 I want to go ahead and call this meeting of the City of the Affordable Housing Task Force to order. And thank you all so much for being here. I'm Councilwoman Tamika Isaac Devine and joining us, we also have Councilman Sam Davis, who I'm going to recognize in a few minutes and let him say something. But I just wanted to thank all of you guys for being willing to serve in this capacity. I know all of you, most of you, I know very, very well. So I know how crazy busy your schedules are and your responsibilities. And so when I reached out to most of you, I said, ordinary pointy because I recognize how busy you guys are. And I'm going to tell you, I was just very humbled that all of you said no, I'm going to serve personally because it's very important. Those of you who know me, this is an issue that is very important to me. I've tried to champion this issue as well as many of my colleagues on the City Council for a long time. And we talked about revamping this committee last year. The Mayor mentioned it in his State of the City. And so I've reached out to all of you guys to serve before we were hit with coronavirus. But as I mentioned to you guys, I think that this time just elevates how important this issue is that we've got to finally tackle it with the amazing minds that you guys bring to this table and resources. Because the gap in our country is just getting wider and wider and coronavirus. And now what we're seeing as far as racial tensions in our country, just I think elevate how important it is that we have to collectively solve some of these systemic issues that have been in our communities for many, many years. And so I know the work is not going to be easy. I'm not a polyana. You guys work in it every day more than I do. I guess I would say I dabble in it a little bit. But you guys are the ones who bring a lot of value to the table. And so I just thank you and recognize that we've got a lot of work to do. But the City is committed, the Mayor and members of City Council are committed to making really sustainable changes to make sure that we're addressing this issue in our community. So with that said, I want everybody to introduce themselves. But I want to defer to Sam for a second and let him bring any opening remarks that he may want to make. If y'all watch our Zoom meeting, Sam has sometimes difficulty realizing how to get off mute. So Justin, can you unmute him to help him out? I got you. Thank you, Tamika. And I really appreciate you taking the ball on this. And I think we all share the same interest, passion and understand the urgency really of the need for affordable housing, especially now that the virus is here. Everything's going to change when it's all said and done and we get back on what we think would be our normal paths. But I think the, and just looking at what's happening around the country, there are a lot of efforts towards meeting the housing needs. And it's going to be, I think, super difficult moving forward, the new normal and not getting started, but picking up from where we left off or may not have had some success. And so it's very important. Affordable housing, workforce housing is still the foundation of where we want to go and how we go about our normal lives. And I'm very passionate about it. And I think this committee, from what I know of all of you, it's going to have some results, but the bottom line is that we all recognize the need for it. And there's a commitment to it. And I'm looking forward to filling some of those gaps here in the city. I think we all are familiar with the city, the landscape, and we know what the needs are. And I'm looking for the creativity from this committee. All of you are creative, you have experience, and I'm sure we'll be open to your ideas and suggestions. Thank you, Sam. So what I want to do is just, because I know that we all bring different skills and values to this table. I want to let everybody introduce themselves. When we introduce ourselves, and my screens are probably, my squares are different than yours, so I'll go around my squares so I make sure we hit everybody. When we introduce ourselves, if we could introduce your name and who you're representing as far as organization or skillset background. And then also if you, but I want you to just share with us, and I'm sorry I didn't give you all this ahead of time, but I'm sure y'all can spat them off top of your head. If you would give me your top three housing impediments you believe that we have to housing in the Midlands area, we're going to pull the list and that's going to help hopefully help direct our work moving forward. So right now I just really want us to get to know who's at the table, what skill sets are here, and then tell me your top three impediments. Before we say this, I do want to apologize publicly to Ivory Antonia because when council did the official appointments last week, your names were not on the official list, but you are officially part of this task force, and I'll make sure that the council appointments are officially made next week, but I apologize just with, as y'all can imagine, with everything that I am being right now, and I apologize I left those two names off. So, but Brenda, let's start with you. If you introduce yourself, your name, what organization you're representing, and you specifically, you've got some educational stuff that you get interest that you add to this, so add that as well and then give us your top, in your opinion, whether the top three impediments we have to housing in the community. Okay, my name is Brenda Bernarden. I am with Fast Forward and I have a master's in public health with a focus in homeless veteran food insecurity and disparities specifically with the working poor in the southeast, and some impediments to affordable housing would be the accessibility, the affordability, and then particularly a lot of my research is looked at affordable housing as it relates to food deserts, so the access to food and the access to things like bus lines and accessibility to the city. Thank you. Jim. Thank you. My name is Jim Zeke. I'm a retired recycling and waste executive. I represent more justice. The impediments I see one is safe affordable housing, having that available, affordability, and then the availability. Laila Anna. So I'm Laila Anna Salves, and I am President and CEO of Homeless No More. We are continuing a period for homeless and at-risk families, so we started emergency shelter, then go to two-year transitional, and then with Live Oak Place we actually develop affordable housing. I, gosh, I'm working on my PhD and will be ABD by the end of the summer, so there's your education component if I survive. The top three that I see are wage disparities. You can develop it all day long, but if our community can't afford it, it's no good. I would also say funding for development, and then the third would be NIMBY, not in my backyard, because it is a constant fight with all neighborhoods to bring affordable housing in without a stereotype or stigma. Thank you. Ivory. Sorry about that. I'm having difficulty finding my unmute button as well. So I'm with you, Councilman Davis. I'm Ivory. I represent Columbia Housing. Some of the, you know, some of the barriers I've seen, I've only been here for a short time, Frank, so they're just based off my limb experience here in the community, and that is certainly NIMBY, as mentioned earlier in my