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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-20-2023 Housing & Community Development CommissionHOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION (HCDC) April 20, 2023 Regular Meeting — 6:30 PM Iowa City Senior Center Assembly Room 28 S Linn Street AGENDA: 1. Call to Order 2. Presentation of Iowa City Strategic Plan Mayor Bruce Teague will present an introduction to Iowa City's new FY23-FY28 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is available online at www.icgov.org/strategicplan. 3. Consideration of Meeting Minutes: March 30, 2023 4. Public Comment of Items not on the Agenda Commentators shall address the Commission for no more than 5 minutes. Commissioners shall not engage in discussion with the public concerning said items. 5. Review and Consider Recommendation to City Council on Approval of the FY24 Annual Action Plan The FY24 Annual Action Plan summarizes the actions planned to help address the needs and goals in Iowa City's consolidated plan, City Steps 2025, in the next fiscal year. The plan includes the budget for CDBG and HOME funds, a description of the projects to be funded, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) required information. At the March 30, 2023 meeting, HCDC made budget recommendations for FY24 CDBG/HOME housing and public facilities projects. The FY24 Annual Action Plan incorporates these recommendations. Staff will provide a brief overview of the draft, followed by discussion, proposed changes, and consideration of a recommendation to City Council to approve the plan. A 30-day public comment period for the plan began on April 1, 2023 and will run through May 2nd, 2023. A public meeting is scheduled for May 2, 2023 where Council will consider formal approval. Following Council approval, the plan is submitted to HUD for review. The FY24 Annual Action Plan is available online at www.icgov.org/actionplan. 6. Staff & Commission Updates This item includes an opportunity for brief updates from staff and Commissioners. Commissioners shall not engage in discussion on updates. 7. Adjournment If you will need disability -related accommodations to participate in this program or event, please contact Brianna Thul at bthul(a)iowa-citv.org or 319-356-5230. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. Upcoming Housing & Community Development Commission Meeting Regular: May 18, 2023 r � CITY OF IOWA CITY 410 East Washington Street Iowa City. Iowa 52240-1826 (319) 356-5000 (319) 356-5009 FAX www.icgov.org Housing and Community Development Commission April 20, 2023 Meeting Packet Contents Agenda Item #2 • The FY23 — FY28 Strategic Plan is available online at: www.icqov.org/strategicplan. Agenda Items #3 • March 30, 2023 Draft HCDC Meeting Minutes Agenda Items #5 The FY24 Annual Action Plan draft is available online at: www.icqov.org/actionplan. MINUTES HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MARCH 30, 2023 — 6:30 PM FORMAL MEETING THE CENTER ASSEMBLY ROOM PRELIMINARY MEMBERS PRESENT: Kaleb Beining, Maryann Dennis, Michael Eckhardt, Karol Krotz, Nasr Mohammed, Kiran Patel, Becci Reedus, Kyle Vogel MEMBERS ABSENT: Jennifer Haylett STAFF PRESENT: Erica Kubly, Brianna Thul OTHERS PRESENT: Genevieve Anglin (UAY), Crissy Canganelli (Shelter House), Kristi Fortmann-Doser (DVIP), Tashundra Gathright (THF), Scott Hawes (Habitat), Will Kapp (IC Compassion), Jim Kringlen (Iowa Legal Aid), Christi Regan (HACAP), Jamie Nguyen (Health Kids School Based Clinics), Adam Robinson (RVAP), Bob Untiedt (TRAIL) RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL: By a vote of 5-2-1 (Mohammed and Eckhardt dissenting; Patel abstaining) the Commission moved to resend recommendations from the January meeting to City Council with no changes after reconsidering the proposals based on their merits as requested by Council. By a vote of 8-0 the Commission moved to recommend the following FY24 Emerging Aid to Agencies budget allocations: March EA2A FY24 Staff HCDC Average Group Funding Agency/Project Request Recommendations Recommendations Recommendations Healthy Kids School Based Clinics $15,000 $10,000 $11,300 $11,300 Iowa Legal Aid $12,500 $10,000 $9,300 $9,300 Iowa City Compassion $15,000 $10,000 $7,575 $9,560 TRAIL $9,000 $7,575 $5,430 $7,415 Iowa City Sober Living $12,500 $0 $2,515 $0 Community Transportation $15,000 $0 $0 $0 Total $79,000 $37,575 $36,120 $37,575 By a vote of 8-0 the Commission moved to recommend the following FY24 CDBG and HOME budget allocations: Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 2 of 13 HCDC Individual March HCDC Score Meeting Request Staff Recommendations Summary Recommendations Staff Staff HCDC HCDC CDBG HOME CDBG HOME FY24 Staff Funding Funding HCDC Av. Funding Funding Agency/Project Request Score Rec. Rec. Score Rec. Rec. Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity - Downpayment 308 Assistance $80,000 91% $0 $80,000 277 $0 $80,000 Shelter House - Facility 255 Improvements $240,000 75% $110,000 NA 277 $120,000 NA DVIP - Shelter New 279 Construction $350,000 82% $130,000 NA 274 $120,000 NA City of Iowa City, GreenState, & Hills - Downpayment 284 Assistance $300,000 84% $0 $300,000 261 $0 $300,000 The Housing Fellowship - Rental New 275 Construction $200,000 81 % NA $200,000 260 NA $200,000 The Housing Fellowship - 260 Rental Rehab $78,000 76% $0 $78,000 236 $0 $78,000 UAY - Rental Acquisition and 197 Rehab $400,000 58% $0 $0 195 $0 $110,000 Total $1,648,000 NA $240,000 $658,000- NA $240,000 $768,000 'Staff recommended allocating balance of $110,000 in HOME funds towards general rental acquisition to assist at least one LMI renter household. CALL MEETING TO ORDER: Beining called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM. WELCOME NEW MEMBERS: Patel introduced herself and stated she is a GIS technician with the county in the Auditor's office. Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 3 of 13 CONSIDERATION OF MEETING MINUTES: FEBRUARY 23, 2023: Vogel moved to approve the minutes of February 23, 2023 with edit to attendance as Krotz was not present. Krotz seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the minutes were approved 8-0. PUBLIC COMMENT FOR TOPICS NOT ON THE AGENDA: Kinsey Phipps (Community and Family Resources) is the case manager for Community and Family Resources and runs the Transitional Housing Program. She is here to provide a little bit more information about their programs. An average stay for families in the Transitional Housing Program is 24 months, in some cases they're eligible to receive a one-year extension. Services offered to those in transitional housing include case management, such as parenting, budgeting, family readiness, substance use counseling, mental health counseling. They have to have a substance use or mental health diagnosis to enter the program and have to be experiencing homelessness. They also enroll them in a grant treatment for individuals experiencing homelessness where they get additional supports. In the past, they have used City money to update apartments needed due to water damage. They moved families in that were not in great health and situations before improving their lives and their environment. The Aid to Agencies funding is used mostly to expedite move in dates for families as they're experiencing crisis in housing. One barrier that they have is they typically use Section 8 housing through the City Housing Authority to help fund the programs and that's who pays the rent, but a big barrier they are experiencing now is that families in housing crises often don't have a permanent address or documentation to provide for Section 8 in order to fulfill that process. So Community and Family Resources is providing them with the apartment early to give them a safe environment to start their recovery and then Aid to Agencies has helped cover that bridge before Section 8 is involved. Phipps wanted to share a success story - due to assistance through Aid to Agency funding, a young mother and father this summer were able to move into their apartment early. It was a lifesaver as she had a five -month -old child that was on oxygen receiving additional care post -delivery. She was homeless and utilizing the Ronald McDonald House, but the time there was up as the baby was getting discharged from the hospital and so they had them move into Transitional Housing which made it easier to attend regular checkups at UIHC whilst the mother could start on her recovery and participate in groups at Community and Family Resources such as Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and a peer recovery coach regularly. Both parents have been able to maintain sobriety well in the program and the Department of Human Services closed their case because of their success. Without an early move in due to the Aid to Agency funding covering rent until they qualified for Section 8 housing, there would not have been anywhere for them to go. Phipps wanted the Commission to know they really appreciate the help and just thought it would be helpful for everyone to know a little bit about what they do and how they serve the community. DISCUSS FY24 LEGACY AID TO AGENCIES (LAM FUNDING AND RECONSIDER BUDGET RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL: Beining noted this is for the Legacy Aid to Agencies funding reconsideration that Council has asked they do. Council did not want to disqualify an agency on the sole basis of the technical difficulties that Community and Family Resources and the Center for Worker Justice had. Vogel asked if it possible to just revert to what they had agreed on when they first took those into consideration in November. Reedus stated that wouldn't be an option for her. She would like staff to explain a little bit more about the zero -funding recommendation for the Center for Worker Justice. It seemed there were a couple of issues like how CWJ stated that in the application there were items where they were going to provide services outside of Iowa City, which isn't permitted with these funds. There were some lobbying and advocacy items in there also that wouldn't be considered appropriate. Reedus also asked staff to speak about the ARPA money from Iowa City, Johnson County, North Liberty and Coralville and wants to make sure that Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 4 of 13 funding that might come from this group to the Center for Worker Justice, is not going to be overlapping with funding they're already receiving. Kubly noted the APRA funding is specifically for wage theft. Reedus asked if there was anything else that had to do with the zero -funding recommendation from City staff. Kubly stated there was also consideration for financial oversight with the agency. Dennis wanted to say that her comments at the last meeting were not only because the applications were late. There were also other considerations and one of those was the staff recommendation. She watched the Council work session and Council was pretty adamant that this Commission provide recommendations. She felt Council was very thoughtful about expressing their concerns, and very complimentary on the work that this Commission does. If they want to go back to the original allocations, then that's fine but in the memo that came out in the packet about the policies that are determining the use of Aid to Agency funds and eligibility - it stated one of the recommendations from the committee was for greater transparency in the decision -making process. For example, giving full funding to top rated applications, or partial funding based on objective scores. She brought this up the last meeting — many of the scores were in the 80s but some of those applicants were cut and she feels that is where they weren't terribly equitable. All of the applicants are worthy and all of the services they provide are essential. It's just too bad they don't have more money and can't fund them all. Krotz stated she also hasn't changed her views since the last time about not funding them because there were a lot of other considerations. Yes, she placed some emphasis on the lateness, but there were other problems with the application itself such as what the staff has said about the financial oversight over the organization. The score was very low, almost half of what the top score was and so her opinion is that they don't fund them at this time. Mohammed agrees with City Council on this matter. The lateness shouldn't be the determining factor for funding this organization. This organization also scored low because some fellow commissioners decided to give them zero on that application and when they receive zero in one subject, the overall score is low. Reedus asked if her revised scores were incorporated because she had handed them in late. Thul acknowledged that staff did a late handout, and the Commission can use that to make the case for why they feel it should or shouldn't be funded. Reedus noted her revised score was a 61 or 62 and while it might have gone up, they're still under 70 because in the application they're describing services of worker abuse and wage theft and those kinds of things are getting funded under APRA. She noted under affordable housing, that is where they're doing advocacy and lobbying with state legislatures and that was also considered inappropriate for this this funding. Under education, they want to expand OSHA standards and safety workshops to residents outside of Iowa City, why would that even be in a proposal for Iowa City funding? To develop innovative worker community safety councils in Iowa meatpacking communities, again, outside of Iowa City. She noted there are a couple of things underneath there, education - increasing capacity of workers to overcome language barriers, hosting tenants' rights workshops to educate tenants. Those could be considered, but a large portion of what they say they're going to use their funds on would be ineligible. She is going to go with the staff recommendation on this and recommends no funding. Beining agrees with Reedus. Looking at the scoring on the recommendations that did come from staff, they match up with the HCDC scores and decision to not fund them - excluding the technical difficulties. He also would be in favor of a recommendation of no funding. Krotz asked if for some reason this Commission does vote to stay with the staff recommendations of no funding, and it goes back to City Council, the Council could still overrule and decide what they want to do. Beining confirmed that was correct. Beining noted there seemed to be a consensus regarding the Center for Worker Justice and a recommendation of zero funding. 