 Hello chair test. How are you today? I think you're still muted. I think you're still muted. I am Um, I had a email from Commissioner Downey that he may have to leave a few minutes before three o'clock today Okay. Well, we hopefully we'll have a Hopefully we'll have a Everybody We have five five of the seven Still waiting for two to join. Oh, okay. Good. So I'll keep you updated. We have about two minutes still 130 I'd like to call the November 28th 2022 housing authority Regular meeting to order due to the provisions of the governor's executive orders n 25-20 and n 29-20 Which suspends certain requirements of the brown act the housing authority commissioners will be conducting today's meeting In a virtual setting using zoom webinar commissioners and staff are Participating from remote locations and or practicing appropriate social distancing Men members of the public may view and listen to the meeting as noted on the city's website And as noted on the agenda Members of the public wishing to speak during item six public comment or during our public Hearing items will be able to do so by raising their hand and will be given the ability to address commission As a matter of housekeeping, I'd like to remind commissioners to keep their audio on mute unless they are speaking Commissioners other than the chair can mute themselves Staff will staff will remain muted until meeting to speak As members of the public join the meeting you will be participating as an attendee Your microphone and camera will be muted only today's panelists will be viewed meeting If you're calling in from a telephone and choose to speak during the public comments portion of today's agenda For privacy concerns the host will be renaming your renewable your viewable phone number To resident and the last four digits of your phone number 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 are well staffed to monitor that everyone is participating respectfully or they will be removed If necessary, we will also immediately end the meeting Zoom hosts, please explain how public comments will be heard at today's meeting At each agenda item the item is presented The chair will ask for housing authority member comments and then open it up for public comment The host in zoom will be lowering all hands until public comment is open for the agenda item Once the chair has called for public comment The chair will announce for the public to raise their hand if they wish to speak on the specific agenda item If you are calling in to listen to the meeting audibly you can dial star nine to raise your hand The host will then call on the public who have raised their hands Public comment will be limited to three minutes and the timer will appear on the screen for the commission and public to see Once all live public comments have been heard the meeting host will read email public comments If you provide a 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 a 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 We'd like to now have a ask the clerk for roll call Okay, let's go ahead with a roll call roll call. Excuse me. I will start with commissioner Burke here commissioner Downey here Uh commissioner mccorder Commissioner mccorder is absent at the moment commissioner rawhouser here Uh commissioner lepena here Vice chair owen here and chair test here Let's record reflect that all commissioners are present with the exception of commissioner mccorder Thank you Item number three is statements of abstention Um, are there any abstentions today from commissioners? I see none Item number four staff briefing First quarter financial report 4.1 k gold fine Yes, good afternoon chair test and housing authority commissioners. I am k gold fine administrative services officer for the housing and community services department So this memo details the first quarter of fiscal year 22 23, which is july august and september The funding and expense for the authority So i'm going to hit the highlights and then be available for questions So first looking at expenditures. The authority is trending well in all categories Of most interest are loan activity and projects So in loan activity, you'll see nearly 9.9 million of remaining funding However, this is false because um in june, you approved 9.4 million of that for loans to five projects to Rehabilitation projects vigil lights and parkwood three construction projects mahogany and glenn's joney point plots and burbank avenue So staff is working to finalize those loan documents So the funding can be formally committed within our accounting system Once that is done the funds will show as committed rather than remaining Then in projects, you'll see remaining funding of over 15.8 million This is made up of several one-time grant related funds that are allocated for specific purposes and are all in progress So first the largest there's 9.5 million of state infill and infrastructure grant funding Designated for keratoss homes and the cannery of railroad square There is an additional 2.7 million of federal home art and that's american rescue plan act Funding staff are working to finalize the home art plan for federal approval There's two million dollars For the pg&e settlement funded down payment assistance program, which is also in development 1.1 million is state permanent local housing grant funds designated for burbank avenue And about 449,000 is american rescue plan act emergency housing Voucher service fee funding, which is used to assist clients So even though that funding is showing as remaining the vast majority of it is designated for specific projects Moving to funding sources again. I'm just going to hit the highlights So loan repayments are trending very well You may all remember that we received over 2.4 million of lantana homes project loan payoffs last fiscal year So of that 2.7 million of approved funding, we already have over 2.4 million We had budgeted to receive just under 300,000 of new repayments for the entirety of this fiscal year And we've already received 456,000 just in this first quarter So this funding is primarily used for new loans and we will be budgeting it in the next fiscal year Looking at housing impact fees. We projected to receive 1.4 million again in the entirety of fiscal year 22 23 and I've already received 952,068 In the first quarter. So that is trending quite high At some point, however, we expect development to slow So as usual, we will be keeping an eye on that carefully And then finally the state grants category approved funding is higher than usual Due to the two grants I mentioned a minute ago infill infrastructure grant and permanent local housing grant So we will we will request reimbursement from the state once we expend those funds for their intended projects So this includes the briefing and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have Okay, do we have any questions from commissioners? Here we go. Commissioner Burke Yeah, Kate, I I don't know if this is something That you would be aware of but I know that the Was it a year and a half or so ago that the county used 10 million dollars of its PG&E settlement funds for to support the red and they Um Asked the city council to match that which they did Are there any additional requests for funds? Uh From that I forget the acronym uh American rescue plan funds. Is there are there any More recent requests from red for funding? The program that they initiated Not that I'm aware of if Megan or Nicole is aware of something, please chime in Be happy to answer