 Mike check Mike check Mike check Mike check Mike check hey Wayne you should be able to talk now Okay. Yeah, I got you. Thank you. Good. How are you? Hi Jeremy. It's good to see you Okay, good afternoon today is February 27th 2023 committee. We've had a technical difficulty but we're starting our meeting at this time. Housing Authority members will be participating in this meeting in person, socially distanced in the council chamber at 100 Santa Rosa Avenue. Members of the public can participate in the meeting by attending in person or via Zoom, by visiting HTTPS, colon forward slash forward slash SRCity dot org dot zoom dot us slash j eight three three four seven three one four six eight four or by phone by dialing eight seven seven eight five three five two five seven and entering webinar ID eight three three four seven one four six eight four. Comments from the public will be allowed on all agenda items at each as each item is called. Comments on public hearing items may be made when the hearing is opened. Live public comment members of the public can provide comment on an agenda item in person from council chamber by assessing the meeting through the zoom link or by dial in at the time of agenda item is discussed during the Housing Authority meeting. Go to HTTPS colon SRCity dot org forward slash virtual participation for more information. Email public comment to submit an emailed public comment to the Housing Authority please send to svbrown at SRCity dot org by five p.m. on or before February 24th 2023. Identify in the subject line of your email the agenda item number on which you wish to comment. Provide your name in the body of the email and your comment. Public comments are limited to one comment per speaker per item. At this point I'd like to call the meeting to order. Members of the public may view and listen to the meeting as noted in the city's website as noted on the agenda. As 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 are well staffed to monitor that everyone is participating respectfully or they will be removed. If necessary we will also immediately end the meeting. Clerk Steve please explain how public comments will be heard at today's meeting. Thank you. 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 the 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 a comment on hearing items when the chair calls for public comments after an item is presented please go to the closest public speaking podium and the upper tier of chambers where the clerk will unmute your microphone and permit you 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 will 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 nine 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. Once all live 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 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'll now take roll call. Okay we'll do roll call for attendance. Commissioner Rawhouser. Here. Commissioner McWhorter. I believe he's participating via zoom. He's on meeting. Okay we'll move on. Commissioner LePenna. Here. Commissioner Downey. Commissioner Burke. Here. Vice Chair Owen. Here. And chair test. Here. Let's give just one moment to see if Commissioner McWhorter will respond. Alright then let the record reflect that all commissioners are present with the exception of Commissioner McWhorter. Item number three statements of abstention. Any commissioners have any items to be abstained on? Item number four staff briefing. Kate Goldfine. Good afternoon chair test. Vice chair Owen and housing authority commissioners. It's nice to see all of you in person today. I'm Kate Goldfine the administrative services officer for the housing and community services department. The memo in front of you summarizes the funding and expense for the authority for the first half of fiscal year twenty two twenty three the months of July through December. I'll hit the highlights and be available for any questions. Looking at expenditures. The authority is trending well in all categories in loan activity. We've expended four point eight million so far and have seven point three million committed to projects of the nearly four point one million of remaining funding. Three point three million of that is committed to the Burbank Avenue Apartments Project and the loan documents were finalized in January after this after the end date of this report. So that means that all current commitments will be finalized and shown in the quarter three report in a few months. In CDBG DR which is disaster recovery the developments continue to make progress with over seven point three million expended. The projects funded by CDBG DR are on the affordable housing pipeline matrix included with this agenda and the $10,000 of budget remaining there is for administration. In projects we have over one point six million expended including five hundred and thirty thousand towards Sam Jones Hall annex operations funded by one time CDBG CV funding seven hundred and seventy nine thousand towards the Canary at Royal Road Square project funded by infill infrastructure grant funding and a hundred and eighty seven thousand towards her and veterans village funded by state permanent local housing allocation grant. So project budget has been high. The past few years due to many one time funding sources related to both the city's fire disaster and the COVID pandemic. So the remaining funds in that project line include funding for the infill infrastructure grant of over five million. The projects funded for that grant have been identified but and the commitment paperwork is pending. So two point seven million of that is one time federal home ARP. That's American Rescue Plan Act funding. Staff are working to finalize the home ARP plan for federal approval. There's also two million dollars for the PG and E of PG and E settlement funded down payment assistance program budget and that programs in development and additional one point one of state permanent local housing grant funds for the Burbank Avenue project and four hundred forty nine thousand of that is one time American Rescue Plan Act emergency housing voucher service fee funding which is used to assist clients in that program. So moving to funding sources the best news is the housing impact fees which were budgeted at one point four million and we have already received nearly one point five million. So that is trending quite high. At some point we do expect development to slow. So as usual we're watching this carefully. Loan repayments also continue to trend well. You may remember that we received over two point four million in Lantana home project loan payoffs last year and that in November the authority appropriated three hundred thousand dollars of loan repayments received between January and September twenty two September twenty twenty two. So of that three million budget we already have two point seven million. We had budgeted to receive just under three hundred thousand of new repayments for the entirety of this fiscal year and we've received five hundred and forty eight thousand through December which is great. This revenue is primary primarily used for new loans and will be budgeted in the next fiscal year. And then finally same as last quarter's report I just want to call the state's grant the state grants category is higher than usual due to the two. Grants I mentioned earlier infill infrastructure grant and the permanent local housing grant. And we will see revenue in those categories when we request reimbursement from the state as we expend those funds to the developers. So that concludes the briefing and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Commissioner Downey. Thank you. Disaster related funding. Business as usual. And you foresee any. Challenges. Getting back to the new normal. Versus having these extra funds available for. Fire. Of the etc. that were so used to for the past. Seven six seven years. Yes thank you so. A lot of that funding is the one time funding is being used for housing development. So when that one time funding is done those funds won't be available in coming year so it'll be more like. Loan loan budget of approximately eight years ago where we were just getting loan repayments and our entitlement annual funding from HUD. So there will be less loan budget available. Is I is I understand the state grant to 10.2 million is a reimbursement. Yes so the developers will expend and then submit a bill to us and we pay them and then we submit our bill to the state who then repays us. How is that finance from. Developer asking for the money you're having to pay themselves to when the state reimburses. Housing authority and we reimbursed was the time gap. So the timing of that is I think we try to do that quarterly. There shouldn't be any delay on the part of the developers and in receiving repayment because the city includes it in its budget so the budget is available in the city and the city has adequate resources to reimburse the developer and then obtain reimbursement from the state. It's similar to how we budget and expend our federal resources so the same would apply to CDBG and home funding where it's on a reimbursement basis. So the developer can participate anticipate maybe a 30 day turnaround from submit all bills to reimbursement from the city. We generally strive for that if not quicker. Thank you we just want to make sure that the developer and the staff are getting paid and get into a lean issue because that just gets ugly. Thank you. Yes the gap the gap is for us the city. We pay the developer and then we request the funds from the state. To public comments item 4.1. Okay chair test I would like to also let you know chair tests that commissioner quarter we have solved his technology problems. He's now joined in on the meeting. Okay we're now taking public comments for item 4.1. We'll begin with comments for those attending from those attending in person and chambers. Once we finish with in person comments we'll hear comments from those participating via zoom. If you wish to make a comment via zoom please raise your hand. If you're dialing and via telephone please dial star nine to raise your hand. If you're in person and you would like to make a public comment please move to one of the one of the lecterns at the top tier of the room. Chair test it appears that we have no in person comments for this item. We are now taking public comments from those participating in zoom. Zoom host do we have any public comments from those attending this meeting via zoom. Chair test I see no more I see no hands raised in zoom. Clerk Steve do we have any emailed public comments? Chair test we have no emailed public comments for this item. Move on today to item number five study session. Nicole Del Fiorentino. Hi good afternoon chair. We do have a presentation today so give me one moment while we get that ready for you. I would like to remind those speaking and giving presentations to please speak closer to your mics. They have the mics turned down a little bit to avoid feedback. So when you do speak about your item or ask questions if you could at least just get a couple inches away from your microphone it'll help people to hear a lot better. All right good afternoon chair test housing authority commissioners. I'm Nicole Del Fiorentino and the Housing and Community