HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-29-2022 Lansing Housing Commission tO : Qf
Lansing Housing
COMMISSION 419 Cherry St., Lansing, MI 48933 Telephone: (517)487-6550 Fax: (517)487-6977
Minutes of June 29, 2022
Commissioner Henry called the meeting to order at 5:31 p.m. Mr. Fleming called the roll.
PRESENT AT ROLL CALL: Commissioners Emma Henry, Don Sober left at 7:23 pm, Loria
Hall, and Heather Taylor, Ashlee Barker was absent.
STAFF:
Douglas Fleming Marcus Hardy
Kim Shirey Jennifer Burnette
Steven Raiche — Contractor Sam Spadafore - Contractor
Guests: None
Commissioner Hall moved and Commissioner Taylor seconded a motion to approve the
minutes of the May 4, 2022, commission meeting. The Motion was approved by all
members present.
Public Comment: limit 3 minutes per person
Jon Horford — Wanted to know the total number of properties to be sold, how it was to be
decided which house was to be sold, and if duplexes include the entire duplex, and does
certification substitute application for section 8
Charla Burnett — Residents came to her a few months ago stating they were uncertain what
was happening and requested for her to advocate for them. She wants to be sure each person
who lives in the house has an opportunity to purchase their home if they can and choose to.
She began knocking on the doors of LHC residents to be sure they know what is happening.
She would like to know if LHC will extend home purchase deadlines so that some have
additional time to potentially purchase their home. Also, she is concerned about the state of
some of the homes. She wants to be sure that all are working together to be sure repairs are
made. She also wants clarification on if they are recertifications or if they roll over into the
voucher program or if they need to reapply. Provided a study and concerns.
Shannon Norris — Has been speaking with residents in their homes. Questions that she states
residents have, is there a place on the LHC website that has the Section 18 program voucher
application, and what is the deadline for the voucher application? Inquired about how many
residents are not in good standing and what not in good standing means. How many residents
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Lansing Housing Commission Minutes June 29,2022
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Lansing Housing
COMMISSION 419 Cherry St., Lansing, MI 48933 Telephone: (517)487-6550 Fax: (517)487-6977
are required to pay a flat rate instead of income-based, what financial empowerment
assistance have you given residents to become mortgage ready, wants to see call list for work
orders, who is assessing and placing value on homes, and how many are red tagged, pink
tagged, see RFP criteria, proposal, who answered RFP's and what score was received, and
contract with SK Investments?
Jody Washington — Has been knocking on doors and feels homes are in ill repair. States a
resident told her that if she cleaned her home, it would be considered that she could move.
She is concerned that the LCH is not maintaining units and they will manage when the SK sale
is completed. LHC has taken over every voucher program since the closing of Holy Cross and
she feels LHC has too much on its plate. Wants to know who is inspecting the units yearly.
Kim Shirey — Director of Housing Programs at LHC addressed some of the concerns:
personally spoke to individuals that were mentioned in public comment. The one resident she
spoke to at the meeting with residents previously received a new refrigerator this afternoon.
Spoke to them again today and residents were thankful and understood the timeframe to
address the remainder of their repairs according to the call. Also, provided contact info as we
have a staff member that can assist with any possible language barriers if their interpreter is
unavailable. Also answered all questions regarding purchasing the home. The family stated
that would have to clean their home in order to move, Kim states that was not the conversation
she had with them. She states they had a good conversation: she fixed her garbage disposal
while present, and assisted with putting her smoke detectors up, we take those calls very
seriously when we are made aware of them. She explained to the family that LHC was going to
move her into a larger unit, but that she would be back in a few days, and we needed about 30
days to make that happen.
Action Items:
• Resolution 1336 —Approval of Annual Plan.
Each year our annual plan must be submitted to HUD for approval. We update current
policies and proper HUD updates. Jennifer and Marcus provided the updates that
differentiated from the previous year's annual plan. (See attached)
Commissioner Hall moved and Commissioner Sober seconded a motion to approve Resolution
1336 Annual Plan. The Motion was approved by all members present.
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Lansing Housing Commission Minutes June 29,2022
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Lansing Housing
COMMISSION 419 Cherry St., Lansing, MI 48933 Telephone: (517)487-6550 Fax: (517)487-6977
• Resolution 1337 — approval of revised Education Reimbursement Policy.