backyard, just a stigma around affordable housing, the word affordable housing. Also, we have, there's a huge demand, and, you know, our building is putting new inventory in the market and impediments, and then also the earlier affordable housing, you know, just looking at our portfolio here at Columbia Housing, we have a tremendous need to recapitalize and reposition our assets because they're just some of the major systems are aging, and so that's the third impediment that I would. Thank you. And if we could, guys, if when you're not speaking, if y'all can keep muted just so we can keep the sound down, John Ando will be next, and then after John, Jeff Armstrong, so that way y'all can be ready for your mute. Good morning, John Ando. I am Executive Director of the Comet, and I've been managing public transit for 22 years, and some of the barriers I see to affordable housing is access to services by people that live in affordable housing, the availability of affordable housing, which is driven by the market, and then community acceptance of placing affordable housing. And in my short time period here, I've heard a lot of discussion and even controversy about construction of affordable housing, which definitely needs to be debunked. Thank you, John. Jeff. Good morning, everyone. Jeff Armstrong with Family Promise of the Midlands, and I've been working with individuals and families experiencing homelessness for quite some time, and my three top things I would say are certain zoning standards, I think that make it difficult to access some of the services that John was speaking of. Nibbism, of course, and also just supportive services. It's knowing what some of our families are experiencing and some of their needs, and that it's just very difficult to meet those needs when there's just so many families who you're trying to do the housing search for, you're trying to get them in place, you're trying to make them stable and work with them, so I think those are the top three things in my perspective. Thank you, Jeff. Sue, you're going to be next, then after Sue, Reggie and Jennifer. Hi, I'm Sue Berkowitz, and I'm an attorney and director with South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, multi-issue legal advocacy and law firm non-profit here in Columbia, but we work statewide and top three, wow, probably about 10 things. I definitely agree there's just a total lack of quality, affordable, safe housing in the city as well as the state as a whole, lack of living wages and housing wages so that people when they are able to get into housing are able to afford that housing. And I also, as a lawyer, I want to say I think that there's a real problem with the use of eviction for debt collection and that needs to stop, and I would love to see the idea of having a housing court so that we can stop that process and we can make sure that people are not living with that fear and constant threat over them for eviction. Reggie, we can't hear you. It doesn't look like you're muted, but do you have a mic? There you go. Yeah, okay, sorry about that. Good morning, everybody. I'm Reggie Barna, and I'm a developer and provide housing consultant. And this is real important to me because in particular, we got a development in Minneapolis right now that's a few blocks away from where all of the protest is going on, and luckily it wasn't affected and it's expected to be complete in September. So I've worked with the City of Columbia on projects before and worked with Tameek and Councilman Davis and excited about this task force. I think the three biggest impediments that I see would be impact fees. That has a tremendous effect on affordable housing developers being able to put projects on the ground. So local impact fees, taxes, and the way that taxes are calculated, that again has an effect on the ability to keep the projects affordable even when we can get other funding to make it work on the, whether it's tax credits or home funds or other things. And then the other issue that I would say is salt funds. We can get hard debt for affordable housing, but salt funds to help support those developments. And I've always said this and Ivory has heard me say it is affordable housing is what we build, excuse me, affordable housing is not what we build. It's how we finance it because the cost of construction for affordable housing or market rate is the same. But what makes it affordable is the other things that we can do to help provide that. And those three items that I identified I think could be a tremendous help. We have Jennifer, after Jennifer, it's going to be Julianne and Jeff Larmor. All right, good morning. This is Jennifer Moore. I oversee our community work at United Way and I've worked many years specifically with homeless programs and also affordable rental housing. I guess I agree with so many things that folks have said, but I really did kind of echo Reggie's remarks about incentives or streamlined processes for approvals of housing to make it easier for developers. I would talk about voucher-supported housing with services for people experiencing homelessness so that we can make our shelter beds more effective for us and get people to stability and independence faster. And then also just kind of reflecting on what we saw with the 2015 floods is resources for not only homeowners but owners of rental housing to make needed repairs so we don't have the issues with deferred maintenance that we saw that were just so prevalent, especially with our senior community in 2015. Thank you. Julianne, then Jeff and Lester. Hi, I'm Julianne Avan. I'm with Mercy, the Mental Illness Recovery Center, and we provide housing along with behavioral health care for individuals that are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and mental illness. Probably the biggest impediments that we're seeing is the lack of rental assistance available for folks that are not meeting standards of chronic homelessness. It's very hard for Mercy to assist someone that is at risk of becoming homeless or recently become homeless. They have to meet the one-year standard for the federal funds of chronic homelessness. And by that point, there are not only behavioral health issues, but there are comorbid physical health issues and likely trauma and other things that have occurred. So I would say rental assistance that's open just based on income and not based on length of time homeless. We need safe housing. Mercy had to move over 30 people out of an apartment complex Garner Sterry Road because CPD couldn't manage to police the property and our folks were in danger. And there were gunshots and drug deals and stuff constantly. So we moved all of them over the past 18 months. So safety is huge when it comes to affordable housing. And we need for that affordable housing to be accessible to bus line and basic amenities, food, medical care, all those basic needs. Jeff Lester Ventana. Good morning all. My name is Jeff Laramore. I'm the executive director of the Midlands Housing Trust Fund. I come to the organization assisting with a commercial real estate development and finance background. And now I'm in the foray of the lending side of development. Three areas that I think that possibly need to be targeted is consistent access to loan capital not only on the local level, but also widespread access to funds. Key thing for me is what a community understanding of what affordable housing