Agenda - 12-10-2024; 8-a - Minutes

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25 1 Chair Bedford said that the history is that Habitat scored higher, but they provided the 2 award to Empowerment because of the impact on the need. 3 Commissioner Fowler said that she thought that leveraging was based on leveraging of 4 the county's funds. 5 Blake Rosser said it is not gone, and he will take the discussion and come back with 6 options. 7 Commissioner Hamilton said that she agrees that the ability to repay should not be the 8 only way that leverage is used. 9 Commissioner Richards said that she agrees. 10 Chair Bedford said that if you are discussing impact, leveraging is important to consider 11 and that she thinks the points are just too much for that category. 12 Commissioner Hamilton said they have to think about long term and what's sustainable 13 vs. individual past examples. She said they also have to think of the impact of the differences and 14 that they could score projects using new and old score cards. 15 Vice-Chair Greene said the intangible impact is going to be hard to measure. She said 16 some projects structurally do not have the ability to pay money back and she does not want to 17 hold that against them. She said that she is comfortable with the score being based on capacity 18 to bring in additional money for the project. 19 Chair Bedford said that she was reading it thinking about tax-credits and investors 20 because she cannot envision that they can pay the funds back. 21 Blake Rosser said that the homebuyer assistance programs, such as no or low interest 22 loans, could be paid back. He said that he wonders if prioritizing the money to attract other money 23 unintentionally favors existing organizations. 24 Chair Bedford said that it unintentionally favors Habitat. 25 Commissioner Fowler said that it is useful because leveraging can be beneficial. 26 Chair Bedford asked about the 10% car route. She said they should be looking into what 27 type of housing they want. She said if they have funds to spend, where should they focus spending 28 to accomplish it. She said the rubric should be written to fit that need and priority should be placed 29 on naturally occurring affordable housing. She said that she is not sure if borrowed money could 30 be used for those projects. She said that she likes the idea of having a different rubric and she 31 does not think they should be deciding a percentage or amount at this point. 32 Commissioner McKee asked if Chair Bedford was suggesting eliminating the carve-out. 33 Chair Bedford said that she is saying they should be flexible and not identify a percentage 34 or number yet. She said that the CIP shows them funds available. She said they can have 35 retraining at the retreat on housing. 36 Commissioner McKee said that his worry is that the repair/rehab has no visibility. He said 37 that if they do not set a dedicated amount to these projects, they will basically be lost in the 38 conversation and end up with much less funding. 39 Commissioner Fowler said that 10% is a reasonable place to start and maybe it is changed 40 next year. 41 Commissioner Greene agreed with 10% to start for repair/rehab. 42 Chair Bedford said that this is out for 2-3 years. 43 Commissioner Greene said she is in favor. 44 Travis Myren said that they have asked the bond council to see if they can use borrowed 45 money for rehab and repair. 46 Commissioner McKee said that even if they cannot it could free up funds. 47 Travis Myren said it is in operating so it cannot supplant funds. 48 Chair Bedford said that she thinks that the scoring of units needs to be weighted based 49 on the number supplied. 50 Commissioner Fowler said it was changed last year but the standard for disabled is no 51 more than 20% and that is why she like the way the question was changed.