Human Services Advisory Council

MINUTES Human Services Advisory Council City of Falls Church PURPOSE OF MEETING: To advise the City Council on human services delivery to Falls Church residents. DATE OF MEETING: June 20, 2024 PLACE OF MEETING: In Person (Dogwood Room) w/ Virtual Option MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY Brian Bowden at 6:32 p.m. THOSE PRESENT: HSAC Members: Student Representatives: Brian Bowden Jeff Person CSB Representative: Marsha Hertzberg Commission on Aging Representatives: Staff: Ripal Patel Kayleen Mark (virtual) Nasir Ahmed City Council Representative: Caroline Lian APPROVAL TO ADOPT THE AGENDA: The agenda for this meeting was adopted. Moved by Marsha Hertzberg and seconded by Jeff Person. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes from the May 16, 2024 meeting were approved. Moved by Marsha Hertzberg and seconded by Jeff Person. Public Comment – Brian Bowden asked if we have any public comment. No comments were received. NEW BUSINESS: • Introduction of HHS Administrative Staff member – Ripal Patel introduced Nasir Ahmed, HHS temporary admin staff. • Update on ADA Transition Plan – Ripal Patel talked about the ADA transition plan. He informed members that the city has hired a third-party consultant to do a research study to find gaps in ADA requirements and areas for improvement. Ripal told Jeff Person that he has informed the consulting company that Jeff has a list of areas that needs improvement and requested if they can speak with him to include his list to their research. He added that HHS staff requested two meetings with this consulting company – one after their findings to see what those findings are and one meeting to review their plan. o Marsha Hertzberg – Do all new constructions have to go through ADA requirements? Ripal said yes. o Jeff Person - Asked to can find out if the selection process went through competitive recruitment? Ripal said he will try to find out more details on that. o Brian Bowden – What is the timeline for this project. Ripal said we are currently working with them to find out what the timeline is. o Caroline Lian – Request to make sure the findings of this project go through HSAC. Asked to track timing of this project. • Update on Fairfax Area Commission on Aging – Ripal Patel said Leslyn Barrow attended last months meeting and there is nothing to report. o Jeff Person – What is the process to advertise and recruitment. Caroline Lian said we have a recruitment process. We publish information on the City website and asked members to help recruit any member they know interested. o Caroline Lian – Highlight any feedback HHS received from the city residents to HSAC agenda. o Brian Bowden – Think on creative ways to reach people and offer available services. • Affordable Housing overview – Kayleen Mark provided a housing overview. She talked about the Affordable Dwelling Unit (ADU) program, the City Committed Affordable Units (CCAU) program, the home ownership program, and Virginia Village. Kayleen Mark said we currently have 90 units and within next year, we have three new properties under construction in the city that will add 99 units to our ADU program. We have Broad and Washington, West Falls project, and Founders Row 2. At Broad and Washington, we will have 33 units, studios and two bedrooms. At the West Falls project, we will have studios, one bedroom, and two bedrooms, and at Founders Row we will have one and two bedrooms. Broad and Washington is currently in the process of acquiring their certificate  of occupancy and the plan is to get those units between July and September. She mentioned we have over 500 households on our ADU waitlist, which includes those who are outside the City and want to move in the City. Kayleen talked about qualifications for the program. Specifically, those who are 62 and over or are disabled who live in the city are priority one; those who live in or work in the city are priority two; and everyone else is priority three. She added a great thing is for those 99 units becoming available, the affordability would be for the life of the project, so we don’t have to worry about them expiring. She also provided an update on the CCAU program, which subsidizes rent for the City residents. She said we used to have only two units, but we expanded this program with the advocacy from Housing Commission and the City Council and currently have eight units filled in the program. She then provided an update on Affordable Home Ownership program. She said the program currently has six units and we sold three already and the fourth unit is in the process of closing. o Ripal Patel - Is there a list showing how many condos and number of privately owned apartments there are in the City?? Kayleen said there is a list in the department that she can share. o Marsha Hertzberg – Is there a list that breaks down just the number of condos in the city. Kayleen said she will try to get something for her. o Marsha Hertzberg – Do we have particular criteria that determines either the number or the percentage of structures that have to have affordable units and how is that calculated. Caroline Line said right now we are taking a look at increasing for a new development setting a minimum standard. Our trend over the past few years has been 10% at any new development is affordable. In the past it was 6%. Marsha asked out of four new constructions which property is providing 6% ADUs versus 10%. Kayleen replied and said they are all at 10%. Kayleen also added if these properties don’t give full 10%, sometimes they substitute this by giving cash to the City. Jeff said the affordable living policy working group is making a recommendation to move 10% units to 12%. o Brian Bowden – Do we have set aside affordable units specifically for older adult and people with disabilities? Kayleen said unfortunately in our voluntary concession they are only required to give us one accessible unit. There was discussion on how we may be able to consider advocating for a future change on this policy. o Ripal Patel – What are the AMIs for Home buying programs and if Kayleen can explain? Kayleen provided an overview of the process. The AMI for this program ranges from 50% up to a 120%. Based on HUD standards and based on a household size of four, the 50% is $77,350 and 120% is $185,640. o Brian Bowden – It is really important for HSAC now early on to be thinking about ways to provide opportunities for people of all ages, income levels, and abilities, including as affordable housing options are considered. o Ripal Patel – Asked Kayleen to provide a one pager that provides an overview of affordable housing (everything she discussed today during the meeting) so members can read. • Recommendations for FY2025 Rent Relief applicants – Ripal Patel explained the rent  relief program and spoke about the change in rent relief code he is trying to bring. o Jeff Person – Made a motion to approve rent relief for FY2025 and all members agreed. Jeff asked for an overview of the difference between the City Committed Affordable Units and Rent Relief. Ripal provided an explanation differentiating both programs. Old BUSINESS: • Planning for joint meeting with Housing Commission – Senator Saddam Azlan Salim expected visit in SEPTEMBER – Brian Bowden provided an update on this meeting and told it is scheduled for Sep 19, at 7 PM. Brian asked everyone to think about questions and topics for this meeting. • Affordable Living Policy Update – Jeff Person provided an update. He said we are now 2/3 through the process. We had a big meeting this month and we talked about trying to lift up the numbers from 10% (ADU) to 12%. He added we are making big progress. Asked for comments and suggestions on this from the members. • HSAC Planning – Brian Bowden, Chair – No meeting in August. July 18 is next. Asked members thoughts and ideas on HSAC’s larger goal. Caroline asked members to review Council Priorities for FY 25-26 and the proposed initiatives to support them (which was just released, and will be discussed at the June 24 City Council meeting). Brian said he is thinking of providing a social opportunity in October to meet outside to know each other better. • Other Jeff Person made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Marsha Hertzberg Seconded that and all members voted yes to adjourn the meeting at 7:59 PM The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document will be made available in an alternate format upon request. Call 703-248- 5005 (TTY 711).