Services Manager for the Housing Trust Division. Today's study session is the Affordable Housing Funding Sources Overview. This was an item that came out of the planning day review from the January Housing Authority meeting. So as a review I thought we would go over first the Housing Authority's mission. The Housing Authority of Santa Rosa was established with the purpose of ensuring adequate decent safe and sanitary housing for income eligible households in Santa Rosa. The Housing Authority primarily consists of the Santa Rosa Housing Trust which is the division that I oversee and the Rental Housing Assistance Program which is overseen by Housing and Community Services Manager Rebecca Lane. The Santa Rosa Housing Trust partners with many private and non-profit organizations to develop rehabilitate and preserve affordable housing and to convert market rate housing to affordable housing. So we'll go through the various funding sources available to the Housing Trust through the lens of developing rehabilitating preserving and converting affordable housing. Another item related to the Housing Authority mission is the Regional Housing Needs Allocation which our goals are set by the Association of Bay Area Governments or ABAC to meet the housing needs in cities. So these are the goals that ABAC has set for Santa Rosa to meet over the next eight years and this just came out in the most recent housing element that was adopted by Council earlier this month. On this table the lines that are bolded the top two are 50 and 80 percent of area median income levels which are typically what the Housing Authority will see and help produce to meet these goals. Again under the lens of new construction and acquisition loans is what we would see at the Housing Authority level to affect these numbers. So we are going to go through the funding sources in the following slide under the lens of the Housing Authority mission and keeping in mind that is the goal of the Housing Authority to assist the city with meeting these RENA goals as well. All right we have got three main tranches of funding sources in the Housing Authority, the Housing Trust budget for affordable housing mostly in production. We've got federal, state and local funding sources and we're just going to go over a high level overview of these funding sources. As we go through you'll see the there are very detailed programs especially at the federal level so if there are any questions we can go ahead and answer those at the end. So on the federal level we've got community development block grant funding home investment partnership or home funding. A lot of the times you'll hear us refer to these as their acronyms so CDBG or home programs. At the state level we've got the permanent local housing allocation program that you heard Kate speak of earlier. Then we've got several funding sources that are local meaning they originate at the local level. We've got the housing grant fund, housing in lieu or impact fees that are collected from the planning department. We've got low mod fund operating reserves, mortgage revenue bonds, real property transfer tax and rental rehabilitation funds. All right so going a little bit deeper into the CDBG program. These programs the eligible activities are related to affordable housing which is the lens that we're looking through today include acquisition so site acquisition land acquisition demolition of structures rehabilitation and home ownership assistance. These programs are complex and some sources like CDBG have eligible uses that are not related to affordable housing so we are looking at it through this lens today. Okay and requirements of the CDBG program. Income requirements 51% of the funds must be used for households that are at 80% of the area median income level or lower. There are NEPA requirements and NEPA is the National Environmental Policy Act which to ensure the federal funds that are used in a project we consider the the environmental impacts through the NEPA process and various projects will have different levels of NEPA review just depending on the nature of the project. We've got federal labor standards that are required through CDBG also known as Davis Bacon wage requirements so those make sure that the wages that are prevailing in the area are paid to the laborers that are employed in affordable housing projects when there's federal funds in the project and then we have timeliness requirements for CDBG. We have a timeliness test of one and a half percent which basically means that 60 days before the end of our fiscal year which is typically in May we cannot have more than one and a half times our annual allotment of CDBG funds so that makes sure we're getting the funds into the community in a timely manner. So the next federal funding source that we're going to go over is the home program. The eligible activities related to affordable housing for home include acquisition, demolition, new construction, rehabilitation, pre-development loans to community housing development organizations which are called CHODOs also and homeownership assistance. The requirements for the home program include 90 percent of the funds being used for households at 60 percent of AMI or less. There are home rent limits and per unit subsidy limits that the developer would need to abide by. Again we've got NEPA requirements and federal labor standards requirements. Home has some additional timeliness requirements. Also construction has to start within 12 months of the Housing Authority Award made to the project and the project must be completed within four years. It's also a requirement that home funds are the last funds in to the project so all of their funding sources must be already committed to the project for the project to utilize home funds. Moving down the list to the state programs, PLHA which is the permanent local housing allocation program has eligible activities related to multifamily affordable rental housing of acquisition, pre-development, new construction, rehabilitation and preservation. The requirements for this program include 60 percent AMI households are lower or benefit by the program. Moving on to our local sources, eligible activities for the real property transfer tax or RPTT include affordable housing and homeless programs. The requirements here are the households pay no more than 30 percent of their income towards rent or mortgage meeting that affordable definition. We've also got the in lieu fees or also called impact fees. These are fees collected by the planning department for developments. The eligible activities here include but are not limited to development of affordable housing, acquisition, construction, planning, administration and design, building, installation costs. The requirements for this program are the income requirements to be low and moderate income households benefiting. So when we come to you as a body once a year for our notices of funding availability a lot of the times the housing authority will say I want to focus on one category or another. So the typical categories that we hear are new construction, rehabilitation of existing affordable developments and then there's also home ownership options that we may see from developers. So when the housing authority gives direction to staff to focus on one of these categories for new construction that would mean that we would be utilizing possibly home funds, the PLHA funds, the local funds and CDBG for maybe site acquisition but otherwise CDBG is not eligible for new construction. If the housing authority were to direct rehabilitation as a focus of a future NOFA we would be looking at CDBG home and local sources could be used for rehab and home ownership is an option in the CDBG home and local programs. Another item that we wanted to discuss today and receive feedback and direction from the housing authority was about the home program. So as mentioned earlier the home program has additional timeliness requirements to use the funds. There's 24 months from the city or the housing authority staff receiving the commitments from HUD before the housing authority board must commit the funds to a project. There's 12 months from the commitment of the housing authority to a project before the project must start construction. Within four years of that commitment the project must be complete and 18 months from project completion the project must be occupied. So these are requirements on timing that can make it more difficult for developers to utilize the home funds especially when our annual NOFA process is a once yearly process. Staff is seeking direction on whether or not to proceed with an over the counter or rolling NOFA for the home funds. A rolling NOFA would be basically accepting applications for home funds at any time during the year not just the once a year spring NOFA that we put out. So the benefits of a rolling NOFA would be that the developers can apply when their projects are within the 12 month timeline for starting construction. The funds will be deployed more quickly into the community and would allow for the developer acquisition and rehabilitation anytime during the year. Considerations with a rolling NOFA would be there would be less funds available in the annual NOFA. We'd be taking that amount of home funds out of the annual NOFA and into a separate rolling NOFA. And the housing authority may see items multiple times during the year for home allocations. We would still seek housing authority approval as the body to make those funding awards. Okay and with that that concludes our presentation today. I'm happy to answer any questions and receive your feedback about a possible rolling or over the counter NOFA for a home. Any questions from commissioners? Thank you for the presentation. It's very complicated to put together. Questions for you if in not any order. I'm looking at page 13 of your presentation where you this is a good representation of new construction rehabilitation home ownership and what funding sources can be used for what for which aspect. So for the CDBG funds that's only for site work only? For new construction CDBG can be used for acquisition of the site. So purchasing the site to be used for affordable housing but it can't be for any of the labor or construction costs on the site. So we had I want to say it's about two years ago the 38 million dollars in CDBG DR funds and those funds came in and were used for many projects that was definitely not just site acquisition. How did that factor into that into this category or was that different? Because the DR funds. Yeah, thank you for the question. CDBG DR is a completely separate program. We kept it out of this presentation because the rules are so different from typical CDBG. It is a separate federal program that was allocated to the state in response to the disasters in the 2017 fires that we had. The state developed the multi-family housing program from the DR funds which closely mirrored the home program and allowed for new construction from the CDBG DR funds. Which is great because we're seeing as we'll get later in the presentation how many units are under construction at this point in time and a big chunk of that is CDBG DR funds that go through. So thank you for that clarification. I can tell from the smiling from my question that you were anticipating