 So I'd like to call the June 26 2023 housing authority regular meeting to order Members of the public may view and listen to the meeting as noted on the city's website as noted on the agenda It's a matter of housekeeping. I'd like to remind commissioners to keep their microphones muted unless they are speaking The city of Santa Rosa is committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment free from disruption We will not tolerate any hateful speech or actions and our well staffed are monitored Everyone is participating respectfully where they will be removed If necessary, we'll also immediately end the meeting clerk. Please explain how public comments will be heard at today's meeting At each agenda item after the item is presented the chair will ask for housing authority commissioner comments After the commissioner comments the chair will open the item for public comment The chair will first call for in-person public comments and then request public comments from those participating via zoom for members of the public joining the meeting via zoom You'll be participating as an attendee your microphone and camera will be muted if you're calling in from a telephone and choose to speak during public comments portion of today's agenda for Privacy concerns the host will be renaming your viewable phone number to resident and the last four digits of your phone number For members of the public attending in person and would like to make comment on hearing items When the chair calls for public comments after an item is presented Please go to the closest public speaking podium in the upper tier of chambers Where the clerk will unmute your microphone and permit your comment to be heard The zoom host will be lowering all hands until public comments via zoom are opened for the agenda item Once the chair is called for zoom public comment The zoom host will call upon each member of the public and the order that their hands are raised in zoom And we'll continue to call upon those who wish to participate until the list in zoom is exhausted If you're calling in to listen to the meeting audibly you can dial star 9 to raise your hand Public comments will be limited to three minutes per speaker per item Public comments are limited to one comment per speaker per item All live public comments once all live public comments have been heard The clerk will read email public comments if you provide a live public comment on an agenda item But also submitted an email your email public comment will not be read during the meeting Additionally, there is one public comment period on today's agenda to speak on non agenda matters item six This is the time when any person may address the housing authority on matters not listed on this agenda But which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the housing authority Thank you before I asked the chair to do a roll call for tents at the request of city's IT team To assist with streaming the meeting and capturing commissioners as they speaking when a commissioner has a question or comment Please ask the chair to be recognized. This will allow time for the cameras to shift to the new speaker. I Now ask the clerk for a roll call Okay, we'll go ahead and do a roll call for attendance We will start with commissioner Newton who is absent commissioner Smith President Commissioner Rawhouser President Commissioner McWhorter Commissioner Downey Vice chair LePenna here and chair Owen here Let the record reflect that all commissioners are present with the exception of commissioners Downey McWhorter and Newton Thank you. I'd like to move on to item three and ask if the commissioners are there any statements of abstention Okay, hearing none. We'll move to item number four, which is staff briefings And this is I believe is Kate or a gold fine doing So item 4.1 is a staff briefing presented by Kate gold fine administrative services officer And she'll be providing you with the third quarter financial report Yes, thank you Megan and good afternoon commissioners I am Kate gold fine administrative services officer This is the funding and expense Report for quarter three of fiscal year 22 23 the months of July 2022 through March 2023 so I'm going to hit the highlights and then I'll be available if you have any questions Starting with expense in loan activity We have expended 4.8 nearly 4.9 million so far and have nearly 10.3 million committed to projects in CDBG DR The all of the developments continue to make progress with over 14 million expended The projects funded by CDBG DR on the affordable housing pipeline matrix included in this agenda in Projects over three oh and in CDBG DR the 8,000 of remaining budget is only for administration in Projects over 3.4 million has been expended including 708 towards the Sam Jones Hall annex operations funded by one-time CDBG CV funding 2.3 million toward the Canary and Caritas Homes phase one funded by infill and infrastructure grant funding Moving to funding sources again. I'll just focus on the highlights The best news is the housing impact fees which we budgeted at 1.4 million and have come in at 1.9 million through three-quarters so that is trending quite high and we continue to watch that carefully Loan repayments also continue to trend well You may remember we see we received over 2.4 million in Lantana project loan repayments last year and then in November the authority also appropriated $300,000 of loan repayments received between January and September of 2022 So of that approximate 3 million budget we already have 2.7 million We budgeted to receive about 300,000 of new loan repayments for the entirety of this fiscal year And we've already received 840,000 through March So this funding is primarily used for new loans and will be budgeted next fiscal year and in that NOFA and Then finally in the state grants category that 5 million received is the funds budgeted by the state to pass through the city for Caritas and that concludes the briefing and I'm happy to answer any questions. You may have Thank you any questions from missioners I Do have a question Kate and so the over just and we will pick up on just the impact fee of I think he says 1.9 versus 1.5 What happens to those funds they allocated to next year's budget are they reallocated this year in General they are allocated in next year's budget if there were a need for Additional funds in the current year which occasionally we we do have like that 300,000 we appropriated a few months ago We can't appropriate it, but right now it would go into the 24-25 budget Because we've already budgeted 23-24 is what you'll be seeing so we're pushing out basically Well for sitting here in late June so it's we're pushing it out of years or not next year's budget the budget after that Otherwise it just sits in the city's treasury and right earns interest. Yes, okay Want to see if there are any questions from the public We're now taking public comments on item 4.1 We'll begin with comments from those attending in-person in chambers once we've finished with in-person comments We'll hear comments for those Participating via zoom if you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand So hello You may state your name for the record if you so choose You have three minutes to make your comment. Can you see the timer? Yes, sir. Okay your time begins now. Hello My name is Dwayne DeWitt. I'm a member of the Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group