Minutes_Houisng Commission 9 22 15 NOTES OF HOUSING COMMISSION MEETING
NOTE: Unofficial notes,there was not a quorum at this meeting.
DATE: 22 September 2015
TIME: 4:00 PM
PLACE: Housing and Community Development Department
350 West 6`' Street, Suite 312, Dubuque, IA 52001
Acting Chairperson Schwendinger, following staff assurance of compliance with Iowa Open Meeting Law,
called the meeting to order at 4:06 pm.
Commissioners Present: Dorothy Schwendinger Robert McDonell (telephone)
Amy Eudaley David Wall
Rick Baumhover
Commissioners Excused: N/A
Staff Present: Teresa Bassler Kim Glaser
Erica Haugen Janet Walker
Kris Neyen
Public Present: Nicholas Hobson
Review and Certification of Minutes of 25 August 2015 Commission Meeting
No quorum. August 25, 2014 minutes will be on next month's agenda.
Correspondence/Public Input
None
Old Business
Discussion of the SEMAP—Section Eight Management Assessment Plan report for FY2015
Teresa Bassler explained details of the different segments of the report. Adjusted Income was an area
of assessment that verified caseworkers were correctly computing adjusted income for participants. In
this sampling the Program needed 90% of those reviewed to achieve all the points on the SEMAP,
which the Program did achieve. In addition, the Program achieved 100% on the Housing Quality
Standard (HQS) Enforcement section of the SEMPA. The Housing Quality Standards is another
section of the SEMAP report. We needed to do quality checks on a percentage of the total overall
inspections. We did do the required amount of quality control inspections. The purpose of this section
is to verify all inspectors are consistent in their enforcement of the Housing Code. There were a few
questions posed by the Commission. Bob Boge will be in attendance at the next meeting to address
any questions on the HQS quality control process.
The Housing Choice Voucher Program also received satisfactory scores on the Reasonable Rent
section of the SEMAP. If there is a new participant or landlord requesting a rent increase it is required
that caseworkers find 3 unassisted units in the community similar in characteristics to the assisted unit
to make sure the rents being charged are comparable to an unassisted rental unit.
The Program also received a satisfactory score on the Waiting List section of the SEMAP. This
segment assesses our process on pulling individuals from the waiting list based on the criteria from our
Administrative Plan. Everything was pulled correctly and we scored 100% on that section.
New Business
Reports
Crime Report
Commissioners received a summary of Cpl. Koch's crime reports.
CDBG Advisory Commission Report
Erica Haugen, CDBG Specialist, reported on the Community Development Advisory Commission.
Two public hearings were called. One hearing was held for the competition for the National Disaster
Resilency Grant. This is a HUD grant for communities that were impacted by Natural Disasters. This
is an application being submitted by the State of Iowa on a watershed approach. There are 10
watersheds that will be focused and each will have a unique plan. The City of Dubuque portion of the
application will be for the Bee Branch watershed. We are applying for 1 I million to repair
approximately 400 homes in the watershed territory. If awarded, grant funds will be available for
assistance to home owners that were affected by the 6 National Disasters since 1999 that have severely
hit the watershed areas. The grant application is due at the end of October 2015. The awards are
anticipated to be announced by HUD in January 2016.
The other public hearing was for the CAPER. The draft of the CAPER is online or for review in the
Housing Department office. The City spent $1.4 million dollars in the reporting period. 98%of the
funds were used for low to moderate income population.
Rehab Report
Kris Neyen, Rehabilitation Program Supervisor, reported the Iowa Finance Authority(IFA) Trust Fund
Committee met twice in September and approved the IFA grant application. Kris Neyen changed the
Program to include persons with an income below 30% can be approved for$25,000 of down payment
assistance. This will make it more obtainable for people with very low income. The Trust Fund
approved the change and changed it from the assistance just being within the Washington
Neighborhood to being city-wide.
Any homestead the City owns a 21 year restricted covenant be placed on the property and placed on the
abstract. This restricts the property from changing from an owner occupied property to a rental. The
City is trying to reduce the number of properties that are being converted to rental units.
Kris Neyen visited Badger Ridge Homes in East Dubuque that are very nice single family homes that
are rental units. It is an entire neighborhood. The City of Dubuque is interested in seeing how that
neighborhood was financed and developed: -
Neighborhood Services
Jerelyn O'Connor was not present at the meeting to present a report.
Information Sharine
Rick Baumhover shared on Saturday September 26, 2015 Kmart is hosting a National Safety Day fair.
There will be presentations from safety professionals such as police, sheriff, and EMS departments.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Commission, the meeting ended at 4:50 pm.
Minutes taken by:
Kim Glaser
Recording Secretary
Respectfully submitted by:
Alvin Nash
Department Director