Affordable Housing Task Force

COLUMBIA AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE MEETING AGENDA TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2023 The Columbia Affordable Housing Task Force will conduct a Meeting on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. using Video Conferencing Technology. Members of the public may view the meeting online at www.columbiasc.gov. Please contact the City Clerk’s Office at (803)545-3045 or cityclerk@columbiasc.gov if you have questions regarding the meeting. Prior to entering the meeting please turn all electronic communication devices to the silent, vibrate or off position. All presenters are asked to speak directly into the microphone for recording purposes. CALL TO ORDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approval of the October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 2. All Things Housing Update - Ms. Missy Gentry, P.E., Assistant City Manager for Development Services 3. Advocacy Committee Report - Mr. Dylan Gunnels 4. Development Committee Report - Dr. Lila Anna Sauls ADJOURNMENT Page 1 of 1  1 MEETING DATE: February 14, 2023 DEPARTMENT: City Clerk FROM: Erika Hammond, City Clerk SUBJECT: Approval of the October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes FUNDING SOURCE & ORIGINAL BUDGET: ATTACHMENTS:  AHTF_MN_10112022 (PDF) Updated: 2/10/2023 2:32 PM Page 1 Packet Pg. 2  1.a COLUMBIA AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2022 Attachment: AHTF_MN_10112022 (8257 : Approval of October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes) The Columbia Affordable Housing Task Force met on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 using video conferencing technology. The Honorable Tina N. Herbert, Chair called the meeting to order at 11:05 a.m. and the following members were present: Attendee Name Title Status Tina N. Herbert Chair Present Jeff Armstrong Family Promise Absent Julie Ann Avin MIRCI Absent Reggie Barner The Barner Group Absent Yvonda A. Bean Columbia Housing Authority Present Sue Berkowitz SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center Present Brenna Bernardin Fast Forward Present Pamela Bynoe-Reed Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority Absent Dylan Gunnels Director at Haven Homes Present Tonya Isaac Community Representative Absent Jeff Larimore Midlands Housing Trust Fund Absent Jennifer Moore United Way Present Shayla Riley Coldwell Banker Absent Lila Anna Sauls Homeless No More Present Gregory Sprouse Central Midlands Council of Governments Absent Allison Terracio Richland County Council Present Regina Williams Board Member Absent Jim Zieche More Justice Present Chris Zimmer Truist Bank Absent Ward Mungo Mungo Construction Present Kevin Connelly Connelly Builders Present Brittani Richards Habitat for Humanity Present APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approval of August 9, 2022 Meeting Minutes Upon a motion made by Dr. Sauls and seconded by Ms. Bean, task force members voted unanimously to approve the August 9, 2022 meeting minutes as amended to reflect that Kevin Connelly was present. Affordable Housing Task Force October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes - Page 1 of 5 Packet Pg. 3  1.a COLUMBIA AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2022 Attachment: AHTF_MN_10112022 (8257 : Approval of October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes) COMMITTEE REPORTS 2. Advocacy Committee Report - Mr. Dylan Gunnels Dylan Gunnels presented the Advocacy Committee report. The goals were reduced to three instead of five. We will develop an education campaign that focuses on landlords, tenants, and elected officials. For goal one, Sue and Yvonda will handle the storytelling campaign by creating a video in partnership with the city's Public Relations Department or Columbia Housing. This will include a partnership with the City of Columbia on a fair housing campaign. For the second goal, we changed the housing directory to a housing justice directory that is relevant to the shared resources we have as a network. Jeff Armstrong and I will take the lead on developing the directory. We will work on a shared calendar and research other platforms for information sharing. We want to follow up with Brenna and Jennifer on the list of contacts that was previously created. The third goal is to establish a housing court. Appleseed is already putting together a housing court and they recently hired a housing justice organizer. Sue Berkowitz introduced Emily Blackshire as the housing justice attorney for SC Appleseed. Dylan Gunnels continued to report that November 12-20, 2022 is Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Yvonda Bean said we will be reaching out to Councilwoman Herbert for potential resources to assist with the affordable housing presentation. Councilor Herbert said I spoke with our internal folks and a marketing agency about ways we can approach this through digital media. We want professional videos and materials. Ward Mungo suggested that social media would be the best platform. Allison Terracio suggested that information will thrive on Facebook. Kevin Connelly suggested that a better definition is needed for attainable. Councilor Herbert suggested a proclamation for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Jennifer Moore announced that the Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week Prayer Breakfast is scheduled for November 18, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. at Shandon Presbyterian Church. Affordable Housing Task Force October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes - Page 2 of 5 Packet Pg. 4  1.a COLUMBIA AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2022 Attachment: AHTF_MN_10112022 (8257 : Approval of October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes) 3. Development Committee Report - Dr. Lila Anna Sauls Lila Anna Sauls agreed to chair the Development Committee and Ward Mungo will serve as co- chair. We reviewed and streamlined the initial priorities for the Development Committee. We all agreed on the market analysis because what we do needs to be based on data. The SC Homebuilders Association on behalf of SC State Housing will have the market analysis that comes out every two years. We can couple that with data from Columbia Housing. You will have everything from 30% to 120% to talk about the entire picture of the need for attainable housing. We want to dig deeper into capital opportunities. We talked about approaching deadlines. The transparency and regulations of funding from State Housing is going to disqualify smaller agencies and church driven Community Development Corporations (CDCs). Capacity building is needed for those organizations followed by how you would