Good evening Mayor and Council. David Brower with the Planning & Development Services Community Development Unit. At your October 14 th Workshop meeting we presented information regarding a possible Rental Rehabilitation Program and received direction to return with guidelines for your consideration. After benchmarking, and speaking with stakeholders and representatives from HUD we are back with those guidelines!
First I’ll briefly give a refresher on some of the background of the City’s community development and affordable housing programs followed by a review of the data presented on Oct. 14 th . Finally I’ll present the proposed guidelines for questions and approval.
Since 1975 the City has received over $31 mil in Community Development Block Grant funding. Since 1992 the City has received over $11mil in HOME funds. Total Amount of Funding Received as of Sept 2011: CDBG - $31,625,001 HOME - $11,682,190 Total - $43,307,191
This is a snapshot of what has been done to help families through our programs since 1997. They have helped families but also neighborhood integrity and City tax rolls.
These are the objectives of our affordable housing programs that have been adopted through annual plans. Safe and Decent done by us but also Code Enforcement, Capital Works, etc….
Funds to benefit lmi people and most lmi people live in renter occupied housing Good way to provide quality (decent safe) affordable units Keep it affordable for years
Meter Readers from Feb/Mar 2010
Our target population (income under $35,000) consists almost entirely of renters. A traditional housing program that caters to homeowners should not be the main focus in this community because only about 1,400 homeowner households would even income-qualify for our programming (4% of all households). Since the majority of our target population is renters, therefore the majority of our housing funding should address renter housing needs.
The multifamily units that renters primarily live in consist of the oldest segment of our City’s housing stock This is problematic because rental units are expected to get return on investment in 15 years. BCAD from GIS 2/2012
Good evening Mayor and Council. David Brower with the Planning & Development Services Community Development Unit. At your October 14 th Workshop meeting we presented information regarding a possible Rental Rehabilitation Program and received direction to return with guidelines for your consideration. After benchmarking, and speaking with stakeholders and representatives from HUD we are back with those guidelines!
This program is intended to benefit low income renters by increasing the quality and preserving the affordability of rental units assisted. This program will incentivize upgrades that do not necessarily increase the marketability of the units, but rather ones that make rental housing more safe, decent, and affordable. We view this as a very positive public/private partnership – we have engaged stakeholders – apartment managers and owners – and look forward to partnering with them to make rental units more safe and decent while keeping them affordable. This type of redevelopment – rehabilitation – is the most sustainable and cost effective way to create affordable housing As mentioned before, these upgrades are primarily intended to benefit the low income tenant that will be living there – increasing the energy efficiency of units is direct way to save these families money every month. And finally, bringing units closer to current code might maintain or possibly increase their value, resulting in increased or maintained tax revenue for the City.
When units are being considered for the program, staff will evaluate their condition compared to current City Code and HUD Housing Quality Standards Units that are vacant will be preferred over units that are occupied and to the extent feasible in-place tenants will have the opportunity to lease a unit in the project following completion of the rehabilitation. Federal regulations dictate that if someone is temporarily or permanently displaced because of this program those tenants would be entitled to help in finding a comparable or better place to live, moving expense payments, and if permanently displaced and low income – to cash assistance in securing a new dwelling. It would be our goal to avoid permanent displacement. Must be current of taxes and have no liens on the property due to non-payment of pervious debt This program would not be to fix code violations – a hole in the wall or roof would be addressed through code enforcement and not this program Must be compliant with Rental Registration Program
There will be annual monitoring to ensure that residents who occupy the affordable units are at or below these income limits – that property is maintained
Example: If 20 units are assisted with HOME funds, 4 of the units would be designated “Low” Rent units
Safe Housing: Upgrade knob tube or aluminum wiring – replace with copper wiring Decent Housing – Upgrade to be handicap accessable
Affordable Housing – Upgrade HVAC System to be more energy efficient – saves family money every month Other – Not our main focus – will look for these to be funded with match
* Bid – if 49,999 or less must get three quotes and submit to city. If $50,000 or more must go out for bid and receive at least 2.
We are excited about these proposed guidelines – the response from the stakeholders we’ve engaged has been very positive and we have received letters of support for the proposed guidelines from the DASH Committee, Project Unity, and The BVCOG. This program will help families with limited incomes and limited choices to acquire more safe, decent, and affordable housing. This will be a loan program, so funds from quarterly payments will be able to fund future projects. As mentioned, units will be upgraded while rents are maintained as affordable While units will be available to all income eligible households, students that are dependents (can be claimed on their parents tax return) would not qualify to live in these units.
Most are students, but not all. Individuals below Poverty: 30,775 Source: 2008-2010 ACS
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