Housing Commission

Falls Church Housing Commission Public Hearing - CDBG/HOME Grants Minutes Tuesday, October 9, 2012 Commission Members Present: Don Brobst, M.T. Gutmanis, Steve Sprague, Tori McKinney, and Julio Idrobo Staff: Dana Lewis, Susan Richter Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:35 pm by Chairman Sprague. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the September 11, 2012 meeting were approved, with these changes: - change Don Brobst, Chair to Steve Sprague as Chair - add Julio Idrobo as Vice Chairman The minutes were then approved. The motion to approve was made by Don Brobst and seconded by M.T. Gutmanis. New Business: • A public meeting to invite the City’s Fire Marshal to address emergency operations was discussed. The Fire Marshal is open to providing a forum to address the City’s emergency operations plan. The Fire Marshall will also invite the Chief of Police and others involved in the emergency operations. The Housing Commission suggested inviting Human Services Advisory Board and City Council. It was suggested to treat the November 13th meeting as a time to hold the public forum. • A discussion was held on the funding amounts for FY2014 CDBG/HOME process. For HOME funding one application was received, CDBG public service category three applications were received and two applications for non public services. The funding requested exceeds the funds that are available to award for FY2014. Chair Steve Sprague suggested, if time permits, at the end of the last presentation he would like the Commission to discuss the proposals that were presented this evening. At the next meeting on 10/26 the Commission will rank the applications and make funding decisions. Asked if any of the commission members has any questions on the process, Vice Chair JulioIdrobo had a question on the placement category of one of the proposals. He wanted to know if the Falls Church Community Services Council could receive HOME funds vs. public services area since they use funding for rental assistance. Answer: The FCCSC funding request is for emergency one time rental assistance and utilities assistance so therefore is classified as a public service program. Staff then explained the difference in the HOME program requirements as a program that has long term rental assistance given each month to the same person.  Chairman Sprague asked what the difference was between the two proposals in the non- public service area (Habitat for Humanity and Housing and Human Services). Answer: Habitat’s proposal covers rehabilitation on the exterior of the home while the HHS proposal is for interior rehabilitation. It was announced that a nomination for Citizen of the Year award, by the Rotary Club, was submitted for Don Brobst. The Nomination was shared with the Commissioners. Presentation of one CDBG and one HOME Application: 1. Transition Housing for Homeless Families – Request $20,000 HOME Presenter: Christopher Fay, Executive Director, Homestretch HOME funding is requested to provide housing rental assistance and services to five homeless families. Self-sufficiency, financial stability and permanent affordable housing will be achieved in 24 months. What’s new and happening at Homestretch? During the past year they started two new programs: • Kidstretch– licensed pre-K program which opened in August 2012. Homestretch realized there was a need, for their clients, a program that would watch children during the day so the clients could work and attend school. The cost was approximately $10,000 which they funded and the balance $90,000 were donations and in-kind services. • After school teen program – this opened for teenagers and provides some structure for the teens in the hours when their parents are still at work or school. Also an outside group of George Mason students came in and surveyed the graduates of Homestretch to see where they are today, which included current housing situations and employment. They reached the majority of the graduates and in that group 100% success was achieved. At the Homestretch award ceremony held the first week of October, they celebrated the graduates of the program. Two of the graduates became first time homebuyers. One has received her LPN status and has almost completed becoming a RN, another person (a Doctor) came to this county from an abusive situation and in two years was able transfer her education and later became a Doctor in this country. Others received full scholarships to Columbia University towards their Masters degree. Homestretch has rental units in the City and in Fairfax County. They place the clients that have special needs in the City rentals so they can work closer with them.  Questions from Commissioners: What about child care for 5 years to 12 years of age? They tried to tackle what Homestretch client’s greatest need was. Those children in school were able to get care needed for structure in their lives. Teenagers were chosen since they are more likely to do what they want after school versus the younger children. In the measurable outcomes area of the proposal you stated 85% of clients remain stable, housed and employed after two years of graduating from the program, but in your cover letter you stated 100%. 