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05/09/2023 Neighborhood and Affordable Meeting Minutes May 9, 2023 Housing Advisory Board City of Clearwater Main Library- Council Chambers 100 N. Osceola Avenue Clearwater, FL 33755 e Meeting Minutes Tuesday, May 9, 2023 9:00 AM Main Library - Council Chambers Neighborhood and Affordable Housing Advisory Board 1 City of Clearwater Neighborhood and Affordable Meeting Minutes May 9, 2023 Housing Advisory Board Roll Call Present 7 - Chair Kevin Chinault Vice Chair Robyn Fiel, Board Member Camille Hebting, Board Member Gaby Camacho, Board Member Lindsay Dicus-Harrison, and Board Member Carmen Santiago Also Present— Denise Sanderson — Economic Development & Housing Director and Nicole Sprague — Deputy City Clerk 1. Call To Order 2. Approval of Minutes 2.1 Approve the April 11, 2023, NAHAB Meeting Minutes Member Hebting moved to approve the minutes of the April 11, 2023 Neighborhood Affordable Housing Advisory Board meeting as submitted in written summation. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. 3. Citizens to be Heard Regarding Items Not on the Agenda Beth Davis said it is exciting to see the new housing dashboard. She encouraged the Board to ask Council to budget more funding for affordable housing related needs. Cassandra Gadson said she was able to get her wheelchair fixed through resources she found out about through a presentation given by city leaders. She said Metropolitan Ministries provided her with rental assistance but they need funding too. Brian Beckman said he attended a resiliency conference last week and insurance rates were discussed. It was a scary conversation with no solutions provided. Affordable housing will be affected by increased insurance rates. Eliseo Santana said members of the League of United Latin Americans have expressed a need to address housing affordability. The beach workforce responsible for the tourism industry cannot afford to reside in Clearwater. They travel a great distance to get to work every day. 4. New Business Items 4.1 Review of current and planned Affordable and Workforce Housing inventories, City Wide Housing Study and 5-yr Dashboard. 2 City of Clearwater Neighborhood and Affordable Meeting Minutes May 9, 2023 Housing Advisory Board Economic Development and Housing Director Denise Sanderson provided a PowerPoint presentation. She said as part of citywide strategy, different dashboards will be implemented. The Affordable & Workforce Housing dashboard will be live in a few weeks. One individual spoke in support of the dashboard. 4.2 Approve stove staff recommended funding allocations among applicants for Fiscal Year 2023/24 Community Development Block Grant funding. Applicants for Community Development Block Grant funding for Public Service programs, Public Facility improvements and Economic Development programs presented their funding requests to the Neighborhood and Affordable Housing Advisory Board on April 11, 2023. Staff requests approval of recommended allocations. Also included in the draft proposed budget are funding allocations for additional federal and state resources. Ms. Sanderson provided a PowerPoint presentation and reviewed the allocation requests and staff recommended funding allocations for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. In response to questions, Ms. Sanderson said the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) establishes the cap for public services at 15%. The carry over funds is mostly encumbered for public facility projects that are complete. The process is lengthy, and projects often carry over into the following year. Funding is legally restricted. She said there is $250,000 available in the General Fund that provides funding to six organizations that to serve the homeless population, but the city can only fund those organizations that comply with HUD guidelines. One individual suggested the Board have the rules in front of them when they review funding requests. One individual supported funding for future years. One individual said solar power helps the affordability of homeownership. One individual said she understands the limitations on funding and having the knowledge on how funding is established helps ease frustration. A comment was made that after sitting on the board for a few years, it is nice to see new organizations apply for funding. There is a direct link to 3 City of Clearwater Neighborhood and Affordable Meeting Minutes May 9, 2023 Housing Advisory Board affordable childcare services and the workforce. Member Santiago moved to approve staff recommended funding allocations among applicants for Fiscal Year 2023/24 Community Development Block Grant funding. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. Ms. Sanderson reviewed the draft affordable and workforce housing dashboard. She hopes it will be live in a couple weeks. The dashboard is broken down by how categories are tracked, for instance multi-family, construction, rehabilitation, single family home acquisition, etc. The dashboard will not report out any current fiscal year data. She said she hopes to expand information in the future to include facilities and services funding that is provided. In response to a question, Ms. Sanderson said goals and measurables are reported out in the annual CAPER report per HUD requirements, including how many units are produced and where money is spent. She said better reporting should include an understanding of the funding sources and the limitations that come with them that would help identify needs and help Council to establish goals to measure against them. 5. Old Business Items 6. Director's Report Ms. Sanderson said Pete Scalia is no longer on the board as he termed out. Kevin Chinault also termed out but reapplied and was reappointed. Ms. Sanderson thanked him for his continued service. Council appointed Linda Byers to the board, who is the finance and rehabilitation manager with the City of St. Petersburg. She said the July meeting will include a required public hearing for the Annual Action Plan. The report is due to HUD in August and represents FY23/24, and the fourth year of the five-year consolidated plan. The report will incorporate the expected funding sources and include project descriptions and funding allocations. She said the Board will review the newly passed Live Local Act, which shows an increase in state allocated funding for workforce housing related items. In response to questions, Ms. Sanderson said E-comments will be an option for the public to participate and provide feedback and questions to the Board. She said she will work with Public Communications to put messages out on social media about the meetings. A comment was made that public participation at the last couple meetings was great. 4 City of Clearwater Neighborhood and Affordable Housing Advisory Board 7. Board Members to be Heard 8. Adjourn Attest: --Ck? Board Reporter City of Clearwater a Meeting Minutes May 9, 2023 Members thanked the individuals for providing comments and feedback at today's meeting. Chair Chinault requested Board feedback regarding what can be done to prepare for the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) that will convene in the fall. He said public feedback is appreciated and proposed a roundtable discussion to elicit public comment and questioned what the Board could do to encourage discussion among interested parties. In response to a question, Ms. Sanderson said Council will establish the AHAC and appoint the members in August and the meetings will start in September. She said she would check the board rules to see if anything else may be required for such an activity. The meeting adjourned at 10:28 A.M. Chair Neighborhood & Affordable Housing Advisory Board 5