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Home My WebLink AboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 03/28/2022 - Joint Meeting Housing Trust Fund CommitteeMarch 28, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 1 Prepared on April 6, 2022 AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE March 28, 2022, 10:30 a.m., meeting held online and at City Hall HOUSING TRUST FUND COMMITTEE March 28, 2022, 11:30 a.m., meeting held online and at City Hall AHC Members attending: Janet Bellavance, Leslie Black-Plumeau (left 11:35), Vince Bolduc, Sandy Dooley, Ariel Jensen-Vargas, Patrick O’Brien Darrilyn Peters, John Simson, and Chris Trombly; member absent: Minelle Sarfo-Ado, Housing Trust Fund Committee members present: Ariel Jensen-Vargas and Emilie Krasnow; member absent: Larry Kuoferman; staff present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; Kelsey Peterson, City Planner; PC liaison, Monica Ostby, public: Linda Bailey AGENDA 1. Call to order, agenda review, approval of minutes from 2/28/22 AHC meeting, announcements, public comment, City Manager Update 2. Discussion on General PUD Comment 3. Rental Survey Proposal from Ariel 4. Discuss ARPA; Recommendation to City Council 5. Adjourn 1. Call to order, agenda review, approval of minutes from 2/28/22 AHC meeting, announcements, public comment, City Manager Update Call to order: Chris called the meeting to order at 10:32 a.m. Agenda review: Vince moved and Darrilyn seconded motion that agenda be modified by deleting agenda item 2, “Discussion on General PUD Public Comment”, and allocating the assigned 15 minutes to the agenda item ”Discuss ARPA; Recommendation to City Council”, and renumber agenda items accordingly. Motion approved: 9-0-0 Approval of minutes: Leslie moved and Sandy seconded motion that the 2/28/22 meeting minutes be approved with the correction on page 2, iin item 4., that the location of the “good data” Leslie recommended is the AHC’s webpage on the City’s website. Motion approved: 9-0-0 Announcements: The CCRPC’s sponsored meeting of housing staff and committee members and others in Chittenden County will take place that evening at 6 p.m. online. Darrilyn reported that the Climate Change Task Force will recommend that all future housing in South Burlington be net zero with regard to energy use. Brief discussion of effects of energy requirements and examine such requirements on housing crisis followed. Topics: thermal envelopes, current stretch code requirement and tighter buildings, energy efficiency lowers utility costs, which makes housing more affordable, need for rec paths so more people can travel by bike, park & ride, parking garage, how do we want SoBu to respond to both climate change and housing crisis?, 13% of SoBu households pay more than 50% of their income for housing, economic biosystem, So Bu housing problems identified in 2010 Census are the same or worse in 2020 Census. Leslie thanked Monica for her letter to TOP in support of committee’s work. Chris mentioned COTS walk and contributions ($1,045 total) and participation of committee members in the group he initiated. Would like more participants. Suggestion: reach out to other SoBu co0mmittees. Chris will draft something for inclusion in the City News. April is Fair Housing Month. Leslie will draft something about this for inclusion in the City News. Suggestion: have Jess Hyman (director of CVOEO Fair Housing project) come to committee in future. Monica shared that her liaison role vis-à-vis the committee may change in future. Monica shared that PC will not be developing an Infill and Redevelopment PUD, in light of this AHC’s Infill and Redevelopment subcommittee may want to revisit its mission and goal. Committee meeting schedule discussion outcome: change to meeting on 2nd and 4th Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m. Continue meeting twice a month; periodically review whether meeting twice each month is necessary to support committee’s goals. Public Comments: None City Manager Update: Department heads are looking at staffing of City committees by City staff. March 28, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 2 2(3).. Rental Survey Proposal from Ariel (2. Discussion on General PUD Public Comment): Jessie shared that many developers already have rental advisory committees and suggested that the committee hear from them. Ariel shared her perception that SoBu does not have capacity to receive and follow up on concerns that folks who rent might have about how property owners/managers carry out their responsibilities. She suggested that we might consider developer’s record vis-à-vis responding to their tenants’ concerns in choosing proposal to receive ARPA funding. 