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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-08-24 Housing & Human Services MIN Housing And Human Services Committee Minutes August 24, 2023 Commissioners Present: Council Liaison: Bob Kaplan (Absent) Echo Fields Brittney Bass Dylan Bloom Deb Price Staff Present: Heidi Parker Linda Reid; Housing Program Specialist Rich Rohde Kendall Escuin; Admin Support Crystal Munoz Kelly Burns; Emergency Management Coordinator Jason Mendoz SOU Liaison: Commissioner’s Absent: Reese Rosenburg (Absent) Kathy Kali Alan Ackroyd I. CALL TO ORDER: 4:00 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA III. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of July 27, 2023, Minutes Rohde/Price M/S VOICE VOTE: All AYES. The minutes from July 27, 2023, have been approved. IV. PUBLIC FORUM (4:05-4:10 p.m.) A. Public Forum. 1. Bryan Sohl, Chair of the Climate Environmental Policy Advisory Committee (CEPAC), spoke about the drafting of a new ordinance to “Electrify Ashland”. This ordinance would ban new fossil fuel infrastructure from all new constructions. The plan is to eventually just use electricity and to utilize no natural gas. There will be two informational meetings about this ordinance in the month of October. 2. Linda Adams, Chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee, announced that on September 21, from 6PM-8PM, they will be holding a public hearing in the Council chambers regarding the North Mountain rehabilitation project. 3. Debbie Neiswander, homeless outreach worker, updated the Committee on what’s been going on since the City purchased the property at 2200 Ashland St. The houseless community would like to manage the land around that property and utilize the pallet shelters to create a community mirrored after “Opportunity Village” of Eugene, OR. They have put together an outreach team, “The Rouge Resiliency”, comprised of homeless folks. They are trying to build teams in each area of town. The focus is to create awareness and participation from people at the South end of town. Page 1 of 3 Housing And Human Services Committee Minutes 4. Fox, shared concerns for the City’s use of the pallet shelters and hopes they can be used for long term housing solutions without a strict timeline for transitioning into the next step. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Inclement Weather Shelter Efforts Update and Discussion (4:10-4:35 p.m.). Kelly Burns  Cooling center at the Gresham room at the Ashland Library. Staffed with volunteers, dogs allowed, preferrable location, sometimes this room is reserved for prior events and isn’t always available at the last minute.  First Presbyterian Church as an emergency weather center has been another option. The con is that the location makes it more of a challenge for people to get to. The Montessori school started up in September which makes this location unavailable.  Burns shares that the “Clean Air Centers” used air scrubbers from the fire station. They help filter and keep the air clean in the center.  Burns stresses that we are in dire need of volunteers for these centers for them to be successful. B. Workgroup Report-Exploration of Issues and Solutions in Rental Housing (4:35-4:55 p.m.).  Crystal Munoz called the Oregon Real Estate Agency and learned that they have no legal jurisdiction or ability to intervene with tenant landlord issues. They deal with licensing, funds, and documents for property and management companies. Will follow up with the renter’s hotline to understand what information they provide.  Brittany Bass looked up, “what does it take for a rental to be habitable”? because of the public complaints regarding local landlords not providing help and support for their tenants. Tenants are scared to file a complaint against their landlord for fear of being evicted.  Rich Rohde shares in a new legislation that you can get your eviction taken off your record so that it will not affect your opportunity to find a rental in the future. C. Overview of the Consolidated Plan for the Use of CDBG funding (5:55-5:15 p.m.).Brief Overview of the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan HHSC.pptx  Linda Reid shared a power point presentation with the Committee on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and each stage of planning, creating, and distributing the funds once granted. Outreach needs to start early for the next CDBG. The Annual Rent Burden Forum will be our first outreach activity and we will revisit things in January 2024. D. Planning Discussion for the Annual Rent Burden Forum (5:15-5:40 p.m.)Annual Rent Burden Forum.jpg Page 2 of 3 Housing And Human Services Committee Minutes  Reid reached out to the Ashland Library and reserved the Gresham room for November 9. Important things to keep in mind; Who should we invite to be the table hosts, and what is our overall goal with this forum?  The Committee had a discussion on who they would like to invite and what the goal should be with this forum. VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. None VII. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS A. Liaison Reports  Councilor Dylan Bloom gave the Committee an update on 2200 Ashland St. There will be an application and screening process for all guests to the use of the shelter. Before the shelter opens it needs remodeling and construction. There is no timeline set in stone. There have been talks of creating a “Steering Committee” made up of local business owners, residents, and unhoused people. B. General Announcements VIII. AGENDA BUILDING – Future Meetings IX. ADJOURNMENT: 6:10 p.m. Next Meeting Date: September 28, 2023 In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please email linda.reid@ashland.or.us. Notification 72 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to the meeting (28 CFR 35.102-35.104 ADA Title 1). Page 3 of 3