and thank you for the report today, but There was no copy up here where the public could see the facts and figures at the time It was being discussed That's a bit of a letdown to people that want to know where the money's at and where it's going I therefore request that I be given a printed copy of that budget and of that Agenda item even though it's already been Heard so that I can have it for reference. I'm very curious about what was Described as Lantana loan payments and so the Lantana project switched from being affordable residential rentals to Being owner-occupied and I think that might be what that's about, but I don't know I'd like to find out the exact explanation of what the Lantana loan repayments are about and then also When you say 10 million is committed Like to see where the money is committed to It's an important thing for the housing advocates here in the county to try to track what's actually going to occur In the past some money was put aside under what we're called HUD VASH project based vouchers For projects to be built in the future And apparently those projects are going nowhere fast and yet there are people who need vouchers And need to understand how this is all being handled having a written copy of what was presented today Would help us at the advocacy group to understand how things are occurring with the housing authority and again Thank you for your volunteer efforts on all this Appreciate your hard work. Thank you. I see if there's any public comment on zoom Chair Owen. I have one public comment on zoom Please go ahead You have three minutes if you would like to state your name for the records, please do so Hi, my name is Kim Lee Can you hear me? Yes, I was just listening. I didn't have a question. I'm sorry Thank you Do any other questions on coming from zoom? Chair on I see no hands raised at this time Are there any email questions? And chair and we have no email public comments So this was since it was as a reporting item, there's nothing to vote on We'll go ahead and move to 4.2, which is the HUD veterans Affairs supportive housing or VASH program briefing Rebecca Lane housing and community services manager who oversees the housing choice voucher program will be providing the staff briefing Good afternoon commissioners. Thank you. My name is Rebecca Lane and I will be Sure, I'll bring the mic closer as well. Thank you. Just give me one moment to get the presentation out. Thank you My name is Rebecca Lane. I'm the manager of the rental assistance programs Thank you so much for your patience everyone Again, my name is Rebecca Lane. I'm the manager of the rental assistance programs for the city of Santa Rosa And I'm here to present a staff briefing related to the HUD Veterans Affairs supportive housing program or VASH So brief overview of the HUD VASH program It was established in 2008 under the Consolidated Appropriations Act and has continued in subsequent funding years every year under the Appropriations Act The HUD VASH program combines housing choice voucher rental assistance with case management and clinical services that are provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs This is a way of connecting supportive services and housing funds by regulation so the The HUD VASH requirements are that the local housing authority administering the program Partner with the local Veterans Affairs Department This program as you may know is targeted to veterans who are experiencing homelessness so Continuing with a broad overview of the HUD VASH program the VA is responsible For the referrals to the public housing agency that they are partnering with so unlike the standard housing choice voucher program the HUD VASH program the VA monitors and manages the waitlist if there is one at the local jurisdiction So the housing authority just accepts the referrals from the VA the VA is responsible for conducting outreach to eligible veterans and Determining the priority of the referrals that will come through the public housing agency and For the PHA there are also alternative requirements for eligibility determination Mainly those differences are that the PHA is not allowed to screen out for any criminal background Recents other than if the household is or contains a registered sex offender and after the Family is leased on the program then basically the the same rules and regulations apply But it is a streamlined process in so far as the eligibility determination is concerned In this program Essentially the idea is that Each agency plays to its own strengths So the housing authority is in charge of providing the money for the rental assistance and ensuring housing quality and the VA is Responsible for all the clinical and social supports that the veteran may need while participating in the program and Just some some success of the program so far in November of 2022 The U.S. Interagency Council on homelessness Announced an 11% reduction in veterans homelessness between 2020 and 2022 and in March of 2023 the VA has announced that it has a goal to place at least 38,000 veterans in permanent housing So hudvash will be integral to that goal So getting into our local program the Santa Rosa hudvash program was established in 2009 with the city of Santa Rosa housing authority our local VA partner is the Santa Rosa VA clinic We are currently allocated 429 vouchers under the program and of those 354 are currently in housing We have 12 new households to the program who are currently searching for housing and 11 of the 354 or 11 additional Households were leased up and are now between units. So looking for new housing That means that we have Space or capacity for an additional 52 referrals from the VA and that is what their primary focus is For this coming year under that goal of the additional 38,000 veterans being housed so the VA is currently screening and Determining priority for those ongoing referrals of which we currently have capacity for 52 It is worth noting that Sonoma County housing authority also does have a small hudvash program Their program has 20 vouchers we also in terms of the program administration the two housing authorities here at Sonoma County and Santa Rosa have an agreement to wave the portability Requirement between our two jurisdictions So what this means is that the VA has one primary partner? And that is the city of Santa Rosa Housing Authority and that means that we as the Santa Rosa Housing Authority will administer Throughout the county so if a veteran finds housing and wishes to live in West County Then we will administer that will inspect that property So that is a way of streamlining the process and the experience for the VA as well as for the families When new vouchers are allocated that is that starts at the federal level With the VA calculating the local need and then the local VA office and the local housing authority collaborate to determine their capacity and then Request a number of vouchers if it is determined in that fiscal year. It's appropriate then the PHA will request the number of vouchers that the VA approves and that HUD ultimately approves or will approve So this requires ongoing regular collaboration between the VA and the PHA hudvash vouchers may be project-based. This is provision that Happened in the regulation shortly after the program's inception So there's two ways that this can happen the PHA may convert Some of their existing allocation of vouchers to project-based vouchers