that question. The other thing is from the RPTT funds real estate property transfer tax. This is something that's been going on for a while in terms of what those monies can be used. This is one that I think this is one of the first years that 100% of those funds are going into the housing authority versus being split. So those funds go from from a title company when a property sells to the city's general fund and then the city gets to allocate how much of that goes into housing authority. Is that correct? That's correct and maybe Kate can help me out but there is an increasing percentage each year on how much of the RPTT is transferred to the housing authority's budget for the homeless and housing related services. We're currently at 55% of the RPTT coming over and by 20... Isn't it 10% a year increases or five? Five percent a year and council changed that via resolution several years ago to have annual five percent increases to get to 100%. Okay, thank you. One of the things that's difficult for affordable housing developers is the cost it is for pre-development for architect and engineering before they can go and before they go and design and review before they actually have a project. So if we can go into again page 13 where would in the the new sources if a developer was coming in and and wanting pre-development funds what category would they be? What source of funds works best for that for pre-development? So we would typically look to our home state and local funding for pre-development costs but it would depend on a case-by-case basis as those applications came in we received during the NOFA process several different types of applications and it is sort of like a puzzle placing everything together to see how they can best utilize the funding sources. My understanding was at home are last dollars in? Home is last dollars in home can be used for pre-development for a chotto or seed loans for a chotto organization. Okay, so it has to be a special type of organization to use home funds for for pre-development. And then what happens if you've got a project that is outside the four years for completion? How does the city projects not done? We provided money it's four years it hasn't been completed what do we do? There are certain options under HUD's guidelines for extensions the program or the project would have to demonstrate it meets their requirements for a project extension but ultimately if a project gets to those deadlines HUD would seek to have those funds repaid. And the city would have to put legal proceedings in some fashion against the project and the developer? We have actually we've encountered this problem before HUD is generally cooperative we were at the four year deadline with the her and veteran not the Benton Veterans Village which is the reuse of the former Benton Street fire station we worked with HUD to demonstrate that we were making progress and that the project had encountered some financial difficulties but ultimately the city could be required to repay HUD the home funds so it's it's definitely within the city's best or the housing authorities best interest to make sure that we're actively monitoring the projects and that we're committing the funds to projects that will advance quickly to meet those requirements Thank you and then the last question is how would a rolling NOFA work? So for a rolling NOFA we would put it out probably at the same time as our annual spring NOFA only there would not be a deadline for applications we would receive applications and evaluate them as they came in and as those needs arise in the community where a project could utilize the funds So if we were looking at a total sources of funds of say 10 million there would be a carve out of those for rolling NOFA? That would be up to housing authority direction whether they wanted to have the whole amount of the home funds in a rolling NOFA or just a portion Thank you and if I could interject again sorry an example was last spring the housing authority provided an award to 3575 Mendocino Avenue Phase 2 which is the second phase of journeys in we did that at a sequence of our annual NOFA because that project did encounter a funding gap and they were able to apply to the housing authority for I believe was a one and a half million dollars in home funds you were able to act on it fairly quickly and the project was able to begin construction several months later so that was an example of when there was an immediate gap that we were able to fill with home funds and allow the project to advance Thank you very much it's a very complicated project in terms of puzzle pieces that have to be fit in a certain manner based upon federal requirements so thank you Commissioner Downey Okay I think I want hi Nicole is it possible to go back to our mission statements I think it was a couple months ago Commissioner Roehauser Commissioner LaPenna and I attended a public housing authority Symposium in Napa and I really liked some of the blooms taxonomy that was inserted in the mission of the jurisdictions that lie around San Rosa so I don't know if it's possible to interject is seeking to or is attempting to to to emulate that we're in a process that is dynamic complex is going forward not that we have a formula that is going to fix all of our unusual housing product projects and I hope that has some bearing to the way that this is written to writing it in a way that really lets the public know that this body is dedicated to to acting on to moving as opposed to just making a statement thank you Commissioner Downey we can absolutely look at the housing authorities mission statement and future planning day mission or planning days that are happening ultimately the mission statement is to indicate what the goals are for the housing authority but we could come back to that at a future planning day any other comments from commissioners Nicole I wanted to say how wonderful this document is having all of those different funding sources and how they each work so helpful in one document thank you thank you very much have a good day okay we'll move on now to number five point one and public comments okay we're now going to take public comments on item five point one we're going to begin with those from uh with 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 again please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone please dial star nine to raise your hand if you are attending in person and you would like to make a public comment on this item please move to one of the podiums at the top tier of the room okay chair test it appears that we have no in person public comments for this item we are now taking public comments from those participating via zoom zoom host do we have any public comments for those attending this meeting via zoom chair test I see no hands raised in zoom thank you do we have any emailed public comments chair test we have no emailed public comments for this item thank you item number six is public comments on non-agenda items we are now excuse me we are now taking public comments on item six we're going to begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers once we finish with in person comments we'll hear comments from those participating via zoom again 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 if you're attending in person and you would like to make a comment on non-agenda items please move to one of the podiums at the top of the top tier of the room and you'll be able to make your comment all right chair test it appears we have no in person public comments on item six okay we are now taking public comments uh from those participating via zoom zoom host do we have any public comments from those attending this meeting via zoom chair test i see no hands raised in zoom do we have any emailed public comments chair test we have no emailed public comments for this item thank you item number seven is approval of minutes we have the minutes of january 23rd 2023 excuse me are there any changes i see no changes the minutes are approved as as they stand item number eight chairperson commissioner reports i have none any reports from other commissioners no okay item number nine committee reports i see no committee reports we'll move on item number ten executive director reports communication items megan bassinger good afternoon chair test and members of the housing authority two quick updates for february i wanted to inform you all that the city of santa rosa was recently awarded an additional infill infrastructure grants which kate referenced during her financial update this second round of funding is for 20.6 million dollars that will help advance six projects and also contribute to improvements at martin luther king park which is located in the south park area and the other item of note is the demolition of the bennett valley senior center i believe within the last couple months the housing authority approves funding from the development to go towards demolition that demolition is underway as you may recall the senior center former senior center was destroyed by fire so the city is in the process of taking that structure down and we are also proceeding with the sale of the land to the developer which is free for development and expect that to occur in april so the project has received all the financing it needs in order to buy the property from the city and initiate construction which we anticipate being in spring of this year so that is a very exciting development for that site that we have been working on for about the last four years and then attached in the communication is the monthly pipeline update and i'd be happy to answer any questions about that vice chair ohan thank you i just the prank it's very small on this so i i want to make sure and this is information i have or questions i've brought before so if we go back to the rena numbers which were part of kate's presentation it's 4,685 units of that very low as 1,218 and low as 701s for 1,919 so if we look at the column for number of units and i believe the number of affordable units represents the number of affordable units the city is tracking not necessarily the number of affordable units in the project is that correct so the way rena numbers are counted is that they are reported to the state when the building permits are issued so annually it's usually occurring in january the state will the city will submit a report to the state with the building permits that have been issued for that prior calendar year and we would report then on the number of units within the income categories that were included in nicole's presentation so the affordable units that you see on the pipeline are a compilation of all the income categories that are restricted in those various developments so it doesn't speak to the specific rena categories but it does capture the number of units that have affordability restrictions for the income groups that we monitor so is it safe to say if you add the very low and low categories for the rena numbers we could look at that as say the denominator in the number of units that are completed as the numerator figure out what percentage we're getting to the rena numbers but let me give you an example so if if I look at the first page of 1837 units that's how many are on the first page that's about 95 percent