85% represents historical data while the 100% is based on the results of the George Mason student’s poll. What numeric measures are captured? They capture clients that remain stable ie: housing, employment, language, education, credit scores and the debt level of the client past and present. They have more outcome data than what was included in the proposal and would be happy to share with the commission. The cover letter states only one person returned to shelter. How do you classify that? As a failure but it was only one. Homestretch’s’ goal is to keep families in the program, but if they are terrible tenants, refuse to work and do drugs they will be asked to leave the program They individualize the program to each persons needs. Is this the first time you have had Mason come in and do a poll? Yes. Leadership Fairfax helped to identify someone to conduct the survey. You have asked for funding for four families. Has Homestretch reached their capacity? Only a few groups will provide funding for housing and that is normally government agencies, Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. Other grants are for public services type activities. With the funding being reduced for housing over the years, it is hard to expand with more rental units. The money they receive is directly used for rental housing and it is getting rare to receive. Do the people that live in these rentals become residents of the City? Where did they come from and where are they going after the program? I will need to look into this and get back with you. They receive referrals into the program from Columbia Baptist, Dulin Church, City schools and the City. 2. Falls Church Community Services Council (FCCSC) – Request $4,000 (Public Service) Presenter: William Hale, Executive Director, Falls Church Community Services Council Mr. Hale is the Director of FCCSC and is also the Pastor of Knox Presbyterian Church. The Falls Church Community Services Council is requesting funds to assist with emergency assistance for rent and utilities. The aim of this project is to keep families from become homeless. The Council offers rental, utility, and medical assistance. They also have a food panty and furniture program. The funding they  receive from this grant will assist 10-12 families with one time assistance of rent or utilities. Questions from Commissioners: Have you seen an increase in the number of requests for the dollar amount of the request? The only increase they have seen is in the request for food. They are not always able to meet the many requests they receive from the areas social workers and agencies. In one week they will receive eight to ten requests for help and they have a limit on what is available. Last winter they had $3,000 available for one week, while currently they have $1,500 available for one week for rent and utilities. The calls have doubled over last year. Food program – are they getting donations? Yes, in fact last week received large donation from the faith based communities. They receive donations from Boy Scouts and other organizations in the area. Where are the people from that receive this service, are they in the City? Yes we serve clients in Falls Church/ Fairfax area. How does the program work? How many times can one request assistance? FCCSC does not refer to other organizations. FCCSC receives the referrals from Coordinated Services, the City’s HHS office and churches. All the verification/screenings are done upfront by the referring agencies Social Worker or Human Services Worker. They will ask the client what they are going to do next month to pay the bill, will they have a job? If the client says no, the worker will not grant the financial assistance and therefore a referral will not be given to FCCSC. They have a limit of $500 for a one time a year assistance for rent and utilities. Do they coordinate with others to help? They will try to help with other types of assistance if possible. They will contact the local agencies for this. If they need a place to stay they refer to the County/City, since they need to go to them to go to a shelter. Why not request more money? There is not a greater need for funds in the City. Based on the 12 you helped last year, was this enough funding? Yes. The program is designed to only help a person once a year. 3. FCHC One-Stop Client Services Center- Request $30,000 (Public Service) Presenter: James Garrett, Executive Director, Falls Church Housing Corporation Funding was requested to (1) create a housing locator services. This is a service that is not provided in the City of Falls Church and is sorely needed and (2) provide direct client services on site e.g. job information, food, clothing. After revising the FCHC programs they will now be looking outside the City for acquisition of land. They currently have a Social Coordinator at Winter Hill but they want to expand the services they provide. FCHC wants to enhance the current services and have FCHC recognized as a service center for the City. The will have a community center for the City, create services and develop programs, provide seminars, respond to tenant rights, answer calls for affordable housing and try to complement what is already offered. Currently staff includes himself and a part time Social Coordinator. They want to make FCHC the one stop service center, and focal point for people to come and get help. This will be a pilot program. Questions from Commissioners: Sounds like a good idea to put