that. Sorry. I was on mute So the the city did provide 10 a 10 million dollar loan to the red and ours the city of santa rosa is a loan Whereas the county's was a grant And the city was also asked last year to provide 50,000 In operational funds for the red and that money was I distributed to them as well I am not aware of any current requests from the red or from the red housing fund Which is their non-profit arm that provides the loads Thank you Vice chair allan Thank you. Um, so it's as we go through these sources Some of them pop out as non recurring and for a few reasons And if I give me the cdb gdr funds That we should not be seeing those going forward and on a normal basis. Is that correct? That's correct. At some point we will spend the entirety of those Um Home funds those are recurring property rental recurring impact fees compliance monitoring loan repayments that fluctuates State grants is a large number that but that's is that a non recurring item? Yes, as I mentioned those are two one time grant. Well, let me let me Catch that so the infill infrastructure grant is a one-time grant the state local permanent housing fund grant I believe is a five-year grant and we receive a Somewhere between half a million and a million or so each year. So we will see that For at least five years. Okay. So that's a portion of 11.3. Yeah Okay, but the federal grants of six million Um I know the numbers change, but that's a recurring source Home is a recurring source Home ARP is not a recurring source. Okay. So once that 2.7 million is expended. We you won't that will also drop off of this Okay Is there anything else in this total of 91.7 million that would be considered? Non-recurring in terms of a a good amount Yeah Hey, if I could interject the property rental, which is like halfway top third halfway on that list will be um changing depending on the Future of the Brooklyn homeless shelter. So that is rent derived directly from the former Brooklyn homeless shelter And everything else should be recurring. Okay. All right. Thank you Yeah Commissioner Downey you had a question Yes, as vice chair Owen is Illuminating what potential funding sources are going to be ending I'm also curious As I was reading that the governor has announced A budget shortfall And potentially having to dip into some surplus Would that have any impact on Santa Rosa? Kate I don't believe so the They would have to remove grant funding that they've already Committed to us. So I think that's unlikely and again Megan and Nicole if you have anything to chime in, please do No, our committed funds from the state. I anticipate we'll continue what we may see and we don't know yet Is a reduction in the amount of state funds available for For housing funding. So there's been robust statewide funding for various housing programs over the past few years And I imagine that will decrease a bit. What what the actual decrease will be we don't know yet Thank you Commissioner raw house or Yes, I have a question regarding land security for mobile home Dwellers as far as all these different programs that we're doing as I'm personally affected because our park was just sold And so with all the building going on around me, there's the insecurity that the land will be sold out from underneath me So I don't know as a section 8 housing recipient I am protected or that my community is protected In the mobile home You know, I am not sure how to answer that the mobile home rent control ordinance funding isn't within the housing authority so Megan or perhaps Rebecca if you could speak to section 8 or Megan in regards to the entire topic So mobile home rent control is within the purview of the city council and that is an ordinance that Provides a maximum rent increase for mobile home spaces But whether or not the park can be sold and closed is within the state's jurisdiction So the state of california oversees mobile home parks and in order for mobile home park to be closed If that if that's the concern that is something that is reviewed by the california department of housing and community development And it's a rather lengthy process It also requires some action by the city council. We had to go through a rather Long process in order to close journey's ends and Turn that property into both that family house Thank you um, okay I had a question regarding, uh, kate the linda tana senior apartment project Seth has no expense this fiscal year And $220,000 remaining uh committed. Is that because we haven't received bills on that yet or how Why is that still outstanding? I went to the opening so I know it's open now Yeah, I believe we're just waiting for the final round of bills from them And then we will pay them out and they will probably drop off this list as well And if I could just tie it on to that as well The funding that was provided to the housing authority from the state of california the cdbg dr Did require 10 percent retention So all of our dr loans have 10 percent that we have to retain until the project is complete. So we are waiting for the The final notice of completion and for the developer to close out the the funding so we can provide them with that final Thank you for that information. That's great Okay um, I see no other questions So, uh, we are now taking public comments on item 4.1 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. You will have three minutes Chair test. I see no hands raised at this time Thank you Item number five The study session housing choice voucher program utilization update with rebecca lane Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you chair test. Um, my name is rebecca lane I'm the manager of the rental assistance programs for the city of tannerosa and I am here today I'm happy to present information to you regarding Uh utilization of the housing choice voucher program I have a slide deck that's coming up. I think Thank you Okay, we can go to the next slide Okay So first, I'll just start with an overview of what I mean when I say utilization because there are some specific definitions and some specific variables and that that are important to keep in mind um, so in the housing choice voucher program And that includes i'm using that term broadly to include all of our special voucher programs as well in this definition what that means is The number of vouchers that we have leased up On the first of a month. So for paying rental assistance on the first of the month for that month um The number of vouchers that we have leased divided by the actual number of Vouchers that we have under contract with HUD. So we always have a fixed number of vouchers from the department of housing and urban development That is that we are under contract to administer in this jurisdiction So the utilization Program utilization voucher utilization is the number of vouchers that are leased compared to That number that we have vouchers under contract with HUD another piece of this Is that the Hap cost so the actual dollar amounts that we pay out For our program rental assistance have to stay within our budget from HUD so our Budget is generally based on what we spent in the prior year And so we're funded based on how much we spent in the prior year for the the current year And we have to stay within those costs. We do have Some ability to tap into reserves and things like this and overall our program is is healthy in that regard right now But that's just another factor to keep in mind When we're talking about utilization because oftentimes particularly in high cost