Community Development Commission Meeting

APPROVED MINUTES COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING Tuesday, June 27, 2017, City Council Chambers 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, IL 61801 Call to Order: Chairperson Cobb called the regular meeting to order at 7:02pm. Roll Call: Kelly Mierkowski called the roll. A quorum was present. Commission Members Present: Fred Cobb, Anne Heinze-Silvis, Jerry Moreland, Abdulhakeem Salaam, Chris Diana, Karin Hodgin-Jones, Michael Braun and James Winston. Commission Members Excused/Absent: None. Others Present: Kelly Mierkowski, Matt Rejc and Don Ho, Community Development Services, Jason Greenly from Courage Connection, Janice Mitchell from Urbana Neighborhood Connection Center and Sheila Dodd from Habitat for Humanity Champaign-Urbana. Approval of Minutes: Chairperson Cobb asked for approval or corrections to the June 27, 2017 Public Hearing and regular meeting minutes. Commissioner Silvis moved to approve the minutes as written and Commissioner Salaam seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Petitions and Communications: Chairperson Cobb asked if there was any written communication to the Commission, there were none. Audience Participation: Chairperson Cobb stated that audience members could speak if they so wished, no one from the audience stepped forward to speak. Staff Report: Kelly Mierkowski, Grants Management Manager, provided a brief overview of the staff report provided to the Commissioners that evening, which included HUD activities, staff activities, meetings attended, and various projects and programs. Old Business: None. New Business: A RESOLUTION APPROVING A CITY OF URBANA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM AGREEMENT (Courage Connection – Domestic Violence Services Program, Project No. 1718-CSSP-01) A RESOLUTION APPROVING A CITY OF URBANA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM AGREEMENT (Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center Urbana Youth Development and Employment Program, Project No. 1718-CSSP-02) Ms. Mierkowski mentioned that Jason Greenly with Courage Connection and Janice Mitchell with the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center were available to answer any questions or concerns that the Commission might have. These two agencies were approved by the Commission for funding as part of the consolidated social service funding process. The identified priorities were supportive services and training for low-income persons, and support for homeless needs. Courage Connections’ priority fits the support for homeless needs and Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center’s priority fit the supportive services and training for low- income persons specifically for their youth development and employment program. The funding for both of these agencies is from the City’s CDBG Public Service funds and the City General Funds. The City will be administering about seven agencies that fit the amount of money that the City had allocated to the Consolidated Social Service Fund, which includes the CDBG-funded portion. The Cunningham Township office will be monitoring and dealing with the contracts for all the other agencies that are funded by the Township. Since CDBG funds are federal funds, these agencies will have a contract with the City General Fund and a separate sub- recipient agreement for the CDBG portion. There is no impact to either the City general budget or CDBG budget because the $5,000 that the City set aside is already included in the Annual Action Plan (AAP). Staff recommends that the Community Development Commission forward the Resolution to the Urbana City Council with a recommendation for approval Chairperson Cobb asked how soon these funds can be made available. Ms. Mierkowski explained that there are two steps to the process. First, the City will have to wait for funding from HUD to come into the City Integrated Disbursement Information System (IDIS) account and for the Annual Action Plan to be approved. Second, the agreement has to be forwarded by the Commission to the Council before the Grants Management Division can start distribute funds to these agencies. Commissioner Diana asked if Courage Connection has any data on the population that is being served in actuality. Mr. Greenly said that he would not be able to provide an exact percentage or number at the moment, but he would be happy to get that for the Commission. He explained the way domestic violence service provision occurs is that if a person experiences domestic violence, he or she can be served by Courage Connection free of costs regardless of their annual income. However, Courage Connection has found that the majority of people they serve are from a lower economic bracket. Ms. Mierkowski asked Mr. Greenly if he wants to give a current financial status of Courage Connection. Mr. Greenly shared that Courage Connection is now in better shape as the State recently just passed its budget. There is still a lot of work that has to happen on the State’s end, but the process has begun. They were prepared for the worst case scenarios, but everything is fine now. Commissioner James Winston asked what Courage Connection is and what they do. Mr. Greenly provided an overview of different services and programs that Courage Connection is offering. 2 Mr. Mierkowski then asked Ms. Mitchell to explain different services that the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center provides. Ms. Mitchell then provided an overview of different programs and services that the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center is currently offering. Chairperson Cobb entertained a motion to either forward one or both of the Resolutions to Council with a recommendation for approval, forward the Resolutions to Council with a recommendation for approval with changes, or to not forward for approval. Commissioner Diana motioned for the approval to forward the Resolutions to Council with recommendations for approval. Commissioner Salaam seconded the motion; the motion carried unanimously. (1) A RESOLUTION APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF AN URBANA HOME CONSORTIUM SUBRECEPIENT AGREEMENT (Courage Connection TBRA FY 2017-2018) (2) A RESOLUTION APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF AN