into place, having a central point to come and get services. It is mentioned in the proposal that additional funds are being requested for this program. We have submitted a grant with Enterprise for funding. Depending on the dollars we get it will determine the scope of the services. It is possible that we will not a hire another person full time. What if you don’t have our resources, what will you do? Money for salaries for the new position will be possibly eliminated or we will expand on the current staff hours. Was checking the numbers requested $30,000 and the Budget attachment shows $92,000 plus and some people are not shown in the budget. Most of Jim’s time will be in-kind services. When requesting the funds – how will you use the resources in terms of equipment? The equipment is the current items FCHC has. Will you revise the budget attachment sheet A, since that is not clear. Yes. Information and referral service center will work in conjunction with other organizations and they have their own equipments and office space. The pilot project is not set in stone and is flexible and will work with those in the community. When you think of one stop service center one thinks of the interfaith communities and the City as a resource center. What would make your center different? We will have weekend and evening activities based on the needs of the people and will make them more accessible. Example food distribution people could pick up the food at our place versus going to someplace like Knox. How will this be different if you have an evening program for organizations to use their facility? What is the value on this versus just other layer? Homestretch doesn’t use their building for example; the idea is to maybe enhance what they do. Pilot programs always end in the first couple of months, what if in two months no one uses the services, what will you do? Would have to sit down and figure out what to do. Jim said he talked with HHS or rather Nancy and she felt there was a need for this one stop services center.  Comments from Commissioner: Is the FCHC investing in a generator so the community could come there in an emergency. The need for a new project or product always concerns me. The idea may fade or be a duplication of existing services offered. The concern may not be needed for another program but look at how a new service can benefit. The idea of this project is not finished – why are you different than the others? 4. A Brush with Kindness- Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia – Requesting $43,397 (non public service) Presenter: Inga James The funding for this program will provide external home rehabilitation and repairs for low-income homeowners who cannot afford to make necessary repairs to their homes. A handout was distributed showing information on the program A Brush with Kindness. They currently have 14 projects completed in the area of Falls Church/Fairfax with four scheduled for October. They close down for winter and begin again in the early spring. Requirements for the program are that clients must be 30-80% of median income, currently reside and live in home, carry current homeowners insurance, be a willing partner with sweat equity if able. If they are not able to pay for repairs they offer a no interest loan taking 5-10 years for pay back. Comment from HHS Staff regarding the cost of repairs. Since CDBG funding is being used for this program there is not a charge to the homeowner participant in this program. It is totally free to them. Questions from Commissioners: You have a search committee that finds families for your programs, how are they doing with the search in the City? We have made contact with faith based communities, done outreach and spoken at senior centers, the City’s CDBG office has provided some referrals, and they are also doing outreach to various community groups. We have started working on an emergency policy with the City. Does the City get credit or priority if a family needs help after this? Yes How can we be assured that we will get this? In an emergency do you mean like you call us on Monday and want us to come fix it immediately? Also we need to make sure the family qualifies for the program funds. Also for an emergency the agency relies on volunteers to do the work so it would be difficult to get them together on short notice.  A Commissioner was requested to clarify whether they meant an emergency as timing versus monetary. The response was monetary. The money for the fund granted must be used for City residents. Utilizing this money is a hard sell for those in the City. The commission is counting on Habitat to find repairs. We have not spent any of the money yet, we had identified three families but two of them are not income eligible for the funding program, they are over income. If exterior is bad then often there are problems inside. Why do they not do interiors? There are liability and safety issues using volunteers to do the inside of homes. They try to refer this work out to other organizations. Can or do you share funds with other organization for this? Dana Lewis staff responded to this question. CDBG does not permit the funds to be shared. The restrictions of the program is that it is for low income homeowners., I would like to see the presentation of less overhead for the project. The overhead is one onsite