Housing Commission

7/25/2023 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Deac Decarreau, Robert Millar, Jessica Bridge, Leslie Black-Plummeaum Jack Commo, Anna Wageling City Staff Present: Jazmine Hurley, Bryn Oakleaf, Charles Judge Guests Present: Mike Connolly Call to Order by: 6:06 PM Meeting Start Time: 6:06 PM Minutes Recorded by: Anna Wageling II. Public Comment Michael Connolly: interested to see where short-term rental conversation goes- lives next to someone who rents their apartment out and it is unfortunate that they are making so much money and the opportunity is not there for other folks to buy or rent. III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Approve the minutes Motion by: Deac Second: Leslie IV. Discussion: New Meeting Time Fourth Tuesday of each month based on Google Poll December meeting is third Tuesday V. Discussion: City Council Policies & Priorities Fiscal Year 2024 l Educate tenants and owners of registry and changes l Fully implement changes to building registry l Implement plans, review process, and fee structure l Inform outreach for noise mitigation l Continue to explore and update ordinance to address housing priorities including renter protections and short-term rentals Deac: l Conference on housing: homeless because of lack of housing (other cities where housing is available, still have other challenges, but people are housed (shows that we just don’t have enough housing stock in general) l housing costs went up ~70% in the last five years (to build)  l Conference on housing: homeless because of lack of housing (other cities where housing is available, still have other challenges, but people are housed (shows that we just don’t have enough housing stock in general) l housing costs went up ~70% in the last five years (to build) Bryn: l new noise mitigation committee will start to meet l real-time data to inform about impacts, won’t utilize sound meters that have been placed (because of systems compatibility)- translation and interpretation will be available VI. Discussion: Housing Initiative Director Annual Workplan Draft Deac: WHA has a pot of money that can go to LL, but needs to be participation with the Section 8 program. WHA cannot be developers except on own property. Maybe take away the word annual assessing needs can be rolled into housing needs assessment line. Anna: USCRI doesn’t necessarily have a say in where people live- they could be resettled in Montpelier then immediately move to Winooski: can’t have a policy on resettlement in Winooski because of this. Leslie: what is the bigger need here with each listed item. Deac: line with what we are doing, city council is doing, planning commission is doing VII. Discussion: Housing Trust Fund Changes l not as many people utilizing trust fund now l transitioning to the interest rate buy down l right now: $5k loan l CHT has a loan program for BIPOC l maybe goal is to pair this with DPA program/do more outreach l Jessica can help with outreach of realtor newsletter l Leslie: a lot of people use their realtor for information- make sure they know l Jessica: many multi-buyers in Winooski because of the price point l $450,000 tends to be the number first-time homebuyers are reaching because of how the market is Deac: can we sell it as if someone buys a duplex, and there is a requirement of one to be affordable, they could get a $10k l permanently affordable tends to be 20 years l Leslie: can try Prabin’s recommendation and see what happens in terms of people accessing it Deac: $5,000 is not much when the house is $450,000- makes more sense to pair or increase l Looking into VSHA rehab money l CHT shared equity program: work in conjunction with them? l developers: $100k max is not a lot in grand scheme of things+ too many strings attached Jazmine: more macro-lens approach: use housing trust funds, give to housing partner (RFP) and they would use money to purchase home, put in shared-equity model, put it out to bid- organization like CHT VIII. Discussion: Short-term Rentals in Winooski  Jazmine: more macro-lens approach: use housing trust funds, give to housing partner (RFP) and they would use money to purchase home, put in shared-equity model, put it out to bid- organization like CHT VIII. Discussion: Short-term Rentals in Winooski Moving to next month’s meeting IX. Discussion: New Member Needs Robert would like to move out of being the chair, now will be chair of the school board, hoping to see who would like to take this on. Think about it-talk to Robert if there are any questions. Moving to next month’s meeting. X. Adjourn Motion by: Robert Second: Deac Meeting End Time: 8:13 PM