HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 01/03/2017Approved January 24, 2017
South Burlington Affordable Housing Committee
MINUTES
January 3, 2017
Members Attending: Tom Bailey, Leslie Black-Plumeau, Sandy Dooley, Mike Simoneau, and John Simson
Members Absent: None
Others Present: Kevin Dorn, South Burlington City Manager (part of meeting); Larry Kupferman, chair of South
Burlington Housing Trust Fund board
Minutes: Sandy Dooley
Agenda:
1. Call to order
2. Agenda review: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda item
3. Comments or questions from the public not related to the agenda
4. Review and approval of minutes from the December 6, 2016, Committee meeting
5. Discuss Committee’s position on the affordable housing retention issue and our presentation to the City
Council later in January
6. Prioritize the Committee Work Plan
7. Discussion with a representative of CCRPC about collaboration
8. Schedule next meeting
9. Other business
10. Adjourn
Call to order: John Simson, committee chair, called the meeting to order at 4:03 PM.
Agenda review: Item 7 was deleted because the CCRPC representative was unable to attend the meeting. She
will attend the January 24th committee meeting. Sandy mentioned that Tom and she would like the committee to
discuss the appointment of additional members to the committee. John indicated support for this and said he
wanted City Manager Kevin Dorn to be present for this discussion. Kevin joined the meeting shortly thereafter.
Comments or questions from the public not related to the agenda: none
Review and approval of minutes from the December 6, 2016, Committee meeting: Tom moved and Leslie
seconded approval of the December 6th minutes with the following changes: on page 1, under “2017 Work
Plan”, second sentence, change “The” to “They” and deletion of page 4, “Draft WORK PLAN.” Sandy agreed
to prepare minutes for the January 3rd meeting. The committee agreed that all committee meeting agendas will
include the following item just before “adjourn”: “Review of actions taken and homework assignments agreed
upon.”
Discuss Committee’s position on the affordable housing retention issue and our presentation to the City
Council later in January: Kevin updated the committee on the situation relating to the airport’s resumption of
its home buyout program based on new NEM (Noise Exposure Map) boundaries relating to F-16 flight activity.
Much of this discussion focused on the Kirby Cottages, which are within the revised NEM boundaries.
The committee briefly discussed its desire that the City Council advertise for and appoint additional members to
the committee. All agreed that we would like to have one or two developers join the committee. One question
raised was whether a potential “developer-member” would need to be a South Burlington resident. These
matters need to be explored with the City Council. John indicated he would follow up regarding additional
members as he had raised this subject with Kevin previously.
Following discussion of the housing retention issue, Mike moved (seconded by Sandy) that our committee ask
that the South Burlington City Council provide the South Burlington Affordable Housing Committee guidance
regarding a Housing Preservation and Replacement/Demolition Conversion ordinance. Following additional
discussion, this motion passed by a vote of 5-0.
Discussion included the request to Kevin that this subject be included on the City Council’s January 17, 2017,
meeting agenda. Kevin said he would include this item in the draft agenda he prepares for Council Chair Helen
Riehle and reminded the committee that the Chair is the decision-make on Council meeting agendas. The
committee also agreed that John would present this subject to the Council and that the section from the South
Burlington 2013 Affordable Housing Report (The Path to Affordability) relating to this kind of ordinance (pp.
95-96) be shared with City Councilors along with the committee’s motion. John asked all committee members
to be present at the January 17th City Council meeting for this agenda item.
Kevin left the meeting at 5:06 PM.
Prioritize the Committee Work Plan: The committee discussed this subject using the “2017 Work Plan”
summary from the December 6th minutes as a starting point. Following discussion, the committee, by
consensus, defined the 2017 Work Plan Priorities as follows:
● Housing Preservation and Replacement/Demolition and Conversion Ordinance
● Development/proposal of Inclusionary Zoning regulations for densely developed areas of the City (in addition
to City Center)
● Development/proposal of a variety of incentives for the development of affordable housing
● Funding Sources for the Housing Trust Fund
● Public Education
As a starting point, Public Education will involve each committee member writing one article per year about
affordable housing and/or the committee’s work for publication in The Other Paper.
Schedule next meeting: The committee adopted the following meeting schedule: Tuesday, January 24, 2017,
4:00 PM; Monday, February 6, 2017, 4:00 PM; Tuesday, February 21, 2017, 4:00 PM; Monday, March 6, 2017,
4PM; Tuesday, March 21, 2017, 4 PM. The change of some previously scheduled Tuesday meetings to Monday
meetings was made to accommodate Mike’s schedule conflict.