Construction Manager and 1 Family Services Manager. Most of the materials needed for projects are donated from various businesses. Habitat is well known for getting contributions for materials. Inga then announced the new Executive Director is John Smoot, formerly the Assistant Pastor of Knox Presbyterian Church. END OF PUBLIC HEARING A recap of the presentations heard this evening was conducted. Here are the general comments from each commissioner. Homestsretch (Home) • BrobstDon – fine with Homestretch. Received funding for a long time and have a good track record • IdroboJulio – Based on their past and the proposal is serious and they did a good job supporting the proposal with examples of what they are • GutmanisMT - Agrees with Julio and seeing Chris in action was excellent when the commission visited the program. • McKinneyTori - Most valuable organization in this area. • SpragueSteve – Design of program is excellent and they work with the entire family Falls Church Community Services Council (public service – emergency financial assistance) • GutmanisMT – Think the services they provide are valuable, service is good and they are able to respond quickly to the needs and do a good job doing this. • McKinneyTori – There is a need for emergency help and they use their money well  • BrobstDon – Agrees. They keep getting requests for help and it is probably one of more personal programs • IdroboJulio- Proposal lacks information on their service. Felt more information was needed. Thinks it is better to teach someone to fish than give them the fish. • SpragueSteve – Feels there is a need, likes the “band aid” approach. Keep in mind also this proposal is not written by professional grant writers. Falls Church Housing Corporation (public service – one stop service center) • IdroboJulio – Proposal was good but it lacks information how they will use the resources. Based on CDBG resources available for public service activities only $8,000 for three proposals. The proposal may be good but the money is just not there for funding. Low income people never go to the right places so this would help. • BrobstDon – Agree with Julio. The proposal is almost like a solution but not meeting a problem. If you give numbers in a proposal make sure they are right. The numbers are not adding up. Also what is the value added of this program • McKinneyTori - Sees great overlap of services with Housing and Human Services. She doesn’t see the true need of what they are proposing. • GutmanisMT – Funding is not there in the public service area. They are up against two programs with proven track records • SpragueSteve – FCHC is certainly trying to establish or make themselves visible. But the Club Room facility is under utilized. Maybe give them a token amount. Staff Dana Lewis commented when asked about the conversation that FCHC had with staff regarding this. The need HHS presented to FCHC was that of a Housing Locator Service not a one-stop service center. Another comment on the FCHC proposal is that maybe they could market themselves as a facility for others to use. Maybe outreach to small business. Habitat for Humanity (non public service – external home repair) • McKinneyTori – Has a great deal of faith in them. They have a good history and they know what it takes to get it done • GutmanisMT - Agree, overall great as long as they focus on the City of Falls Church residents • IdroboJulio – Disagree because I don’t like the presentation. This is based on the proposal explaining on how they are going to spend the money in the City and there is no proof yet that they can LewisDana was then asked for clarification on this point from the Chair. The City referred two houses but they found the owners were over income for the program. The families have to be approved by Habitat to make sure they meet the requirements of the Grant for this type of project. Julio commented that it feels like is diffcult to find someone in the City. But he likes the answer he received in being able to use the program in an emergency. • BrobstDon - Disappointed. He expected them to identify workable projects. Don feels that right now $46,000 is on the books and they still haven’t identified projects and feels it just won’t happen  • SpragueSteve – Process question – how long do they have to spend the money? Response is 12 months or until June 30, 2013. He is leaning towards what Don’s states. But let us wait and see what happens this year. • McKinneyTori – It is a cause for concern. There is truly a need. Staff Report: Staff Lewis reported that in this past Thursday’s Falls Church News Press a question survey was posted addressing new development and children. The City Manager sent a letter in response to this to the editor and a flyer was done and will be handed out to Boards/Commission and City Council regarding Fair Housing laws. This is the type of statements that got the City into problems a few years ago. CDBG Next Steps: At the next meeting of October 16, 2012 we will hear two more proposals. After that we will rank the proposals and discuss funding recommendations. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm. Tori McKinney made the motion to adjourn and MT Gutmanis seconded. I:\Housing Commission\Minutes 2012\HC_Minutes_10912.doc The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call 703 248-5005, TTY 711