interest rate for all rental housing activities will be zero percent (0%) for non-profit owned projects and prime rate
(determined at the time the CDBG\HOME agreement is executed by the City) minus two points for for-profit owned
projects with an amortization period up to thirty (30) years or the period of affordability, whichever is less.
Assistance to homeownership projects will have three repayment options as shown herein. 1. A 20-year loan that must
be paid in full when the low-moderate income homeowner sells, transfers title, moves or rents the property or the 20-
year term expires, whichever occurs first. No interest will accrue and no payments will be required to be made by the
property owner prior to payoff. 2. The homeowner has the option to make monthly payments to the City or its designee
in a form not to exceed a 30-year, zero percent (0%) amortized loan, a 30-year amortized loan must start at the time the
assistance is provided. 3. If CDBG\HOME assistance is provided to a certified non-profit organization, for a Community
Land Trust project, the CDBG\HOME funds will be in the form of a grant.
All HOME funds provided for Tenant Based Rent Assistance will be in the form of a grant.
Public Facilities
The City of Iowa City, as the recipient of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, utilizes these funds for
"public facilities" projects as defined in 24 CFR 570.201(c) that are completed by the City and\or subrecipents. The
following policy applies to CDBG assistance provided to non-governmental subrecipients ("governmental" includes only
jurisdictions with taxing authority as provided for in Iowa Code).
Projects that receive an allocation by the City of Iowa City will receive an earned grant, as defined herein, which will be
secured by a mortgage or other comparable security instrument. The compliance term of the earned grant will be
determined by the formula also provided herein. At the end of the applicable compliance term the lien or other security
instrument will be released by the City. If the real property is leased, the lease shall be for a period that matches or
exceeds the compliance term of the earned grant.
· Earned Grant: A lien against the real property being assisted, or other comparable secun'ty, which is repaid only upon
transfer of title, rental of the property, or termination of services or occupancy as outlined in the applicable CDBG
Agreement. If the subrecipientfully satisfies the terms outlined in the applicable CDBG Agreement the mortgage against the
property, or other security instrument, will be released by the City following the completion of the compliance period that
begins. on the date of execution of the mortgage or security instrument.
· Earned Grant Formula: The total amount of CDBG assistance allocated to a subrecipient in anyone City fiscal year for a
"public facility" project divided by $3,000 equals the number of CDBG compliance years for the Earned Grant. (For
example: $17,000 in CDBG assistance divided by $3,000 would equal a compliance term of 5.67 years or 68 months). If the
Earned Grant Formula results in a compliance term of less than one year (12 months) the minimum compliance term shall be
one year (12 months) and if the Earned Grant Formula results in a compliance term of more than ninety-nine (99) years the
maximum compliance term shall be ninety-nine(99) years.
Public Service
Public Service projects as defined in 24 CFR 570.201 (e) shall receive CDBG assistance in the form of a grant with a term
of not less than one year.
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