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Minutes Housing Comm. 10 26 04 MINUTES OF HOUSING COMMISSION MEETING DATE: TIME: PLACE: 26 October 2004 4p.m. Housing and Community Development Department Office As Chairperson Kapler and Vice-Chairperson Eddy were absent from the meeting, the first order of business was for the Commission to appoint a Chair for this meeting. Commissioner Schwendinger motioned to appoint Commissioner Holz. Commissioner Culbertson seconded. Motion passed by a voice vote. Chairperson Holz called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. following staff assurance of compliance with Iowa Open Meeting Law. Commissioners Present: Danita Grant Angie Mozena Dorothy Culbertson Jim Holz Harry Neustadt Dorothy Schwendinger, OSF John Plein Commissioners Absent: Char Eddy Bill Helling Dave Kapler Staff Present: David Harris Aggie Tauke Tusdee Blus Janet Walker Public Present: Daniel Engling Welcome New Commission Member: AmlÏe Mozena Introductions were made for and welcome was extended to our new Commission Member, Angie Mozena. Review and certification of Minutes of 28 September 2004 Commission Meeting Commissioner Neustadt moved to approve the 28 September 2004 Commission meeting minutes. Commissioner Culbertson seconded. Roll call. Commissioner Mozena abstained. All others present in favor. Motion passed. Correspondence I Public Input Mr. Daniel Engling was present to discuss the agenda item regarding the application policy for disabled veterans. His comments were deferred until this item was to be discussed later in the meeting. Old Business HUD 2006 - 2010 Consolidated Planning Process; Aggie Tauke, Community Development Specialist Aggie provided information on the Consolidated Plan. A 5-year plan is required by HUD, which is currently in the process of being written. Surveys have been done, and several agencies and commissions have provided input into the process. The next step will be to prioritize the data they've gathered. Aggie then reviewed the handout she provided to the Commission. She stated that federal funds can be used on medium or high priority items only. The Commission then reviewed the items presented and determined which would be high and medium priority, so as to ensure that all items receive funding. Aggie will provide follow-up information as more becomes available. This will be part of what will be presented to the CD Commission. Application Policy for Single, Non-disabled, Non-elderly Section 8 Participants Janet provided an update for the Commission. She has spoken with Kelly Larson. Kelly didn't feel there would be any local discrimination issues; however, she referred Janet to HUD, who in turn referred her to Fair Housing, and from there she was referred to the attorneys in the HUD office. This group of attorneys will be reviewing our current policy and provide a recommendation. Janet will provide this information to the Commission when it is received. Request for Appeal: Krista Anderson Ms. Anderson has requested an appeal hearing by David Harris. She was denied her assistance for vacating without notice. She did not appeal within her given timeframe (20 days) and now must request an appeal through the Commission. Her request letter was reviewed by the Commission and Chairperson Holz asked if we knew when she had been released from Mt. Pleasant. He stated that under the circumstances, and since we don't know when she was released, that he could understand her lapse in time in making her appeal. Janet provided additional information, stating that Staff had been informed by her landlord that she had vacated the unit. On June 21 5t a termination letter was mailed to her by her caseworker, and on June 26th the letter was returned to our office. She was subsequently terminated July 1, 2004 from our program. Commissioner Grant moved to allow Ms. Anderson a hearing with David. Commissioner Culbertson seconded. Roll call. All present in favor. Motion passed. New Business Application Policy for Disabled Veterans Janet noted that all changes to the Administrative Plan are in bold type. The definition of a disabled person currently is those persons receiving SSI or SSD. Janet has spoken with Charlie Brimeyer at the Veteran Affairs office and he has provided the information with which she has rewritten the policy to accommodate disabled veterans and disabled persons not receiving SSI or SSD. This policy will be (changes are in bold): 3b. Verification of disability shall be written notice from the Social Security Administration or Veteran's Administration. The applicant shall be considered disabled if he/she is receiving SSI or SSD from the Social Security Administration or if they are under 65 years of age and receiving Medicare benefits. The applicant shall also be considered disabled if he/she is receiving VA benefits and one of the following circumstances apply: i. Under 65 years of age and receiving a Non-Service Connected Pension ii. Receiving "Service Connected Compensation" Benefits at 70% or above iii. Receiving Individual Unemployability Benefits Mr. Daniel Engling was present and asked to address the Commission as a disabled veteran. He is currently 10% disabled and has applied for SSD/SSI and an increase of his VA benefits. He questioned the percentages proposed to determine VA disability. He