4 Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 5 of 13 Reedus stated regarding Community and Family Resources, she feels they have not discussed them much at all and to be fair, it wasn't discussed by Council either. This seems to be a CWJ issue. Don't you think that one deserves the discussion also based on what Council recommended to see if there are any changes? Vogel stated his argument is that, even not taking late into consideration, in November everyone agreed that there wasn't enough from the application to fund them. He doesn't think that technicality mattered overall, this Commission is still of the opinion that those two just don't get funding this year based on the strength of their application. Vogel noted that it does seem weird that they allowed agencies to become Legacy Agencies and then not give them funding in their first year, but he was against bringing in new agencies from the beginning. He is fine with the recommendation made in January. Vogel moved to resend recommendations from the January meeting to City Council with no changes after reconsidering the proposals based on their merits as requested by Council. Reedus seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed 5-2-1 (Mohammed and Eckhardt dissenting; Patel abstaining). DISCUSS FY24 EMERGING AID TO AGENCIES (EA2A) FUNDING REQUESTS AND CONSIDER BUDGET RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL: Thul noted for Emerging Aid to Agencies, each award needs to be at least $5,000 and average for Iowa City Sober Living came out to just over $2,000 so the choices are to fund it at least $5,000 or give them no funding. Reedus asked when Iowa City Sober Living will become operational. Thul replied she believes they wanted to acquire a home within this year and staff recommended zero funding because they are not operational this time. Reedus proposes they remove the funding from Iowa City Sober Living and reallocate it to one of the other agencies. The Commission discussed Iowa City Compassion and TRAIL applications again noting TRAIL will be offering scholarships for low-income seniors and that's a population group they don't see come through with requests for money very often. Vogel stated he hopes Iowa City Sober Living will come back in the future, it's an important cause. Reedus moved to recommend the following FY24 Emerging Aid to Agencies budget allocations to City Council. Krotz seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed 8-0. March EA2A FY24 Staff HCDC Average Group Funding Agency/Project Request Recommendations Recommendations Recommendations Healthy Kids $11,300 School Based $15,000 $10,000 Clinics $11,300 Iowa Legal Aid $12,500 $10,000 $9,300 $9,300 Iowa City $15,000 $10,000 $7,575 Compassion $9,560 TRAIL $9,000 $7,575 $5,430 $7,415 Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 6 of 13 Iowa City Sober $12,500 $0 $2,515 Livia 9 $0 Community $15,000 $0 $0 Transportation $0 Total $79,000 $37,575 $36,120 $37,575 DISCUSS FY24 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) AND HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM (HOME) FUNDING REQUESTS AND CONSIDER BUDGET RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL: Vogel noted Shelter House and DVIP Shelter are the only two available for CDBG funding and there is $240,000 available under CDBG. Reedus stated neither of the projects received any of the ARPA funds, the ARPA capital funds went to Neighborhood Centers and Free Medical Clinic. Vogel noted everybody is funded fully based on staff recommendations aside from $110,000 left in HOME funding but is the recommendation not to even give even $110,000 to United Action for Youth because the $110,000 wouldn't be enough to support the project or where is that staff recommendation coming from. Thul stated staffs concern was the project not being able to meet the HOME underwriting criteria. Typically, when people apply, they fill out a pro forma which is a projection on what their mortgage is going to be and to show the City that a project can cash flow for the period of affordability. With a large award like this, it would be 15 to 20 years of compliance and the City has to be able to show that that project isn't going to fall apart in that time. So again, staffs concern with that project specifically was meeting the required HOME underwriting criteria. Vogel asked if the Commission chases to fund UAY the $110,000 and then they failed to meet that criteria would the $110,000 come back to the City? Thul replied it depends. If the project was to proceed and fall apart in the middle of affordability, then that money has to be repaid to HUD and the City would not get it back. If it were to fall apart before HOME paid for anything, then the federal spending deadlines are the issue and that was part of their rationale. Vogel stated UAY has been around for 50 years plus, so they are not likely to fail so they are not concerned about