of the rena numbers is that a okay way to calculate it well another complication is that rena is split into periods and so there are different reporting periods some of these fall into the prior reporting period and are not necessarily reflected in the reporting period that Nicole provided in her update so they could straddle the two reporting periods some of these could have already been reported on if the building permits have not been issued then they would likely go towards our new cycle but we could certainly look at ways of incorporating into our report out to you how the housing authorities efforts are contributing towards the rena goals so that you can see on a regular basis the progress that we're making as a city that's kind of where I'm driving because again just because the city has not or the housing authority has not provided any except for maybe a density bonus or if that's not even part of a process there are four units being built and again the CDBG DR funds that contribute significantly what's in the pipeline so to be able to show what that part of the rena numbers that fall into the very low and low income versus what's done and what's in the pipeline and what's building permits I think it'd be valuable information that can come out of the housing authority to the city city council to show that there are a lot of projects more than I've ever seen in my almost 30 years of living in Santa Rosa that are underway right now that are qualifying as as affordable so it's a commentary more than a question I will work on incorporating that into future thank you any other questions oh Commissioner Downey hi Megan I think I was reading in the press democrat that the city is seeking to build 4700 new units and I was curious to know the ratio of new units versus the ratio of people who need the units and is the gap closing or is the gap widening as far as putting people in houses and people meeting houses thank you Commissioner Downey I think that the number you're referring to is the rena allocation that was incorporated into the housing element so the city's housing element needs to identify that there is adequate land in order to accommodate those units that have been provided to us by abag it doesn't necessarily tie directly to the number of people that are seeking housing so unfortunately I'm not able to answer that portion of your question but the number is incorporated into the city's housing element I think one of my fears is that we're now kind of able to build our way out of this housing shortage and despite something very creative it's going to be interesting to see what we do with the resources that we have thank you Commissioner Burke thank you chair test the Canary project I see that site work is underway that's good to see that is that project going forward smoothly is there anything that just I know that they had to cancel or postpone the groundbreaking ceremony I'm not aware of any delays associated with the project the groundbreaking was postponed due to the rains that we experienced in January and we haven't heard about a future date so I imagine we won't hear from them until we have a grand opening celebration like to be kept on the list and hopefully attend that groundbreaking ceremony certainly any other questions seeing none we'll move to public comment for item number 10 we're now taking public comments on item 10 we're going to begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers once we finish within person comments we'll hear from 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 if you're currently in attendance in person and you'd like to make a comment on item 10 please move to one of the podiums at the top tier of the room chair test appears we have no in person comments on this item thank you we're now taking public comments for those participating in zoom do we have any public comments from those from zoom chair test I see no hands raised in zoom thank you any email public comments we have no emailed public comments on this item item number 11 is consent items resolution budget appropriation of funds in the amount of three hundred twenty five thousand dollars for affordable housing purposes sequa exempt it is not when consent items are brought before the housing authority is not required that staff provide presentations to the commissioners if there are no objections with a motion and a second the housing authority commissioners can take a single vote on all consent items on this agenda after public comments we will open this up to public comments now for item number 11 we are now taking public comments on item 11 our consent items we'll begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers once we finish with in person comments we will hear comments from 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 nine to raise your hand if you are in person in chambers and you'd like to make a comment on this item please move to one of the podiums at the top tier of the room okay chair tess it appears we have no in person public comments for this item thank you we are now taking public comments from those participating via zoom zoom host do we have any public comments from those attending this meeting via zoom chair tess I see no hands raised in zoom thank you do we have any comments via telephone chair tess we have no emailed public comments on this item yes thank you do we have a motion on this item motion to approve I'll move to approve the resolution to housing authority of the city of Santa Rosa appropriating funds in the amount of $325,000 for affordable housing purposes and waive the reading of the text do we have a second commissioner delny the motion commissioner delny thank you all right give me one moment then we'll do a vote on this item okay we'll now do a vote on consent items we will start with the with the mover vice chair oan how do you vote aye and then the second uh commissioner delny aye and then commissioner brawlhouser aye uh commissioner mcquatter aye I could I could hear him to zoom uh I don't know why I'm not hearing him in a room one moment or what about now aye and commissioner mcquatter voted aye and commissioner lepana aye commissioner burk aye and chair test aye that motion passes with seven ayes and no nays thank you item number 12 report items mark hughes program specialist housing and community services good afternoon chair test and commissioners as kate mentioned earlier it's nice to see you all in person if you'll bear with me for just one moment I have a presentation so today we have a report for the housing authority this is on the home investment partnership American rescue plan allocation plan as some of you might remember in november of 2021 staff did bring the home ARP grant award before the housing authority so today we are reporting out on the public participation process that staff engaged in and the allocation plan that we're proposing this is a report item only we are not asking for any action from the housing authority in march of 2021 the American Rescue Plan Act established the home ARP program the home ARP program provides five billion dollars for housing services shelter to individuals that are experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable populations the city received an allocation of two million seven hundred and thirty seven thousand and four hundred and thirty three dollars fifteen percent of that allocation can be used for administration and planning home ARP funds are restricted to four eligible activities tenant based rental assistance which functions similar to a housing choice voucher development of affordable housing supportive services which includes McKinney-Vento homeless services homeless prevention services housing counseling and the definition of supportive services is broad to allow for funds to be targeted for impact the funds can also be used for acquisition and development of non-congregate shelter so projects similar to the home key projects at keratoss and at the gold coin the home ARP funds must be used to benefit individuals from the qualifying populations those qualifying populations are homeless at risk of homelessness fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence dating violence sexual assault stalking or human trafficking other populations at risk of homelessness due to housing instability and veterans and families that meet one of the preceding criteria for participating jurisdiction to access the grant award HUD requires that they engage in a public participation process that public participation process includes consultations to inform a development of an allocation plan to recommend the use of the funds that allocation plan must include a gap analysis and needs assessment of the resources available in the community and the makeup of the qualifying populations in the jurisdiction so HUD requires again that we consult with the public and a certain set of stakeholder groups so HUD requires that we consult with the COC the housing authority other local jurisdictions domestic violence service providers homeless service providers veteran service providers fair housing advocates and service providers for persons with disabilities tomorrow staff is holding a public hearing at the city council meeting and that is a requirement also of the planning process is to hold at least one public hearing and the aim for the consultation is to gather feedback and input from the community so to have the stakeholders and residents be involved in the planning process and to have that help steer our recommendation for the use of the funding so as I mentioned earlier staff did present at the November 22nd 2021 housing authority the grant award and we held a public meeting on December 1st of 2021 that public meeting had notices that went out in Lavaz and the press democrat there was also a notification that was sent out via the COC's list serve service and there was a decent public turnout for that on February 23rd of 2022 staff jointly presented to the continuum of care with the snowman county community development commission at the COC board meeting it was suggested that both the city and the CDC wait to finish the allocation planning process until the 2022 point in time count was released so we did wait for the point in time count to be released so that we could have the most recent data to inform the recommendations of the funding on May 26th we held our first of a series of roundtable meetings those meetings were held with local stakeholders service providers so May 26th was a roundtable meeting with the affordable housing developers and again that was jointly held with the CDC on June 30th of 2022 we held a roundtable meeting for service providers for victims of domestic violence all of the roundtable meetings were jointly held with the CDC October 27th we held a roundtable meeting for service providers for homeless and veterans groups and then today we're here with a report item to the housing authority hopefully to gather some more input and collect feedback and then tomorrow February 28th we will be holding a public hearing at the city council meeting so during the public participation process staff received a lot of feedback the thing that we heard the most was that the greatest impact for the use of funds would be for supportive services with an