 I'm on T. Good afternoon, everyone. It appears that some commissioners are having some technical difficulties that we're trying to solve. So it might take us just a moment to get the meeting started. Lacey, are you able to promote me to panelist? It looks like you are here as a panelist, chair, test. And I can hear you just fine. Okay. All right. Hello, chair, test. Hi. Again, we're trying to make sure everybody can get in. Yeah, I don't know. There must have been some kind of a change in the zoom stuff. I see. I see. We'll give us just a few more moments before we start so we can make sure we can get everybody in. Okay. And I know that Vice Chair Owen and Dr. Downey will not be in attendance today. And I also just heard from Commissioner McWhorter that he's unable to attend and he apologized for the last minute, but his babysitter who picks up his grandchildren is unable to do that today. I see. Remissing. Okay. We'll still have a quorum of four. Yeah. So give us just a couple more minutes to see what we can do. Thanks, Steve. Downey, can you move yourself please? Megan, were you able to get a hold of Commissioner Burke? I'm speaking to him right now. We're trying to resolve it. Okay. Thanks. Steve or Megan, can you resend that Zoom code to Steve Burke again? He just sent me an email. I'm on the phone with Steve right now. We're trying to. Thanks. Chair Tess, Commissioner Burke is going to try dialing in. He was not able to get his video to work. Have that commissioner will pan out. I understand he'll be dialing in as well. Okay. So we can move forward as soon as we see them pop up on the list. Okay. And it looks like Steve, can you please monitor the attendees and see if any of those individuals need to be promoted to panelist place? We do. We have Commissioner LaPenna and we're just waiting for Commissioner Burke to call out. Yes, Commissioner LaPenna. Yeah. We have, we have your telephone right now. Thank you. And Steve, can you active? Okay. We have both Commissioner LaPenna and Commissioner Burke. And we cannot because we're calling in via telephone to promote them to panelists, but we can give them permissions to speak. So they are in the meeting. Steve, can you hear me? I can hear you. Okay. Good. So it appears chair test that the commissioners that will be in attendance today are now in the meeting. Okay. Terrific. Thank you. So we're ready for you to call it to order whenever you're ready. Okay. I don't think I'm on full view. I had a call for her. Good afternoon. Today is August 2nd, 2022. I'd like to call the housing authority regular meeting to order due to the provisions of the governor's executive orders in dash 25 dash 20 and in 29 dash 20, which suspends certain requirements of the Brown Act and the order of the health officer of the County of Sonoma to shelter in place to minimize the spread of COVID-19. The housing authority commissioners will be conducting today's meeting in a virtual meeting or by phone. Commissioners and staff are participating from remote locations and or practicing appropriate social distancing. Members of the public may view and listen to the meeting as noted on the city's website and as noted on the agenda. Members of the public wishing to speak during the item six public comment or during our public hearing items will be able to do so by raising their hand and will be given the ability to address the commission. As a matter of housekeeping, I'd like to remind commissioners to keep their audio on mute. Commissioners other than chair can mute themselves. Staff will remain muted until ready needing to speak. As members of the public during the meeting, you will be participating as an attendee. Your microphone and camera will be muted. Today's only today's panelists will be viewed during the meeting. If you're calling in from a telephone and choose to speak during the public comments portion of today's agenda for privacy concerns, the host will be renaming your viewable phone number to resident as the last four digits of your phone number. 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. Zoom host, will you please explain the public comments to be heard at today's meeting? At each agenda item, the item is presented. The chair will ask for housing authority member comments and then open it up for public comment. The host in Zoom will be lowering all hands until public comment is open for the agenda item. Once the chair has called for public comment, the chair will announce for the public to raise their hand if they wish to speak on the specific agenda item. If you're calling in to listen to the meeting audibly, you can dial star nine to raise your hand. The host will then call on the public to have raised their hands. Public comment will be limited to three minutes and a timer will appear on the screen for the commission and public to see. Once all live public comments have been heard, the meeting host will read email public comments. If you provide a 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's one public comment period on today's agenda to speak on non-agenda matters item six. This is the time when any person may address the housing authority matters on matters not listed on this agenda, but which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the housing authority. Item number two is roll call. Okay, we'll do roll call. We'll start with Commissioner Burke. Here. Commissioner Downey will be absent today. Commissioner McWhorter will also be absent today. Commissioner Rawhouser. Here. Commissioner LaPenna, can you mute one of your devices, please? Commissioner LaPenna. Here. Can you hear me? We can. Vice Chair Owen will also be absent today and chair test. Here. Let the record reflect that all commissioners are