Housing Commission

MINUTES HOUSING COMMISSION City of Falls Church 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: December 10, 2019 PLACE OF MEETING: Oak Room – City Hall MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY: Chair Brenda Heffernan at 6:30pm THOSE PRESENT: Commission Members Staff Brenda Heffernan, Chair _ X__ Dana Lewis _X_ Jordan Hicks, Vice Chair _X_ Nancy Vincent ___ M.T. Gutmanis _X_ _ Planning Commission Liaison Joshua Shokoor __X__ Peter Davis _ _ __ Student Liaison FCHC Liaison Kaylee Stillwagoner _____ Thom Vaccaro____ Guest Council Liaison Letty Hardi _ X__ Minutes approved from the December meeting were approved Proceedings: Meeting called to order by Chair Heffernan at 6:35 PM Annual Report – Brenda shared a draft of the Housing Commission Report with everyone and a letter to be published in the News Press. They will try to get the guest commentary section. Commissioners will make comments and send them to Dana who will send to Letty. Housing Consultant Update – An RFQ is being developed to hire someone. New Member Recruitment – This is Commissioner Gutmanis last meeting and everyone encouraged visitor Hector Gamez to apply. The Fields Apartments Tenant Concerns – City staff attended a City schools parent meeting where the concern about mice in units came up again. The goal is to get residents to send pictures/evidence of the mice in their units so that it can be shared with the health department again and they can come back out to inspect. Community Impact Grant VHDA – This will be part of the RFQ and will start back up as soon as the City contracts with another consultant. Commissioner MT Gutmanis Appreciation - Everyone thanked MT for her service and the group discussed plans to go out after to celebrate her. We will do an appreciation for a future Council meeting. Housing Update – Aimco will be coming to the next meeting to discuss future plans for the Merrill House apartments and to get the Housing commissions feedback. In addition, tenants of Merrill House that have been calling HHS are concerned about the high cost and unfairness of their utility bills. They would like to also come to the next meeting. The group also talked about the Boada ns Washington Development and Whole Foods is coming to the project. Only five percent may be affordable but theymay have units at lower incomes. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.