with the approval of the VA and The PHA must follow the regular competitive process for for that if that's a decision of both parties of the VA and the PHA and Rarely, but it does happen HUD might release specific funding set-asides for hudvash project-based vouchers But it's much more common that the VA and the local PHA decide that they should convert some of the existing Allocation to project-based vouchers. So that has happened here in Santa Rosa. We have 98 bash project-based voucher units currently Windsor Veterans Village River City senior apartments Altamira family apartments and Benton Veterans Village are all in operation and occupied And we have under construction an additional 10 units heritage park apartments and for reference Windsor Veterans Village is in Windsor River City senior apartments is located in Petaluma Altamira family apartments is in Sonoma and Benton Veterans Village is here in Santa Rosa and The additional 10 units in heritage park apartments will be in Windsor as well Under the hudvash project-based voucher program families retain their right to move out of the unit after one year and Take a regular hudvash tenant-based voucher with them and at that point the VA and the PHA would collaborate on referring a new family To that vacant unit that concludes my overview of the program. I'm happy to answer any questions Thank you. Any commissioners have questions. Oh, I had a question. I was a little clarified But I thought there's 52 vouchers, but we actually in Sonoma County have 20 Vouchers available for our veterans Is that correct? The Sonoma County Housing Authority has 20 vouchers under contract 20 hudvash vouchers under contract with HUD and the Sonoma Santa Rosa Housing Authority has the 400 So it's it's the number of vouchers that we have in our contract. So we have 429 vouchers Hudvash vouchers. Yes, and Sonoma County has 20 Oh All together In Sonoma County, we have 420 vouchers available The Sonoma County Housing Authority has a contract with HUD for 20 20 hudvash vouchers Yes, thank you, and then those would be applied for through the veterans of the correct the same process applies Thank you very much. Any other questions? So I have a question. So one of the things that you talked about in this which I think is very important is that unlike regular HUD vouchers the vash vouchers also provide services for the veterans Okay, and that the services component does not come through the housing authority. Is that correct? That's correct. That comes through the VA. So When a veteran is is obtaining these vash vouchers, they're getting a housing voucher similar to a regular voucher Plus they are getting services to what kind of services are the Are the veterans receiving from the VA? the VA provides services from Beginning with outreach street outreach all the way through Any type of medical clinical or social service that the veteran may Require for housing stabilization. So unlike some of the other Rapid re-housing or other social programs that we might see that provide support to People coming out of homelessness the VA provides services throughout the duration of participation on the program And if they're each family is assigned a social worker and that social workers Responsibility is to either provide the service that is necessary or connect the veteran to the service that is necessary So that can include medical That can include a variety of social services So the VA provides that throughout the time that the family is on the program until such time that the family and the VA determined that the Household is stable and can graduate from case management service and at that point they're still followed By the VA But they're no longer receiving the intensive case management services But they can continue to receive rental assistance for as long as they need it And then also there's availability of 52 vouchers that are unused at that at this time at this moment. Yes how would That seems unfortunate there's any available because you would think that there would be a need out there that could be fulfilled How how would one of our veterans apply that to go through the VA? Yes, so often referrals start at vet connect, which is a weekly Meeting that occurs in a couple of locations throughout the county But contacting the local VA is the way to start And one of the ways that that often happens is through that connect or some of the other volunteer organizations So the VA will have a presence at community events like that to try and connect with people they also manage their own List of Engagements throughout the community when they're doing outreach to determine who is homeless who is a veteran so the VA has That responsibility Is there any coordination between the vouchers that the housing authority deals with? Because there's a seven to ten year wait list Is there any screening that you could look at and has the qualifying for people getting on the list? That shows that they are a veteran that say look we don't have regular vouchers for you But go to the VA and here's there's 52 available. There's their coordination between the two organizations Certainly when we receive inquiries whether it's about our wait list or other programs That's one of the questions that we ask If someone is a veteran because we know that that resource is available So it's not a formal like one of the we do not ask people who are applying for our General HCV wait list if they're a veteran because that's not a preference on our program So it's primarily through the regular outreach and connection that we do with the community So there's no way to look at our wait list and see who would because that's not a question That's asked at their veteran correct. Is that something that could be part of the wait list question there? Yeah, it's possible with the Electronic program that we have now we have a much easier way of You know reaching out to people because of the the system that is in place for communication that way So it's certainly something we can look into that that would be great because that way We could have our veterans taken care of for something that they're on a list and it doesn't even factor into So I don't know how easy it would be to scrub the existing list and find out if there's veterans on there Which I just doing the math you would think there probably would be and we've got 52 vouchers not being used But they get services as well as housing so and taking care of our veterans like they should be taken care of right so Appreciate that any other questions from the commissioners With you is one is do we have the The the capacity to house the 52 that have the vouchers and in the process of marrying the veterans with the program with the unit and I'd imagine that's all through the veterans administration. Yes, the VA also provides housing navigation and housing search services Thank you very much Okay, seeing nothing any questions will open this this up for public comment We're now taking public comments on item 4.2 that we're going to begin with comments from those attending in person Once we have finished with in-person comments We'll hear from those participating via zoom if you wish to make comment via zoom Please raise your hand if you're dialing via telephone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand Hello, you can state your name for the record if you so choose you'll have three minutes to make your comment Can you see