is and needs to be is key. And then lastly is just defining the integration of synergies of existing organizations to avoid a duplication of effort. And hopefully that's what we're going to be able to accomplish in these dialogues. Lester. Blessings everyone. My name is Lester Young, who statewide organizer for Just Leadership, as well as the founder of an organization called Path of Redemption, where we focus on helping those with felony convictions move forward after experiences, some form of incarceration. So the three things that I advocate for is the background check. Those who have felony convictions, they are denied access to some of the application process, housing opportunities, and the income gap because most people who have felony convictions, they are denied job opportunities, which again, prevent them from earning the income that is needed to purchase a house and even possibly running a home. Tanya. Hi, good morning. I am Tanya Isaac. I'm representing Charlotte's Girls, We Are a Community Advocate Group out in North Carolina Station, for the 29203 as well as 29204 area. My top three barriers to affordable housing would be the accessibility to the city, for people as well as accessibility to how you're paying jobs, and as well as the maintenance and safety issues out in the community. Thank you. I think that's everybody on the committee. I want you guys to understand, to also know who we have supporting us from the city staff. So Leigh, I'm going to start with you. Leigh, then Krista, then Shanique, and then I'll go on. My name's Leigh DeForest. I'm the Comprehensive Planner for the City of Columbia. So recently kind of wrapping up Columbia Compass effort, came to planning through housing. Do you want impediments from us as well? Yeah, yeah. So it kind of based on the conversations we had during Columbia Compass, I certainly echo everything you all have said. Rental costs, affordability, or rental housing gap is huge, especially for low income folks. We did end up talking a lot about property maintenance too. So that was mentioned earlier, but just we have an older housing stock, and how do we keep people in our homes and keep their homes energy efficient so they can afford to stay in their homes. And then just also mentioned earlier was ensuring that affordable housing also has access to amenities to transit, to not be in a few desert, to near proximity to job centers, that sort of thing. So that locational aspect. Thank you. Christa, then Shanique, and then Gloria. Good morning, I'm Christa Hampton. I'm the Director of Planning and Development Services, and I have the honor and privilege of working with smart people like Leigh who help us get great information. I used to work with Jennifer Long. So impediments, I'm going to echo the wage gap, the disconnect between jobs and housing. And then most of y'all already know there's not just NIMBY, but there's CAVE, that's Citizens Against Virtually Everything, and then Banana, which is filled absolutely nothing adjacent to anything else. So we've got all sorts, and there's even more. So we got to deal with that. I've not heard those two Christa, but I like them. Okay, Shanique, then Gloria, then Missy. Shanique, are you on volume? I don't see a little thing, so she might only be on here. So let me introduce Shanique. Shanique Belton is the Executive Assistant to Council. Okay, now I see her little thing. Are you on Shanique? Okay, I saw a little thing. Shanique Belton is the Executive Assistant to City Council. So the wonderful books that you guys have with the assistance of her colleagues that you're meeting, she actually put those together and helped me get those to you guys. But she is kind of the do-all-be-all for council. We're all part-time council people, although we really aren't, because it takes a lot of time. But in order to actually do the things that we want to do, like supporting this kind of commitment and process, we need someone like Shanique. So she is amazing, and that's going to be probably your y'all's primary contact. You know, when we get in committees and it happens to do zoning and stuff, you may deal with Christa a little bit more. But Shanique will be the primary contact along supported by Erica Moore or Erica Hammond for meeting notices, getting you information, anything that we need as far as to get you, she'll be that person. So y'all have her contact. Gloria, then Missy. Okay, good morning everyone. My name is Gloria Said. I'm the Director for the City of Columbia's Community Development Department. And it's so exciting to see you all. Some of you, I know personally, we've worked with, together before, we've actually funded many of your projects and actually have talked about potential projects and funding opportunities. So I'm really excited about the opportunity to be on the task force with you and representing the City of Columbia. If I can mention a couple of impediments, I would say one of the things that we have to continuously be conscientious of in regards to affordable housing is the fair housing piece of it. One of the things in regards to development, to fill the gap of the need for affordable housing is that we are always conscientious of the concentration of poverty. So even as we're looking at developing additional housing units and providing affordable units that we also make sure that we're not concentrating it in a particular area. So that's one thing that I think we need to continuously be conscientious of. Of course, I agree with the wage gaps. And lastly, the fact that you can't build anything without funding. So even community development in and of itself in terms of what we do, because we have people accessing our dollars to bring forth new development. Funding is an issue for us too nationally in terms of our CBBG dollars. While they've been steady over the last couple of years, it's still not enough to provide all the services and funding that's needed, whether it be for housing or for public services, because we fund those as well. So I'm going to leave it there. I won't talk too much, but anyway, great to be here. Thank you, Councilwoman DeVine for inviting me. Thanks, Laura. Missy? Good morning. I am Missy Gentry. I'm one of the four assistant city managers at the city and glad to be on the call and to meet everyone. I'll be quick so we can get rolling. Probably the barriers I'm most aware of is maybe just understanding the process as far as permitting and meeting requirements. A lot of affordable housing projects are utilized, either federal or state dollars, and they have different requirements associated with those dollars. So probably understanding those parameters, understanding how to get projects through the city system, and just helping communicate with the neighborhood too. And then the stigma, you know, affordable housing has some stigma and just overcoming those barriers and making the public know that it's a good thing and it's needed and that we're all supportive of it. Great. Thank you, Missy. All right. I think I got everybody, but please let me know. Did I miss anybody? Okay. All right, guys. So this is our first meeting, so I really just wanted us to get an opportunity to meet everybody and to know the expertise that we have. What I want to do now is, so kind of a little bit of background. The City of Columbia had a affordable housing task force. Actually, I was looking, the report came out in 