has recently been told by his doctors that he can no longer work, but at his current percentage, he wo,uld not be qualified to apply for Housing Assistance, even with the proposed changes. He said that he does have children, but does not have 51% custody of them. Therefore, his situation does not constitute a family under our policy and he is not eligible to apply based upon that criteria either. Janet then explained what 51% custody means, stating that we cannot help 2 parents in separate households claiming the same children in each household. One parent must have 51% custody and that would be the household in which we would count the children for assistance. She stated that court documents, proof of health benefits, tax documents claiming the children as dependants, school records are all acceptable proof of primary custody. David noted that Mr. Engling has two separate issues - one is the VA disability issue and the other is his family composition. Mr. Engling is working with Charlie at the VA to apply for his pension, but that process can take months before benefits could start being received. Mr. Engling suggested that veterans be allowed to apply and given a specific timeframe in which they would be required to obtain their disability payments, or be terminated from the S8 program. Janet addressed this stating that once someone is given the assistance, HUD regulations prohibit us from adding stipulations for terminating them from the program (i.e. if they did not end up receiving their disability benefits). She then made suggestions to Mr. Engling of other sources of assistance for him. Commissioner Neustadt motioned to incorporate 3b. into the Section 8 Administrative Plan. Commissioner Culbertson seconded. Roll call. All others present in favor. Motion passed. Washington Street Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy David presented the plan using a map presentation board of the proposed affected areas. There is a high concentration of rental properties, low income, single parent families as well as low property values in this area. The premise is to encourage owner occupancy in this area, and to provide additional incentives to attract persons with higher incomes to move into this area. There are plans to build a park for the children. John Gronen is proposing a tax credit-funded adaptive reuse of the former Dubuque Casket Factory in this area as well. Meetings are being held with department heads to discuss this project. The City Manager has indicated support of the concept. Housing Assistance Plan This was an addition to Aggie's presentation, in which David provided information from the Loras College census data. This information was used by David in preparing the Housing Trust Fund application. Trends and needs identified in the analysis included growth of the non-white population, lead paint, the age of the population, inadequate rental units (3 bedroom or larger) and increases in single parent families. Information Sharing NAHRO David mentioned and reviewed the information on the handout he provided regarding impacts on funding cut backs for the Housing Voucher program. HUD E-mails Janet noted that we have additional monies coming to us from HUD, including for homeownership assistance, lead paint testing and increased audit costs. Commissioner Neustadt then asked David about the money originally designated for our building renovation. David stated that it had been reallocated this year to the City Garage instead, and that our new budget timeframe would be for the 2006 budget year. Direct Deposit Janet noted that we would like to implement another cost savings program, that being mandatory direct deposit for all of our landlords. Currently, only 20% participate in this option. The reason for this proposal is the number of lost checks, and the extra cost involved in stopping them, reprinting, etc. Janet asked the Commission if they felt it would be acceptable to require participation. As a group, they felt it would be. Commissioner Culbertson stated that perhaps we should ask the current 20% that participate to promote it at the next Landlord Association Meeting. The Commission also made a suggestion of providing advanced notice (60 days) to the landlords so they have time to adjust to the change. Stewart Hearing Janet stated that the hearing is tomorrow. A packet of information was sent out to all involved and Angela Stewart was notified. A Police presence will be there, as well as Staff, the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals. Atty. Ann McDonough represented the Housing Department as the Hearing Examiner. Miscellaneous Updates Commissioner Grant found in favor of David's decision in the appeal hearing for Brandy Marion. Friday the City of Davenport will be in Dubuque to meet regarding our Code Enforcement programs, our relationship with the COP Program and our Housing Summit experience. David stated that ECIA (County Housing) will be building a tax credit housing project in Asbury and they've asked for a letter of support from us. The Commission tabled their request. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the Commission, Commissioner Grant moved to adjourn. Commissioner Culbertson seconded. Motion passed by a voice vote. Meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m. , , w