areas You will see housing authorities that are not leasing up to their full potential And it's because they're already spending the maximum amount that they're allowed to within the budget Another piece to keep in mind is that the opposite if the opposite is true in certain jurisdictions or even in this jurisdiction and other times If we are spending less Per voucher than we had been in the prior year. That doesn't mean that we can Lease up more households. That's called over leasing the program and that is prohibited by the regulations Even if we have the money available And finally the variable that to keep in mind that I might use this definition as we're going through the presentation Is the per unit cost Which is the average number of dollars that we're spending on each voucher across the program Next slide, please So one the factor in utilization And and how these factors interact is the payment standards. So the payment standards is essentially the maximum amount that we're Permitted to assist a household with And that's based on the bedroom size of that household and it does include utilities Um, so these payment standards are based on HUD's fair market rents that they release every year The federal government releases to average jurisdiction Uh, a fair market rent based on their particular Uh, either metropolitan statistical area or their county or city jurisdiction So the housing authority is allowed at the local level once those numbers are released To set payment standards that are between 90 and 110 percent of the fair market rent for that jurisdiction And again, as I mentioned that does include rent and utilities. So if the payment standard Is $2,000, um, then What that means is the maximum amount that we're allowed to subsidize for that For that, let's say that was a two bedroom unit if it was 2000, and I'm just making up numbers right now, but That would be Say $1,500 in rent and $500 in utilities So the the payment standard does include both rent and utilities When we're talking about this in relation to Utilization and our budget utilization. We have to remember that a higher payment standard Will uh, potentially increase Opportunities for voucher holders, but it will also increase our hat costs. So if Voucher holders are having difficulty finding units that they can That we can approve based on the amount of rent a higher payment standard might offer some more opportunities for voucher holders to Locate places that will work with the voucher But it does also increase our hat costs Because the per unit cost goes up when payment standards go up The rent regardless of the payment standard always has to be reasonable when we compare it to other units in the Jurisdiction and other similar units in that neighborhood. So that's a test that we do of every request to move in and every request To have a payment a rent change And that is required no matter what the payment standard is The other thing to keep in mind is that sometimes payment standards can have an effect on the non subsidized rental market oftentimes that's just because Private owners, you know look to the housing authority to say what are the payment standards? What are the average rents for this area? So it's just another piece to keep in mind when we're setting standards on an annual basis Next slide please So current picture as I mentioned in the the beginning of the presentation the utilization is always Based on what we have leased on the first of a month. That's what what Uh The the way the definition Works at the the HUD level So the numbers that we're looking at here because we are not quite done with november yet are the most current available and that's october 2022 so october 2022 for the Overall housing choice voucher program was 84 percent which meant that we had 1605 vouchers leased out of 1903 that are available on our contract with HUD As I said, we can drill this down into specific special voucher programs So we do track bash Bash utilization separately bash as you are aware is the veterans affairs supportive housing program That program we had 84 percent Leased up as of october 2022 representing 346 out of 419 vouchers and finally EHV is another one of our Special programs that we do track separately And this is tracked on a daily basis by HUD So we do have november 16th data available, which is the same as today. I checked it this morning We have 72 vouchers leased out of 131 available And that is a lease up or utilization rate of 55 percent Next slide, please so So that you're aware of our payment standards and how we've set them this year This just happened back in october of this year. That's when the fmr's the fair market rents come out And are to be effective So these are divided by bedroom size And the first column after the bedroom size is the actual fair market rent That's the dollar amount from HUD that we can generally speaking range set a range Locally between 90 and 110 percent of that number As you can see here on the final column We do have percentages that are over 110 percent and the reason for that is that we have requested and received approval from HUD to go over 110 percent under waivers program waivers that are Still available under the CARES Act as a as a response to Influences on the rent rental market from the pandemic. So we have The middle column here is our current payment standards Which again represents the rent and the utilities combined. This is sort of the ballpark Maximum that we're allowed to subsidize Per unit size and I say ballpark because there are other factors that We didn't get into in this presentation, but sometimes individual household Circumstances can influence where that number is But these are our payment standards These are fixed And these are based on bedroom size and whether or not an individual household can be approved to rent a particular unit That is dependent on other factors that Are present in that household and as well as that particular rental unit Next slide, please so There have been you know, there's definitely a lot of interest in the emergency housing voucher program And there have been some There's been some press coverage about areas in not only california, but also nationwide where You know to look at the success of the the emergency housing voucher program And one of the factors that has come up in that conversation Several times is small area fmrs. So small area fair market rents are is a data set published by HUD where typically in larger jurisdictions The city or county can recognize That certain neighborhoods within that city and county Or that jurisdiction have higher rents than other areas and so this is The small area fmrs are the same numbers that i've just described that drill down to a certain zip code And so for santa rosa These are the numbers. This is a snippet from the HUD website So this is just our the ones that the zip codes that are the Santa Rosa zip codes in our metropolis and statistical area The first column after the zip code is a zero bedroom. So that ranges chart ranges from zero to four bedrooms And we do because this is just a HUD data set this This Screenshot does also include two zip codes, which are not actually residential zip codes 99402 and 95406 are actually just p.o. Box zip codes. So we want to sort of eliminate those From our study But this is just to to demonstrate the range of those numbers across our zip codes Next slide, please So in comparing the small area fmrs That are available to the city of santa rosa zip codes With the