present with the exception of commissioners Downey, Commissioner McWhorter, and Vice Chair Owen. Thank you. Item number three is statements of abstention. Are there any commissioners that have statements of abstention today? Do I just want to comment that I had planned to abstain from item 11.1, but I believe, Megan, if I understood you correctly, that that item will has been removed from the agenda today. Is that correct? When we get to that item, we will be continuing it because of your abstention. We will not have a quorum with your abstention. Okay, so I will be abstaining. I did at last meeting this because I serve on both the housing authority and I serve on the vigil light board which recently sold the vigil light property to them. So that's the reason for my abstention, which apparently isn't going to be an issue today. Thank you. Thank you. Item number four, staff briefing. Kate Goldfine. 4.1 is a staff briefing on the fiscal year 21-22, fourth quarter financial update. Kate Goldfine, our administrative services officer will be giving the briefing. Yes, good afternoon, chair, test and housing authority commissioners. I am Kate Goldfine, administrative services officer for housing community services. And this memo shows the funding and expense for the housing authority for fiscal year 21-22. It's important to note, however, that these are not the final audited financial statements for the authority. Those are prepared by the city's finance department with our assistance and are shown in the housing authority annual financial report, the HAPR, which is generally available around nine months after fiscal year closed. So these numbers are subject to change. So with the info we have available now, the authority finished the year strongly, shepherding millions of dollars in rental assistance and loan disbursements to provide affordable housing. Housing assistance payments of $27.6 million were distributed to landlords to help house hundreds of families in our community each month. In June, for example, rental assistance was distributed to 351 Batch clients, veterans, 132 project-based voucher clients, 1132 housing choice voucher clients, 256 Horton clients from other jurisdictions who are assisted by Santa Rosa staff, 48 emergency housing voucher clients, and 33 tenant-based rental assistance clients. And both those last two programs are still growing. In the housing trust, $15.1 million was distributed in our community for affordable housing loans, including $10 million in PG&E settlement funds that was passed from the city council through the authority to the renewal enterprise district, $2.9 million to Mahalia Glen, which is 99 units, $1.5 million to Bennett Valley Apartments for 62 units. And then of particular interest this quarter has been nearly $13.9 million of CDBG DR loan disbursements that were made for the first time this quarter. That includes $2 million to Linda Tunis Senior Apartments, 26 units for low-income seniors, $2.3 million to Caritas Phase 1, 64 units, and $9.6 million to 3575 Mendocino Avenue to assist with 94 units. Moving on to funding sources, the loan repayment amount remains high. We received $703,000 in quarter four, which is less than the $3.6 million that we received in quarter two, primarily from the Lantana Paydowns, but considerably more than the $15,000 we received in quarter three, and this again just highlights the volatility of loan revenue. Two other items I want to highlight housing impact fees, which finished strong. The authority had received a little over $1 million through quarter three, but received $900,000 alone in quarter four, so it ended up exceeding its budgeted amount of $1.5 million. And then finally, compliance monitoring fees exceeded budget as well due to higher than expected activities in that area, including four TEPFRA hearings with the City Council, loan processing fees for Mahoney Aglenn and 3575 Mendocino Avenue, processing three rounds of NOFA applications and miscellaneous subordinations, reconvences, releases, and refinancing. So that concludes the briefing, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Any questions by commissioners? I see Steve Burke has his hand raised. He's now joining us virtually. Thank you. Kate, you know, we've talked about this before, but the project funds, you know, I think you provided information which explains that in greater detail, I appreciate that, but I'm just still wondering why is it possible to move CDBG funds, which I guess is the main source of the project funds, into the City Council's budget rather than the Housing Authority's budget, since we don't have any role to play in those programs. I mean, that's kind of the question, and it's probably redundant. But also, didn't I read that the homeless coordinator position, perhaps has been moved out of housing and community services to another place in the city, just makes me wonder why that particular area, and I noticed it's a 72 percent, you know, I guess less funds used than anticipated in the budget. So that kind of drew my attention to it. So if you could remind me of why we have that there, and if it can be one of my, thank you. Sure. So unfortunately, I can't. Those CDBG funds are, it's CDBG funding that the City Council gives most of it to the Housing Authority for loans, but does keep control of the public services piece, which is the piece that can be used, that they use for homeless service center, family support center, and the living room. So that's $230,000-ish of the $1.5 million CDBG grant. And then the other funding that the City Council has directed that's in the Housing Authority budget is the CARES Act CDBG-CB funding, which will run out mid-year next year. So that is also housed within the