2007, so I think they were actually formed in 2005. So 15 years ago, we had an affordable housing task force. They did some amazing work. Some of you are probably familiar with their work because I think Jennifer, you probably were involved at some level. I know you were involved at some level. And so they did some great work. They came up with some recommendations. Some things have been addressed. Some things have not, but we are 15 years later. Sorry, guys. We're 15 years later. So, you know, that work is not instructive for us, but I think it's good to know exactly that there was work and some of the things that they did. So I'm going to share my screen, if you guys can see. So, and I'll email these out to you guys. I have this in a PDF. Thank you, Krista and Gloria and Missy worked over the weekend for me, and I thank you guys for your dedication to kind of update this. So there were a couple recommendations that came out of the task force. In 2014, we looked at that task force recommendations and we did an update and then now in 2020, we wanted to see kind of where we were as far as some of these recommendations. A lot of the recommendations, as you can see, like continue to fully fund products of city living loan program, which is a program the city of Columbia has to support affordable home ownership within the city, and continue the city supported city affiliated development corporations. Some of these are really focused on internally what the city had control of what the city was doing. Some were out, were facing, like if you see City of Columbia provide quality multifamily, that's still internal, but the city should address the need to increase the number of affordable multifamily units by dedicating funds. So a lot of these, and like I said, I don't want to take a lot of our time over each of them individually, and I forgot to go over your books. I'm going to go over your book as well. But I'm going to send these out just so you kind of understand what actually came out of that committee and what some of the things that were done. Jeff, you can see the number seven recommendation. The city should investigate the feasibility of community land trust and implement them at feasible. And so that was kind of the impetus for Mayor Bob and others working to get the Midlands Housing Trust Fund set up and established. Now that is established, but I know basically talking from Jeff, and we'll talk about that, explore that through the talk of the work of this committee. You know, that's been set up, but there's still some additional things that need to be done. I know Jim is on here representing more justice who has a particular interest in housing trust fund, and they've done some research on national models and are working to pull together a coalition of folks who can be advocates for funding, a dedicated funding for Housing Trust Fund. So some of those are aligned with the 2007 recommendations, and we can certainly work on and give updates. But then there's some additional things that I think clearly, number 12, the city should be the leader and bring regional partners to the table to develop a comprehensive strategy for developing housing in the region, not just in the city of Columbia. And so, you know, as some of you mentioned, you know, we don't need to be duplicating efforts. We have NIMBAs and other things. So we've got to have a comprehensive strategy that's not just reflective on what the city itself can do, but how can we bring partners to the table? And I will add to that. Richland County Councilwoman Allison's ratio has expressed a really deep interest and was unable to be on the call with us. But I think in meetings moving forward, she will be a part of it to see how we can bridge that gap, at least between the city of Columbia and Richland County, and then hopefully, you know, we can expand upon that. So I'm going to send this guys to in an email once we finish our meeting. Number 10 on here guys, former oversight agency to monitor and enforce affordable housing policies and regulations, you know, that's not done. Clearly, what we're seeing right now, what's happening from just in law enforcement and public safety, you know, there there's a lot of discussion about where sometimes there needs to be local things, but sometimes there needs to be more broader oversight to monitor where things are. And I think Gloria mentioned about the fair housing standards and several you mentioned property maintenance. So I think those are some real key areas where we probably can make some strides in this in this group. So I'm going to send that to you guys just for information. Again, this is not necessarily instructive for us. We're not just picking up where the 2007 group left off. You know, our our work can be new. But I also want us to know what has been done to this point. And the things that maybe got the ball got moved a little bit, but hasn't, you know, moved the needle hasn't been moved any further. And we want to pick that ball up and keep running with it. At least this gives us kind of an idea of where things are, and where we can go. Okay, so I'm going to stop the share here before I go into your books and what you have in front of you. Does anybody have any questions about that or want to add anything before I move on about what we what staff has put together for you guys? And I can't see the everybody. So if somebody needs to say something just unmute and start talking. No questions. Okay, I'll send that to you guys. So everybody but Reggie Reggie, I need a physical address. And I'm gonna get Shanique to send it to you. Okay, everybody you guys should have this notebook. Did not expect that you guys got it yesterday and read it today unless you've just had a sleepless night. But but I wanted you to have some information. This is actually just a start there's some probably some additional research and stuff that we'll need and y'all will be able to add to it and do some things. But I just want y'all to know what's in here. The first thing that's in your in your sheet is the City of Columbia's vision statement. So in 2016, the city actually went through a total the city council actually in senior staff went through an envisioning process strategic planning process. And part of what we came up with was what we collectively saw and want to see in our in the Midlands in the year 2036. And I just want to let you guys read it. I'm not going to read it all, but I do think it needs to be said. To me, this is not where we are now, but it's very instructive as to where we want to be. And so the preamble is by 2036, Columbia has captured the new American dream while embracing our 20 250 year rich history. We enthusiastically welcome the future. We are proud of our soul, our unique character, our diversity and our human potential. We stand as a citizen city for all people. As a city of commerce, technology and education, we have defined our city as one of vitality and inclusion with a charming and cosmopolitan feel. We will create our desired future and we will continue to our success. And our focus areas are attracting retaining talent, planning together, connecting our community, empowering our residents, economic prosperity and endless possibilities, enhancing neighborhoods and leading the way in innovative and high quality municipal services. Every single one of our focus areas, if you don't have quality, safe, sustainable, affordable