standard fair market rent And i've just pulled out a two bedroom to to compare those Side by side because otherwise the the slide would get a little bit too busy to read So in the in the zip code for two bedroom You have 95401 through 95409 The next column over is the small area fmr And the next column after that is the fair standard fair market rent And as you can see from this slide, there are two santa rosa zip codes 95405 which has been at valley And 95409 Which is oak want and rink and valley and in those two zip codes the small area fmi fmr excuse me is higher than the aerial wide fmr that we are Basing our payment standards from today Next slide please So when we're looking at um, how to set payment standards and uh, what Factors can influence utilization. Certainly the small area fmrs are part of that consideration, but there's many other Factors that can influence utilization that might be a part of that So one of the things that I uh, that can certainly affect Just overall the program health is how we're outreaching to landlords. Um, and how we're Notifying the community that the program exists in educating the community about it So these are just a few things that we're currently working on. This is something that's always part of our program Something that we're always doing is owner outreach and education But right now we are you might have seen it. Um, we are participating in the housing heroes campaign This is a partnership with the sonoma county housing authority We're doing um outreach and highlighting, um, you know success stories and reaching out and trying to educate and acquire new participants Owner participants in the program Through a media outreach campaign. We also are very often doing community presentations Participating in interest group meetings. This is definitely picking up again. Um, now that we are sort of out of the pandemic and able to gather again. Um, it's certainly been Successful in the past to be able to create relationships that way and we also now have access to Uh, media group here just in the city of san rosa So we have our we have people to work with that can help us highlight The success of our program through social media and that's also been Benefactive in getting word out about our program We also can explore owner incentives if we find that one of the things that is impacting utilization is that owners aren't Interested in participating in the program. Uh, so right now we have a pilot program that Has begun with the housing choice voucher program to Offer risk mitigation to landlords. We're partnering with catholic charities on that program and it is just getting underway Um This month. Um, so we don't have any data on that yet, but that is something that we're we're starting Uh, we also have, um just in general Ways that we can talk with participants, uh voucher holders In the program to try and understand And help problem solve around what might be a barrier to them achieving a tendency Um, so security deposit assistance is a big one. We do we're very lucky in this community to have uh resources um often have resources available for tenants to Help pay for their security deposits and through the emergency housing voucher program. We actually have That resource available in-house We also did that for the VASH program for several years Um, we do a lot of um tenant education. Uh, we do that Now, um during the pandemic, we've been doing that, you know, sort of in in alternate ways, but uh, once things are Fully back open again, uh, we'll probably start again on doing more group setting with that We also partnered with um, some nonprofits Before the pandemic as well as our county partners, um on doing tenant education for our program participants And then other avenues to explore to help Potentially increase utilization Are having housing navigators and housing stabilization case management This is another resource that is available through the emergency housing voucher program through our program partners and some housing authorities have um been able to find uh funding to hire their own uh in-house um housing navigators And even sometimes housing um case managers, you know, who provide more direct um social service kind of um Case management then then we're able to to provide um generally um through through our program So that is an overview of other um Strategies that we have in our toolbox to try and increase utilization many of those which we are already um doing so That concludes my presentation and i'm happy to take questions. I know that was a lot of informational Okay, first person Who's wanting a question is commissioner downy Hi, rebecca. I was looking at your uh nine five four zero four uh zip code and For a place at around two thousand dollars And I was the first thing that came to mind was You know good luck um because the the rent around here is just so extraordinary that I'm imagining that a landlord would potentially have to reduce their rent to fit into your matrix So that a section eight voucher could rent something Because it's just so over inflated right now I'm wondering if this is driving uh voucher possessors Into more higher crime areas Or more low income areas Because of people's Uh, well specifically property managers which cater to property owners who are out of town And don't want to deal with tenants I'm just trying to get my head around You know how you make this work On the numbers that you're presenting Thank you, and and that is a good question. Um the payment standard um for A um, I believe you said two bedroom Is right now, uh 24 45 So 2445 dollars Um that does as I mentioned, uh represents the rent and utilities So we do have to um Work with uh participants to Find rents that are within that Within that range as well as if they have to pay utilities out of pocket that also is going to affect Um the the amount of rent that can be Approved So that's that's yes the the answer to your question is that yes, we absolutely keep all of that in mind We we have data on We track it by census tract not zip code But we do have data on where everybody is living In our program how many Voucher holders we have in What census tracks? Um, so that's one of the pieces of information that we use to Help us consider when it is time to set the payment standards how we are going to set them if we do need to Taking to consideration that we have a higher concentration of voucher holders in Higher poverty areas. Um, that's of course one of the goals of the program is to make sure that people can move out of High poverty areas and into higher opportunity areas um, so That is something that we are always considering on an individual basis as well as a program-wide basis and It didn't across the zip codes, right we we Look for that and um consider it Um, so I think the answer to your question is yes, we we do consider all of those factors So quick second question. How far over 109 can you go? Uh, currently, uh, we have a waver in place. We're going up to a hundred and thirteen percent um Is the highest And we would be allowed To go up to a hundred and twenty percent under the current waiver, but then What we also have to consider is the other factors that I mentioned Which is uh, you know our program budget And and those sorts of things so we have found that these the numbers that we're actually using the payment standards that we're using right now Were they are um, by the way, I don't think that I mentioned they're nine percent higher than last year's payment standards and that's