emphasis on homeless prevention and housing stabilization one thing we did here specifically from the affordable housing developers was that the one-time nature of this funding would be less impactful if used for development of affordable housing so as I mentioned previously we did complete a needs assessment and gap analysis so that needs assessment and gap analysis showed that more people are experiencing homelessness in Santa Rosa than shelter beds that are available and that there were over 7300 households at risk of homelessness due to housing instability furthermore the 2014 through 2018 American Community Survey estimates that 47% of Santa Rosa households over pay for housing and on top of that the housing need inventory and gap analysis showed that Santa Rosa has an estimate of 12,345 households that are making less than 50% AMI area media income and are also experiencing one or more severe housing problem and cost burden so the allocation plan was compiled using recommended data sources from HUD some of those data sources were the U.S. Census Bureau the housing inventory count from the continuum of care the comprehensive housing affordability strategy the American Community Survey the 2022 Sonoma County point and time count and the 2017 violence profile of Sonoma County we also received a lot of public input through the process as well from the public participation process the use of home ARP funds is being recommended to be put towards supportive services housing community services staff is proposing that a request for proposals process be ran to select the sub-recipients the allocation plan is due to be submitted to HUD by March 31st of 2023 so feedback from this housing authority meeting and the February 28th public hearing will be incorporated into the draft allocation plan and no action is required from the housing authority at this point in time so it's recommended by the housing and community services department that the housing authority review the draft home investment partnership American Rescue Plan allocation plan and provide feedback to staff at this point I'm happy to answer any questions thank you mark I did have a question in response will these funds be able to help excuse me the financing of in response we can certainly look into that chair test the use of the home art funds is restricted specifically to eligible activities there may be services that are eligible to be funded through that but that would require more research from staff thank you commissioner Burke thank you chair test it's hard for me to provide much feedback because the function for homeless programs is now in the responsibility of the city council for quite a long time but just two things that I guess kind of occurred to me one is since the effort looks like there's putting an emphasis on supporting services for homelessness I guess I would and I don't know to what degree this was reviewed but to get an update on the progress that's been made since the passage of the sales tax initiative for the county of Sonoma and how those funds are being used and how they might fit in with this particular funding source so that's one just an observation that I'd be interested in if I were more directly involved with this the other is just the thought of mine that I think that often the process of funding homeless shelters is a lot of funding with proposals coming in kind of hit and miss some success maybe not as much as we would all want but I've often thought that maybe a beta program similar to what high tech firms use would be maybe a more effective way to go to fund a shelter and services and then do an analysis of how effective that was modify it and then try to replicate that rather than kind of a broad brush and that's my opinion again not dealing with it because that hasn't been our purview but those are just observations more than anything thank you thank you Commissioner Burke for your comments Vice Chair Owen yeah thank you for your presentation there's a lot of work and the document behind this my question is is there this is a one-time source of funds correct yes that's correct so if if we're putting in a one-time source of funds to be benefiting a service which is not a one-time use of funds what happens to those services next year of all these funds are dispersed in one year so the services that will be provided through the home ARP funds would be selected through potentially the competitive awarding process and that would include contract length so it will be in the RFP or whichever process we use that there will be set contract lengths what if I can jump in one of the factors we'll look at when we are evaluating the responses is to try and make sure it's not going to be an ongoing program so we'd be looking for one-time programs that may help address homelessness or prevent it so the emphasis may be on prevention programs or financial assistance and my concern is that financial assistance there's obviously a need for these types of services but those needs have been going on for a while and are not going to be drawn down to zero in by the use of these funds so I have a significant concern that using these one-time source of funds to provide services that then go away how will that benefit in the long run versus getting individuals or programs or nonprofits getting a source of funds for only one period of time and then having to stop those services that they provide I think that you're capturing one of the difficulties with this program and what has taken essentially two years to get the plan up and running is it's a one-time source of funds we have to hit these target populations and the amount of funding is not significant enough to advance any kind of capital improvements so services is probably the most effective way to use them and we want to try and do it without creating an ongoing need so it's been a rather complicated process that's required a fair amount of consultation and that is one of our concerns moving forward there's going to be RFPs associated with similar to how we do ANOFA for people applying for the funds it would be similar to how we handle our community development block grant public services so a portion of the CDBG funds that Nicole referenced in her study session are targeted towards nonprofits on an annual basis so 15 percent of those are carved out for nonprofit services and we do an annual solicitation for proposals so we would we would follow a similar process will there be in the IRFP a requirement that whoever receives these funds has a reporting back to the city of the benefits and what happened we want to see that the funds were not only used appropriately that's more of an auditing standpoint but they actually made a difference and how would those making a difference be judged Mark jump in if I'm overstepping my knowledge here I believe that because they are HUD related programs they'll have to report in the homeless management information system which is the federal platform for tracking homeless populations and their housing status so there will be reporting requirements to HUD and also the city will collect those through its contracting process are those primary and objective form versus subjective that it's fairly objective criteria that thank you very much so just to expand a little bit on that as well the the reporting requirements for the funding source will require quarterly reports from the recipients to the city and that we would in turn submit to HUD as well as annual reporting on similar to our CDBG public service programs Commissioner Rawhouser yes I'm just wondering for clarification would these be considered short-term immediate need funds I don't the home ARP literature doesn't classify them as short-term immediate need funds they are targeted to be deployed quickly into the community and specifically to the targeted populations but again they're restricted for eligible uses but HUD does not classify them that way Commissioner Downey this being a one-time funding source for a population of people that nobody's going to dispute deserves funding sources is there an off-ramp built into this so that they can then move into something more permanent and become a more featured part of the community as as far as whether there would be an off-ramp from the services I think part of that will depend on the agencies providing the services and how they plan to use the funding and what services they plan to carry out as Megan mentioned being that it is a one-time funding source and the amount is relatively small in the grand scheme of things this funding is kind of targeted at more of a temporary kind of solution yeah I'm really trying hard to stay in my lane stay in my lane and not wander but thank you thank you no more questions we'll open this up to public comments we're now taking public comments on item 12.1 we will begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers once we're finished with the in-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 if you're currently in chambers I would like to make a public comment on this item please move to one of the podiums at the top tier of the room chair tested appears we have no in-person public comments on this item thank you we're now taking public comments for those participating via zoom zoom host do we have any public comments from those attending this meeting via zoom chair test I see no hands raised in zoom thank you do we have any emailed public comments chair test we have no email public comments for this item thank you I would like to remind the public that this item 12.1 was provided for information only and does not require a vote item number 12.2 Megan Basinger housing and community services report approval of lease agreement between housing authority of the city of Santa Rosa and the city of Santa Rosa for 983 Sonoma Avenue one moment please while I pull up the presentation all right good afternoon chair test and members of the housing authority before you is the approval of a lease agreement between the housing authority and the city of Santa Rosa for 983 Sonoma Avenue so to provide you with some review of the site this is the housing authority's real estate asset located at 983 Sonoma which is on the corner Sonoma Avenue and Brookwood Avenue it's highlighted in yellow on the graphic you can see to give you a quick history on this site in January 2002 the housing authority acquired the site April 2002 it was opened as a homeless shelter this continued for seven years until June 2009 when the facility was closed and the 40 beds that were located there were relocated to Sam Jones Hall in southwest Santa Rosa the closure of this facility was a result of the fiscal constraints of the city at that time in response to the recession following the closure the housing authority issued a request for proposals for a new use at the site and in September 2010 the housing authority approved a lease a lease with Southwest Community Health Center also known as Santa Rosa Health Centers that lease was in place for over 10 years and in March 2021 a two-year extension was approved it was just two years at that point in time because the health center did have plans to move into Caritas Center which was under construction at that point as I think you're aware Caritas is now open and the health center notified us