Housing Authority's group of funds, and the City Council has chosen to retain control of that rather than giving it to the Housing Authority. So in the future, I would say, let's see, so 22, 23, 23, 24, by 24, 25, unless there is another disaster for which we receive funding, the only money that is directed by the City Council and budgeted in the Housing Authority will be that small piece of CDBG public services funding. So it's minor, and we do have to keep it in fund 2280 for like reporting purposes to HUD for the Housing Authority financial, annual financial report that I discussed earlier. So I did try to call that out. It's in that the very bottom paragraph right before the funding sources on page two. And then in projects, the remaining funding in that is a big piece of that is the $2 million of down payment assistance program funds, which was funded by the City Council, $2 million that we haven't started yet. It is the other actually largest piece of it is home ARP funding. And so that's $2.3 million remaining. And we're not allowed to expend those funds until we have a home ARP plan approved by HUD. And we are close to having that done. If you have questions about that, you can ask Megan or Nicole. But those are all things that we are in the process of spending down. And so you'll see that number tick down throughout the next fiscal year. Well, thank you for that explanation. So the CDBG funds need to be in one place in a city budget is what I'm hearing. The City Council delegates responsibility for the majority of those funds to the Housing Authority. The CARE funds, it sounds like it was mainly a similar kind of situation, maybe it could be in the City Council budget, but they decided that for consistency it'd be included in the project funds in the Housing Authority budget. I think that's kind of, if I understand you correctly, Kate, that's kind of a short answer that I can kind of recall. And hopefully I won't have to ask a question again. So yeah, so that's and no repercussions from those funds, those funds the language, Shane, I guess you kind of recap that as time goes on, those funds will be spent and it won't look like, you know, we aren't doing our job, even though we don't have no control over it, over those programs. I think what you're saying is that that unexpected level of funding will diminish. Yes. Okay, I appreciate that. I thank you very much for that. And then the current occupancy rate for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, I know you provided lots of information on the specific parts, but I don't know if I heard the kind of the latest status on occupancy rates for the section of the Housing Choice Voucher Programs. Rebecca Lane can answer that question, so I'm giving herself, please. Sure. Good afternoon, commissioners. Rebecca Lane, the manager of the Housing Choice Voucher Program. I am getting to that information here. Pardon me, while I look in the folders, I don't want to give inaccurate information. It doesn't have to be now, you know, I mean, I would just like to Yeah, we have it. It just took me a second to get to that. Okay, great. So I believe that the month in question that Kate was reporting out on was June. And so as of June, the utilization rate across all vouchers is 85%. And the utilization rate for VASH vouchers is also 85%. Well, that sounds pretty solid given the obstacles that we're facing right now. So I mean, it'd be great to have it closer to 100, but I'm glad to hear it's not terrible. It's just some work to be done. And maybe at some point in time, we can talk about, you know, is the trend improving or is it going down? But I think that's a subject for another discussion, maybe a study session at some point in time. That's an important number. And if there's things that can be done to improve it, we need to focus on that. Thank you very much for that. You're welcome. Kate, I had a question. Yes. So on the transfers in from the City General Fund, real property transfer tax, there's the $10 million that was allocated to the red and $2 million for the down payment assistance program. With those two programs, do we have any idea how much of those monies are spent? I take it by the City Council and with the approval from Renewal Enterprise District and the down payment assistance program. So, Megan, do you? Okay. I'd be happy to answer that question. So the $10 million was a loan from the City Council to the red. I believe it has a 20-year term. The red undertook their own Notice of Funding Availability and I believe they identified projects for a total of $20 million because the City contributed $10 million, the County also contributed $10 million and all of that was committed except for $800,000. So $19.2 million has been identified for projects and from the last update I heard they have executed loan documents on their first project and that is currently under construction. It is an affordable development on West College and to West of this Safeway, they're on West College, former G&G site. So that is an affordable housing project that had a funding gap and the red was able to assist them and so those are in the form, that's in the form of a bridge launch of the project. And then your second question was about down payment assistance. So that $2 million is still in our budget. We are looking at timelines to launch the program. It will be a defer payment loan so the funds will come back and become a revolving loan fund upon sale or pay off of that money. Yeah, thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? If I may, I'm not sure if anybody else has questions. If so I'll defer to them but I do have one follow-up question based upon your comments. So as I recall the original objective of the red