housing, we can't meet any of these seven. And so that's why this this initiative is so very important. So that's in here for you guys to kind of read a little bit more. In addition, like I said, I'm going to email you the 20 2007. But in here, you've got the 2020 con plan in here, the executive summary in here that Lee mentioned in her presentation. And then you also have Columbia's analysis of impediments under G. And this came from y'all correct me. Did this come from Lee or this came from Gloria? This is Gloria. That's Gloria. Okay. So these are analysis of impediments to fair housing. I'm a quickly guys, because I want to make sure we get I don't want to ramble. So I want to make sure we get to it. Lee, can you break briefly talk about the con plan? And then after that, Gloria, can you briefly tell them what they're going to read in here as far as analysis the impediment? And not having the binder. I know there's the consolidated plan that would be Gloria's and then Columbia compass would be. Okay, Columbia's course. Okay, so Gloria hit our F and G and then envision housing is that you to Gloria or is that Lee? I think she's muted. Okay, I'm unmuted now. Okay, so we should have provided two things. The five year consolidated plan. That's what you guys have under F. Okay. And then also the analysis of impediments to fair housing. So those two documents came from Community Development. I mean, they are hard off hot off the press, literally. The good thing about it is that, you know, every five years, the con plan, you know, we take a look at, you know, accomplishments that were made and where we are today in terms of what the current needs still are, you know, in our area as it relates to a wide range of needs for our citizens. So there is a piece in there on affordable housing. And I'm sorry, I don't have that in front of me, the binder either, but it might be section 20 in the con plan that speaks to affordable housing that that you all could take, certainly take a look at it and see what things are there that we still need to improve upon. The con plan is one of those items that whenever we have developers who are seeking to do developments in our area and they want to utilize our federal dollars for the development of their properties, we always refer them to the con plan because we want to make sure whatever it is that they're doing, product they're delivering, that it aligns with what we have already assessed and what city council has adopted in terms of what the needs are. As it relates to the analysis of impediments, that is also our most recent update to, you know, how the city is doing in terms of fair housing. And some of the things that you'll see as you read through that, of course, we already know that there's some areas around the city that has a concentration of low to moderate income or minority population. That's something that we, that HUD says we need to work harder at eliminating. And so as I spoke about earlier, when we look at new developments and things of that nature, we just have to be very conscientious of where we're putting them or if we're bringing that development, is it all low to moderate or is it mixed? So those are some of the things that as you go through those documents that you'll see how the, how city Columbia is performing in those areas. And where I think the impediments may be helpful guys also is I think we all went through what we see as our top, the top impediments. But this also has some data that will back a lot of things that we already see and know. So as we are talking to other people and actually getting people on board to what we're trying to do, I think that data will be helpful as well. So under H, you have the Envision, Envision Housing. This is part of the city of Columbia is our Envision Columbia. So it talks, this is where staff has action items based on what the city's the council's priority areas are. So it talks about how we are leveraging our money to provide some of the resources. There are some things that city council is actually looking into doing, funding, having more funding for developers. So I know that was an impediment a lot of you talked about. So that's the action plan that's in there. And then the next one is Columbia Compass. So Lee, can you mention what this part, this is the, what they have just case you don't see it is the housing piece at Columbia Compass. Sure. So Columbia Compass is the every 10 years the city updates are comprehensive plans. So and I know a number of you have been kind of engaged throughout the process. We did some early focus groups with their housing consultant, but it's broken into nine chapters and there's a chapter on housing. It's not just about affordable housing, but does address housing. And there's in that chapter kind of a brief review of existing conditions and then some recommendations for policy and some guidance for moving forward that really the meat of the comprehensive plan is making those recommendations for what we need to do for the next 10 years. So a lot of that kind of echoed some of the things that were said earlier. There is an appendix that also talks about housing existing conditions, which I know we've spent a good amount of time talking with with Gloria and her folks too. They pulled a lot of data. They did a market analysis, a policy analysis of existing policies. So if you really want to dig into those details, if that's not in your packet, if you go to Columbia Compass.org, you can kind of all the charts and graphs and all that good stuff is there as well. So that, you know, that was used to undergird the recommendations of the housing element. And the appendix, too. But also to Lee's point, what they did great is to interconnect a lot of these elements. So Columbia Compass.org and see all of the elements and how they interconnect, which is a good read. All right. Thank you guys. So that's what you all have. Like I said, it's probably, you know, more that you have enough to say grace over. But this actually gives us a lot of information to see kind of where we are. One of the things that I find with probably almost any issue, especially when we're dealing with the public is people want to say the city, the county, you know, nonprofit, other people should be doing X, Y, and Z. And the reality is a lot of times they don't even know what we're doing. So we're trying to at least pull that information together. And then that can be a jumping off point for where do we need to go and how do we pull together some kind of comprehensive plan. So you have this information and then Shanique and I have something else that's coming that I hope to get to you guys within the next week. Unfortunately, when I when y'all y'all all y'all know me. So y'all know I like have ideas and like I like think of things like three o'clock in the morning and I shoot count or shoot staff like an email and say, Hey, wouldn't it be great to do this? So last Thursday, I think I said, Shanique, oh, I would love for the committee to have X, Y, and Z. And she made it happen. But with coronavirus and things being delivered, it's not here yet. But we have something else that's coming to you guys that hopefully I'll get delivered within. Shanique, are you back on yet? Are you on? She said, I think she told me it should be here by the end of the week. So just so you guys know, let me tell you what it is. So and I didn't