last week that they are completely out of 983 Sonoma Avenue so in the past few months we've had a closed session discussion on the use of this facility and we are bringing toward to you today the approval of the site for use by in response which is the city's mental health team so the term of the lease will be five years beginning on April 1st 2023 with an option for two five-year extensions the lease rate would be $2,600 a quarter which is comparable to the lease rate that was being paid by the health center there's a 3% annual escalator that is built into the lease the city will pay for all tenant improvements associated with the use of the facility by in response and the city will pay for and conduct for all the routine maintenance and this is similar to the lease arrangement we had with the health center where they conducted tenant improvements and they were responsible for day-to-day maintenance on the city the housing authority does have funds set aside for any capital needs that may arise so it is recommended by the Department of Housing and Community Services that the housing authority approve by resolution a lease agreement with the City of Santa Rosa for in response and authorize the Executive Director to sign that lease subject to approval by the general council and this is for a five-year lease with two five-year extensions I'd also like to note that the city council is being asked to take similar action tomorrow night to allow the city manager to sign the lease that concludes my presentation I'd be happy to answer any questions thank you commissioner Burke yeah yes I'm you know I'll definitely support entering into the lease agreement for the program which is a very important program it's good to see it instituted in the city of Santa Rosa I guess my preference would have been that the site be continued to be used as a homeless shelter there was a lot of energy and effort that went into that by city council members by staff there's not a lot of happy people about the idea of having a homeless shelter and this location in the first place so to lose it is a bit disappointing and my hope would be that at some point in time it could be resurrected I think having a shelter in that part of town would be a positive thing in terms of kind of balancing facilities like that throughout the community so I can say I'll support it but with a little bit of reluctance so thank you I share Owen thank you so if I look at this there's a $40,000 a year $45,000 a year maintenance expense what are those funds how are those funds paid is it coming housing authority or city's general fund the maintenance would be paid by the city's general fund and I think specifically it's coming out of the in-response program budget so that does not come out of the housing authorities budget okay and this is more of a question for city turning office so the lease is signed by the landlord which is the housing authority being is that you that signs on behalf of the housing authority correct and then and then who signs on on behalf of the city the mayor my recollection is that the item tomorrow I think uh miss passenger is going to check I believe that it delegates to the city manager to sign that okay because we're talking about it to be in response with the document itself that the tenant is the city of Santa Rosa right in response is the city of Santa Rosa and yes okay just keep all the parties correct and then it's this is a standard lease that the city uses for other properties or was it drawn up specifically for this this purpose this lease is comparable to the lease we previously had entered into with the Santa Rosa community health center it was also updated with the city's outside council which is best best and Krieger that provides real estate advice to the city okay thank you very much no other questions we'll open this up for public comment and on item 12.2 we're now taking public comments for item 12.2 we'll begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers once we finish with in person comments we'll hear 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 if you're currently in council chambers and you would like to make a comment on this item please go to one of the electrons at the top tier of the room chair tested appears we have no in person comments on this item we're now taking public comments for those participating via zoom zoom host do we have any public comments attending this meeting via zoom chair test i see no hands raised in zoom we have any public comments from those through email chair test we have no emailed public comments for this item thank you i'd like to know if uh we have a motion for this item commissioner Burke thank you chair test um no one are we at the park commission yeah we are so uh we've known each other for quite a long time and i appreciate the fact that you decided to come on the housing authority no we're not there i was asking okay no no sorry no we're out of vote i beg your pardon i was we're on 12.2 brookwood avenue hi for me you made the motion thank you do we have a second i'll second thank you okay give me just a moment and we'll take a vote okay we'll now take a roll call vote for this item we will start with the uh the mover uh we'll start with uh commissioner Burke all right and then the second uh commissioner lapenna aye and then commissioner ralhouser hi commissioner macwarder i yeah and then commissioner downey hi vice chair owen i and chair test i that motion passes with seven eyes and no nays the next item is number 13 proclamation um for myself yes yes like i said we've known each other for quite a long time uh diane and i appreciate all that you've done over the years uh in support of housing and it's been particularly uh pleasure serving with you the last four years and uh thanks for your leadership this last year so i'm going to read the proclamation of appreciation for diane test whereas diane test was appointed to the housing authority board of commissioners in 2019 and whereas diane was elected unanimously to the position of housing authority chairperson by the commissioners in august of 2021 and whereas diane's calm and thoughtful nature was greatly appreciated by her fellow commissioners housing authority staff members and affordable housing developers and whereas throughout her tenure as both a commissioner and chairperson diane provided conscientious guidance and leadership in all matters brought before the housing authority and whereas diane's role as both commissioner and chairperson for the housing authority has benefited the city's efforts in providing residents of santa rosa with well-constructed and maintained affordable housing units including but not limited to over 640 affordable units located at void street caritas homes phase one 35 75 mendicino phase one and two linda tunis mohalla glenn the canry at rave road square vennett valley apartments herne veterans village and dentin flats and whereas in addition to affordable development sites diane has provided valuable input into the review and award project-based vouchers to assist housing projects and residents of santa rosa that benefit from housing choice vouchers therefore it be resolved that diane is recognized as a dedicated community leader who has most assuredly made a difference to santa rosa's residents he had further resolved that diane will be greatly missed and is hereby wished continued success in all future endeavors in this uh proclamation was signed by vice chair jeff owens of the housing authority february 27th 2023 thank you diane thank you thank you very much now i have to open this up to public comment we're now taking public comment on item 13 one we will begin with comments from those attending in person in chambers and of course once we've finished within person comments we'll hear comments from those participating via zoom so if you'd like 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 if you're currently in chambers and you would like to make a public comment on this item please go to one of the podiums at the top tier of the room and i will unmute you so you can make your comment and can you can you see the timer on the screen let me see one moment i gotta unmute you okay can you see the timer on the screen i can but i don't can you hear me okay i can i can i'm sorry hi uh my name is karen weeks and i wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to diane for her service on the housing authority i first met diane about 30 years ago you believe that uh when she worked for burbank housing development corporation and then continued to work with her later during her time at the housing authority and then when she worked for an affordable development housing developer i've always been impressed with her thoughtfulness and caring attitude towards her work upon a retirement from the insurance field she was appointed to the board of community services and then was wisely selected by the full city council to be a housing authority commissioner and then the housing authority commissioners selected her as chair participating with diane and the monthly mayor and board chair meetings i have been so impressed with her reports on all the good work the housing authority does as a viewer of your meetings yes there's somebody out there watching i have seen how she manages the meeting is so respectful to the public and to her fellow commissioners helping to direct the conversation she attends every groundbreaking and opening there is and she's out there in the community as a great spokesperson for all that you do diane is moving on from the housing authority but she is not moving on from santa rosa's and she is active on the merit awards committee which hopefully you're going to plug diane um we thank you to diane for all your work and commitment to the city of santa rosa and our community and best of everything in the future thank you so much if anyone else would like to make a public comment please move to the podium okay that appears to be all of our public comments on this item uh in person public comments do we have any zoom uh public comments i see no hands raised in zoom and do we have any e-mailed public comments and we do not have any e-mailed public comments for this item thank you moving right along now this proclamation item number 13.2 is for my friend steve berg and i'd like to read this um which doesn't really encapsulate everything there is that i wanted to say but i'll say some more later proclamation for of appreciation for steven berg whereas steven berg served the city of santa rosa for 28 years inclusive of rolls as executive director of housing director of the housing authority and director of the redevelopment agency and whereas following his retirement from the city of santa rosa steven served for 16 years as a housing authority commissioner including election to housing authority chair from 2015 to 2020 and whereas steven has worked tirelessly to meet the city of santa rosa's most pressing needs in the areas of fair and equitable distribution of affordable housing to benefit all the city's neighborhoods and schools and whereas steve's leadership was beneficial in identifying neighborhoods that could benefit from a reduction in violence and improvement in housing conditions and whereas steven has instrumental was instrumental in