was to focus on getting housing developed in the downtown portion of Santa Rosa. Is that correct? The intention of the red is to assist with infill housing and they do, I believe they do have geographic boundaries but it's primarily for infill sites with an emphasis on downtown. Yeah and I took, I had to take away from that that that was really going to focus on higher denser projects in the downtown core and I don't remember ever seeing the boundaries of red but it seemed like the projects that I've heard about that were funded were very similar to the projects that come to us for funding through our NOFIS. I don't see any real difference in the results of what we typically do and what red is doing and that's an observation and that's a point I'm not looking for a response but that's that's just kind of what I'm seeing. It seems like a duplication of what we do so far. Thank you. Thank you. I see no other hands raised. So we are going to now open public comment on item 4.1. If you wish to make a comment via zoom please raise your hand. If you were dialing in via telephone please dial star 9 to raise your hand. You will have three minutes. Chair Testa see no hands raised at this time. Thank you. We'll move along then to item number five study session. I don't believe there is a study session today. So we'll move along to item number six public comments on non-agenda items. We're now taking public comments on item six non-agenda matters. This is the time when any person may address the housing authority on matters not listed on this agenda but which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the housing authority. If you wish to make a comment via zoom please raise your hand. If you were dialing in via telephone please dial star 9 to raise your hand. Chair Testa see no hands raised at this time. Thank you. We'll move along then to item number seven approval of minutes. We have minutes from the June 20th 2022 meeting. Are there any changes? And if there are none we're going to consider them approved as prepared. Item number eight chairman commissioner reports. Chair yeah chair. Chair Testa did you go to nine or are you going to do 8.1 first? We're doing 8.1 correct. Okay okay. Yeah. So this item is to see what interest there is in participating in the nominating committee to solicit interest into positions of chair and vice chair for the upcoming year. I am not seeking to be the chair for this upcoming year. I would like to see two commissioners who are interested on being on this nominated committee. I know that commissioner Steve has and commissioner Burke has offered to serve on this nominating committee. Is that correct commissioner? That's correct. Okay. And also when I spoke this morning with commissioner Downey who was not feeling well he had expressed an interest in being on this nominating committee. So with that I think we'll move forward with those those two and are there any other questions from staff? Okay. Seeing none we'll open public comments on item 8.1. We're now taking public comments. If you wish to make a comment via zoom please raise your hand. If you were dialing in via telephone please dial star nine to raise your hand. You will have three minutes. Chair Testa see no hands raised. Thank you. Item number nine committee reports. I don't believe there are any committee reports on this agenda. Item number Chair Testa do you have a report to make if I may? Oh sure thank you. I along with commissioner Downey and commissioner McWhorter were appointed to work on the staff planning day slash retreat and I just want to give an update on that and that's that we had a chance to meet. We talked about topics that we thought would be relevant and we passed that along to Megan and so we've had some conversations about that and so so we have a we have a draft which seems to be there's a comfort level with the committee and I think it's fair to say with staff with Megan and so it's it's mainly now at a point where it's logistics because one of the things that we had talked about was having having a planning day that was at a location where we could be outside and so that means the time of year is kind of important and and so anyway that probably means that we'd be shooting to having that planning day in September and it's kind of a time to get away from the regular day-to-day business of the housing authority that the policy issues that we discussed today for instance and and have kind of a more an opportunity to reflect and to learn on kind of more general topics affecting the housing authority so I think what I would hope to happen is the next step is that Megan can can work identify a location get to get in the agenda out to all of the housing authority and set a date where all of us could come together for whatever time it might be a half a day or but you know might be six hours I don't know I've actually yeah so it wouldn't be a full day event but it would be at least probably a half a day event and so Megan I don't know if you have any comments about in it to add to that but that's generally what I wanted to report thank you yeah I said my just to add on to that the next steps will be one we need to determine the extent of the agenda for September because Commissioner Burke and I had talked about using the September date as a potential housing authority meeting date as a potential day to hold this since it's already on your calendars so Steve Brown will be reaching out in the near future to make sure that that works for the commissioners and then we also will be identifying a location thank you I know that's something that a few commissioners have mentioned they would like to do and it's been a kind of it's been a while and coming but it's good to see that