Other business: Sandy gave committee members CHT handouts about the CHT Home Repair Loan
Program, Manufactured Home Repair Loans, Housing Access Loan Program, and Home Ownership
Opportunities (its Shared Equity home purchase program). She also provided an email from Rob Leuchs,
Director of CHT’s Homeownership Programs, regarding the Shared Equity Program. Sandy also provided
information (verbally) that Rob provided about the Home Repair Loan Program’s work in 2016. See attachment
for this information.
Actions/Homework: In addition to the motion relating to a Housing Preservation and Replacement/Demolition
Conversion ordinance and previously discussed preparation for presentation of this subject to the City Council,
the committee agreed to the following homework assignments:
John will prepare talking points for his presentation to the City Councilors regarding the committee’s motion re
a Housing Preservation and Replacement/Demolition Conversion ordinance. He said he would share his draft
with committee members beforehand.
John will meet with Paul O’Connor regarding the Committee’s work and Work Plan priorities.
Sandy will obtain background information about how Burlington’s Housing Preservation and
Replacement/Demolition Conversion ordinance has worked historically. She will start with Michael Monte.
Tom will do research on incentives for the development of affordable housing.
Leslie and Mike will do research on Inclusionary Zoning regulations for densely developed areas of the City (in
addition to City enter).
John will do research regarding funding sources for the Housing Trust Fund. Larry Kupferman will assist
him.
John will write the first Public Education article for The Other Paper.
The committee agreed that it needs to do outreach regarding identifying a developer/s who would be willing to
serve on the committee. The committee also agreed that we need to organize this work so that more than one
committee member is not reaching out to the same person/s.
After discussion, the committee asked Mike to reach out to the O’Brien family in hopes of recruiting a family
member to join our committee.
John asked all committee members to report the results of their homework to him by January 16th so that he
can use this information in preparing the agenda for the January 24th committee meeting.
Adjourn: The meeting adjourned at 6:00 PM.
Attachments: Two Emails from Rob Leuchs, CHT’s Homeownership Programs
Attachment 1
From: Rob Leuchs [mailto:rleuchs@getahome.org] Sent: Tuesday, January 3, 2017 12:15 PM To: Sandra Dooley <dooleyvt1@comcast.net> Subject: RE: info request
Hi Sandy,
I hope you are well and enjoying the New Year. Below is the information you requested
for the shared equity questions. I’ll forward along the information on the loan fund
soon.
Rob
Shared Equity Program
As of 12/31/16 there are 573 shared equity homes consisting of 229 single family
homes (40%) and 343 condominiums (60%).
60 of the homes (10.5%) are in South Burlington.
We sold 35 homes in 2016. 22 Resales and 13 new properties.
In the past year, the average sales price of our homes was $203,750. The average net
price was $138,800 or 68% of the value of the home. Between the reduced mortgage
amount, reduced property taxes, and not needing to have PMI our homeowners saved
$510 on average every month compared to buying the same home on the open
market. The average income for our buyers was $45,400. Of the 2016 sales, the most
frequent occupation of our buyers was health care and the second most was teacher.
Robert Leuchs
Director of Homeownership Programs
Champlain Housing Trust
(802) 861-7336 direct
(802) 862-6244 main
88 King Street
Burlington, Vermont 05401
Attachment 2
From: Rob Leuchs [mailto:rleuchs@getahome.org] Sent: Tuesday, January 3, 2017 3:09 PM To: Sandra Dooley <dooleyvt1@comcast.net> Subject: RE: info request
Hi Sandy,
Here is the loan information:
We did 36 loans totally $316,056 in 2016.
There are many sources of funding for the loan program: Primarily we use repayments
from Vermont Community Development Program (VCDP)-funded loans made in prior
years, some new VCDP loan capital, VT Healthy Homes Program (one-time grant
program now unavailable), NeighborWorks America, NeighborWorks America-Wells
Fargo Safe & Sound grant program, Vermont Center for Independent Living,
repayments from loans made with funds from Vermont Housing and Conservation
Board. Our program relies very heavily on Vermont Community Development Program
to cover its annual operating costs as well.
We have spent or allocated all lending capital awarded, and use repayments from prior
year loans as a continual source of capital. We anticipate the ability to obtain VCDP
rehab loan capital when it is again needed.
Rob
Robert Leuchs
Director of Homeownership Programs
Champlain Housing Trust
(802) 861-7336 direct
(802) 862-6244 main
88 King Street
Burlington, Vermont 05401