developing high standards property management and maintenance by encouraging incentives such as low interest loans for responsible landlords and whereas through the neighborhood revitalization program steven diligently promoted the provision of city services in her areas where lower income live residents live and depend upon excellent education recreational law enforcement and public improvement services and whereas steven fiercely encouraged designs of new assisted housing with amenities to meet the special needs of families who most depend upon an enriched and loving living environment and whereas throughout his tenure as both a commissioner and chairperson steven provided gracious leadership in all matters brought before the housing authority therefore be it resolved that steven is recognized as a dedicated community leader who has profoundly made a difference to santa rosa's residents be it further resolved that steven berke will be greatly missed and is hereby wished continued success in all future endeavors so we're now taking public comments for those persons attending in the chambers indeed hello uh 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 thank you your time begins now well steve what can i say uh steve and i first met almost 40 years ago when we were four um when he hired me as the first housing program specialist for the city of santa rosa in 1985 i learned so much from steve how to be respectful caring and kind to each other and the public how to navigate as a public employee we had many adventures during my tenure with the housing authority establishing the very first homeless shelter in santa rosa creating the homeless service center developing and implementing the neighborhood revitalization program and deter commons his love and commitment to santa rosa was paramount in everything i also learned from steve how to be productive in retirement just because you're retired doesn't mean you still can't be involved steve's role with the vigil lightboard and of course his 10 year on the housing authority as commissioner and as chair are prime examples of his continued involvement commitment and love for santa rosa so thank you thank you steve for teaching me so much and for your commitment to santa rosa and just for being you and best of everything in your next adventure thank you okay um hello you may uh 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 okay your time begins now thank you uh chair task commissioners my name is mark krug i'm a santa rosa resident and the current staff person with burbank housing um steve i moved here in 1990 i just finished the undergraduate degree in non-profit administration and moved here from colorado and would have met you in that year 1990 as i met other funders um the county and the san francisco hud staff and you and your team uh stood apart in a favorable way from all the other funders that i worked with at csn you you brought to the city housing authority staff a culture um that i'm happy to say has persisted to this day you know through through dave's rain and through uh meghan's current uh i guess rain's kind of a tough word but um you know what i mean but um i'm very happy you know that that culture that you brought to this staff has um continued to this day um when i uh took that job at csn and met you and karen weeks and rubin rios and others you not only did you have this attitude of we're partners we're problem solvers in the community it was a very different relationship for a non-profit um instead of you know being being focused on compliance issues or you know process issues which is often the case with funding agencies your attitude your culture was really about let's make santa rosa a better place let's do this right let's work as partners issues come up conflicts come up it was always a problem-solving approach and i'm just really appreciative of that and um i'm just gonna just a couple more personal notes um when i took that job at csn 30 some years ago i went back to school to get a master's in public administration at ssu and i was mildly annoyed that they had a mandatory class on um uh unions on collective bargaining and i was miffed because i have no intention of ever working in the public sector i i love the non-profit sector that's where i was going to stay but then something happened in 1998 there was a job opening at the city of santa rosa for a division manager and even though i had no interest in working in the public sector i wanted to work for steve burt so i applied for that job i was lucky enough to be selected for that job and worked with you six or seven years before you retired and i really really appreciate um even more now maybe than then your mentoring and your coaching and i'm just so happy that we've stayed in touch and i still benefit as i'm winding winding down my own career i still benefit from your wisdom and your mentoring so thank you for everything you did for me personally and and for everything more importantly everything you did for this community santa rosa is a better place because of what you've done here and your fingerprints are all over the city in in a very positive way much more than most people realize your your leadership has been quiet and humble but very effective so thank you thank you steve hello you can state your name for the record if you so choose you will have three minutes to make your comment you can see the timer can see the timer your time begins now good afternoon my name is chuck regalia and i'm a resident of santa rosa and a long time probably longer than anybody else has spoken today colleague of steve steve and i worked together from i think it was the week he moved here when we went to i can't even remember the name of the firm but we had to go to san francisco for a meeting and and ever since then steve and i have worked together have been friends have been colleagues and i have been very appreciative of everything that steve has done and that's kind of unusual because in those days i worked in the planning department and a lot of times the planning department and the housing group didn't get along now we we didn't get along at all for a while we finally got put in the same department where the the guy who was in charge who was a from the housing department so we didn't have any choice and i think steve set the example he always wanted to do what was best for santa rosa and for the residents there he has been an outstanding colleague over the years and even a better friend since we met so i i echo the uh the comments in the resolution i agree and i thank steve and also i'd like to thank chair test for all your service and uh congratulations also to both of you thank you hello you may state your name for the record if you so choose you'll have three minutes to make your comment can you see the timer okay thank you your time begins now good afternoon housing authority commissioners and staff my name is dave guine and i live in san rosa i've always wanted to say that of here you know i'd like to begin by thanking the housing authority commission as a body for your service in implementing the city council's primary goal of affordable housing and fulfilling the mission statement we saw earlier today in your meeting i'd like to also acknowledge the two gentlemen here today that are appointed by the city council for to this body for continuing these necessary and very important efforts and thank you jeff reolson for your reappointment to serve another term jeff your expertise in housing finance and the use of housing choice vouchers is critical to continue in this decision-making so thank you and thank you diane test for your leadership as chair of the housing authority and for your expertise in affordable housing development during your term and your and your term as a chair as this commission so thank you so that brings us to commissioner steven berck steve we all appreciate your decision to step away from the housing authority after several literal decades of exceptional service you deserve so much recognition during your tenure but tonight today just to name a few your work in redevelopment you're one of the few people in this community who saw that as a critical tool to address blight and further affordable housing objectives in san rosa your creation your literal creation of the neighborhood revitalization program to bring a comprehensive approach to solving issues in san rosa's most distressed neighborhoods which became a model for other communities and of course your efforts in furthering affordable housing solutions here in san rosa you know there's many examples we can cite of steve's work here but one that i always held during the years i work with steve and had him on the housing authority was the way he always looked at housing proposals from two points of view is there a good design and will there be good management and that was the rudder if you will of all the decision making by which he reviewed all the details all the numbers all the variances of a project and he always felt that if there was good design and management the community and certainly the neighborhood would accept the development as their neighbor so steve thank you for all you've accomplished and for all your contributions to this effort i know i speak for everyone here today when i say it was always a pleasure to work with you two words you hardly ever hear in the same sentence pleasure and work and i am personally proud to call you my friend thank you commissioner downey um i just wanted to say a couple words myself uh steve you have prevented me from running for the hills many times by allowing me to ask the most off the wall questions about the process our preview and how to stay in our lane i really appreciate your commitment to do that which will enable people following in your footsteps to approach me and remind me to be as open as you were to me and i extend that to diane as well to allow me to ask you a ridiculous amount of questions about the process and how it works and it's just it's been i say this with humility thank you very much for your time your disposition and i really hope that we can carry on in the fashion that that steve you have set an example for and and diane you have set an example for two thank you very much we are going to open it up for uh zoom um comments from zoom okay chair test i see no hands raised in zoom email public comments uh we have no email public comments for this item i do have an email that actually was received a couple of weeks ago from another friend of steve's which i would like to read steve burk a true champion of affordable housing in sonoma county and santa rosa he has devoted 30 plus years to the city of santa rosa housing authority sharing his expertise and leadership with our community his unquestioned integrity and transparency set high standards for many to follow and led to the development of many successful projects i was honored to have him as a member of our executive management team during my years as santa rosa city manager congratulations steve jeff golin santa rosa city manager retired at this point um in the proceedings chair test and commissioner burk will be permitted to make a closing statement and farewell to the board beginning with commissioner burk and then chair test afterward both chair test and commissioner