Housing Commission

CITY OF FALLS CHURCH HOUSING COMMISION MINUTES 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: September 19, 2024 PLACE OF MEETING: In Person City Hall Dogwood Room w/ Virtual Option MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY: Meredith Anderson at 6:08 p.m. THOSE PRESENT: Commission Members Guests Meredith Anderson – Chair Sennen Gaur, Student rep Jordan Hicks – Vice Chair Mikayla Edmunds, Student rep Sara Ferrara Staff Robert Kravinsky Brenden Woodley City Council Liaison Kayleen Mark Letty Hardi • Roll Call – Chair Meredith Anderson at 6:08 pm. o All commissioners present. • Approval of Minutes – Chair Meredith Anderson. o Jordan Hicks moved to approve and Robert Kravinsky Seconded. Minutes approved. • Public Comments – Chair Meredith Anderson o Gene Gresco sent an email to comment on the presentation at last meeting on ADs regarding the comment Robert made on the return of investment, and if it is strong enough or positive assumptions built on interest rate. Robert mentioned this was also entered into public comments in planning commission meeting last night. • HHS Updates – (Brenden Woodley & Kayleen Mark) Housing Update – Kayleen Mark o Continuing to work on getting the units at Broad & Washington filled as they get their COs. Has been a bit difficult to rent the studios at 80% due to the pricing. Clients prefer a 1-bedroom unit, however no 1-bedroom ADUs at the property. o Worked through priority 1 and priority 2 (those in the city) and we are now going to be reaching out to households on priority 3 (outside of the city). This is exciting as it has been years since we have filled units with households that are outside of the city. o Letty Hardi mentioned she believed it was with Pearson Square the last time we offered units to those outside of the city. o Letty asked how many households currently on waitlist and Kayleen mentioned there are currently 494 households. o Letty mentioned that hopefully we will get the available units filled once we reach out to households in priority 3. • Affordable Homeownership Program (AHP) – Brenden Woodley o We sold 128 Haycock to a third party and received most of our money from that project back so we can fund more units. There was minimum loss on the property. o We purchased a 1-bedroom unit, and we have a 3-bedroom that we are looking to sell. o We closed on one of the 3-bedroom units. o There is a new unit we are interested in on Brice St. It is a 2-bedroom single family home for $700,000. 912sq ft and remodeled unit. o Would like Housing Commission thoughts on purchasing the unit: o Letty mentioned that we should do a comparison with townhouses prices per sq ft that we have bought as the new unit is pricey. o Letty asked what zoning the property is located – it is R-1A. o Robert mentioned it seems like a good deal in the zoning area. o Housing Commission members mentioned the home was very tiny. o Sara Ferrera asked if our realtor can pull comps for us. Meredith mentioned we had to put a piece in place for an additional subsidy for the 3-bedroom units, and unless someone on the list is a fit for this unit it seems a bit risky. If people are looking for homeownership opportunities, they are not only going to be buying in summer. o Brenden mentioned that there is no HOA so the carry cost will be relatively low. Rates have been cut and will be falling in the couple months so there may be more action in the market. o Meredith mentioned since we have a 3 bedroom that we have not been able to offload we should hold off on purchasing this new unit. o Sara asked about our wait list and if the interest is for 1 and 2 bedrooms. Brenden mentioned yes and hopeful to have an offer on one sooner or later. Meredith asked how many people have been added as eligible people since  last meet? Brenden answered about three who have recently qualified and ten people joined interest list. • Virginia Village Update – Brenden Woodley o Had a meeting with council and EDA about the project. Memo was sent out to Housing Commission members. We were planning on closing on the project, but it fell apart due to VA Housing having additional concerns on next steps of the project. We are adjusting to that news and working on different solutions. We are considering alternate lending sources. We don’t have a definite path forward but will require additional discussions and negotiations. o Sara asked if NeighborWorks is on our radar as a potential lender. Brenden mentioned no, we have not reached out. Sara mentioned they are a nonprofit that does a lot of lending for affordable housing. Brenden mentioned the hope is to work with VA Housing to get back in compliance with them. o Meredith asked how long discussions have been going on with VA Housing and Brenden answered since about 2021. Meredith asked since it has been so long, is there any point continuing with them? Brenden answered they were clear on what will work and what won’t work for them. Wesley is also working to apply for additional Amazon grant funds for this project and looking at alternate sources of funds to get project back on track. o Meredith mentioned there was a lot of conversation last year on needing to make up funds, did VA Housing move the goal post based on changes? Brenden said it was not a problem with numbers but how we were approaching the project. We are looking at several possible solutions and one is instead of calling it a closing, we call it a transfer, and transfer to Wesley Housing and purchase more properties. Considering this as one of the options. o Meredith mentioned it may be hard to get good deals and favorable rates and will be worth exploring what Sara said to have other lender options instead of so much time with VA Housing. Sara is willing to provide a list of nonprofit affordable housing lenders to Brenden. Brenden mentioned the concern is if they would buy into our plan for the project. • Affordable Living Policy (ALP) Update – Brenden Woodley o Wrapped up at the end of July. We won 2 grants from VA Housing to help write and draft the policy. We started the process last week with a consultant. Housing Commission is part of the schedule will share with Housing Commission members. o The ALP will be part of the comprehensive plan and put legislation out to council to help schedule over the next 4-5 months. Will provide details on recommendations and get feedback.  o Sara asked if one of the consultants will be one of the facilitators of the group and Brenden mentioned yes, they have a wealth of knowledge and they are a great resource due to their experience. o The other grant was for the VA Village redevelopment group. We received $36,000 for that project to hold a series of meetings on what we want to do on redevelopment of VA Village. We will need someone from Housing Commission to be on that workgroup. o Robert asked if the ALP draft will be shared with HC for comment? Brenden mentioned Housing Commission will have opportunity to comment on it. There will be a session to go over everything and get feedback. Robert mentioned his comment will be easier to review when it is still in the very early draft stage as an outline as opposed to a report. He mentioned it might be worth seeing it up front with the broad recommendations and findings and ask questions before the narrative of writing. Meredith second that. o Brenden mentioned he is condensing everything as part of the staff report for council to comment and will share with Housing Commission to look at and comment on. o Meredith mentioned it will be helpful to look at what is being prioritized and look at an outline. o Sara mentioned the ALP is now part of the comprehensive plan so since the planning commission has comments, she does not want them to overlook the work the group has done and change things around…. Meredith mentioned someone from Housing Commission should be in that meeting. o Brenden mentioned it is a policy document and not just to address the recommendations that the group recommended. o Letty mentioned to capture comments, but it is council’s decision to approve, and council will want to address concerns made by group. o Meredith asked about the working groups and if it is the same for the ALP and VA Village. • Upcoming Meeting with Senator o We want to make sure HSAC has a chance to ask questions and so does Housing Commission. o Housing Commission will ask two questions, feel free to jump in. Robert asked if the senator would talk about ADs. Answer is yes. Robert said the biggest question is the senate bill that has ADs as a max of 1500sq ft, and the city’s proposal is 1000sq ft. This excludes a lot of people who may benefit from ADs, and he would like to understand their logic as to why they chose 1500sq ft. • Adjourn o Sara Ferrera moved to adjourn, and Jordan Hicks seconded. o Adjourned at 6:56 pm.