the timer? Yes, sir. Okay, your time begins now. Hello. My name is Dwayne DeWitt. I'm from Roseland and a member of the Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group 25 years ago the county of Sonoma had a veterans preference on the list that allowed Veterans who had waited for the six or seven years To get about your to then be considered with the veterans preference and get those And I think the city could do the same thing I wanted to thank Commissioner Owens and Commissioner Rawhouser for their questions and for delving into this it would have been much better if The veterans affairs people had been here also. I attend vet connect I work with the volunteers there as a member of a number of veterans organizations and No one knew there's 52 vouchers available. I was just there last week. We were talking about things I know of a veteran that had a voucher four years ago And then the city kept him from moving into the unit that he had found and we got him the payments and the lease and everything Ready because the window was one inch too narrow and then they said you can't be in this unit They then also pushed everyone else out of that building called a guest house on the corner of West college, excuse me college at 4th Street Long story short There's not a really good coordinated effort right now, and it could be improved with your staff Who are good at what they do and get this deeper and better? the idea of it looks like 63 of these vouchers are in Windsor and Are those units? Already occupied ten or in construction so we know they're not but what about the other 53 did those 53 units? Get occupied built and done and veterans in there These are the kind of questions people need to know about when we're at these meetings at vet connect the person from the hud-vash voucher program, which is technically based based in San Francisco comes up to Santa Rosa and Then talks with local folks But doesn't have any news to use This is actually where the news to use comes from from your department as to how many Vouchers are actually given out how many can be received in an expeditious manner Other veterans I've talked to to try to qualify for this say it's really difficult It's just as difficult as the six or seven-year waiting list because there are obstructions in place Like the one inch to narrow window there needs to be some type of a waiver Situation in which a person who's out on the street and needs housing now can get in the housing And we can deal with the fine point situations once they're sheltered. Thank you very much for your time Thank you. We have any more public comment Yes, you can you can state for your name for the record if you so choose You're gonna have three minutes to make a comment. Can you please see the timer? Yes? Thank you your time will begin now My name is David Harris. I live at 355 demo circle here in Santa Rosa and I served on the housing authority from mid-year 2010 till the end of 2018 So the only current commissioner that was on with me is Wayne Downey But I was around During this whole increase in the number of vase vouchers and It really surprised me at the time that VA had chosen Santa Rosa to be the sole administrator for the whole county You know, they didn't give any at that time to County Community development, you know, they're a comparable organization Santa Rosa was given the entire allocation and that's grown to over 400 now and I'm very much an advocate for doing project-based vouchers because you know what the process is of somebody building affordable housing of trying to qualify for tax credit bonds a Voucher that is project-based is a guarantee of that Housing voucher cash stream for 55 years essentially and that can be taken to the bank It is one way that you can get a lot of financing to build new inventory That is It is something that's very easily underwritten by lending agencies now There's going to be specialists in that area, but I Think you know the regulations change from time to time but I think as much as 40% of those over 400 could be project-based and With the developers to go to the bank and having that guaranteed stream of you know What $1,000 a month $10,000 a year? You can get substantial financing it would be a way to get many more projects funded not just from the base side Realize the same thing is true. I mean there were regulations though that the units had to be Individual units had to be no more than four You had to be quadriplexes to qualify. I mean you got to look at the details, but There's been a frequently an understanding that well, okay They awarded those and nobody's gonna be able to use that voucher until the project is built But that's not true that the voucher can be in you someplace else It's just that there's a management issue of being able to get Someone to take that voucher and move it move in to the new construction site when it's available and I don't know, you know, that's something to keep an eye on There's a lot of details to follow here, but these could be used more to leverage more construction Thank you for the public comments. Do are there any comments on zoom when I see no hands raised at this time in zoom And do we have any email comments? Jerome, we have no email comments for this item Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. It's not something that's the batch voucher program is an offshoot of our normal voucher program And neither easily understood. So thank you for the presentation. It's greatly appreciated We'll move on to item five, which is a study session and note that there are no study sessions and Therefore we'll move on to public comments on non-agenda items Of course, you can state your name for the record if you so choose you'll have three minutes to make a comment We'll put the timer up here in just a moment and you can see the timer Hello, my name is Dwayne D. Witt. I'm from Roseland and also a member of the Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group At last Wednesday's meeting of the Sonoma County Community Development Commission a discussion ensued about why Affordable housing was so much more expensive to build than market rate During that discussion. It was stated that due to prevailing wage agreements due to high quality required for affordable housing that Affordable housing could cost anywhere from 200 to 300 thousand dollars per door more Than market rate housing being built currently here in Sonoma County That was a stunning number to me And it made me think that maybe one of the things that the housing authorities could be doing is Building market rate housing and then once the market rate housing is built and ready for occupancy Then put a covenant on there and Say we'd like this to be affordable for the next what 40 50 years That would save 200 to 300 thousand dollars per unit per door and One of the things that we hear here in Sonoma County at least for the last 30 years is That it's expensive to build here But in the past 30 years ago a brand new house could be built for a hundred and forty thousand two hundred and fifty thousand dollars I knew people that moved into those houses and so now they're telling us you could get houses over in Roseland built brand new For 500,000 when they got their financing. They said they would be for 350,000 But then they said well due to the COVID due to the cost of materials different things like that now It's 500,000 and that's considered what's affordable. I