Amesbury Housing Trust

By City Clerk at 8:14 am, Dec 15, 2022 AMESBURY CITY HALL 62 Friend Street Amesbury, MA 01913 Amesbury Affordable Housing Trust MEETING MINUTES November 9, 2022 @ 4:30pm City Hall Auditorium Members present: Margaret Hoffman, Kathy Troiano, Kerry Hamel-Pope, Mayor Kassandra Gove, Nancy Frick, Drew LeFleur, Steve Stanganelli, Katelynn Lemieux Staff: Angela Cleveland, Adam Krans 1. Margaret Hoffman called to Order at 4:33pm 2. Minutes from September 14, 2022. Kathy Troiano made a motion to approve the minutes of September 14, 2022, Nancy Frick seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 3. Public Comment – none received. 4. Communications • Housing Trust Account update: Affordable Housing Trust Principal balance $142,306.30 and Earnings balance $459.29. 5. Existing Business • Housing Campaign. Angela gave an update on the activity of the campaign over the past couple of months. A brochure and associated webpage will be ready for review and feedback before the December meeting. Angie will provide everyone with the draft before that meeting. • Housing for All Proposals and Next Steps. Margaret told everyone about the process for this project, which received grant funding from the State Housing Choice Program in mid-October. This funding will support the development of the Housing Chapter of the Master Plan and creation of an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance. After an RFP was issued a team of staff and volunteers chose the final consultant – RKG Associates, which includes Levine Strategies (an expert in zoning ordinances). Mayor Gove moved to appoint Katelynn Lemieux to the I AMesbury 2030 Task Force to assist in development of the Housing Chapter. Nancy seconded the motion. Vote was unanimous. • Bill # 2022-087. This will be on the next agenda for the City Council on Tuesday, November 15th at 7pm. It is important that Housing Trust members attend. They will be voting the revised version of the bill which limits the number of units to 4 and it can only be sold to a non-profit developer and could be on one or both  properties. We need 6 votes for the motion to pass. There still needs to be a Disposition Committee process if this Bill passes. Councilor Stanganelli emphasized that this could come out of Disposition with a recommendation that one of these parcels be protected or outline the process by which the properties should be developed so that it is sensitive to the constraints of the property. Between now and Tuesday at 7pm, please reach out to your Councilors, with a specific focus on Councilor Frey. Drew asked if there was a specific point we should be making. Councilor Stanganelli said that there is some speculation that a specific parcel on Route 110 is proposed for affordable housing development. The simple point is that the Council has adopted rules that encourage work to the conducted in Committee. The Housing Trust and Disposition Committee are those separate committees. Also, the Mayor encouraged Housing Trust members to remind Councilors that we have indeed been talking about surplussing property, talking to potential non-profit partners, and understanding the need for affordable housing for months. • Rental Assistance Program Update. Margaret turned the stage over to Adam. Adam said that this is a program that the Greater Lawrence Community Actions Council. 27 applications, 8 actively receiving funds. Paying about $907 per applicant. We will not be able to assist all of the 27 applicants with the $126,000 allocated. We put a cap on the amount for each applicant at $1,000. The program is capped at 12 months. Applicants are paying for some of the rent – it’s not covered 100%. The challenge with this program is getting the landlord on board. If we could allocate an addition $100,000 we could assist another 9-10 households. Margaret asked what the average rent was. Adam said we don’t have that – it is all over the place based on bedrooms. We have only had one applicant that as ineligible. Angie mentioned that we have additional funds under the 2022 HOME funds ($53,680) and HOME funds that were returned to the City ($19,450). Councilor Stanganelli commented that we have the authority to give assistance through a senior citizen circuit breaker program. Margaret asked what the age range was for the people asking for assistance. Adam said we are not tracking the age, but the majority of people are not seniors. Drew asked if it’s possible for us to start tracking age and how to utilize funds efficiently. Adam mentioned that we could have provide a report at the December meeting. Katelynn asked if they could use this program if they had used funds previously. Yes, we can, they just can’t be actively using other funds. Mayor Gove asked for the report to include average age, duration of tenancy, number of people in the household, types of assistance they have received in the past (so we can truly get people back up on their feet). The Mayor asked if we have identified if the remaining 19 are eligible. Adam responded that we have been doing them in batches. What has been the timeline from application to getting them online: longer than we want about 6 weeks. Nancy asked if the Senior Center is aware of the Rental Assistance Program. The answer is yes. Councilor Stanganelli asked what happens if someone who is approved doesn’t need the full 12 months of assistance. Their assistance would stop at whatever point they don’t need that funding anymore. Katelynn asked whether we have a check point on whether that is the case. Unfortunately, we do not have access to the EIV program like that. Councilor Stanganelli asked if we can gain access to the EIV program. Adam said it is a difficult program to access. He then asked if we should consider making a motion to allocate the 2022 HOME funding and extra HOME funds (total of $73,130) plus $27,000 of Housing Trust money to provide an additional $100,000 to support the Rental Assistance Program. Councilor Stanganelli made a motion to allocate FY 2022 HOME Funds in the amount of $53,680 and HOME turn back funds in the amount of $19,450 plus $27,000 in Housing Trust funds for the Rental Assistance Program, provided  that the City staff provide us with demographic and economic data as allowed by law. Seconded by Kathy Troiano. Vote: 7 in favor, none opposed, Katelynn abstained. Drew asked whether the landlords don’t want to participate in the program. Adam said it’s not that they don’t want to respond, they just don’t respond. Margaret handed over the Chair roll to Kerry and excused herself at 5:27pm. 6. New Business • 2023-2027 Housing Production Plan Update and Funding Request. Kerry mentioned that everyone should have received a copy of the MOU with the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission who is requesting funds from the City to support the development of the Housing Production Plan. Councilor Stanganelli asked how much we had to contribute before. Angela confirmed that we did not contribute funding before. Councilor Stanganelli moved to allocate $2,500 from the Housing Trust Fund to the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission for the 2023-2027 Housing Production Plan. Nancy Frick seconded. Motion was unanimous. • Tracking Housing Priorities – Drew asked if Margaret had spoken with the Housing Authority. Kerry said that she wasn’t sure, neither was Angie. Kerry clarified that this agenda item was to track the progress of our actions. The educational brochure that comes out of the work of our consultants highlights some of our priorities. Councilor Stanganelli said that he would be willing to promote these priorities at a Council Meeting. The Mayor said that she hoped that our agendas will mirror our priorities. Drew suggested an Excel Tracker/matrix. Councilor Stanganelli suggested that revitalize the initial spreadsheet and add some dates to it, level of complication, key stakeholders, etc. It should be able to shared with others and included on the agenda and in the minutes. Drew offered to create it. Angie offered her assistance. • Councilor Stanganelli reminded people about 2021-107, Senior Means Tested Circuit Rider Program. • Nancy Frick asked the status of 276-280 Main Street. Angie said they had their workshop on October 19th and are working on addressing the comments. We hope to see an application in December. 7. Next Meeting Date – Does this day and time work for people? The Mayor mentioned we have perfect attendance tonight. Councilor Stanganelli asked if we could put something on our agenda saying that if someone cannot attend they can email oced@amesburyma.gov. The second Wednesdays at 4:30pm works for people. The next meeting will be December 14th at 4:30pm. 8. Councilor Stanganelli moved to adjourn at 5:48pm and Katelynn seconded. Unanimous approval.