we're kind of getting a focus on that and hopefully keep her fingers crossed it can happen fairly soon thank you Megan I believe I probably have to now open this item for public comment so unless you feel I don't need to I'll I'll open that up for public comment on this item item number nine committing reports if you wish to make a comment via zoom please raise your hand if you were dialing in via telephone please dial star nine to raise your hand you will have three minutes chair test I see no hands raised at this time thank you we'll move along to item number 10 executive executive director reports and communication items all right so first I would just like to let the housing authority commissioners know that on Friday August 12 chair tests Rebecca Lane and I had the opportunity to attend the river city apartments grand opening ceremonies in Petaluma river city apartments is a development that pep housing worked for 19 years to bring to fruition and it is supported by the housing authority with bash vouchers so that was a very wonderful opportunity for us to see the developments and it was very well attended so thank you for providing us with your Friday afternoon chair test we certainly appreciate it and I think that was I'm glad to have many funders in the audience second just from a staffing perspective this week we are interviewing to fill the four department vacancies we currently have so hopefully in the coming months we'll be introducing some new faces to you very pleased to have been moving along also would like to acknowledge Nicole formally Rathbun now Delphi Orantino who has returned from leave very pleased to have her back managing the housing trust so that is welcome addition back to the department and then finally would like to touch on the communication item which is included in your packet and as you recall on a monthly basis now we provide you with an update of the affordable housing pipeline and you will see that we have over 344 units currently under construction in the past week or so we sign the subordination documents to proceed with Mahoney and Glenn so that's 99 units in rick and valley that will be starting construction shortly and then stony point flats will be proceeding within the next month or so and I'll be another 50 units so we are well in the way to have about 500 units actively under construction which I think is an incredibly noteworthy event for the housing authority and for the city so I'd be happy to answer any questions about the items reported out on okay um any questions um for megan I don't see any hands raised um I did have a question megan um on this pipeline it shows acme apartments on sabastical road I don't recall that one and I don't see that it has that we have actually committed money yet um or vouchers on that can you um tell me why that's on the list so the acme apartments received a density bonus from the city so our level of participation are the units that are restricted by the density bonus yeah actually if I could just further touch on that that would be another project so I misspoke about the red this project was also assisted with a bridge loan for the uh from the red okay 100 affordable development I believe it's the corner of sabastical and stony point rapidly as its location so will that be um included in our pipeline in the future for any other red projects if we have some more the assistance already yeah yeah gotcha okay thank you um evan you have a question yes I do I don't know if this is the appropriate time or place for it but I've had um people coming up to me regarding the journeys end project because I was a prior journeys and resident and them knowing I'm on the housing authority I'm getting inquiries regarding um promises made to prior residents about being able to move back into those apartments and what steps they can do to be on a waiting list to get into the apartments they're asking about the affordability of the units and I don't really have an answer to give them and I was curious what we're doing is as far as the past and prior residents of the journeys and that were promised to be rehoused in the new projects and what what we're doing regarding that certainly thank you Commissioner Rawhouser um for any past residents that are interested in the new journeys and complex and as we noted we have about 140 of those units currently under construction um they should reach out to Burbank housing so Burbank housing is the developer and will be the manager of those units um so reach out to Burbank housing to express interest and get on the waiting list and they can go through the income requirements the income is restricted at various levels um 30 50 and 60 area median income and so for the for the the affordability aspect because a lot of them would need the vouchers because they wouldn't be able to afford the market value rates and how would they is there something set up that is a predetermined allotment for the prior residents of the vouchers so the housing authority also um committed I believe 30 project-based vouchers yeah the two phases that are under construction and Rebecca Lane has um turned her camera on and as the housing choice voucher manager she could provide a quick overview of how potential participants would obtain that list lovely because I that good it really helped me with questions I'm trying to answer sure thank you for the question um the project-based vouchers will initially be offered to families who are on the waiting list for the current housing to voucher program uh so uh if a family is not who was a resident of journey's end and is not aware if of their status on our current waiting list they can certainly reach out to our office we can look that information up and after