Updates LHC's existing education reimbursement policy, which was passed in 2010. The
update changes the reimbursement amount from $1,500 per fiscal year to $4,000 per calendar
year. Financial considerations for the board are $4,000 per employee should an employee
participate at its fullest capacity. The policy indicates that the classes are related to a current job
or a job they are looking to expand within the agency. It must be approved by Supervisor and
Director.
Commissioner Taylor moved and Commissioner Hall seconded a motion to approve
Resolution 1337 Education Reimbursement Policy. The Motion was approved by all
members present.
• Resolution 1338 — approval to submit an application for the disposition of 235 units of
scattered site public housing.
It was explained that this resolution is just specific to the approval of the Section 18 application
being submitted to HUD for approval, not to the sale of the homes.
Commissioner Taylor requested a deferment to obtain further information. Commissioner Hall
has concerns about paragraph 5 in regard to the notification to residents to purchase homes.
Kim Shirey stated that we reached out by phone to all residents at scattered sites, we reached a
large percentage of them. Some did not have a current phone number with us, those residents
were visited by staff members to get updated phone numbers. If not able to connect we left a
letter on the door. We have had additional resident meetings and made it clear to everyone they
spoke to that if they just became aware or were in the process of approval July 1 sc is not a hard
deadline, that if they keep in communication on where they are in the process, we will work with
them to take advantage of this opportunity. They have had approvals as recently as yesterday.
We have a detailed spreadsheet as to who we spoke to, who didn't have working numbers etc.
We adjourned while Kim obtained those spreadsheets from 6:26 pm to 6:39 pm. Motioned by
Sober and Seconded by Taylor. Kim provided that two letters were sent to all residents in early
June and early July. This letter included what the future would consist of it gave options if they
were interested in purchasing their home, taking a voucher, or staying in their home. Have had
resident meetings beginning in June, made 228 phone calls, conversations with 109 residents,
and left 58 messages, there were 68 disconnected phones or unable to leave messages, of
those 68 homes we have knocked on 40 of those doors to obtain updated numbers and make
contact with them. Due to the nature of the information on this spreadsheet, it was asked that if
the board wanted to review it further or have further conversations regarding it that there would
be a motion to go into a closed session for the privacy of that information.
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Lansing Housing
COMMISSION 419 Cherry St., Lansing, MI 48933 Telephone: (517)487-6550 Fax: (517)487-6977
This resolution was motioned by Hall with no Second. It was then deferred after a closed
session from 6:42 pm motioned by Commissioner Henry and seconded by Commission Taylor.
Session re-opened at 7;11 pm, motion by Commissioner Taylor and seconded by Commission
Hall.
• Resolution 1339 — approval to grant 235 project-based vouchers to SK Michigan Real
Estate Development
This resolution was deferred along with resolution 1338.
• Resolution 1340 — approval of FY2023 Operating Budget
The budget was sent out with the board package. Changes for this year is the 4 amps in the
LIPH program, but we have elected to report them as one consolidated unit in the current year
due to the transition of the RAD program. COCC level activity has been the main reporting area
for most unrelated HUD items and most of these have been moved to the business activity
budget this year related to not only RAD entities, but also the de minimis units and work being
done with Habitat for Humanity. That does not include PSH or activity that was taken over from
Holy Cross. It is the goal that the COCC is back in a position that reflects the management of
the core business in the LIPH and HCV program. Commissioner Henry asked how this will
affect what the board receives to review next year as we go through the RAD process. Steve
stated that historically we provided individual AMP information that was summarized by him and
going forward we can continue with that approach or provide information in a different format if
something else is needed by the board.
Commissioner Hall motioned Commissioner Taylor to second a motion to approve Resolution 1340
FY2023 Operating Budget. The Motion was approved by all members present.
This board discussed in December and January at the board meeting that when the HARA took over for
Holy Cross, we accepted some of that responsibility along with them. We give confirmation that we
would support that program for up to $100,000. Our fiscal year ends tomorrow, and we would like to
fulfill that commitment and would like a motion from the board that you approve this to help offset some
of the losses they incurred related to the assumption of the Holy Cross activities. This was motioned by
Commissioner Sober and seconded by Commissioner Hall. Commissioner Henry abstained. The
Motion was approved by all members present.