think it's a scam. I want you to understand that It's not on you. You folks are doing good work trying to do good things You should be able to find a way within your existing legal structure as a housing authority to find Developers who will build the housing at market rate costs and market rate and Then you can decide who can live in it that type of approach It's really so I guess you'd say Frustrating that to hear affordable housing Cost much more to build than the regular market rate for moderate-income type people as you know Lantana was built out there After 13 years, I remember with housing authority money was supposed to be residential rental and then it switched over to ownership Residential rental that's affordable is what we need most Please look into this new approach idea of building market rate housing and then making affordable rentals Thank You kindly Well, you can state your name for the record if you so choose you'll have three minutes to make a comment Can you see the timer? Yes, I guess okay your time begins now 251 on it, but all that will be enough again. I'm David Harris and I Wanted to expand on those this whole financing with project-based vouchers is something I think actually would help to address this issue because the financing by the tax credit bonds is You know, there's been a lot of time trying to qualify. That's part of what runs up the cost But project-based vouchers I think are much more a straightforward way to finance new units You know how much additional capital they need? I mean that needs to be explored with with the developers but To be able to have vouchers it potentially up to 40% of the vouchers could be project-based And we you know we have a very small percentage that are project-based and being able to have a higher number project-based Would with no need for allocations of new money from the federal budget We have Allocated to the city a lot of vouchers that have the potential to be taken to the bank and be used to finance new units The other comment though, I was a little surprised to hear that the county now had 20 units It's almost like okay. What's going on here with VA seem to have been very clear That it made sense to them to have a single administrator for various vouchers for the whole county and So they didn't give it to County, which might have been the logical place They chose the city of Santa Rosa and now the fact that the county has 20 This makes me a little concerned that VA could any day say fine. We're gonna move all our vouchers to the county You know, I'm just speculating here But I I would just wonder why after Now how many years? 2009 until now they've said all we want only one administrator in Sonoma County And it's going to be the city and now they've started to somehow these vouchers have gotten to the county and You know it would have a real impact on our operation if 400 and some vouchers that we were administering and being paid to administer Got reassigned to the county and and I don't know, you know, I'm totally speculating here But I would be very much interested in knowing What the VA may be Thinking and and what issues that the VA would tell us about if we were to communicate with them. Thank you Thank you. Do we have any comments on the? Public in on zoom chair. Oh, and I see no hands raised at this time in zoom Thank you any comments of from the emails Chair, and we have no email public comments for this item Hey, thank you. I Think that participants have provided public comments on the on these issues We're going to go ahead and move on to item seven, which is the approval of minutes There any comments on the minutes for the commissioners? They're seeing none since the minutes. We don't need to have a vote on this. We'll go ahead and approve those minutes We'll move on to item eight, which is chairperson and commissioner reports I don't have any commission Megan is this where we're talking about Anofa process. Yes, sure. This would be the appropriate time to identify Housing authority members for the ad hoc review. So can you Megan? Can you provide a little background as to when we sent the NOFA out and when applicants came in and the timing for the NOFA process that we Haven't played right now So on an annual basis the housing authority staff issues a notice of funding availability for the upcoming fiscal year funds that notice was published in Early May of 2023 we've approximately eight point one million dollars available. It closed The beginning of June. I want to say about June 9th We receive five applications for a little over 13 million dollars Our past practice has been to have two members of the housing authority Participate with staff in the review of the applications and assistant developing a recommendation that will come to the housing authority We are hoping to have that recommendation before the board in July. So at the July meeting So we're requesting that the chair appoint two members of the housing authority to participate in that process so based upon Just experience on on being this I'd like to recommend Vice Chair LePenna To to be on that subcommittee. I have to accuse myself because I know some of those people that are replied and then also Commissioner Newton to be on now on that Now it missed if commissioner Newton cannot Participators on it or is unable to participate will we will go with with the commissioner Smith. Thank you very much I Think we have to have public comment on this item. So we'll go ahead and have public comment on this item we're now taking public comments on Item 8 chairperson commissioner reports We'll begin with comments from those attending in person once we're finished with person in person comments We are comments for those Participating via zoom if you wish to make comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing and via telephone Please dial star 9 to raise your hand and it appears that we have no in person comments for this item We have any zoom calm comments on zoom from the public There oh, and we have no hands raised at this time in zoom. Thank you. Do we have any email comments? Thank you Moving on to item 9, which is committee reports and want to note that there are no committee report items on this agenda Which means we'll move to item 10 which is executive director reports and communication items It's mess messenger. All right Chair Owen and members of the housing authority Some quick updates for the month of June as I just noted the NOFA closed And we received five applications in excess of 13 million dollars of funding requests So staff is reviewing those applications and it will have a recommendation or recommendations before you at the July meeting Staff is also busy working on the lease up of several projects Caritas homes phase one, which is located adjacent to Caritas Village in downtown Santa Rosa is leasing up as is the Former site of the journeys and mobile home park, which is located at 35 75 Mendocino Avenue So we are looking forward to residents moving in late summer of 2023 And then staff is also working on stony oaks, which is a density bonus project located on stony point road and Then the last item I'd like to note is our waiting list is currently open and will be open through June 30th at 11 59 p.m. As Housing and community services manager Lane noted it is an online process to date. We've received over 4400 applications So if individuals who are watching or listening are interested