3(4). Discuss ARPA; Recommendation to City Council: Prior to committee discussion, Jessie “set the table” by recommending that committee identify “values” it would propose to City Council (CC) be the basis of the Scope of Work that would be part of the City’s Request for Proposals to receive up to $1 million of the City’s ARPA funds. Values could include type of housing, # f units, leveraging other funding sources, local, proven track record, perpetual affordability, housing for seniors or non-seniors, deadline of 12/31/26 for having spent $. She recommended against proposing to CC that amount be increased to $2 million and instead mention that proposals indicating what could be achieved with $1 million and also what could be achieved with more than $1 million are allowed. Monica mentioned that PC had discussed how to invest the $1 million and their proposal is that one-third be for housing, one-third be for open space, and one-third be for other unidentified needs. Jessie took notes and prepared a summary of this discussion and a matrix showing which “values” were mentioned by one or more committee members. These documents are attached to these minutes. Thank you, Jessie! The discussion included the following comments that are not suggested values: high interest in SoBu’s proposal to use $1 million ARPA funds for housing; costs of materials and labor have increased dramatically, these constitute 40% of cost of building affordable housing, for profit and nonprofit organizations should be eligible to apply for funding, need $300,000 to build a 1,100 sf condo, Monica asks Jessie to spread the word that AHC prioritizes having these funds support homeownership opportunities, Patrick grew up on farm—led to him seeing large lots as better; now sees that large lots are not necessary, fine for homeownership units to be in multifamily buildings, should entertain a variety of housing types, need way to deal with problems with property owners and sellers, there will be listening sessions for Comp Plan update, will SoBu have additional staff to support this and other projects? Proposal made that each committee member write their own paragraph regarding criteria/values, consensus that this would not be sufficiently helpful to CC. Plan; Jessie will prepare summary and matrix by Thursday (3/31), which ARPA subcommittee will review and use to draft a statement for committee to review, possibly modify, and possibly approve at its April 13, 6:00 p.m. meeting 4(5). Adjourn: At 12:32 p.m. Janet moved and Vince seconded motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion approved: 9-0-0. Affordable Housing Committee & Housing Trust Fund – 3/28/22 ARPA values discussion Notes by Jessie Question: With $1M or more in ARPA funding, what do we want to incentivize through an RFP? Leslie • Look for developer/project readiness • Maximize # of homes created • 80-100% AMI Ariel March 28, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 3 • ADUs • Property Owner TA to build their own ADUs John • Take advantage of PUDs (quads, triplexs) • Is there demand for AUDs? • Affordable home ownership Patrick • Homeownership projects Vince • Use $ to id barriers and waive them or subsidize them • 80 (renter) – 100 (owner) % AMI • Not just in TOD Emilie • Funds to those who are struggling to stay here Ariel • Help renters pay taxes Janet • Redevelopment – TOD or City Center • SES mix (80-120%) • Ownership (more) and rentals • Energy efficiency • 2-3 bedrooms • Age mix Darrilyn • Things have been covered • Integrated neighborhoods – mix of SES, age, cultural • Climate change mitigation • Approach net zero • Encourage joint proposals in RFP Sandy March 28, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 4 • Integrated neighborhoods • Okay if units above 100% AMI but none of our money going to these • At least twice IZ requirement • Mix of renter and owner • All units perpetually affordable • Maximizing leveraging other financial tools/funds to the project • Do we care about type of housing? Fourplexes vs large buildings • City money not the only source of subsidizing – leverage other dollars • Avoid talking about housing type – and see what the market proposes Patrick • 1100-1200 home = $300k • Grant for folks to purchase home - $30k Monica • Is a priority for ownership vs rental? Patrick • Above IZ requirements Vince • Allow developers to propose type of housing John • Takes full advantage of money – and more people into housing – and housing they can own Ariel • Loves her duplex – very energy efficient • Don’t agree that we need as much housing as possible • Well thought out quality housing • Not a lot of cheap housing • Aging housing stock • Landlord/tenant issues Chris • Supporting transitional housing – less than 80% AMI o At risk of losing their home o Homeless prevention – partnership with COTs • Homeownership opportunities for those who otherwise wouldn’t have it • Who are we benefiting the most who needs it the most (battered shelters) Sandy March 28, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 5 • Statement in RFP that we would consider other ideas. Biggest impact to SB residents. Monica • Landscaping requirements, safe outdoor spaces, funding these requirements • Housing grant for unit cost and other funding stream somewhere – Q Life • JCB – Pennies for paths, open space, housing trust fund • Patrick – funding for pocket park, etc March 28, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 6