Minutes 06-06-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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17 Yvette Mathews is here representing Community Empowerment Fund. She said this organization has over 1,000 members, and more affordable housing units are needed. She asked the Board if there is a way to secure more funding for affordable housing projects, and invited the Board to visit these organizations and communities first hand. Mairella Hernandez said she is a Family Success Alliance Navigator. She said she works with many families, whom are undocumented immigrants living in bad conditions. She said despite their situation, these families still work and pay taxes and are looking for affordable housing like Empowerment provides. She asked the Board to fund Empowerment's second project. Jess Grandeis, CASA Housing Developer, said it has over 300 households on its waiting list. She said CASA is thankful for the funding it has received for its project. She said CASA is pursuing a SUP with the Town of Chapel Hill and a conditional use permit with the Town of Carrboro. She said the two Towns are demonstrating great collaborative effort. Chair Dorosin said he appreciated the comments from providers and clients. Commissioner Marcoplos said $5 million of bond funding is not a lot of money, and it is hard to meet the needs with this amount. He said home designs are becoming smaller, and he asked providers if their dwellings are becoming smaller and more efficiently designed. He said he would like to hear feedback on this topic, and money can go further when the dwellings are smaller. Delores Bailey said Empowerment's style is different, and it is purchasing smaller older homes that range from 600-900 square feet, in which Empowerment installs energy efficient appliances. Commissioner Marcoplos asked if the size of the apartments in the projected Waterstone senior housing could be identified. Susan Levy said she has provided floor plans to the Board, and there are three different types of units: a studio at 650 square feet; a 1-bedroom unit and 1-bedroom unit with a niche, both of which are less than 750 square feet. Jess Grandeis from CASA said the Merritt Mill development has 1-bedroom units at 600- 650 square feet, and the two-bedroom units are 900 square feet. She said CASA tries to be as cost effective as possible, in both square footage and amenities. She said there are some minimum floor plan square footage requirements in Chapel Hill, as well as with the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, which is a major funder. Commissioner Price said she is concerned that the funding should be spread around, and currently the majority is going to two very good organizations; but she would like to fully fund Empowerment, as it works with existing housing stock, and can house people much faster. She said she would like to take away enough funding from the other two organizations to fund Empowerment's second project. She asked if staff would guide Empowerment in the request process, so that Empowerment can improve its submissions and achieve a higher score in the future. Commissioner Jacobs asked if Empowerment's project would have matching funding from the towns. Annette Moore said there is no matching fund, and Empowerment is asking for 100% of its funding from the County. Delores Bailey said the bond funding came quickly, and these two projects were already on Empowerment's list to do, and that is why these projects were submitted. She said the bond money is to help Empowerment to address the lowest needs, and Empowerment did not plan to leverage it. She said other funding sources include a time lag, and would ultimately require Empowerment to come before the BOCC and request funding, such as HOME or Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). She said the main concern is that Empowerment's housing inventory is full, and the goal is to get more as quickly as possible. She said the two projects