in applying they can access it through our website If there are limitations on their ability to access online we have staff available to help them with the process So I'm looking at The list of projects So was it Which one on stony points or not stony point flats, which one was it? so attached to the commissioner's report is the monthly pipeline and if you are looking at the section labeled Funded and under construction, which has a gray banner stony oaks is number Okay, sorry the font is really really small So it's number six and then as I noted we are also leasing up number ten eleven and Five so kerosene phase homes Three five seven five Mendocino Avenue phase one is actively being leased up phase two is shortly behind And to look at number six, which is stony oaks apartments. Is that project complete? I don't know off the top of my head if it has received its Certificate of occupancy, but they are beginning the lease up process Okay, and that's showing as 142 units But we're only tracking 15 because of a density bonus. Is that correct? That is correct But I do believe the project is 100% affordable and was funded by tax credits. That's a 9% tax credit deal Yes, it is so Again, I've made this comment before I think it'd be beneficial if we were able to I know we only track 15 But to show how many of 4b units are coming online would be important because if we look at The completed projects within the last year You know sage commons is 54. I don't know if I believe that was a tax credit deal, which means there's And I'll assume there's one management unit in each one of these That's why there's usually off by one unit so that you'll have a significant number There's 215 units there and under development is almost 1,500 units So that's a significant number of affordable units coming in in the next either this year or next year coming online For for for Santa Rosa and that's just Santa Rosa So that's more a commentary than a question, but thank you did any comments or questions from commissioners Mr. Smith. Yeah, just one question What is the number that the city of Santa Rosa is supposed to meet in terms of building or You know affordable housing units. I mean how how well are we doing with this list here? So I believe you're referring to our regional housing needs allocation. It's often called the rena allocation I don't know off the top of my head what our current. It's in I believe eight-year cycle seven or eight-year cycles I don't know what it is off the top of my head, but we can provide that information to you The list is is impressive how much we're building in the short term And I would just curious how well where we're doing so we so the the group that Divvies out the the numbers, you know says Santa Rosa is doing a good job, but you know that was real focused there any other questions and commissioners Hearing none, I'll open it up for a public comment We are now taking public comments on item 10.1 We'll begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers once we finish within person comments We'll hear comments from those participating via zoom if you wish to make comment via zoom Please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand Hello, you may state your name for the record if you so choose you have three minutes to make a comment Can you see the timer? Yes, sir Year three minutes begins now. My name is Dwayne DeWitt. I'm from Roseland, and I've been studying regional housing needs assessments from the Bay Area For about 30 years basically One of the needs that never gets met is for the very low Extremely low very low and low income the needs at the top Moderate and above are always met and there's always a surplus of housing that's being built So I would ask that this body specifically Task your staff to track the regional housing needs assessment fulfillment What you're actually getting done because as mr. Owens just pointed out these are important and mr. Smith pointed out that This is a big deal all the stuff that's being built right now. I live just down the street from stony oaks It's a giant three-story project totally new to that area Burbank housing built a three-story project just to the south in the past There's some people that believe thousands of affordable housing units are being built in southwest Santa Rosa It would really be nice for your staff to be able to call out Using the project pipeline and the rena numbers as they're called to show Just which quadrants of the city are actually getting the housing that fulfills the need for low very low And I Really want you to focus on extremely low Those are the people that make up a number of the how the homeless the The shelterless people that are out there and need to have something So we host the sam jones hall Over in the right district of western santa rosa That gets hundreds and hundreds of people There are hundreds and hundreds of more homeless people in the southwest area of santa rosa Many of them Just wandering about waiting trying to figure out what they're going to do What your housing authority could do with your staff is Find a way to have a liaison So that these people would know how to get on this section eight voucher list if they don't have computers From what you just said it's all online And you have to come in and talk to these folks here And tell them if you need accommodation If you're not online if you're disabled etc Now we're down to four days left And I bet there's a lot of those homeless folks wandering around my neighborhood in roseland That don't know anything about this sadly So i'll try some outreach with the veterans at least bring it up at vet connect tomorrow And we'll go from there. Thank you again for all your volunteer work on this All right terrific You may state your name for the record if you so choose you have three minutes to make a comment Can you see the timer? Yes, I can. I mean your three minutes begins now uh, this is david harris I appreciate very much uh commissioner smith asking the question about rena numbers I'm aware there's another organization That produces housing need numbers that are higher even than the rena numbers But you know, you're asking the right questions here today is to to have regular reporting on the progress that's being made and I would suggest you might think about making this say a quarterly item that every quarter you get a An update and Could take a few quarters before you Get an idea of whether this what makes the the data useful to you to know that we're making progress There is a lot of construction going on and to have that many units that are A quote affordable, but you know the breakdown of what the affordability is and these five stories that are being built around town And I've heard people say that We we're in a bit of a boom right now in a lot of this building because of the disaster money I don't know whether it's a community development block grant disaster money, etc That provided some impetus to construction and whether we're Now on the downside and we're not going to continue to see this level of building and uh, so you know To be able to to have numbers and have some idea and some projections of where things are going Would be useful And I think it let's go to the to the veterans side You know people will raise a question. Well, how many veterans are we going to have you know in 55 years from now if we've got restricted And I don't know I I would just hope that the ba