burk will leave their seats and move to the audience if you go first steve well a little overwhelmed um i guess i have to ask what do you need from me that you're saying all those nice things about me i really appreciate that um i didn't think too much about this i've been kind of you know on the path of winding down ever since i decided in december not to submit my application for uh continuing on the housing authority um but when i read the paper on sunday and it was an article it was an obituary and it was a about a former commissioner uh who served on the housing authority and redevelopment agency back in 1976 when i first came uh his name is george schmall george passed away at age 98 and uh and then all of a sudden you know reading that and and um thinking about george and thinking about the other commissioners and thinking about um arriving in santa rosa and taking on a new responsibility when i was i think 30 years old um was uh just brought back a flood of memories and i won't i won't go into all those memories but uh it made me realize that uh i had a board at the time that were there because of redevelopment they were business people um all male um kind of all bottom line when it came to uh you know uh business deals and redevelopment was important because of the earthquake that had devastated much of downtown but then there was this new element that they were asked to take on and that was housing and it wasn't quite a comfort level but they were excellent in terms of understanding and supporting projects that were often very controversial the first one we worked on uh even it was controversial which was quite a surprise it was on aston avenue in south park and it's a it's a senior complex that was the first one now when i drive around town it's just wonderful to go by so many developments around the community that we all drive by every day and don't realize it's affordable housing the reason we don't realize it's affordable housing is because it looks like every well kept well managed other uh development in the community so uh so that was that was kind of a part of it the other thing is i realized that um uh i the county administered the housing programs on behalf of the city before 1976 so i was really the first housing director and uh and there's only been three of us now so uh i'm so pleased when uh dav took the took the responsibility for managing the program and did a great job and he's handed it to another excellent manager megan you and your staff are just fantastic you're much more sophisticated than we ever could have thought of being you know back when i was responsible and so you guys have just done a great job a fantastic job um and then and then just thinks that you know everybody that i've come in contact with uh and i see in the room and i appreciate all of that you said and i appreciate all of our friendships and all of the good work that we were able to do over the years and um so the only thing i would say is i'm available uh if anybody in the new commissioners or existing commissioners ever want to chat i'm available to do that so i thank you so much so excuse me for the past eight years i've been appointed by the santa rosa city council including these last four years with the housing authority the housing authority what we have accomplished in the last few years with over 600 units new units of affordable housing for families seniors and veterans is just quite amazing to me um housing will always be in my blood every time i read something in the paper about affordable housing or people needing housing i'm right there um for today i've actually written some a little something for everybody on the commission here so if you'll bear with me a little bit commissioner downy also known as dr downy professor downy as a now longtime member of the housing authority thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts for affordable housing with me and your oranges commission lapena thanks for your advocacy of affordable housing and in particular the challenges of reasonable space rent for mobile home residents your knowledge of building inspection is a valuable asset commission a raw house sir i enjoyed getting to know you at several on-site groundbreaking ceremonies as a former resident and survivor of journeys and mobile home park you now have the opportunity to witness the rebirth of that property so to you i pass on your own words quote may joy fill your heart with love and light end quote commissioner mcwartir your caregiving responsibilities attending university and sitting on the housing authority is a full load to carry i admired your insightful reports on ad hoc subcommittees and i thank you for your involvement and your commitment vice chair on your background in affordable housing finance and help in creating the development pipeline report resulted in a fair evaluation of no fa submissions by local nonprofits seeking public funds for affordable housing thank you so much commissioner berke when i was appointed housing commissioner you were one of the first persons to call and congratulate me our paths have crossed many years earlier i have always appreciated your knowledge and many years of experience in affordable housing production rehabilitation and can end your congeniality my best wishes for your next adventure whatever that may be i have no doubt affordable housing will still be of great interest to you thank you for everything steve finally i want to thank director megan bassinger and all your staff of affordable housing experts which is what i call you at all these groundbreaking ceremonies for their support and sharing of their expertise to all the commissioners it's been a pleasure thank you so much at this point i'm going to turn the meeting over to vice chair on there you go thank you chair test and commissioner berke for your service it's been a pleasure working with both of you on the experience level that both of you brought and working one of the things we didn't discuss is is doing these meetings via zoom is not easy and you don't have the face-to-face conversation or body language that you can pick up and discuss and it's harder to build a rapport that you have individually with people when you're not here in person and i was very thankful that diane and i started together i'm thankful that the two of them are getting the recognition that they deserve and and sad to see them leave because there's a wealth of experience and wisdom that is departing today and thank you for both you for your service on the on the housing authority um now it's my turn to go in and read these things so uh next up on the item is number 14 which is the swearing and seating in an introduction to commissioners um we will now move to swearing in and seating at the newly appointed housing authority commissioners new commissioners andrew smith and jeremy newton please come forward to be sworn in if you gentlemen could stand at the staff table here i know swear you in there and vice chair owen as well okay if you at all raise your right hand and repeat after me please i state your name do solemnly swear or affirm that that i will support and defend i'll support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies against all enemies foreign and domestic foreign and domestic that i will bear true faith and allegiance it'll bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter thank you gentlemen if you'll please come and be seated we'll now move to item 15 which is the roll call okay we will since we have newly appointed commissioners we need to conduct a new roll call so give me one one moment okay we will begin with Commissioner Newton here and Commissioner Smith Commissioner Downey Commissioner McWhorter here Commissioner Rawhouser here Commissioner LePenna here and Vice Chair Owen here let the record reflect that all commissioners are present we now move to item 16 which is the election of officers all right so in accordance with the housing authorities bylaws we need to elect new officers because we have three new we have two new commissioners and a reappointment so we will start by a nomination so any commissioner is free to nominate a chair and so we'll do a nomination and the second and then the clerk will call a roll and then we can nominate a vice chair in a similar fashion in the event there's any ties will work through that process as we go Commissioner LePenna I'd like I'd like to nominate the current vice chairman to be the chair sir a second clerk can we get a roll call we had a nomination by LePenna and a second by newly commissioner Smith okay give me just one moment to set it up this was just the for the for the chair position yes and I'm sorry clerk can you we open for public comment really quick before you call the roll so we'll do public comment and then I'll have you call the roll for the nomination of Commissioner Owen as chair okay all right at this point we were taking in person comments for item 15 and zoom comments for item 15 I'm sorry excuse me was this item 16 sorry about that if you would like to make a public comment we'll begin with comments for those attending in person in chambers once we finish with in person comments we'll hear comments for those participating via zoom if you'd like to make a comment via zoom please raise your hand if you dial in via telephone please dial star 9 to raise your hand if you would like to make a comment and you're currently in chambers please move to one of the podiums at the top of the top tier of the room and it appears we have no in person public comments for this item we have no hands raised in zoom at this time and we have no emailed public comments for this item all right we have a motion to elect vice chair Owen as our chair and I'm sorry I missed the last part was a commissioner our commissioner LePenna as vice chair we had not we're gonna we have a motion in a second for the chair and we're gonna call the roll and then we'll do the nomination for vice chair okay thank you all right we will do a vote for the chair vice chair Owen has been nominated and we will start with Commissioner LePenna aye and Commissioner Rawhouser aye commissioner McWhorter aye commissioner Downey commissioner Newton aye commissioner Smith aye and vice chair Owen aye let the record let the record reflect that vice chair Owen has been elected as chair of the housing authority by a vote of seven eyes and no nays thank you thank you so now while you will go ahead and have recommendations or for vice chair I would like to nominate Tom LePenna for the position of vice chairman of the center as a housing authority do we have a second thank you we have a second we can move to a vote please I second Mr. Smith all right we will do a roll call vote on our our vice chair we will start with the mover Commissioner Rawhouser aye and then our second Commissioner Smith aye mm-hmm and then Commissioner McWhorter aye Commissioner LePenna I'll abstain and Commissioner Downey Commissioner Newton aye and chair Owen aye let the record reflect that Commissioner LePenna has been elected to vice chair by a vote of six eyes and one abstention thank you and we'll move to item 17 which is adjournment I want to thank everybody for finally being back in person it's nice to see everyone and we look forward to our next meeting thank you very much