UAY failing or just this particular project failing? Reedus thinks it's a great project because transitional housing for youth is extremely important but the project received a low score from her, and she would hope that they can correct the deficiencies on the application and come back next year with a better one. She agrees that the HOME underwriting wasn't finished and is concerned about giving them 25% of the funds that that they requested and that they wouldn't be able to fund the remaining 75%. Then they are in a situation where the City has to take funds back and that's not fun. Vogel noted it was also his lowest score, but he also wants to try and make sure everybody gets a piece of the pie. He just wanted to make sure he understood where that recommendation was coming from since staff did recommend funding everybody else fully. Dennis understands why their preference would be to locate a property, like an eight-plex or two four- plexes or something. They did ask for $400,000 from HCDC but $110,000 is $110,000 more than zero and perhaps if they were to give them the $110,000, they may be able to find something. They might not Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 7 of 13 be able to find exactly what they want but at least they would have that committed so they could keep planning and keep trying to do something. Krotz noted they could also use it as leverage for other funding sources. Dennis asked if they recommend an amount to UAY and then it doesn't get committed, it then goes back into the pot - can HCDC can reallocate it at some point? Thul replied it depends on how it all times out. A project would need to meet the underwriting criteria before they could commit funds. HOME typically requires a two-year commitment deadline and then a four-year completion timeframe. Dennis replied, so UAY would have at least two years to get that commitment and meet the underwriting criteria? Thul confirmed that was correct, the City usually likes to see projects moving within the fiscal year, but it is a two-year commitment. Krotz asked if the money would go back to HUD or the City if it was not committed. Thul explained that if it was not committed and they didn't spend any money, it stays in the City, but they have spending deadlines where they would need to allocate the funds to someone else. Dennis stated sometimes HCDC will do a special round of funding because when the deadline is coming The last thing the City wants to do is to send money back to HUD so if UAY can't use this money, then it will come back to HCDC to do a special round or to be put somewhere to get spent. Thul confirmed that they last did a midyear funding round in FY22. Reedus stated there's just not enough capital money for nonprofits. They have a hard time raising capital money in the City because they're competing against big entities like the University. So, she is going to propose that the other $130,000 go to Shelter House for the facility improvements. To explain, she knows that is a difficult thing for DVIP to hear, but she is not as interested in a second round of funding to DVIP. This Commission has already funded them some money on this construction project. DVIP will have a phase two so she would assume HCDC will see DVIP come back for phase two funding. The Shelter House facility improvements, their main shelter was built around 12 years ago and in those 12 years shelter services have evolved a great deal. To that point, they are now open 2417 and have seen more mental issues with the clientele and the escalation of crises. She believes the physical changes that are proposed in their application are very necessary. Putting the physical barriers so that people can't hurl themselves off of a stair is important when trying to deescalate a crisis. A sound barrier is important so that it doesn't escalate among other individuals, and the line of sight for the staff is very important in terms of safety of staff and those involved in the crisis. In addition to the Shelter House services having evolved, they also do more with a winter shelter. So, her proposal would be to give Shelter House the full CDBG funding of $240,000 with deep regrets to DVIP. Dennis asked regarding the Shelter House, what could they cover from their application without the stairway. Thul responses that staff recommended $110,000 for the stairway and some security features. Vogel stated the $130,000 recommendation for DVIP would go towards their capital campaign because new construction hasn't started but would be added to their capital campaign to give it a boost. Thul responded that it would be adding to the already existing construction project. They were funded one time previously, with CDBG funds for the same construction project. Typically funding a project already underway is not eligible, but since it was funded previously with federal funds, they have completed the environmental review and other requirements that would typically be an issue. Krotz would like to see DVIP funded, having worked with an agency that had a domestic violence shelter program - it is so necessary and so needed, and yet there have been a lot of cutbacks within the normal grants that they might get from the state and from the federal government. Mohammad also agrees with funding DVIP and would vote to split the $240,000 between Shelter House and DVIP. Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 8 of 13 Eckhardt agrees with funding DVIP - especially considering the staff recommendation and staff scoring was also higher. He could also get behind moving it to be evenly split $120,000 and $120,000 as both are incredibly necessary. Reedus stated how many times do they have to say they just wish they had more money? There isn't enough capital money in this town for nonprofits. The Commission next discussed the $110,000 leftover in the HOME funds. Vogel's recommendation is to give it to UAY as the ability get a down payment or start the process of procuring even one duplex or one four-plex is worth the investment by this committee. Also, this is an organization that has proven itself as far as its long-term commitment. Reedus asked if they did vote to give UAY the $110,000, could they seek any additional funding for the project in the next budget round or would they be ineligible because of the CDBG rules? Thul noted these are HOME funds and they don't have to be concerned the timeliness deadline, however, they do run the risk of other projects coming in and that it may be hard to guarantee future funding. Thul noted that staff were recommending that the remaining money to be set aside for general rental acquisition, meaning that UAY could be a project that would be eligible for that. Asking for the $110,000 to be set aside for general rental acquisition gives more flexibility if it didn't work out for some reason, or if another agency could proceed faster. Doing that would give flexibility to staff to award that project. Eckhardt noted as he was going through the application on the question of what they would do if they didn't get fully funded, it sounded like they were saying that they wouldn't particularly have anywhere to go with the project. He really does support the project but is worried. If they allocate this money to UAY and they can't use it, where does the money go? Kubly stated the City has two years to commit the funds so UAY essentially has two years to get their plans, locate their property and proceed. Beining thinks they should allocate the $110,000 to UAY, despite them having a relatively low score compared to the others, because it appears all the others have been fully funded and this a great opportunity to just maximize their impact while it is available. While he is not a commercial underwriter, in his experience, that might have the ability to help them with their capital stock to secure additional funding. Reedus wanted it on record that her scores for The Housing Fellowship were not accurate, one complete section of her scores did not make it into the total, she did not score them at 174 it was more like 294 for the rental rehab. Vogel would make the argument of taking away all $300,000 of the City of Iowa City downpayment assistance and giving it all to UAY because it is a better use of funds. Reedus understands but that program is one of her favorites because it hits a population of folks that is have a difficult time finding programs. Vogel stated to him, it is similar to what they talked about earlier with senior citizens, which is they don't have a lot of programs come by here addressing transitional homeless youth, so it is tough for him to get behind giving downpayment assistance from the City to get a family into $180,000 home versus being able to possibly help 100 or more homeless teens every two or three years. Dennis noted the thing that really impressed her about the Iowa City, GreenState and Hills project is that both of those lenders have agreed to keep those loans in house at a 30-year fixed rate, which is huge. They are not going on the secondary market. That kind of private public partnership is just incredible. Dennis also stated she has said for many years she has an issue with the City staff applying and the same City staff reviewing and scoring their own application. Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 9 of 13 Beining stated regarding the Iowa City, GreenState and Hills downpayment assistance project he had an opportunity to go and tour where those funds actually have been put into place and developed. And not to discredit UAY by any means, and although it was numerical a lower number of people that may appear to have been affected, the deep level of fulfillment that brought into their lives was very heartwarming to see. This project is also working somewhat in coalition to help rejuvenate some of those neighborhoods and he has seen firsthand just the amount of effort that they're putting into it and how that's changing the families. Krotz stated for the recipients of those loans there's a great feeling of permanency in their residence, because out in the rental market, trying to find places in Iowa City, is a horrible, horrible experience. She has been through it a number of times so she can see how families who do get this downpayment assistance can have this joy in their lives of knowing they're on their way to homeownership. Vogel wanted to clarify that in no way does he think the program is not great, his only concern was once again the fact that UAY is coming in with a program that addresses a very specific need they don't regularly address here. Whereas, in his many years on this Commission, he has seen a handful of downpayment assistance proposals come through and be funded. Beining wanted to clarify his previous point regarding the ripple effect, not having specific numbers but if they're allocating $300,000 and the median downpayment is $30,000, that's 10 houses within a community of perhaps 70 homes which really can make a difference. It's a reinvestment into that neighborhood as a whole, rather than just into those individual homes. Reedus asked if this project was funded previously. Thu[ noted in the last round of funding, when they first did this project, the City received $128,000. They had asked for $300,000 but received partial funding. Kubly stated the new funds would allow that program to continue. Vogel stated the proposal was to fund 20 homes, the purchasers have to put in their own money Reedus stated if they did 15 homes at $15,000 that would be $225,000, which could essentially give another $75,000 to UAY and she would support that. Eckhardt agreed noting creating non nonprofit housing has a longer -term effect on affordability and would support moving some over for that. Dennis asked with the downpayment assistance is there a resale agreement or deed restriction for the affordability. Thu[ confirmed that the affordability is usually 10 years. Reedus asked about UAY and noted their total budget was $800,000 but they were asking $400,000 from HCDC so did they get a $400,000 commitment from Housing Trust Fund? Thul stated there were no funds committed in the application. There were only pending commitments from other local funds. Dennis stated if they can't find an eight-plex, with the amount of money that they get, they might be able to find a four-plex or a duplex and at least they would be able to do something. Eckhardt noted right now it sounds like their housing has people paying out of the private market and essentially having this massive amount of overhead go to a landlord. So even if they can get a duplex with this money, they can house two people and not have to pay rent to a third party and that's going to decrease their overhead and improve their solvency long term. Reedus stated she likes the downpayment assistance program but also know there's a need for the transitional housing and HCDC has not funded this type of program in the past. Vogel noted if they do get the $400,000 from the Trust Fund and HCDC gives $110,000 theoretically, they would make that building acquisition number they want. What they wouldn't have is the ability to renovate Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 10 of 13 that property and get it move in ready. HCDC could put $75,000 more towards that and even if they could do two or three units - they could come back for additional renovation money, but this will start getting people in and getting people assisted immediately. Thul clarified if they use federal funds for acquisition, UAY would need to move people in and be leased up within six months. If they were to buy something that needed rehab that wasn't going to pass inspection, that would be problematic. Vogel stated that it isn't hard to pass a rental inspection. Thul responded that she wanted to state it for the record, so you know what you're deciding. Dennis stated she feels that they need to look at the scores again. It is hard for us to see if it is going to cash flow without a pro forma. They are going to have to complete that before they get any money anyway, so I go back to the scores. Reedus agrees and wants to stick with the original decision. Mohammad suggested again to keep the downpayment assistance at $300,000 and giving the $110,000 to UAY. Reedus moved to recommend the following FY24 CDBG and HOME budget allocations to City Council. Vogel seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed 8-0. HCDC Individual March HCDC Score Meeting Request Staff Recommendations Staff Staff Summary Recommendations HCDC HCDC CDBG HOME CDBG HOME FY24 Staff Funding Funding HCDC Av. Funding Funding Agency/Project Request Score Rec. Rec. Score Rec. Rec. Iowa Valley 277 