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Lansing Housing
COMMISSION 419 Cherry St., Lansing, MI 48933 Telephone: (517)487-6550 Fax: (517)487-6977
Informational Items:
Finance Report May 2022 Steven Raiche
• Tomorrow is our Fiscal Year End, working on finalizing books as well as communicating
with our 3rd party accounting service and our external auditors to begin our annual audit
process. we feel good about the year we have accomplished with all the activity that has
taken place.
Housing Choice Voucher May 2022 Jennifer Burnette
Jennifer Burnette provided a brief overview of the May 2022 HCV Reports.
• LHC issued eighteen (18) vouchers that were issued in the month of May. We had one
(1) VASH orientation for the homeless Veterans program for the month of May 2022 we
had one (1) voucher issued with the assistance of community partners. There are
currently an additional eleven (11) vouchers issued and out searching.
• Emergency Housing Vouchers: 19 of the 32 Emergency Housing Vouchers have been
leased up and are housed, 2 are pending calculation or inspection. We have 2 that are
issued and are out searching for housing, 8 are awaiting issuance. 375 regular HCV
applications were mailed out during the month of May, 87 households are out searching
for units, 125 applications are pending documentation or final approval, 1 applicant is
pending a hearing, 9 units are approved and pending inspection and 10 are pending
lease-up
Asset Management Report— May 2022
Public Housing (PH) Scattered Sites — Marcus Hardy
• Public Housing Scattered Sites had an occupancy rate of 94% at the end of May.
There was zero (0) move-in, zero (0) move-outs and zero (0) transfer.
There are 19 vacancies, 4 of which are ready for lease-up. There are 80 open work orders. As
of two weeks ago, the 2-bedroom waiting list opened for a week, which is what the majority of
the vacancies are for. After closing, we ended with 140 applications for scattered sites and
there are 180 for Forest and Hoyt applications. �
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Lansing Housing
COMMISSION 419 Cherry St., Lansing, MI 48933 Telephone: (517)487-6550 Fax: (517)487-6977
Discussion Items:
• RAD Construction Update
Waverly Place is about to be completed. All 140 units have been rehabbed or are
almost complete. Now working on site improvements such as playgrounds, landscaping,
and parking lots which will continue over the next 30-60 days. this will be the first full
completion. They plan to have a grand re-opening in August when all is completed.
Capital City has 167 units of 187 completed. The next 20 units and site improvements
will continue over the next 60-90 days.
Hildebrandt Park began in the spring. The first 22 units have been completed, the next
15 have been turned over to the general contractor. We still have about 6-9 months of
construction to complete that project.
LaRoy Froh was the last of the properties to come under the RAD conversion. The first
set of unit rehabs is underway. This will also be approximately a 9-12-month
construction project.
Other Items: None
Executive Director's Comments: Provided by Kim Shirey
• Scattered Site Improvements — Scattered sites included Forest and Hoyt; we have
partnered with a local company that is going to install attic insulation. This will be
assessed based on energy standards. This will be free of charge to LHC and its
residents, this will improve and hopefully lower utility bills for residents. Those
inspections have been underway this week to determine which homes will need this
upgrade. Furnaces and hot water heaters will also be evaluated to see if this is also
qualified as part of this rebate program.
• Section 18 — Since the last board meeting staff has contacted residents to see if there
are additional questions or to address any maintenance concerns. We also held a
resident meeting yesterday to continue the communication of this process. An additional
meeting will take place in August.
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Lansing Housing
COMMISSION 419 Cherry St., Lansing, MI 48933 Telephone: (517)487-6550 Fax: (517)487-6977
• LHC is working with the City of Lansing on planning and scheduling formal inspections.
In the interim, we are conducting informal inspections of all scattered sites to complete a
general assessment to confirm or address safety conditions. These inspections will be
completed by a 3rd party and will begin after the holiday.
• After the transition to PBV on our scattered sites, residents will be able to take
advantage of the FSS (HCV Advantage) Program. Working with a case manager who
pairs them with resources in the community to achieve specific goals over 5 years to
achieve self-sufficiency. Recently had a graduate of this program which received an
escrow check in the amount of over $30,000.
Other Activities: none
Other Items: none
President's Comments:
• Thank you to everyone for sharing. We are all here because we care about the people
of Lansing, the underserved, and people that may not be able to advocate for
themselves. It's appreciated that you all shared your concerns with us, and your
comments have been taken very seriously and further conversations will take place
regarding the comments.
Other Business:
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:36 p.m.
Date
Emma Henry Board Chair
Date 7 Z Z�—
JF11hing, Acting ecretary
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