Housing Commission

MINUTES HOUSING COMMISSION PURPOSE OF MEETING: The five-member Commission is appointed by the City Council for three-year terms. The Housing Commission maintains awareness of housing needs and opportunities, including affordable housing; proposes housing policy initiatives and changes; investigates fair housing complaints and conciliates these complaints; mediates conflicts relating to the Virginia Residential Landlord & Tenant Act and offers reconciliatory services in conflicts relating to other housing laws. DATE OF MEETING: February 9, 2016 PLACE OF MEETING: Oak Room, City Hall MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY: Chairman Idrobo at 6:40 p.m. THOSE PRESENT: Commission Members Staff Julio Idrobo, Chair ___X__ Dana Lewis __X_ Tori McKinney Vice Chair __X__ Tim Wildman __X__ M.T. Gutmanis __X___ Visitors Tommy Goodwin __X___ Kathleen Luisa __X__ Don Brobst __X___ Laura Hicks __X___ Council Liaison Mary Beth Connelly – Council Liaison _X_ Letty Hardi – Council ___X__ Planning Commission Liaison Lindy Hockenberry ______X___ Approval of Minutes: Minutes of January 12, 2016 were approved. Old Business Council Work Session Feb 16 – Comprehensive Plan Presentation to Council and Miller House Update to Council Staff Wildman plans to present to Council the same information that was presented at the October 2015 Planning Commission meeting and to request feedback from Council as to how to best proceed with the update to the Housing Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. Staff Lewis updated the Commission on the Miller House proceedings. The evaluation committee considered three proposals and will go ahead with a recommendation to Council for the proposal submitted by Community Residences, Inc. The City Attorney will negotiate the lease, the City will own the property. The plan of action is for the current structure to be demolished and to create a five person group home at an estimated cost of $900,000. The property will be tax exempt and Community Residences will own the physical structure. Staff Lewis informed the Commission that Community Residences will apply to utilize funds from the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) to predevelop or raze the current structure. Staff Lewis noted that this will require approval from the AHF Committee. The Community Services Board will choose the residents for the facility from Fairfax County, including the City of Falls Church. Housing Commission Annual Report for 2014-2015 Chair Idrobo presented the latest version of the Annual Report to the Commission. Chair Idrobo requested feedback from Commission members before his presentation of the document to Council on 3/2/16. New Business ADU Lottery February 16 As of the meeting date, there were five people approved for the vacant two bedroom unit at Pearson Square. The households that don’t win the lottery will be automatically put on the list for the new Tinner Hill development. Staff Lewis noted that there were 27 households on the waiting list for Tinner Hill at the time of the meeting. Housing Expo – March 19 Prince William Freedom High School Staff Lewis informed the Commission that members of the City’s Department of Housing and Human Services will be present at the Northern Virginia Housing Expo on Saturday March 19. Staff Lewis invited Commission members to attend and meet community members and housing professionals from across the region. Affordable Housing Fund – Request Staff Lewis initiated a discussion regarding the Commission’s ideas for how best to utilize the AHF. Commissioner Brobst believes that the best use would be for the funds to be used for a large-scale project that would provide a return on investment. Chair Idrobo agreed with this, but believes that a specific project should be identified before the funds are utilized. Chair Idrobo suggested using the fund as seed money for a partnership with another organization. He also suggested a first-time homebuyers assistance project and a rental subsidy for City residents. Commissioner Brobst requested information from Council as to their ideas for partnering with other jurisdictions. Commissioner Goodwin suggested that soliciting ideas from the public, through meetings with nonprofits or community members would provide ideas. Chair Idrobo noted that he has had conversations with developers and that the problem in the City is lack of availability of land. Vice Chair McKinney suggested soliciting information from the same group of developers that were involved in the high school development project might be useful. Liaison Vaccaro noted that $300,000 is a good amount of money for predevelopment funds. Commissioner Goodwin believes that using the CDBG request form as a template is a good way to solicit for ideas from interested parties. Commissioner Brobst motioned to form a group to discuss ideas to implement uses for the AHF. Vice Chair McKinney seconded and the motion passed by unanimous vote. Affordable Housing Policy Update with Housing Commission and Human Services Advisory Council It was decided through discussion among the Commissioners that an update to the Affordable Housing Policy would be most effective after the update to the Housing Chapter to the Comprehensive Plan was completed. This would allow for updates to either document to occur during different calendar years and would provide the best opportunity for fresh ideas to be implemented. Sprague Liaison Reports Commissioner Gutmanis noted that there are three bedroom apartments available at Merrill House; this is unique for the City due to the limited amount of that size of unit. Commissioner Goodwin related information regarding the availability of $4.5million in funds available in the Virginia budget for affordable housing. He believes that funds from that source would work well with money from the AHF as seed money for a project. Council member Hardi passed along information regarding Arlington’s recent approved standalone affordable housing project that was made possible through matched funds from the state. A community member present noted the continuing loss of affordability of market rate rental units. This particular community member has been a lifelong resident of the City but feels as though due to rising rents the City is becoming open only to households that can afford to live here. Staff Report Housing Development Update Staff Lewis noted that there are still eight Affordable Dwelling Units available to rent at the West Broad Residences. This is due to the fact that it has not been possible to find households that have been approved at the 100% Area Median Income level to qualify for the ADU program. SIGNATURE OF RECORDER: ___Tim Wildman__ _______________ 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) i:\housing commission\minutes\minutes 2016\hc minutes1122016.docx