bring it here. But I have some of you heard me talk about this. We've talked a lot about kind of that the maintenance of housing. We've talked about the fair housing standards. We've talked about the concentration of low income housing in particular areas of our city, and all those things I think we have to kind of be able to honestly address a lot of those. So one of the the books that I'm reading right now that several of you may have heard me talk about is just it's called The Color of Law. And so we'll get that to you guys. Xu Shanique, you probably read it, Xu, knowing you. But it is, it just talks about the history of segregation in our country and how actually government policies added to the segregation of our country and where we are now. And so even along the same lines of people talking about, you know, how do we, how do we reimagine public safety in our country? I think we're at a pivotal time that we have to reimagine housing in our country and how are we providing housing for everybody, whether it's rental, whether it's home ownership, whether you have lower income or your higher income, how are we, how are we imagining housing in our country so that everybody, so that we're addressing the equity of it. And so this is what I've read so far has been just amazing. And so I think it will be a really great book for you guys. So I'm going to make sure that you all get that hopefully by the this weekend. But where I see us going now in the last couple of minutes, and this is where everybody just wants to unmute or unmute when you want to say something. This is where I wanted some feedback from you guys. I think we all have different skill sets, but based on the impediments that you guys have discussed, as far as some of the things I think working in a committee structure, initially to come up with really digest some, some things, some concrete action items we could have would be great. And then also some information that we want to see kind of in presentations. I would for our next meeting in June, after you guys have an opportunity to read this, I would like, you know, Lee to be able to maybe address some of any questions that you guys have on the con plan, Columbia Compass where we are. I think their presentation is really good. And Lee, correct me if I'm wrong, it's still in draft because when Corona virus hit, we weren't able to finish some of the stuff we've done, but we've gotten the public comment of it. Is that correct? Sure. So we're actually, it's gone through pretty much the recommendation from Planning Commission occurred in March right before we kind of scaled back our public meetings process. So it's, it's pending before Council, but we were kind of waiting for y'all to go through kind of your emergency actions and then also going through the budget. So I think you might be seeing it in the live, but that's, I know that's a conversation that we've been having with the clerks. Okay. So it's, and that would be first and second reading, of course. Okay. So I just want y'all to understand why it says draft. It just hasn't been approved by Council yet, but I don't anticipate it not being approved by Council. So within the next month or so, Columbia Compass will be approved by Council. And this is a good plan. So this will also instruct a lot of things that we're doing. So, but I would love Lee to talk about that. But is, okay. Thank you, Laila. So yeah, the book over here by the end of the week. But the, what, when I was looking at some of the issues, I think committee structures, I think some of the things that we do need to tackle is the education piece. The, and when I say education piece, having, and Jim, you may have something add to add. I don't know where you're, yeah. Jim, you might have something to add because I know you and I've talked about this and where more justice in your bigger group could be of help. But you know, many of us, and even those of you who didn't name Namby as an impediment, we all know that's a impediment. And the biggest thing I shared with staff last week is part of our frustration is it's funny because, you know, last two months, everybody's like, oh, we love our essential workers and you're out there cheering your healthcare workers and your teachers and everything else. But when it comes to actually providing affordable housing, workforce housing, whatever you want to call it, and you look at the income that it addresses, these are all the people that we're celebrating that we know that we would not have gotten through the last few months without. But when it comes to making sure that they have a quality safe place to live, people want to say, well, I don't want it in my community. And so we've got to address what we're talking about. Number one, I think that we need to, and this is just my thoughts, I think one thing we need to do a better job at communicating what the, what the need is, what the issue is, and be able to say, you know, these are the, these are why this is why we need affordable housing. And then outside of after that, I think we need to be able to come up with an idea. And I think more justice is thinking about some of this as well. So, so that we're not duplicating efforts, we can have, we can figure out who takes on a piece. But I think maybe seeing how do we work with community partners to educate the community about the need for more safe quality affordable housing within our community, mixed, mixed income, all that stuff. So I think we need an education. So somebody who's going to take on kind of the structure of that education piece. I think we need to potentially sue, look at kind of some of the legal pieces. You mentioned, you know, evictions, I think also the, you know, the authority of having, you know, maintenance and, you know, trying to deal with some of those things. I think we need to deal with funding, not enough that would be, and anybody who sees something they want to be a partner, then tell, I want y'all to after this, tell me and we'll divide up the committees. But my thought is, you know, definitely Jim, Jeff, Larry Moore and Reggie might want to take this on, but the funding piece on, you know, what are some of the funding opportunities, obstacles, what are some of the things that need to happen there? And then those are the three I had. And in my mind, I don't know if this is part of legal, but I had also thinking about some of the assess, well, I had two things. Well, in my mind, I was thinking the, I don't know if it's legal, but the zoning issues that you guys talked about or understanding the process and the zoning, I don't know if y'all feel like that should be a separate committee or if that would be legal. So I want to hear some input on that. And then some of the discussion on the accessibility issues. So this would be the food deserts, the bus line, the transportation, that kind of stuff. So that's my thought, but now I really want to just open it up in our last few minutes. I mean, I know some of you might have to drop off right at 12, but last few minutes, one, does that sound like a good place to start? Is there some place else that you feel is more important to start or something to add to that list? And that's what I want to hear from you guys. Well, I'm going to China to make a, actually, I think that's a great place to start because the community is, they, they don't, they're not educated on this out there. And not