could give you some picture of what they would project Veterans populations to be over time, you know, we we are dealing with the immediate and administering the vouchers that we've got But uh, where where's all this going in time? I you know There's certainly a a bump of veterans that were involved in the last 20 years in afghanistan and iraq um, the veterans numbers Change in the projections of veterans numbers. It would be useful to have some Idea of where these numbers are expected to go over time There's always more info that would be useful and it takes time to deal with but uh, I appreciate your efforts to Understand this and and ask questions. Thank you Thank you. Do we have any public comment on zoom? Oh, and I see no hands raised at this time in zoom Thank you any email comments and cherub and we have no email public comments for this item Hey, thank you. Um like to go ahead and Go to item 11 which is our consent items Item 11.1 is a resolution acknowledgement of project completion for lynda tunas senior apartments community development block grant disaster recovery funded affordable housing complex located at 600 acacia lane santa rosa california So this is a consent item. There is no presentation Um, if the housing authority has questions staff will come down. Otherwise just need a Motion in a second to approve this item. So just as I understand, uh, the money was put out of Where do I see the dollar amount? Of 2.19 million dollars Uh, the project is completed The developer is asking for the retention from this source of funds Is that correct? Hi, my name is julie garen. I'm a program specialist for the housing trust Um, chairman oan, uh, that's correct So the end of thank you. Is the project its validest nose completion. It has certificate of occupancy Sorry, and it is also fully leased. That's that's good. So, um We're just going through the semantics of having to prove to release the retention for a completed project Any any other questions from commissioners? Is there a motion for the resolution? I believe uh, chair when you oh, we have to open. I'm sorry. We have to open for public comment. Thank you We're now taking public comments on item 11.1 We'll begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers Once we're finished with in person comments, we'll hear comments for those participating via zoom If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand and chair. Oh, and it appears we have no in person comments for this item Thank you. Any comments on zoom Chair oh, and I see no hands raised at this time Any email comments? And chair, and we have no email public comments for this item It's just just one quick question. How much has held on retention right now that they're asking for the release It's roughly two hundred and nineteen thousand dollars which is 10 of the cdbg dr award, right? I'm looking for a motion for the resolution I just have one personal comment be as a former resident of the journey sand to thank The city of santa rosa the county the state Everyone that stepped in to make this project possible. It is such A gift to our community to commemorate this beautiful woman At the life she lived and the community she came from so thank you everybody Thank you commissioner Motion make a motion that we passed the resolution as written In a second Thank you. Can we go to a vote, please? Just one moment while I get set up. Okay, we will we'll now do Roll call vote for the consent items on this agenda We will start with commissioner newton absent, I'm sorry commissioner smith For Commissioner ralhouser I Vice chair the penna. Hi and chair owen. Hi Okay That motion passes with four eyes with commissioners downy newton and My quarter absent And we'll move on to item 12, which is a report on for the fiscal year 2023 through 24 housing authority budget adoption Just one moment while kate gets the presentation up All right. Good afternoon again Chair owen vice chair le penna and housing authority commissioners. I am kake old fine again Here to present the final fiscal year 23 24 budget for your review and adoption So we always start with the housing authority's mission Which is to ensure adequate decent safe and sanitary housing For qualified people within santa rosa consistent with federal state and local law And the 23 24 budget upholds and furthers this mission This is a summary of the budget at its highest level We have a combined budget of 75.7 million with the large increase coming from a state grant in the housing trust And we discuss this in great detail at the april budget study sessions. So today i'm just going to focus on what has changed So there have been no changes to the administrative or housing trust budgets The rental assistance budget has changed and is now finalized In mid may hud announced the final administrative allowances for the housing choice voucher and emergency housing voucher programs The administrative allowances for both programs increased about three percent over fiscal year 22 23 This increased revenue and expense right around a hundred and seven thousand dollars The revenue budget increased in federal grants And the additional expense budget was added to services and supplies as we had already covered what we needed for salaries benefits and overhead And the changes are highlighted in yellow on the staff report attachment number one So with that it is recommended by the housing and community services department that the housing authority by resolution Adopt the proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 24 and i'm happy to answer any questions Thank you and any questions from commissioners I just have one uh, sir smith is the supply of money for affordable housing still strong from uh, the state and the federal government Not compared to what it has been It's much more of a normal funding cycle where we're relying on our Entitlement grants of community are just our regular community development block grant and home investment partnerships And then our own loan repayments. We do have the infill infrastructure grant That's I want to say 20.7 million right around there That is a state grant and I may and may know i'm not sure if that's an annual grant or one time funding The state has issued notices of funding availability for programs like the infill infrastructure grant On an annual basis, but I think in the upcoming Year and years we're going to see a retraction in the amount of funding that's available from the state and federal governments So how does that impact us meeting our regional goals if there's no money to build We won't know the extent of the impacts until we see what the allocations directly to santa rosa are and then also to see what our locally generated revenues through Impact fees the real property transfer tax are But the fewer dollars that we have available will reduce our ability to fund affordable housing projects And the question I didn't ask before when you showed the big increase in impact fees Is that a trend or just a quarterly lip? You know, it's interesting It was trending upward for years and years and then last year it was a little bit lower And so we lowered the budget down to 1.4 million and then this year it's up to 1.9 million through three quarters So that is based on market rate housing production so that's In in full swing right now. So if that lessons that will reduce that amount Any other questions and commissioners? So I have a question