URBANA HOME CONSORTIUM SUBRECEPIENT AGREEMENT (Habitat FY 2017- 2018) (3) A RESOLUTION APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF AN URBANA HOME CONSORTIUM SUBRECEPIENT AGREEMENT (Down Payment Assistance FY 2017-2018) Mr. Rejc stated that all of these programs were funded under a Request for Proposals put out by the City of Urbana on January 27. The deadline was a month later in February and the City received three responses by the end of the deadline. The HOME Consortium Technical Committee decided to fund Courage Connection, Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County (Habitat), and Navicore Solutions (Navicore) with at least $150,000. To reallocate funding to the awarded projects, the City of Urbana was required to complete an Annual Action Plan amendment, which was the subject of a public hearing on March 28, 2017, and was approved by the Urbana City Council on May 1, 2017. This FY 15-16 Annual Action Plan amendment was subsequently reviewed and acknowledged by HUD on July 10, 2017. The Urbana HOME Consortium is now prepared to enter into sub-recipient agreements that will commit the HOME funding to specific projects. Courage Connection’s proposal is for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance program (TBRA). The program takes in people who are receiving services from Courage Connection or coming from an emergency shelter or transitional housing. Courage Connection uses the program to help these families to achieve self-sufficiency and to reintegrate by obtaining a lease to their own permanent and private-sector housing. The Habitat’s proposal is very similar to what the City has provided to Habitat in the past. They currently have three addresses that they have identified as sites for new permanent home ownership opportunities for families that have been pre-approved by their board. There is another site that has not yet been identified, but Habitat will provide the City with the address if that site is selected and it will be incorporated into this agreement. 3 Navicore Solutions is a home ownership counselling agency based out of Peoria. They have worked with Habitat and other agencies in the past so they have familiarity with the local market. Their proposal for the RFP was submitted in conjunction with a group of Champaign-Urbana banking institutions called the Community Reinvestment Group. The proposal was formulated in partnership with them so that banks would be familiar with what the down payment assistance product would be offering and Navicore would be familiar with what the banks expect. It’s expected to provide down payment assistance to 15-20 households. However, unlike previous HOME-funded down payment assistance programs, it is not a flat amount and will actually be calculated for each client based on their debt, assets, income, and other criteria. All the funds from these memos are coming from the HOME program, which is a federal affordable housing subsidy program, and specifically the Fiscal Year 14-15 and 15-16 allocations. According to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the deadline to commit those funds is in August, but HUD has notified the Grants Management Division that they are suspending that deadline. Despite the deadline suspension, GMD wants to work to try to make these commitments as soon as possible, so that the funds can be distributed to these agencies and people who need them. These three programs are in line with the City of Urbana and Urbana HOME Consortium Consolidated Plan FY 2015-2019 and subsequent annual action plans. Staff recommends that the Community Development Commission forward the Resolutions to the Urbana City Council with a recommendation for approval. Commissioner Hodgin-Jones asked if the 25 percent matching requirement is included in the $150,000. If not, who would be responsible for the requirement? Mr. Rejc explained that Habitat would have to use non-federal funding to fulfill the 25 percent matching requirement for $150,000 that the City provides to them. Many of their match sources are from private contributions, non-federal grants and buyers’ mortgage payments. Navicore intended to group other down payment assistance programs to group with the City’s down payment assistance programs for income-eligible buyers. Those would count as match for them. Courage Connection’s match is provided through different grants, donations and in-kind services. Chairperson Cobb asked if GMD has an approximate amount for the project delivery funds. Mr. Rejc said that it would be $27,671.50. The reason for the number is that it came from the RFP and that was the amount that needed to be committed. Commissioner Diana asked if Ms. Dodd could provide the Commission with some information and data about Habitat. Ms. Dodd then provided an overview of different programs and services that they offer. Moreover, she also explained how Habitat operates and the current process for approving home buyers. Chairperson Cobb entertained a motion to either forward the Resolution (1) to Council with a recommendation for approval, forward the Resolution to Council with a recommendation for approval with changes, or to not forward for approval. Commissioner Braun motioned for the approval to forward the Resolution to Council. Commissioner Moreland seconded the motion; the motion carried unanimously. Chairperson Cobb entertained a motion to either forward the Resolution (2) to Council with a recommendation for approval, forward the Resolution to Council with a recommendation for approval with changes, or to not forward for approval. Commissioner Diana motioned for the 4 approval to forward the Resolution to Council. Commissioner Hodgin-Jones seconded the motion; the motion carried unanimously. Chairperson Cobb entertained a motion to either forward the Resolution to Council (3) with a recommendation for approval, forward the Resolution to Council with a recommendation for approval with changes, or to not forward for approval. Commissioner Moreland motioned for the approval to forward the Resolution to Council. Commissioner Silvis seconded the motion; the motion carried unanimously. Study Session: None. Adjournment: Seeing no further business, Chairperson Cobb adjourned the meeting at 7:59p.m. Recorded by Don Ho Grants Compliance Specialist, Grants Management Division Don Ho APPROVED 5