across every bedroom size And uh, so it's a balance, right? We're we're taking into consideration the success that people are having in finding places And I'm trying to to do the best we can with What budget we have available Thank you Excuse me vice chair olin Rebecca, thank you and as I understand the program you've got A number you've got quantity in terms of the number of vouchers and you also have The dollar amount that's allowed in the program is that correct? Yes So if if we look at this, um So does hud set the dollar amount in terms of rents or does the So do you look at that does the house your department look at that and say that's numbers correct? It's not correct Yes, so the the sort of the starting point is the fair market rent, which is set by hud um, and we can um, we and we have before actually in Um 2017 uh, we petitioned hud the the fair market rents came out And we observed and believed that they were much lower than our actual market rents at the time We petitioned hud to have those increased We paid for our own market study and submitted that to hud and we did see an increase, uh in Prior year, um fmrs of 17 percent that year it was about an average of 17 percent um, so Based on the current market data, um that we have available We believe that the payment standards that we set this year Are an accurate um reflection of the majority of units. There are Certain units that are much higher than these numbers But there are many units that um are falling in line with these amounts And that is another certainly another consideration When we are setting the payment standards is that we look at The market data that we have available and make sure it coincides with what we're seeing in the fmrs Yes How does that how does that apply because it can the vouchers are for rent and for utilities and utilities have definitely gone up so How is the utility side of that verified in terms of the dollar amounts that are Yeah, sure. So the utility allowances also are updated at the same time as the fair market rents. Um, that is a strictly local A decision because that's all based on local consumption and local costs. So we commission A consultant to to do a study every year. Uh, and those have been updated Also effective for October 1st of 2022 And so the way that that Sort of plays into this uh decision is that again, we we look and see, you know What is an average of the out of pocket utility costs for an apartment single family dwelling? and ensure that that's um That our voucher holders based on the market data that we think that they're going to be able to find units that are within the rent and utilities and then Release the payment standards because the um, we don't have any Let's say, uh, you know ability to adjust the utility allowances based on budget or anything like that The utility allowances are based on consumption and costs Uh for our jurisdiction and that's it. So once we get those Dollar amounts then we can see okay, so the average cost of utilities and the average cost of rent Does that fit in with these payment standards and in this case in this year? It does um And on an individual level, um, there's a A cost analysis that's done for each household when they're moving Into a new unit to make sure that that household is not Paying more than 40 percent of their monthly adjusted income towards rent and utilities. So it's uh Analyzed at a program level as well as an individual household level So when you're looking at that is it 30 percent Of their income from rent and an extra 10 for utilities to get to the 40 Uh, the combination can't exceed 40 percent. So Uh it The combination can't exceed 40 percent. It's not 34 Rent and 10 for utilities. It's just combined. Okay So what happens if if we are in fact going into a recession and this hasn't happened yet because employment numbers is still very high But there's an increase in unemployment and you've got um People that are in them in the voucher program That are unable because their income has shifted downwards. They're on unemployment now versus working That will utilize the the land where we'll still get the rent amount So the voucher piece is a higher percentage more of a dollar amount um How do you balance that because you had a you had a lid on the number of the amount of dollars you have And then you have you also have the quantity of vouchers But if you if you had 100 utilization of the quantity of vouchers You'd have no head room and the ability to pick up that scenario or The the person was paying 40 percent Now they can only pay 20 because their income has changed and so is it Do you manage the the program so that you never have a hundred percent utilization of the quantity of vouchers because you need to have head room for these other programs for the ability for Does that to the click do you understand what i'm asking? Yeah, I think I think i'm hearing a couple of questions within that so um We're under in terms of quantity of vouchers. We are never allowed to go over a hundred percent Utilization so if we have 1903 households or 1903 vouchers, we can't lease up more than 1903 households period That's statutory We do though have If we are Under that number in terms of quantity But we have budget available We can Lease up more households So that's the you know the the place that we've been in for several years and have been I'm trying to achieve But we are just coming out of a period Where we were spending all of our budget And so we couldn't lease up more than It was about 92 percent We would spend all of our money on only 92 percent of our households Um under the cares act we got some additional reserves and other things so we're in a place now where we can Be leasing up more households. Um, so we're certainly making that effort. Um, we're calling people all the way off the waiting list all the time Um And engaging in these other activities that I mentioned in the last slide to try and encourage, you know more participation in the program overall um There was an there was another question in there that I was trying to oh about per unit costs. So, um Your example of if a household loses their income or if everyone loses their income and uh We will be spending. Yes more of our budget and that is another one of the levers that we have to just keep an eye on Um, it definitely happened during the pandemic. That's how come we got some extra funding during the pandemic um And it's uh, something that we're always monitoring the per unit cost is is how we capture that To make sure that we're not going to um go into budget shortfall, which is the situation where Of the household you already have leased up. You're spending more than the budget available Um, so we try not to get into that situation as well So and then uh another question I had is you touched on it a little bit about the wait list Yep, so there's 1903 vouchers available, correct? Yep. How many are on the wait list? Uh approximately 7 000 Yeah, it's a long way. It's a it's why it's a very long way. Yeah. Yeah, exactly I think the last time we we or that I know of is you were quantifying guys about seven years Uh the people that we're interviewing right now applied in 2012 So wow Yeah Yeah, okay Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome Thank you, Rebecca Commissioner Burke Well, thank you. Um the combination of a stellar presentation It was really great and really informative Yeah, the combination of that and then the follow-up questions From the other two commissioners have answered