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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHousing & Redevelopment Authority Minutes 01-24-2013APPROVED MINUTES PLYMOUTH HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY January 24, 2013 PRESENT: Chairman Jeff Kulaszewicz, Commissioners Paul Caryotakis, Carl Runck, Bob Stein and Jim Willis ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Housing Program Manager Jim Barnes and Office Support Specialist Laurie Lokken OTHERS PRESENT: Toni Jelinek and Grace Management Representative Jody Boedigheimer 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Kulaszewicz called the Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approve October 25, 2012 HRA Meeting Minutes. B. Plymouth Towne Square. Accept Monthly Housing Reports For October 2012, November 2012 and December 2012. C. Vicksburg Crossing. Accept Monthly Housing/Marketing Reports For October 2012, November 2012 and December 2012. Commissioner Stein stated it was nice to see that both buildings are still full. MOTION by Commissioner Willis, seconded by Commissioner Stein, to approve the consent agenda. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. 3. NEW BUSINESS A. Senior Buildings. Chairman Kulaszewicz introduced the request to change the process for opening and closing of wait lists for Plymouth Towne Square and Vicksburg Crossing. Housing Program Manager Barnes gave an overview of the staff report. Commissioner Runck asked what the average time is that someone is on the wait list until they are offered a unit. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied it depends because there are so Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 2 many different factors. He said there are five priority categories on the preference lists for low income units at both buildings. He said if an individual is 62 years of age or older, their income is 50% of median income or below and they are a current resident of Plymouth, they get priority one. He said if an individual is low income and over 62 with a family member living in Plymouth, they would get priority two. He said a lot of times we will go through the wait lists and even though people are up at numbers 1-20, they aren't ready so they will decline the offer of the unit and then we keep going down the list until we find somebody that is ready. He said there are some people who are on the list for 4-6 months before their name comes up, especially if they are on the two bedroom wait list for Plymouth Towne Square. He said if an individual is on the lowest priority (under the age of 62, not a resident of Plymouth, they don't have any relatives in Plymouth and they are not low income), they probably are not going to be served any time soon. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer added that is especially the case when they are on the one bedroom wait list because we so often fill our one bedroom vacancies internally with requests to change from a two bedroom to one bedroom. Commissioner Stein asked if current residents are given priority to move to a one bedroom from a two bedroom unit. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded our occupancy standards require us to. She said we try to give them a respectable amount of time after a loved one passes to ask them if they would like to move. She said if they choose to stay in their two bedroom then they have to pay full rent. Commissioner Stein asked if a couple is living in a two bedroom and a one bedroom becomes available, do they get priority or do they go on a waiting list. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer replied they would go on an internal wait list but it would be pretty unlikely that they would be offered a unit. Commissioner Stein asked if they would have to go through the five priority categories on the preference list before going to the internal wait list. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that they don't normally get the request from a couple to move to a one bedroom. Commissioner Caryotakis asked if there has been anyone from Vicksburg Crossing who has wanted to move from the moderate income housing to affordable housing. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer replied that we have had people move from Vicksburg Crossing to Plymouth Towne Square. Housing Program Manager Barnes added that they have moved within Vicksburg Crossing as well. Commissioner Stein asked if they are given preference. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded that they get put on a list and if they are ready to make that move when their name comes up, they move. Commissioner Caryotakis stated that they are probably more inclined to make that move rather than someone outside who has more complications. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer replied probably, but in one instance that was not the case. Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 3 Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that we do have the policy in place that if someone refuses an offered unit three times, they are removed from the list. He said they would have to reapply to get back on the list. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated that is a good policy. Commissioner Caryotakis stated that housing is picking up and if they are inclined, there is a greater ability to make a decision. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated that every year, we send out notices to all of those on the wait list and ask if they still want to be on it. She said that they purge more than 10% on the list annually. Chairman Kulaszewicz asked what time of year they do that. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded that it is usually around April. Chairman Kulaszewicz asked if there would be a need to do that twice a year. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that it really doesn't serve us any purpose. Commissioner Runck asked if we are proposing that if there is a high priority person and they come in first on the list, do we tell them to contact us again in six months and see if they can get in. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied that they are just told that it's a long list, they are welcome to contact us if they want to know where they stand on the list at any given time and we will contact them if something comes up. Housing Program Manager Barnes confirmed for Commissioner Caryotakis that we close the list at 100 names and we would tell any inquiries that our waiting list is currently closed and to check back or check our website. Housing Program Manager Barnes confirmed for Commissioner Runck the list would remain closed even if the person calling qualifies as high priority over others that are on the list. Toni Jelinek asked with there being 176 people on the waiting list right now for Plymouth Towne Square, closing the list at 100 would not force anybody off the list. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded affirmatively. He said we would naturally through attrition bring it down and won't reopen the list until it gets down to 50 names. Commissioner Stein asked what would be covered on our website. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied we would put a banner on the website stating the waiting list is currently closed or waiting list is open. He said we have been working with Housing Link to advertise through them, especially for Vicksburg Crossing. Commissioner Willis asked if the Plymouth Towne Square list gets down to 50 names, about how many of those people would be in the top priority because of low income as compared to people who are only thinking about getting ready to move. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded that it is fairly evenly distributed between the five priority categories. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded further to Commissioner Willis that when the list gets down to 50 names, it will more likely be that more in priority categories four and five will be on the list at that point. He said he would presume that there will still possibly be 20 in the Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 4 lower income priority categories one, two and three on the list and then when we open the list, those three categories are going to fill up again. Commissioner Willis stated that he is concerned about any consequences and we don't inadvertently screen out people who might otherwise be in more need and have a higher threshold. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer replied the only way an individual would be in priority category five is if they are not a resident of Plymouth nor do they have any family members as a resident of Plymouth and are income disqualified (make more than 50% of the median). She said by enlarge, the first four priority categories are those that are low income. She said it is just a matter of whether they are age 55 or age 62 and whether they have lived in Plymouth at some point in their life or they have only had immediate family living in Plymouth. Housing Program Manager Barnes and Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded affirmatively for Commissioner Willis that there are not very many individuals in priority category five that end up in the building. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated that his concern is that one of our mandates is to serve the residents of Plymouth and that in most cases, a resident who either lives in Plymouth, has been in Plymouth or has family in Plymouth gets priority over someone who hasn't. Commissioner Willis stated that was the original intent. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated that he would not want to see an unintended consequence of ending up with a list of individuals in priority category five. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer replied the only times we really achieve 50 and 100 names on the lists are on the one bedroom list. She said we have not been that high on the two bedroom lists in probably eight or nine years. Commissioner Stein stated there are separate lists for one bedrooms and for two bedrooms. Commissioner Willis asked if an individual can be on two lists. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded they could if they wanted. Housing Program Manager Barnes added they could request either/or. He said if they are single, they would be informed that if a two bedroom came up they would pay the maximum rent for the building. He said if they are a two -person household and they said they would take whichever comes up first, they could be on both. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer added the likelihood of a one bedroom coming up is not very good as a two bedroom will come up sooner. Commissioner Stein asked if you have somebody that is single and willing to pay full price for a two bedroom and they are ahead of a couple on the list who is low income and wants a two bedroom, would the single individual get first priority. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that he did not recall ever having anybody who was single ask to be on a two bedroom list. He said they would have to discuss that scenario if it ever came up. Commissioner Stein asked doesn't the mandate provide affordable housing in the city if the person is able to pay market rate. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated typically we don't. He said there are less than five people right now in Plymouth Towne Square that pay market rate. He said some have been original residents and due to their pensions or other income, they pay the maximum rent. Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 5 Commissioner Stein asked if the criteria set up are mandated by law or something we came up with. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded this Board created the criteria with a lot of guidance from HUD. HUD was involved because they were very concerned that we would violate fair housing. He said with the population of Plymouth and with this criteria set, we are a very white community and by de facto we could potentially violate fair housing laws. Commissioner Stein asked if we were to change the criteria, would we have to go back to HUD. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied we wouldn't necessarily have to go back. He said we would have to consult with our attorney to make sure that they were comfortable that any criteria we created would not violate fair housing laws. Commissioner Stein stated that maybe we need to rewrite the criteria that when the list gets down to 50 names, a Plymouth resident is the first priority and low income is a second priority. Commissioner Caryotakis asked if it would make sense to put this in place and see how it works for a period of a few months. He said then if you find the list fills up with priority categories four and five and we have it closed to people who would have higher priority, then we would revise it. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that we could bring this back to the Board for a policy change if staff noticed it was not working as intended. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer added that we are not going to get down to 50 names on the one bedroom wait list until very far out into the future. She said we aren't going to have to cap or to have to close the two bedroom or even the Vicksburg Crossing's affordability lists any time soon either. MOTION by Chairman Kulaszewicz, seconded by Commissioner Caryotakis, to approve the requested change to the manner in which staff manages the wait list for Plymouth Towne Square and Vicksburg Crossing. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved. Commissioner Willis stated he appreciated this being brought forward as it helps us to manage the expectations of those folks who are looking for housing. B. HRA Strategic Plan. Chairman Kulaszewicz introduced the request to review current HRA Strategic Plan and provide input on update process and changes. Housing Program Manager Barnes gave an overview of the staff report. Commissioner Willis stated it is a good thing for us to look at and he would like to study it for a period of time. He said in looking forward at the life -cycle housing and trying to ensure that people want, afford and continue to live in their homes as long as practical and hopefully, thereby, maintaining the integrity of the homes so that the upkeep keeps the ravages of obsolescence from overwhelming us. He said Plymouth is starting to face that issue now and we are going to have to be doing something about it. He said we don't have a point-of-sale program Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 6 in the city like they've had for years in St. Louis Park where you need to have your house inspected and brought up to critical codes. He said that is a very controversial program but it could probably be something that the city council would have to address at some point in time. He said the HRA might have a hand in that if it became a point of trying to fund it. Commissioner Willis stated that redevelopment is something that the HRA needs to start investigating and thinking about. He said he does not believe we need to get proactive in a sense, because this is going to have to be driven first by the market. He said there is going to be demands for public assistance and financing but some of these areas are becoming commercially obsolete, perhaps more so than physically obsolete. Commissioner Stein stated that the city council discussed point-of-sale several years ago. Housing Program Manager Barnes asked if Commissioner Willis was asking that they look at other changes to the Strategic Plan, add things or just have simple discussion on it. Commissioner Willis responded he is asking for simple discussion that may lead to modest change but not radical changes. He said we have no idea whether or not the federal government is going to continue to support some of these existing program efforts. He said he would guess that there will be restriction of funding some place in the current programs and if that happens, it may mean we will have to think of a different way to address the problem. Commissioner Caryotakis stated the market has changed quite a bit and he is not sure where it's going to go. He said we are dealing with a very different environment than we had in 2008 and that may mean that our approach might be somewhat different in certain areas. He said he was not sure if we have been able to do anything with land banking. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that over the past four years, we have looked into the idea of land banking at a staff level. He said before the housing market crashed and the economy went down, land prices in Plymouth were out of reach for us unless we were able to get an outlot from the city or acquire a portion of a site like we did to build Vicksburg Crossing. He said when the economy went down, we were seeing landowners unwilling to face the realities of a changed market and unwilling to realize that their properties weren't worth what they might have been worth in 2003 or 2004. He said a lot of the private developers were seeing that as well. He said landowners are starting to realize the changes in the market and the city is now seeing an increase in development as land is more accurately priced. Commissioner Runck asked if land has gone back to the lender and the lender wants to get rid of it. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied we have not seen a lot of that. Commissioner Willis stated not on tracts of land. Housing Program Manager Barnes added that in northwest Plymouth, much of the land is not developer owned yet but still family-owned land and they are waiting for that market to return because this is what they have been banking on to fund their retirement. Commissioner Willis stated there is no declining value. He said most of the land left to develop residentially in Plymouth is predominantly located in the Wayzata school district. He said a Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 7 small portion is in Osseo school district and essentially none in the Hopkins and Robbinsdale school districts. He said the people who have over 1,000 acres of land to develop can afford to sit there as development is coming. Board discussed development within Plymouth and encouraged staff to explore opportunities for the HRA to purchase and develop additional affordable housing. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated he would also like more time to think about the Strategic Plan. He said we have talked about other possibilities over the past few years and about what types of loan programs, foreclosure programs, etc. that we might like to take a second look at. He said he would like to take a look at some of the programs that other HRAs and cities are involved in. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that HRAs do things really different and a lot of it depends on their size, but not always. He said Minnetonka and Eden Prairie offer similar programs that we do. He said Bloomington is a lot larger and has more staff and programs for a city HRA. He said they put more local resources into their programs. He said Dakota County, one of the largest CDAs, own over 2,000 units and has many programs. He said they actually issue their own bonds to do first mortgages, which is usually only done by the State. He said Hennepin County's HRA offers a lot of federal programs but they do not operate many programs with local funding. He said instead, they provide funding through the issuance of RFPs to private developers for projects and they become financial partners. He said we can look at all different sizes and all different programs or we can concentrate on things that are more similar to what we're doing. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated he was interested in similar communities to ours and if there are other programs they are adopting or using that provide more affordable housing or some other services at not too high of a cost. He said he thinks it is prudent of us to occasionally take a look at what else is out there. Commissioner Willis stated from his recollection, most of Dakota County is work force housing. Commission Runck added they also offer senior housing. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated it is probably about 50150 between work force and senior housing as they do a lot in various cities in both of those programs. Chairman Kulaszewicz recommends that staff come back to the Board with a list of things other HRAs are doing so we can spend a little time to study what our current goals are, discuss what other HRAs are doing and what other possibilities there might be for us and then proceed to continue to work on our Strategic Plan. He asked what kind of timeline we should be looking at in adopting this. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded we are looking at a four year plan coming in to 2013. He said we took six to seven months to create this in 2003. He said outside individuals provided feedback on what they, as a community, wanted us to do. He said the Board took all that information and created this plan. He said one of the things we want to be sure about the Strategic Plan is that it is a Strategic Plan and we are not getting into program design. He said we need to look at increasing available resources and preserving existing housing. He said that is what we will be doing throughout this plan and in bringing information Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 8 back to the Board for discussion. Housing Program Manager Barnes asked the Board to think about the Strategic Plan, the vision and goals, to see if they are still as relevant today as they were in 2008. Commissioner Runck asked if there is a separate document that tracks results, that talks about each of the goals and what has happened to date. He asked how many affordable units we have. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that is in our annual report that's put together by the Community Development Department. He said it not only talks about what we did as far as affordable housing in that given year but it also provides information about what the Planning and Building departments accomplished throughout the year. Commissioner Runck asked if there is detail of the First Time Homebuyer program and how many people were using the program. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied that information comes to you in another method twice a year. He said it comes once in February in our Action Plan when we are proposing to allocate for next years funds and we let you know where we are to -date. He said in June we are required to submit a lengthy report to HUD, called the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report, which talks about not only Plymouth's goals and our accomplishments but it includes the entire Hennepin Consortium, which we are a member of with Hennepin County, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Bloomington. Chairman Kulaszewicz added that on the social services side, they come once a year and they report to us how many Plymouth residents they have served. Commissioner Runck stated it is nice to know where there is more demand for services we can provide. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that this item will be continued to the March meeting. C. HRA/City Loan/Assessment Program. Chairman Kulaszewicz introduced the request to discuss a loan/assessment program for apartment fire suppression system installations. Housing Program Manager Barnes gave an overview of the staff report. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated first of all, regardless of how it was financed, a property owner would have to want to increase their rent a couple dollars a square foot over time. He asked what their motivation to incur that cost would be: is it from a marketing perspective of having sprinklers in our buildings; is it to safeguard their residents; or, is there an economic motivation. Commissioner Runck asked what would be a possible trigger. He asked if you get a permit for a certain extent of renovations only if you put in sprinklers, too, because you can't build new construction without sprinklers. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that we can't mandate the sprinklers be installed in existing buildings and we can't require them to install as Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 9 part of their renovation. Commissioner Stein stated if they exceed a certain dollar amount you can. Commissioner Willis added if a certain percentage of the building is damaged, for example. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that insurance is a big incentive for them. He said if they are a sprinklered building, they are going to get a reduction on their insurance rates. He said it is also a marketing aspect for that property as well to say they are a sprinklered building because if a fire would occur, there's a much better likelihood that it will be put out immediately with that system. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated if it was truly an economic incentive (insurance savings) wouldn't all of the buildings all ready have them. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied it is an expensive cost and property owners choose not to make the investment for various reasons. Commissioner Stein asked what would be the advantage of Plymouth offering this to property owners versus them going to the bank and getting it. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded the HRA or city could offer it at a lower interest rate than a bank. Chairman Kulaszewicz asked what would be the amount of time that would be needed on an assessment before you'd get to a point where it saves on insurance. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied everybody we've talked to are offering 10 year assessments. He said he wasn't sure if law allows us to go out further than 10 years. Commissioner Willis added you can, it gets to be a practical period of what the interest rate is going to be on your principal balance. Commissioner Caryotakis asked for clarification that we can't mandate sprinklers on an existing building but if they have a fire or they are doing renovations, then they have to consider installing sprinklers. Commissioner Willis responded if it reaches a certain threshold, they are required to install sprinklers. Commissioner Caryotakis asked if it is possible that property owners are discouraged from doing renovations because it would incur the additional costs of sprinklers. He asked if there are any original buildings that would be renovated if we could provide the incentive by offering subsidy for sprinklers. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied he didn't know if that would be a trigger for a property owner to go through with the renovations or not. He said their bottom line is the market and if their property value is declining because they have only updated their common areas, their units or their appliances, they are going to feel the pressure from the market and they are going to have vacancies. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated to actually trigger the need for updating to city ordinance would require a bigger renovation than those updates. Commissioner Stein stated that he can't imagine an apartment building adding sprinklers unless they are converting to condos or something like that. Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 10 Commissioner Runck stated building trading cap rates are really low right now and his company looked at buying an apartment building in St. Paul and they would have been required to put in sprinklers. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated change of ownership or changes in type of use are other triggers. Commissioner Runck asked if that would be something our city could do if it's not doing it now. Commissioner Willis stated he didn't know but that's something to explore. He asked staff to talk to the landowners/property owners and see what their view of such a program would be. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated we identified about 37 out of 54 properties on our apartment list that have five units or more that do not have sprinklers. He said we could create and mail a survey asking for feedback that we are interested in creating a program as an incentive and asking if they would be interested in such a program. Commissioner Stein stated to send out a letter before we craft a full program to see if there is any interest. He said he would be interested in it if it's something that isn't going to cost the city any money. He said if we used our reserves and we are getting 1%, it doesn't matter if we get 1% from the property owner or the bank. Chairman Kulaszewicz asked if we could make the incentive good enough to entice them to also offer affordable housing. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated their first thought is always if I do this, how much more rent can I get. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated it could be a tool for negotiation. Commissioner Stein asked if we could restrict our Housing Choice vouchers to buildings that are sprinklered. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated we wouldn't want to do that as we are always looking for more buildings to accept the vouchers as it is. Commissioner Runck stated it might be effective to have a case study in the letter that shows an example of the insurance savings versus a 10 year assessment. Commissioner Runck asked how many deaths are from fires in Plymouth. Commissioner Stein stated none; we haven't had a death in a number of years. Commissioner Willis stated it was in the early 70's when a family of three died in a fire. Commissioner Stein stated our on call fire department is remarkable. Commissioner Willis stated they do a good job. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated staff will send a letter to various apartment owners and ask them if they would be interested in this program, staff will research what kind of average savings insurance companies offer and then report back to the Board. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated insurance companies usually have a standard rate for sprinkler versus non sprinkler, combustive versus not, etc. She said she would Approved Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority January 24, 2013 Page 11 check with their agent to see if they could get a MN per foot rate in the Hennepin County area. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated staff would look at the League's insurance as well. Commissioner Stein asked if buildings have smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are required by law. Commissioner Stein asked if a program for hard wiring systems would be worth looking into. Commissioner Willis asked if either of our buildings have problems with carbon monoxide. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded that there is potential for issues in Vicksburg Crossing but in Plymouth Towne Square there is no potential for carbon monoxide due to the type of heating system. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated staff would look at the possibility of creating a hard wired program. He said they would have to talk with fire safety inspectors first. Commissioner Stein stated if they are opening up walls and ceilings, they might as well pull the wire for the smoke detectors. Commissioner Willis stated he thought it was a good idea to follow up on as well. 4. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Chair Kulaszewicz, without objection, to adjourn the meeting at 8:13 p.m.