educated on the opportunities that are out there for them. And they're also not educated about what rights they have living in these communities and what it is that they can do themselves to, to make it a better place. Rather be to go out and be a part of groups like this or to go to the meetings that, that are here in the city hall and stuff. So personally, I think this is a good place to start, especially education to rest the community and communicating what needs the issues are to us. Thank you, Tanya. Anybody else? Jeff had mentioned the coordination of the different partners that are involved in this issue. And certainly you mentioned it with, with Allison to ratio being involved with heavily with Richland council on bringing that issue forward. I think it's important that we have that coordination between the city and the Richland County council. Jim, are you thinking there needs to be like a committee that talks about partnerships, even at Richland County council, but others, or do you think that's, that should be handled some other way? Absolutely in a committee form. Richland's key in that they, they have the ability to create the funds. And if we could get Howard on that committee, that'd be great because he is a strong advocate. Well, I have a funding committee on, so I think that, if you're thinking the partnership for, I know, so one of the things that Jim and I have talked about and more justice is, is advocating for is a dedicated funding source for a trust fund. And so the, they've done the research and they, they've talked and they are looking at the county and the city actually putting a referendum on the ballot for some kind of sales tax or something where we would have a dedicated funding source like we have the penny for the transportation. So that's kind of what they're looking at. So, but I think that's one piece of funding. I think there's so many other things. So I think the discussion of that referendum and all that could be part of the, the funding committee. It could, and that could be a subcommittee of the funding committee. What I asked you about partnerships, I'm wondering, I have, I strategically picked all of you guys because I think y'all bring a lot to the table. Are there partners that you feel like are not represented at the table that either should be part of the committee or should we be trying to reach out just to be part of the discussion? SC State Housing Authority. AC. You know what, and I talked to Ms. Bean maybe two weeks ago, but I actually didn't think about them for this, but that's, so, okay. I mean, in all honesty, most of us get funding from them and have to follow their regs in addition to city or county. Okay. Okay, I'm reaching out to Vonda and see if her or somebody on our pointy would want to serve with us. Tamika, would you think the Central Midland Council of Governments would be appropriate as well? So we can look at it from a regional perspective. Sue, you're muted, Sue. Doing, muting and unmuting. I think also when thinking about the legal issues, it's going to really be important to have both Richland and, excuse me, Lexington County because when we're talking about issues of fair housing and zoning, you know, while Columbia is interested in and wanting to do the right thing, I think that if we don't think about it in a larger scale, it won't have the same type of impact that we know we need to have when thinking about housing accessibility. And that also includes things like, you know, Lester talked about what criminal records checks and, you know, to make sure that if we're doing that, we're doing it as a regional looking at changing regional ordinances and laws, especially when we're looking at it from a fair housing context. So, Sue, do you think having the cog brings in that regional piece or do you think there needs to be specific folks that are reached out to in Lexington County that might be willing to be a part of our monthly discussions? Not knowing what kind of, how well the individual counties give deference to the cog and whether they can influence the cog. You know, you don't want to have it so big that you've got so many people you can't get anything done. But I think I would defer to you guys as to whether or not the cog would be a great way to get that input and information and whether or not they would be able to influence once some of these issues are parsed out and we figure out what we want to do with them. Does that make sense? Yep, it does. Was there anybody else who wanted to make it? Two things. One point you made earlier that's out there and people aren't aware of it. That is that there are some things that the city is doing and John Q. Public didn't know about it. I'm kind of wrapped up in the NEMMI challenges as well as accessibility and I always tell folks kind of take a look at the models that we do have as a starting point also. You know, there'll never be another Cabrini green as everybody knows. But there are some models I think that could help with I think the educational process we're going to have to go through. I like to point out the watercress model. I think Deborah was instrumental in that. That's something to look at. It's a small scale but it fits right into an existing neighborhood as opposed to, for example, always being on the fringe of an existing neighborhood. Those are the kinds of things I think that would help with some of the comfort zones of us really looking at the numbers when you look at needs and also accessibility does come into play. A number of the models that we do have are near bus lines and in some cases not too far from where the tenants work. I'm not technically a member but unless you want to appoint me. Those are the kinds of things that you hear and you deal with when you're on the ground. I think that's going to go a long way. No matter what we want to do, we still have to deal with the buy-in challenge and to let folks see the possibilities. I think we'll take this effort a long way. Crystal, let me ask this question. Where I'm still struggling are the zoning. I always hear it but I don't know enough I guess about whether or not the zoning issues we want to deal with fit within understanding the legal issues or does there need to be a new committee to deal with zoning concerns and how do we encourage more affordable housing through zoning? I think it could fall into the legal issue and also a plug for a not yet adopted but drafted. Our ordinance, our new ordinance addresses a lot of the issues. It now will permit accessory dwelling units under conditions. It permits multi-family in a much greater swath of the city than previous. I think the new code will go a long way towards meeting these goals but it would be great to have that part of the committee look at it and see how we could do better. Councilwoman Devine, I don't know if anybody on the car represents these groups but I think it's important that we as we're looking at what our definition of affordable housing is because all of us probably have a different slightly different definition of what it is is that we make sure we have people that are representing housing across all spectrums and so if we can add someone from the home builders association and potentially someone from that represents the realtors association in our community I found in the past and working with these on these types of task force that they bring very valuable information