most of my questions Um, there's kind of two areas that um, I would Ask you Rebecca to maybe um respond to and one is um on What is what have been the well? Maybe more than two so historical trends I you mentioned we were 92 percent or at 84 percent for most of the program Um, I do remember the day when we were at 100 percent. We were relying on um The the people Leaving the program to keep us safe from having Being contrary to the requirements But but but what's what's been happening? Are we are we? City state we're going up or down over the last I don't know three to five years Well, last three to five years have been unusual ones with the pandemic. Um, so But I would say that overall Um, our utilization has decreased which is why we are making an extra effort now to bump it back up um because the other um Sort of conundrum that we don't want to find ourselves in is if we have Not spent enough money in one year then the next year. We don't get as much Budget from HUD so We want to make sure that we are making every effort that we can to Utilize as many vouchers as we can within the budget that we have available And so it our overall utilization has gone down Over the last several years there have been years within The last five years where we were spending 100 of our budget so that we could not Even if we had vouchers available. We spent all of our budget. So we weren't able to do that Um, so now that we're out of that situation We do have reserves and we're able to pay for more. That's why we're making this effort now to increase utilization So So that sounds like that's kind of the biggest impediment has been what's been happening with the funds made available by HUD Not so much Of a problem with people finding units. Is that a fair thing to say? I mean that's always That's always a concern. Um, we certainly hear that From voucher holders. We know the rental market in santa rosa and sinoma county is challenging Not just for voucher holders, but for everybody that we just don't have A lot of vacancies the fire certainly impacted that we're still Having impacts on the market from that um So it's challenging. Yes for for voucher holders to find places um, we hope that it is Not significantly More difficult than an average renter Um, and we're balancing the different factors, you know program across the program To make sure that at least financially we're giving our voucher holders as much as we can when they're out there looking My my general conclusion is listening to the presentation and kind of knowing the good work that's been done is that we're Where it's it's a very complex Uh machine, but it's also a very well-oiled machine based upon your efforts and the entire staff involved with this program What but just kind of you know To a degree. Well, I had I picked my interest by an article that was recently on the la times And I think the point of the article was to be critical of la and san francisco and use san diego to Make a point And the point I think that was made was the housing authority in san diego is doing extraordinarily well and their uh voucher program and I think The two things that I remember from that article was the involvement Of you of using the zip code grants to Better fine-tune the program and to get a better result and the other part that I remember was people That would from often other organizations that would assist Those who had vouchers to be successful on finding units But I but I so that's just kind of what piqued my interest and and We answered so many questions, but I guess the fundamental question is to what degree And how do you go about kind of looking for best practices? Oh, well, definitely Yes, we we know san diego. I know the director of san diego. They're all superstars down there. Um And it's this is often, you know, one of the ways that we do, you know, conferences and other networking opportunities webinars, there's a lot of ways for housing authority staff to Learn about what other agencies are doing and that's certainly One of the ways that we have found some of our, you know, best ideas. We worked with Other housing authorities in california that had Already petitioned HUD for higher payment standards when we did that in 2017 We were working closely with other agencies that had already done that. Um, a lot of times particularly in california other The the the challenging things that happen to the program happen in other cities first and then it comes to san jama county Whatever the challenge is whether it's the rental market, you know prices going crazy or whatever um, so we do work very closely with Other agencies particularly in california, uh, who share the same, um, circumstances that we do I think the last area of interest that I have is, uh Kind of uh, well, first of all, you I didn't realize that the radio ads that I've been hearing to increase the level of Visibility for the section 8 program and to encourage owners of units to participate in the program I didn't realize that that uh, we were we the city of santa rosa were participating in that I think the That it talks about san jama county is the kind of the prevalent message that I that I got uh, but that's just thanks for that information um so Kind of a related question is I know that at one time. Well, what's the status of the vouchers? In the area recently annexed To the city in roseland. Are those still administered by the county or is have has there been a transfer of those units? Over time there has been a transfer, but we are not administering all of them yet. Um, the agreement the memorandum of agreement specific to that area Was that the county would continue to administer them so long as the households didn't move out of their Wherever they were living at the time Because there's an existing contract. Um, so we didn't want to disrupt that So over time since november 1st, I believe of 2017 that has We have taken on some of those vouchers, but not all of them As I recall that was a fairly large Percent of the county's total Section 8 vouchers So we're making progress, but we're we're not there yet Um, okay. Does that increase our our allocation then? Does it does it have an effect on our Because that has been a slower process It's roughly around the same pace as our general program attrition people leaving the program For because they're they don't need the voucher anymore or they pass away. Um, so it's about even The impact that we're bringing in households from that at about the same rate as People are leaving for other reasons and the reason I I ask is I just recall that The county had a larger allocation, but the utilization rate was considerably lower in the past. I don't know where it is now Uh, but that it would have made sense to simply to transfer You know the number of units allocated to the county to the city Because of utilization, right, right Nothing else, but I won't belabor that point. I'm just it's it's interesting that you've explained to me what the process is So and I do recall that How have you explained that much before or maybe more than once before so thank you. It's complicated. So I'm happy to do it Whatever we needed a great job. Thank you Hey, uh commissioner rahauser I was just curious as to what was covered under utilities Um, so if you're if you're referring to which type of utilities, um, that's Because you're thinking utilities. I was curious as to what was the under that umbrella Yeah, so, um, if you if a tenant has to pay any of their PG&E, um, whether that's gas or electric Water