if you can look at the state grants where there's a 20 Point $8 million increase. Can we talk about that line item? Yes, that is the state infill infrastructure grant that So far is one time funding And do we know what those those who's so the expenditure that's going to go out as I can see I think it lines up pretty much Perfectly to state grant funded loan activity Is that going to go out in the form of a NOFA at some future time or how will that be handled? No, so those will go out as loans to specific projects The application was submitted to the state of california with six specific projects For identified amounts so within that 20.6 million dollars. There are identified budgets for each of the projects That also includes improvements To martin luther king park, which is located in the south park neighborhood of santa rosa So those funds will actually be transferred at a later date to our recreation budget in order to conduct Conduct those park improvements So except for the park improvements How would the those six projects approved in terms of receiving funding? And when did that occur the those projects were identified as part of the application Preparation and it was based on readiness and their ability to score well It's a mix of market and affordable projects They will enter into specific agreements with the city that we then enter into with the department The california department of housing and community development So there's no further approvals for those From a funding perspective for those projects so I guess what i'm getting is that They those were requested at the state level and it goes through the housing authority to fund those projects So it was not it wasn't money allocated to the housing authority was money at the state level that's funded through the housing authority. Is that correct? Correct. So the the city of santa rosa received an award from the state of california That award is going to be administered by the housing authority or housing and community services as we are the Department and you're the entity that has the most experience with lending and monitoring loans Also, some of those loans may have overlap with existing affordable housing loans For instance in a prior year infill infrastructure grant the cannery at railroad square Received a tranche of iig funds. So the housing authority also has a cdbg dr award there We also have project-based vouchers layered onto that project So it's just one of the many layers in some of our projects That we are proceeding with okay Do you know that can you cite what six projects those are do you have that information available? Kate will pull that up just one moment Okay, so that is um as megan said a contribution to martin luther king park The affordable developments are bennett valley apartments caritas homes phase two and roseland ponderosa village The market rate developments are downtown station phase one pulmon phase three and 556 ross street Thank you Any other questions from commissioners? You want open for public comment? We're now taking public comments on item 12 Point one will begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers Once we've finished with in person comments, we'll hear from comments for those participating via zoom If you wish to make comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand Hello, you can state your name for the record if you so choose you'll have three minutes to make your comment Can you see the timer? Yes, my name is dwayne d witt. I'm from roseland Last tuesday the city of santa rosa adopted their budget And in this item today It states that the effort was put forward That you would try to have this adopted in advance of the city council budget approval So I understand things getting away, but it would really be nice if you had this The month before the city adopts their budget So that these discussions about items could be brought forth and then could also be talked about by the council members the News that is really important out in the community Is if there would be an opportunity? for this housing authority to Put into action public housing That should be a part of budget discussions The only reason it hasn't been here in our community for decades is because a prior city manager mr. Ken blackman Working with a prior director of housing and redevelopment mr. Steve burk Decided they wouldn't do public housing That wasn't something that was put out to the public where the public could make any Comments and give any advice to our elected representatives to ask for public housing these budgets should look at the possibility of Owning some of the buildings that are built and keeping them there For use of people who are on public assistance Now you may say that's not your purview, but you can make it your purview you as commissioners Can talk amongst yourself and look into this idea Should we have public housing in santa rosa in these new buildings that are being built? Keep in mind the three largest buildings in santa rosa The towers bethlehem towers and the two silvercrest buildings Are senior housing now? and They're full with a waiting list So public housing would find people who want it to be in it and then last but not least It's pointed out that The documents on this would be made available to people If they contact the housing authority Uh in advance In the past the documents used to be here you'd come in and there was a public agenda packet So every item on the agenda the full report was there everything could be looked at I think you really need to return to that now that we've ended the lockout of the public from in-person participation It's a good thing. It's a positive thing and the cost is minimal Especially considering the raises they're giving to the management throughout the system. Thank you I'm not seeing any other public comment here. I will open up for zoom comments. Are these zoom comments? Chair Owen, I see no hands raised at this time in zoom Any email comments? Chair Owen, we have no email public comments for this item Thank you. So we have a resolution to go along with this item And we'll see if there's any motion to approve the resolution I just have one question on the financing. Does the city of Santa Rosa ever look at Private grant money from some of these big foundations that have lots of money to give out In general, we we don't pursue grants from large foundations. There's nothing that would prevent us from doing that We do receive grants for operation up like our homeless shelter of sam jones hall from the Sonoma county community foundation Which is a local granting organization But we we do pursue funding opportunities when they arise Seeing no more questions move look for a resolution to a motion to approve the resolution I propose we you know Leave back the resolution Thank you commissioner smith. Is there a second I'll second the motion Thank you commissioner ralhouser. Can we go to a vote please? And just one just one moment Okay, we'll take a roll call vote for this resolution We will start with commissioner smith I And then commissioner ralhouser I And then vice chair the pennant. I And then chair oan. I Okay That motion passes with four eyes with commissioners Downey mcwarder and newton being absent Thank you everyone For getting through the agenda and a presentation from staff really appreciated and very thorough. So thank you And I'll move to Adjourn the meeting. Thank you very much