to the conversation and sometimes it broadens the definition of what people really think affordable housing is. Great point. Thank you Ms. Matthews. I've got that note. Anybody else either any now this is kind of free for all. Anybody else you think we should need to reach out to any other suggestions on the committees or anything else you want to add? Habitat for humanity. I know they're involved with rehab on a pretty big scale. Do we have anybody any of our philanthropic organizations in our community that has a housing initiative as one of their goals or might want to consider having housing where their goals? I don't know up top of my head. I don't know if Julianne if you know I mean I can reach out to Joey and turnquist and find out if based on some of the stuff or Jennifer do you know through United Way do we have any philanthropic organizations where housing is a priority or a target area? We provide considerable resources for housing for people experiencing homelessness nearly a million dollars a year but I think other sources might be smaller but I kind of defer to Lila and Julianne to see where they get grants from. Yeah Lila and I had to jump off but that's something we can research too that might be something also as part of the education piece like how do we bring or under the funding committee like how do we identify and even if there are like certain locals and proper organizations that don't have housing as a priority maybe part of our education is educating them and making them look at the fact that that's a need that they need to start putting my maybe money in. Julianne did you want to add anything? I did hear and this is just here to say but I did hear that um Luke Kraus Glushield Foundation was looking at or considering some time ago considering adding um a component to their foundation as to how they might go about supporting affordable housing so you know some of the larger corporations that we have um you know in our community they might be thinking about housing too and getting those folks certainly involved will be beneficial. United Health Care has been prominent in investment in the housing as a segue to better wellness and health. There's some discussion with our Rides of Richland group that sort of started through the effort of um Crystal Health that's forward and that is a part of what we're looking at there as well. We definitely need someone from the chamber um representing this group as well you know as the chamber goes about their business of bringing jobs into communities those jobs certainly have to have a place for somebody to live um and so um that would be another option to bring somebody from the chamber. Lester am I missing um anybody else like community focus that you're um I know you're doing a lot of work with people who have you know like the impediments like the formerly incarcerated people have an impediment or is there anything else that you could think of that a voice that we don't have at least at the table? At this time I'm just like thinking and I definitely email you if anything comes up and I just uh share it with you the email. Okay guys we're at 1212 so I definitely want to be respectful for your you guys time um you know you guys know June is affordable housing month but everything is still kind of shut down and a lot of focus is on other things but I think that we've got to make sure that we still continue to talk about um the fact that this is something we want to bring attention to. Do you guys have any any of your organizations uh Lala Anna's dropped off I don't think she has I think I asked if she didn't have a big plan um particularly Ivory or Jennifer anything do you uh are Sue is there anything that you guys know going on that we can collectively support to make sure that affordable housing month doesn't get lost and in the shuffle of everything else? I think it got lost with everything else that's going on with us so we we don't but I'll I'll check on the other legal providers to see if you know around the state if there's anyone been doing anything um that people to be supportive of. Yeah we're just gonna um we're gonna be doing a couple of virtual um campaigns on um on home ownership and also rental assistance so we'll certainly share that information with the group when we release that information for you guys to join us on Facebook resume and participate in those activities. All right guys so I have down our next meeting will be July 14th 2020 um I will make sure that you guys get the login information because I'm assuming that will still be virtual um and at that point so I'll make sure you all send out the login information um I'll I will send out a list of kind of the committees and um see if there's some folks uh that we can designate as uh chairs of those committees but if anybody has a particular interest in a committee or or to specifically to be chair of one of the ones that I listed recap I listed education legal funding um accessibility issues um and we're going to add in the partnerships under the funding um issues including the referendum um and we're going to add zoning under the legal issues um so if y'all have a particular interest I'll send that out let me know we'll send out the minutes from today and your book you'll get by Friday or Saturday and um our next meeting would you July 14th at 11 I'll send out everything anything else before we adjourn that anybody wants to add well then I will end with just saying thank you guys again um I know we all have a lot a lot going on there's a lot going on in our country um in our city and so there's so many other things that that are pulling at our attention right now but we we can't lose sight of this issue that's on the forefront of our community for many many years and we've got to tackle it and I really think that um I heard an interview this morning at some I said this is the watershed moment in our country on so many things I really feel like even on this this could be a watershed moment for us as well to realize that if we're going to really truly talk about equality for all people we got to talk about equality when it comes to providing housing for for people and it shouldn't matter you know who you are what your background is how much you make for you to have access to clean healthy safe affordable housing so that is going to be our goal and I appreciate you guys taking the mantle to to tackle this with us so Sam any any closing remarks from you you're muted you you you've covered it um one one point you've made and that is that we have been doing some things and I think we need to do a better job of uh educating the public of our efforts and uh it's it's so timely that this is so timely um from where we are now and where we need to go and and what we're going to be doing when um when the American when the society opens up again these people we want to serve uh they're still going to be vulnerable unless we uh make some progress all right so if anybody wants to follow with me offline you know how to get me um I think everybody I'll make sure when I send out my stuff that I also send my cell number y'all need me to but um until uh July 14th again thank you uh you guys got blessed stay safe y'all we haven't seen a 14 day decrease so please continue to wear your mask and stay in when you can um and then out on everything else advocate and use your voice in the way you best thank you good job