sewer Or garbage or if they own Um, the range the the oven Or the refrigerator then they'll receive an allowance for that What is not included in that is um cable Um, internet as of yet, there is some discussion that that might become one of the utilities that's covered But that hasn't happened yet So it's the the basic, um utilities water sewer trash electric gas Would that be a separate application they'd apply for? No, um, that's calculated As part of a rental calculation So when we receive a request for a new tenancy We ask upfront what the arrangements are for the utilities if the tenant is supposed to pay them out of pocket or if the owner is or if it's some combination and then we Subtract the utility allowance out of the tenant's portion of rent and cover that On our side so basically if 30 percent of the tenant's monthly adjusted income is $500 but they have to pay $100 um out of pocket every month for utilities Then their portion of rent is going to be $400 and that other hundred dollars is in their hand so that they can pay those utility costs Within 30 percent of their income Okay, I was just curious because I I'm in a mobile home situation. So I get a separate utility bill so But I might have yours playing So I know how all that work together. Yeah It's covered in your in your uh rental calculation. Yeah, thank you so very much. You're welcome Thank you Commissioner Downey I do apologize for my bombardment of questions Rebecca But I'm curious if you're just getting to people who've been waitlisted. I think you said 10 years How are people how people survive for 10 years until they can get their hands on a voucher? Is that data cap somewhere or is that just an irrelevant question? That's not irrelevant. Um, it's largely anecdotal. I mean we talk to households As they're as we're going through the interview process and um, I We don't track, you know anything about where they're currently living, but I would say Most of them have been just scraping by a lot of a lot of times People are, you know, sharing households still living with parents or other families something like that And then this gives them the opportunity to afford a rent on their own So it's a it's a lot of different things. We also Do work with a lot of people who are homeless and they're coming off the waiting list Generally speaking on our programs across all the different programs more than 50 percent of the people that we admit Into the housing infrastructure program every year are homeless at the time that we bring them in So is there a temporary rental subsidy before they get section eight? They just have to scrape by until anytime. Yeah, so there might be Something like that available. They might be living in a subsidized unit that subsidized through other means like through the programs that we do You know affordable housing development. Um, so There's there's sometimes other opportunities for rental assistance, but this is the the gold standard because it's permanent so Thank you very much. Welcome Thank you, Rebecca. I have just a couple of questions. Um With regard to some of the new projects that are coming online That we have provided housing authority funds for that include project-based vouchers um Is there a way there or is there communication with those developer slash owners? um That you have a waiting list and um Where they could potentially apply for project-based vouchers Yes, um, so oftentimes, um We are requested to verify the number of households That are on our waiting list in order to demonstrate for a developer's application to a funding source That there is a need for affordable housing in the area And we when we have the availability This is another, you know lever So to speak with utilization that I didn't didn't even touch on in this presentation, but We can take, you know, some of those vouchers that we have available under our contract and set them aside for Developments and that's what project-based vouchers are um, so when we have determined that we have them available under our contract those vouchers and that we have them available in our Uh maximum allocation that we're allowed to do that under the HUD regulations Then we will release a request for proposals Um for developers to apply for project-based vouchers in their developments So that's also an opportunity. We've we've done several times now All right um, I don't know if you happen to see the press democrat article yesterday about um section eight a source of income law Where essentially it's about landlords discriminating against someone who has a section eight voucher Have we encountered that has the city of santa rosa encountered a situation like that and become involved Yeah, I think I saw another version of of an article like that the one I read was about Los angeles, I believe But yeah, so the city of santa rosa city council actually passed an ordinance on the same year that the state of california did adding section eight vouchers and other forms of rental assistance Under the source of income discrimination statute, uh, which is a fair housing law that says An owner or manager can't Specify what type of income they will accept as as a verifiable income for their rental application so The city of santa rosa at the same time as the state of california added Uh section eight housing choice vouchers and other forms of rental assistance under that ordinance, which means that an owner cannot Uh discriminate based on the fact that The applicant is going to be using a voucher to help pay We have not If we hear about complaints, um About that happening then we'll direct Those uh participants to resources for uh legal assistance We also depending on the situation and um depending on Sort of where the tenant is at in the process. We certainly will get involved ourselves and you know try to educate The owner if there is um, maybe a misunderstanding about um about that particular law and how the voucher program works so We have I I would say that yes, we've seen that That type of discrimination But we For the most part, um have been able at least at our level kind of at the staff level To just provide some education To to resolve the issue But again, it's not um, it's not an easy rental market out there And and so there's a lot of a lot of tenants competing for the same units. Um, and That's another piece of education that I that you know, we hope to To pick back up. Uh once we're going back out in the community again around education Owner information In the coming year Very well Thank you very much For such a wonderful presentation Rebecca. We really appreciate it. Thank you We are now taking public comments on item 5.1 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand If you are dialing in via telephone, please dial star nine to raise your hand. You will have three notes Chair test. I see no hands raised at this time you Moving forward to item number six public comments on non-agenda items We are now taking public comments on item six Non-agenda items. 