Habitat for Humanity - $80,000 9 08 $0 $80,000 Downpayment Assistance $0 $80,000 Shelter House - 255 277 Facility $240,000 75% $110,000 NA Improvements $120,000 NA DVIP - Shelter 274 New $350,000 82%u $130,000 NA Construction $120,000 NA City of Iowa 261 City, GreenState, & $300,000 $0 $300,000 Hills 84% Downpayment Assistance $0 $300,000 The Housing 275 260 Fellowship - $200,000 81% NA $200,000 NA $200,000 Rental New 10 Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 11 of 13 Construction The Housing 260 236 Fellowship - $78,000 76% $0 $78,000 Rental Rehab $0 $78,000 UAY - Rental 197 195 Acquisition and $400,000 58% $0 $0 Rehab $0 $110,000 Total $1,648,000 NA $240,000 $658,000* NA $240,000 $768,000 'Staff recommended allocating balance of $110,000 in HOME funds towards general rental acquisition to assist at least one LMI renter household. AID TO AGENCIES (A2A) SUBCOMMITTEE: Reedus noted that the first meeting will be May 1, 2023. STAFF & COMMISSION UPDATES: Thul shared a copy of the City's new Strategic Plan with the Commission and noted City Council is doing an initiative to make sure that all boards and commissions know where they fit within the strategic plan. At the April HCDC meeting, Mayor Teague will attend and tell the Commission more about the plan. The recommendations voted on tonight will go into the Annual Action Plan and the public comment period for that will start Saturday, April 1 and run for 30 days. If anyone from the public makes any comments, staff will bring that to the April meeting. At the April meeting, the Commission will review and do the formal recommendation of approval for the Annual Action Plan. Kubly stated the second week in April is National Community Development Week and they typically do a proclamation at the Council meeting to acknowledge that. The next Council meeting is April 4 so a member of the Commission, typically the chair, will come to the Council meeting to accept that proclamation. Beining agreed to accept the proclamation. Kubly shared a copy of the 2022 Affordable Housing Action Plan update that just went to Council today. It's a progress update of the action items in the plan that came out last year. There was representation from the Commission on the Affordable Housing Steering Committee that drafted the plan. Kubly noted some highlights. They discontinued the Affordable Housing Location Model and because of that, they've been able to proceed with some of the HOME projects and it opened up more opportunities for rental acquisition. Part of the plan was a recommendation to provide greater transparency in the funding process, which this Commission is doing by looking at the scores and recommending funding based on scores. Vogel asked about the risk mitigation fund that Shelter House is going to be implementing it on behalf of the City. Do they know what their application processes be or what their guidelines are? He doesn't know if they've got an actual plan in place yet, but when they do, is that something they will be sending out through Iowa City Housing Authority to private landlords to participate in? Kubly replied she believes that the initial eligibility is limited to nonprofits but that may be expanded in the future. Vogel noted it says the purpose was to incentivize private landlords to rent to households or individuals. He noted 40%-50% of his properties are currently HCV so it would be great to have a program like this that he could apply for. He was under the impression the risk mitigation fund was going 11 Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 12 of 13 to be meant for this because that's what they've been promising. Kubly will give Vogel an update when there is more information on this. Dennis shared an update that there is a statewide group called the Iowa Housing Partnership which is an advocacy group and is membership supported. They don't get any kind of funds because they do have a lobbyist and they do lobby. They send out regular legislative updates about pertinent legislation regarding housing in Iowa and information about rural housing conferences and state housing conferences and that sort of thing. ADJOURNMENT: Dennis moved to adjourn, Eckhardt seconded the motion, a vote was taken, and the motion passed 8-0. 12 Housing and Community Development Commission March 30, 2023 Page 13 of 13 Housing and Community Development Commission Name Terms Exp. 7121 9/15 10/20 11/17 1119 2116 3130 Beining, Kaleb 6/30/24 X O/E X X X O/E X Dennis, Maryann 6/30/25 X O/E X X X X X Haylett, Jennifer 6/30/25 X X O/E O/E X X O/E Krotz, Karol 6/30/24 O/E X X X X O/E X Mohammed, Nasr 6/30/23 X X X X X X X Reedus, Becci 6/30/24 X X X X X X X Vogel, Kyle 6/30/23 O/E X X X O/E X X Eckhardt, Michael 6/30/25 X X X X X Patel, Kiran 6/30/23 O/E X Attendance Record 2022-2023 Resigned from Commission Kev: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused --- = Vacant 13