City of Lawrence
Affordable Housing Advisory Board
October 8, 2018 minutes
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MEMBERS PRESENT: |
Andrew Brown, Rebecca Buford, Susan Cooper, Ron Gaches, Edith Guffey, Shannon Oury, Monte Soukup, Tim Stultz, Nancy Thellman, Sarah Waters, Erika Zimmerman
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MEMBERS ABSENT: |
Thomas Howe, Dana Ortiz
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STAFF PRESENT: |
Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager; Scott McCullough, Director of Planning and Development Services; Danelle Dresslar, Community Development Manager; Jeff Crick, Planner II; Brad Karr, Community Development Programs Analyst; Danielle Buschkoetter, Strategic Projects Manager |
Chair Oury called the meeting to order at 11:01 am.
1. Public Comment
Mayor Boley spoke to the board about the UniverCity program in Iowa City, IA, and encouraged the board members to discuss the program with City Manager Markus before he leaves his position in the spring.
Mayor Boley introduced Ryan Rains from Meritrust Credit Union, who indicated their willingness to participate in the local discussion around affordable housing.
2. Approve Minutes from September 10, 2018 meeting
Gaches moved to approve the minutes from the September 10, 2018 meeting. Zimmerman seconded the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
3. Monthly Financial Report
The monthly financial report is available on the City of Lawrence opengov.com website.
Guffey arrived at the meeting.
4. Justice Matters model cities survey results
Soukup gave a presentation to the board, and presented a report on their model cities survey results. The report provided recommendations, including a housing allocation plan, and a sample scoring matrix for different types of housing programs.
Stultz asked if they came across any instance of an affordable housing component being including in the construction or renovation of city buildings, such as city halls or fire stations. Soukup said he had not seen that, but some of the other researchers might have.
Brown had questions about the scoring used in the application review matrix; he suggested using a more simplified 1-to-100 scoring system. Soukup said the idea was for the board to look at the sample matrix and adjust as needed.
Brown asked what a developer fee was. Soukup said it was what he would consider to be profit, and would vary depending on the size of the project.
Brown asked if the city had a NIMBY clause like mentioned in the report. Thellman asked if it would even be possible to not allow public comment on a project. Brown said the public could comment, but the board would not base their funding decision on the NIMBY comments. Thellman thought the language of an anti-Nimby policy might be hostile to the public. Brown asked if the city’s Legal Department could review the NIMBY clause policy statement, and how to add users of vouchers as a protected class to avoid source of income discrimination. McCullough suggested the board wait until staff presented the housing toolkit, then the board could prioritize which policies they were interested in pursuing.
Gaches asked about the process of what comes next with these recommendations from Justice Matters. Oury felt there are two things converging, the housing toolkit and a spending plan using the data from the housing study. McCullough reminded the board of a graphic presented by staff at the last meeting, showing the housing study, the housing toolkit, and stakeholder input all coming together to form a yearly spending plan; the recommendations from Justice Matters would be considered stakeholder input, not an actionable agenda item to approve.
Stultz asked if the board currently still had a matrix to review applications. Oury said yes. Soukup said the Justice Matters recommended matrix was not generated from the current matrix used by the board. Buford said the current matrix outlined the board’s priorities, but didn’t think it had a concrete scoring system. Stoddard said the current matrix was attached to the draft application, and it used a 50 point scoring system.
Stoddard asked if Justice Matters had examples of the problems they identified with for-profit developers, which caused them concern. Soukup said generally, the problems were with funds being allocated to projects which did not quite meet the stated goals, such as the created housing not being kept permanently affordable.
Thellman left the meeting.
5. Review draft application for non-capital supportive assistance and services ($200,000 in available funding)
Stoddard said the City Commission added an additional $200,000 to the AHTF from the 2018 budget, and had moved to direct the AHAB to consider a RFP for non-capital supportive assistance and services which were not allowed to apply on the last funding application offered, due to the funding source requiring only capital assets.
Oury, Buford, and Zimmerman all recused themselves from the discussion of the review of the draft application.
The board reviewed the draft application for non-capital supportive assistance and services; Buschkoetter said there were a few corrections she needed to make to correct some language.
Brown asked how the scattered site preference described in section two would be evaluated for a non-capital program. Buschkoetter said it was left over from the last application and could be removed, along with the reference to scattered site in the review matrix.
Soukup moved to remove the reference to scattered site from the application. Stultz seconded the motion. The motion passed 7-0.
Brown moved to adopt the draft application, as amended, and instruct staff to proceed with releasing the application to the public. Stultz seconded the motion. The motion passed 7-0.
6. Appoint AHAB member to the Downtown Master Plan Steering Committee
Gaches moved to nominated Guffey as the AHAB member to the Downtown Master Plan Steering Committee. Brown nominated Buford. Buford withdrew her name from consideration. Buford seconded the motion to nominate Guffey. The motion passed 10-0.
7. Quick Updates
a. Lawrence Community Housing Trust – City Commission to consider initiating code amendments on October 16, 2018
McCullough said the request to the City Commission to initiate code amendments would be on the October 16, 2018 agenda. The request would be very broad, to allow staff to look at other possible changes to zoning policies.
Brown left the meeting.
Oury asked if the board members should attend the City Commission meeting to answer possible questions. McCullough said the initiation request would be on the consent agenda, and he did not anticipate the need for any of the board members to attend, since no policy changes would be presented.
8. Other New Business
Buford informed the board she recently attended an affordable housing conference which discussed best practices, and also had some of the leading experts in issues such as land trusts and inclusionary zoning.
Oury provided the board with the recently released Fair Market Rent schedule from HUD; the LDCHA adopted 110% of the HUD listed rents, and they will become effective January 1, 2019.
Soukup suggested the board discuss possible solutions to current subsidized apartment complexes switching to market rate, including paying the owner a portion of the value of the property in exchange for a deed restriction or conservation easement on the property to permanently keep it affordable.
9. Next Meeting / Future Agenda Items
The next meeting will be on November 12, 2018.
Guffey asked if the board should schedule a longer meeting to discuss big questions from the Housing Market Analysis and the report from Justice Matters. Oury indicated the board had previously held longer retreat sessions, and may want to schedule another, after the housing toolkit draft is presented by staff. Guffey indicated she would need four to six months out to plan a retreat on her calendar. Stoddard said the housing toolkit draft would be presented at the November meeting, and then the RFP applications would be reviewed at the December meeting, so a retreat could possibly be looked at for January 2019. Oury requested the retreat discussion be added to the November meeting agenda.
Oury informed the board about the Community Health Plan (CHP) being created by the Health Department, which contains a section on affordable housing. Oury asked for a review of the CHP to be placed on the November meeting agenda.
10. Adjourn
Gaches moved to adjourn the meeting. Zimmerman seconded the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Future Meeting Dates / Tentative Agenda items
November 12, 2018 – review draft housing toolkit, discuss dates for a retreat, and review CHP
December 10, 2018
These minutes were approved by the Board: November 12, 2018