the opportunity is offered to everyone who's on the waiting list the people who are interested and self-identify as being within the income limit and within the household size of the particular units then they will be referred to the property for that further determination as to the priority and preference for being a former resident thank you so very much you're welcome hey commissioner steve work thank you chair test um so your your question about acme uh apartment's kind of raised the question I I just thought of and that's I don't know Megan if uh has there been any discussion or resolution of when units are produced in the affordable units in the developments through red how are those accounted for in terms of meeting the state goals for providing affordable housing uh all city I hope it is my understanding that if they're within the city limits they will count towards the city's arena which is the regional housing allocation regional needs allocation um numbers thank you okay any further questions seeing none we will now um begin taking public comments on item 10.1 if you wish to make a comment via zoom please raise your hand if you were dialing in via telephone please dial star nine to raise your hand you will have three minutes chair just i'll see no hands raised at this time thank you the next item is item number 11 consent items Megan as we noted at the beginning of the meeting with uh commissioner Burke's abstention we do not have a forum to act on the consent calendar so we'll be continuing this to the next meeting of the housing authority thank you the next item is item 11.1 resolution rescinding resolution number 1739 and adopting a right revised resolution chair test that's the continued item i'm sorry what the continued item we're on 12 i'm sorry yes correct item number 12 report items item number 12 is a report on uh the resolution of the housing choice voucher program administrative plan revision julie garen program specialist good afternoon housing authority chair test and commissioners my name is julie garen and i'm a program specialist with the housing and community services department um today i'll be presenting on um an administrative plan revision eliminating chapter 18 family self-sufficiency or fss program action plan and adopting separate independent fss action plan incorporating changes required by head under the fss final role published on may 16th 2022 next slide please so the administrative plan as i'm sure you're well aware is the major policy document for the housing choice voucher program and currently as it stands the family self-sufficiency or fss action plan is currently part of the administrative plan it's a chapter 18 of the administrative plan um any revisions to the administrative plan are reviewed and adopted and adopted through the public meeting process so we bring any revisions here to the housing authority for your approval um i'm sure you've seen recent items uh with revisions to um the administrative plan next slide please okay so um hud guidance so hud published the fss final rule on may 16th 2022 which made changes um to the family self-sufficiency program um these changes included a mandate that all fss programs must submit an updated fss action plan to hud by september 30th 2022 um the changes required by this um final rule are very substantial and um it is recommended that this plan should now be adopted as a separate and independent document outside of the administrative plan next slide please so a little bit um a background on the fss program so the fss program is a voluntary program that serves families in the housing choice voucher program and the fss program provides um financial incentive to participants in the form of escrow savings so an escrow savings account that increases as residents earnings increase um fss also provides case management um and services to help families access resources uh resources and that helps them to overcome barriers to employment and achieve achieve their goals and as they go on um they'll be able to increase um their their earnings and those earnings those increased earnings are then deposited in their escrow accounts next slide please so major revisions to the fss action plan policy um they include that um these uh the excuse me revisions permit any adult household member not only just the head of household to enroll in the program and eliminates regulations that work potential barriers to program graduation so um a lot of this um policy changes um is sort of a reaction from HUD our feedback that HUD was received and they've expanded some of and revised some of the guidelines that made it harder for participants to graduate and they expanded eligibility so that all members of a household may be participating in the program not just only the head of households that was a major revision next slide please um additional revisions include um revisions to the program coordinating committee or the pcc so the pcc is the entity responsible for building partnerships with service providers and then those providers in turn provide services to the fss participants santa rosa's pcc will include the fss program coordinator the fss case manager and it will also include hcv participants on that committee um other revisions include that um expand the fss action plans family selection criteria it expands the enrollment and eligibility for the program and um as we mentioned previously any household member can enroll in fss not just the head of household um the new fss action plan also expands the definitions of suitable employment and the potential services to be coordinated and available for participants um that it also has an impact revisions on the escrow so the new fss action plan allows the faw