develop the affordable housing. We talked about proposed changes to the rehab renovation program that a lot of the small CDCs use. It adds levels of inspections and the smaller CDCs may not have the capacity to take advantage of the program moving forward. We circled back to capital for developers. The money isn’t there. What kind of incentives could be offered? What are other cities doing to make it attractive for affordable housing developers to build units? Councilor Herbert asked if we are targeting affordable housing developers or developers to make sure we get more affordable housing. Lila Anna Sauls said you can be a housing developer incentivized to build affordable units. Ward Mungo asked what level of affordability we are going to tackle. A market rate developer may be able to hit the workforce levels, but tapping into the markets that allow developers to get tax credits is not a skill set that a market rate developer carries. They will need to partner with an affordable developer to make that a reality. It is important to define what we want so that we attract the right people. Councilor Herbert said it is important to make sure the affordable housing developers continue what they are doing and to encourage market rate developers to build workforce/affordable housing. Lila Anna Sauls said the market analysis is going to show that you need both. We talked about doing a deeper dive into the best use of condemned properties. We would use the task force meeting to bring in city staff to educate the group on one subject matter at a time. The next step would be finding best practices and programs that we can use while waiting on the market analysis. Affordable Housing Task Force October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes - Page 3 of 5 Packet Pg. 5  1.a COLUMBIA AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2022 Attachment: AHTF_MN_10112022 (8257 : Approval of October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes) Councilor Herbert said I will talk with staff about getting the condemned properties list early next year. Is there anything else you need from me or staff? Lila Anna Sauls said it would be helpful for them to bring programs to the table. Melissa Gentry, Assistant City Manager for Development said the Catawba Project received tax abatement and one of the conditions was that they included an affordable housing component. They recently contacted us to ensure that they understand what that means. They are committed to it. Most of the other incentive projects are around a market that targets students. Catawba may be a good group for us to talk to and better understand how that works. STAFF REPORT 4. Columbia Compass Housing Recommendations - Ms. Leigh DeForth, AICP, Comprehensive Planner / City of Columbia Planning and Development Services Department Leigh DeForth, AICP, Comprehensive Planner / Planning and Development Services Department said Columbia Compass is the city’s comprehensive plan. The work of the committee aligns with the guiding principles of the plan, especially those in the housing chapter. There are specific recommendations and other recommendations that overlap because land use, economic development, and transportation interrelate with housing. I created a spreadsheet with ten recommendations from Columbia Compass that align with the work of the committee: eight from the housing chapter; one from the economic development chapter; and one from the community facilities chapter. We noticed that the Advocacy Committee’s goals align more closely with the recommendations tied to inter-organizational collaboration, outreach, education, and building social capital. The Advocacy Committee is spending less time on revising city standards and more time on developing those collaborative teams and neighborhood assistance. Partnering with the fair housing campaign will also help build life skills for tenants. There is not a recommendation in Columbia Compass tied to establishing a housing court. The spirit of that work is not against anything in the comprehensive plan and eviction data is supportive of the need to deal with that crisis. We have provided a cheat sheet, details on the recommendations, and case studies that look at what other communities are doing. Let me know if there is something that I can highlight or include in the annual report on the implementation of Columbia Compass. Affordable Housing Task Force October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes - Page 4 of 5 Packet Pg. 6  1.a COLUMBIA AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2022 Attachment: AHTF_MN_10112022 (8257 : Approval of October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes) Councilor Herbert said my overarching reason for including this report is to make sure that we understand that the committee is not the lone wolf; we are helping the city achieve recommendations and goals that are part of Columbia Compass. This is our validation and every six months I want to make sure we are continuously validated in what we are doing to help the city reach its goals with affordable housing. NEXT STEPS 5. Committee Meeting Schedule - Ms. Erika Moore Hammond, City Clerk Erika Hammond, City Clerk said it is easier for the committees to meet on the Tuesdays that the task force is not meeting. The next committee meetings will be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. One committee can meet at 11:00 a.m. and the other meeting time can be determined. 6. Task Force Meeting Schedule - The Honorable Tina N. Herbert, Chair Councilor Herbert said the task force will not meet in December. There was consensus of the committee to conduct task force meetings on the second Tuesday of odd-numbered months at 11:00 a.m. and committee meetings will meet on the second Tuesday of even-numbered months effective January 2023. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:56 a.m. Respectfully submitted: Erika D. Moore Hammond, CMC City Clerk Affordable Housing Task Force October 11, 2022 Meeting Minutes - Page 5 of 5 Packet Pg. 7  2 MEETING DATE: February 14, 2023 DEPARTMENT: City Clerk FROM: Erika Hammond, City Clerk SUBJECT: All Things Housing Update - Ms. Missy Gentry, P.E., Assistant City Manager for Development Services FUNDING SOURCE & ORIGINAL BUDGET: Updated: 2/10/2023 2:19 PM Page 1 Packet Pg. 8  3 MEETING DATE: February 14, 2023 DEPARTMENT: City Clerk FROM: Erika Hammond, City Clerk SUBJECT: Advocacy Committee Report - Mr. Dylan Gunnels FUNDING SOURCE & ORIGINAL BUDGET: Updated: 2/10/2023 2:22 PM Page 1 Packet Pg. 9  4 MEETING DATE: February 14, 2023 DEPARTMENT: City Clerk FROM: Erika Hammond, City Clerk SUBJECT: Development Committee Report - Dr. Lila Anna Sauls FUNDING SOURCE & ORIGINAL BUDGET: Updated: 2/10/2023 2:23 PM Page 1 Packet Pg. 10