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 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand If you are dialing in via telephone, please dial star nine to raise your hand Chair test. I see no hands raised at this time Thank you Moving forward to item number nine approval of minutes We have the minutes of october 24th 2022 meeting and the summary of the housing authority planning day Are there any changes? Okay, I see no questions on that Um Then we will move forward and uh, consider the minutes approved as prepared Chair test. I'm sorry. I think uh, mission downer go ahead, please I thought you referenced nine and we were we were at seven. That was just Point of clarification. No seven. I thought I said seven. Did I not say seven? I thought you said nine, but it's oh Sorry That was number seven Alrighty, um, I don't see any other comments. Um, so we will move forward Item number eight chairperson or commissioner reports Are there any commissioner reports from any commissioners? today Item number 8.1. We are now taking public comments on item 8.1 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. You will have three notes Chair just I see no hands raised at this time. Thank you Item number nine committee reports I don't believe there are any committee reports So item number nine. We are now taking Public comments on item 9.1. If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand If you were dialing in via telephone, please dial star nine to raise your hand. You will have three notes Chair test. I see that commissioner burke has his hand up Well, and it's not for this particular item, but I think we may have lost the quorum Can we have someone confirm that from the staff, please? Chair test. We still have four commissioners in the meeting. So we still have a quorum Good. Thank you Actually, we we have five we have five stuff. Okay. Okay. Good to know. Thank you Um item number 10 executive director reports and communication items Megan massinger Good afternoon chair test and members of the housing authority Attached for your review this month is our housing pipeline as you'll note For november we have added projects with density bonus agreements that are being pre-development in construction So we will be continuing to add these as we execute those contracts and those projects are proceeding You will also see once you look at the pipeline that as mentioned last month There's limited information on some of those density bonus contracts So we will be able to provide you with the number of units that are subject to the contract But a lot of the other details we won't have readily available And then also For the executor executive directors update this month I'd like to note we have two new staff members that joined us in november Both are working in the rental assistance division as Technicians, so we are very pleased to have that division staffed And able to provide A higher level of service to our housing choice voucher recipients In the coming months we'll begin kicking off the fiscal year 23 24 budget for the city and that will be coming to the housing authority Like we do annually for you to begin to see what the fiscal year budget will look like Also pleased to note that the orchard commons project is beginning its lisa process and this is a 40 plus unit project on void street So we hope to see that in the finished area of the pipeline in december and then finally Today the city clerk released a public notice regarding various cities boards and commissions and the application process so the commissioners who are Ending their terms with the housing authority Are welcome to reapply as well as any other interested parties The process is open through december 19th at 5 p.m. And that can be found on the city's website I'd be happy to answer any questions Thank you. Good news on the additional staff. Congratulations to them Um vice chair oland you had a question Yes, um Megan is you I see that you added for an example acme apartments. It's number four under construction So it's 77 units, but only 21 are affordable Is that is that correct there there are some Definite nuances within this pipeline there are 77 total units 21 of them will be monitored By the housing authority via our compliance staff, but the acme project is entirely affordable It had was not financed by the housing authority So all 70 well 76 of them with a manager's unit, but the project will be considered 100 affordable we are just going to be monitoring those units identified In the affordability column for the housing authority So is Using that as an example as you go through this in the total on the second page So does that mean there's 24 70 2470 units that are affordable there that are either done under construction or in the pipeline So that's the numbers that you have are a number of units in that column. Those are affordable units That's um We have to get this quickly and I believe No, that doesn't because if we were to look at residences at taylor mountain, which is Um line one of fully funded projects not all of those are affordable. So it's a total We identify the total number of units in the project right and when you scroll over To information you'll see how many are subject to our agreement I've asked this before and I know we didn't want to scram and make this any smaller, but Is there a way to to have another column that shows of the number of units how many are affordable Yes, we can that's a small we can add that Yeah, thank you because and then how does this apply to the city's rena requirements? So projects that are affordable Will be noted on our annual reports to the california department of housing and community development We need to identify those units that are subject to regulatory agreements or deed restrictions We also In the last year or so identified projects, which we know are affordable, but we are not monitoring So for instance the acne Project, we know it is affordable, but we only have a contract for those 21 units So we'll note that the remainder units are affordable, but not subject to our restrictions Thank you Okay I see no other questions So we'll move forward to item 10.1 We are now taking public comments on item 10.1 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 We'll have three minutes Chair test. I see no hands raised at this time Thank you Item number 11 is consent items When consent items are brought before the housing authority it is not Not required that staff provide presentations to the commissioners If there are no objections With a motion and a second the housing commissioners can take a single vote on all consent items on this agenda after public comments Item number 11.1 Is the resolution regarding budget appropriation of funds in the amount of $300,000 For affordable housing purposes I see no hands raised So if there are no objections or requests for this presentation um, I will open this to uh Housing authority, excuse me for public comments on item 11.1 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 Chair test. I see no hands raised at this time public comments, okay um Do we have a motion on this particular item? I'll move to approve the resolution of the housing authority of the city of santa rosa Appropriating funds the amount of $300,000 for affordable housing purposes and waive the reading of the text Thank you vice chair oan. We have a second All second state berk Hey, can we do a roll call vote? Yes, we can. Give me just one moment Hey, we'll go ahead and do a roll call vote for the consent items. Uh, we will start with the um with the mover uh vice chair oan I And the second uh commissioner berk. Hi Uh commissioner rawhouser. Hi, uh commissioner lepena. Hi Commissioner downy Hi And chair test fine I'll let the uh, let the record show that the motion passes with six eyes with commissioner absent Thank you Our last item is item number 12 report items and I don't believe there are any Report items on this agenda. So we will move forward to adjournment Thank you everybody