to disperse a portion of the escrow account before the contract completion um under certain circumstances so that would also be um a new revision um just a few more i'll touch on i don't want to go into detail on everyone but um the new fss action plan also expands the good cause extensions for participants who are actively pursuing their goals so they will give them an extension on some of um on meeting some of their goals and it also makes some changes to former rules established for graduation portability and reporting and monitoring and so um there is as you can see as i mentioned previously the changes required um under that HUD new rule are very substantial and um it's it's hard to be incorporated all in a presentation but they are so substantial that it made it necessary to pull out the fss action plan out of the administrative plan next slide please so um the requirement of this new rule is that the fss program action plan must be submitted to HUD for review and approval by september 30th 2022 the current plan is as we mentioned chapter 18 of the administrative plan will be replaced by a separate and independent fss action plan that incorporates the changes in the fss final rule dated may 16 2022 next slide please so it is recommended by the housing and community services department that the housing authority by resolution adopt the revisions to the housing choice voucher program administrative plan eliminating chapter 18 family self-sufficiency program action plan and adopting the separate independent fss action plan dated august 22nd 2022 that incorporates the substantive changes issued by HUD in the fss final rule dated may 16 2022 and entitled 24 of the code of federal regulations part 984 thank you thank you dearly do we have any questions from commissioners on this item i see no hands raised i just wanted to make a comment this sounds like a wonderful program and the changes that have been made to make it sounds like it's a little bit easier to manage and to be part of and the started in may and we have four 43 participants so far um have any of them that's such a short period of time from may to august have they all stayed into the program or um have more people come into the program what what do you know on that julie sure i'll take that question great job julie on presentation rebecca lane manager of the housing choice voucher program which as julie mentioned incorporates the family self-sufficiency program so to clarify we actually do have the program already underway here in santa rosa we've had um our current iteration of the plan since um i believe approximately 2009 and so we currently have 43 participants we initially started out with a mandatory minimum program size of 75 that's what had mandated would be our program size so we have graduated approximately i believe 18 families from the program since the time that we started and we now are incorporating these changes as required by HUD and will our first steps after if the item is approved today then we'll be submitting the plan to HUD and we will await HUD's approval of our new revised action plan incorporating all these changes that julie talked about and our next step will be to contact those 43 participants that we already have and have them sign the new contract and as julie alluded to the contract is more favorable to them in terms of escrow earnings and other flexibilities so we're excited about that we're going to um have a great engagement with our current families on that and then we'll work after that to uh recruit the the rest of our you know program uh work on expanding the program a bit after uh impacts of covid because we weren't able to really interact with people face to face and because a lot of this is um you know there were other resources that went away during that time and so that's the the work that's coming next is uh to uh to increase our outreach efforts thank you excellent um any um any other questions of staff seeing none um we will now take public comments on item number 12.1 if you wish to make a comment via zoom please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone please dial star nine to raise your hand you will have three minutes chair test no hands raised at this time thank you i would like to ask if there is a motion to approve um this resolution for item 12.1 we have a motion to approve chair test if i'd i'd be pleased to make a motion if um thank you should someone else that would prefer to do that so um before i before i make the motion i just want to say that in a program that's been around for a long time very difficult to make work in this area because of the high housing cost and hopefully this will uh improve the ability of people to take advantage of a really important opportunity to step up from little to um ownership so with that i would uh make a motion uh resolution of the housing authority of the city of santa rosa approving the housing choice voucher program administrative plan revision dash eliminating chapter 18 dash family self-sufficiency fss action plan and adopting a separate independent fss program action plan and uh waive the reading of the text thank you commissioner lapana i second his motion thank you and we have a motion to approve on the second and we'll now call for real call vote okay we'll go ahead with the vote on this resolution we'll start with commissioner berck why and then commissioner lapenna by commissioner rawhouser hi and chair test hi uh that motion passes with four eyes with commissioners mcquarter downy and vice chair owen being absent thank you and the last time on our agenda is adjournment and um despite all of the setbacks getting started on this meeting um i think the meeting went very well thank you very much