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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-06-27 Housing & Human Services PACKET Community Development Building 51 Winburn Way Note: Anyone wishing to speak at any Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee meeting is encouraged to do so. If you wish to speak, please rise and, after you have been recognized by the Chair, give your name and complete address for the record. You will then be allowed to speak. Please note the public testimony may be limited by the Chair. June 27, 2024 AGENDA I.CALL TO ORDER: 4:00 p.m. II.APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA III.CONSENT AGENDA A.Approval of May 23, 2024, Minutes IV.PUBLIC FORUM (4:05-4:10 p.m.) A.Public Forum. V.NEW BUSINESS A.Wildfire Community Risk Reduction Protection Plan Presentation (4:10- 4:40p.m.). CDBG Allocation Adjustment Update (4:40-4:50 p.m.). B. C.Homeless Services Masterplan Subcommittee Closeout Process and Schedule (4:50-5:15 p.m.). D.Education and Community Engagement Planning (5:15-5:45 p.m.). VI.UNFINISHED BUSINESS A.None VII.INFORMATIONAL ITEMS A.Liaison Reports B.General Announcements VIII.AGENDA BUILDING – Future Meetings IX.ADJOURNMENT:6:00 p.m. Next Meeting Date: July 18, 2024 1 of 12 Community Development Building 51 Winburn Way Note: Anyone wishing to speak at any Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee meeting is encouraged to do so. If you wish to speak, please rise and, after you have been recognized by the Chair, give your name and complete address for the record. You will then be allowed to speak. Please note the public testimony may be limited by the Chair. May 23, 2024 I.CALL TO ORDER: 4:00 p.m. II.APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA III.CONSENT AGENDA A.Approval of April 25, 2024, Minutes Gilliland/Bass. M/S. Voice Vote: ALL AYES IV.PUBLIC FORUM (4:05-4:10 p.m.) A.Public Forum. N/A V.NEW BUSINESS A.Rogue Planning Annexation and Affordable Housing Overview (4:10-4:30 p.m.). Memo to Housing Commisison.pdf Amy Gunter gave the Committee an exciting update on the future development of a new subdivision which would provide 21 residential lots (with potential for two family dwellings on each lot) off Clay St. Ms. Gunter will submit for her pre-application conference with the Planning department between mid-end of June 2024. 25% of this development will be affordable housing units. Ms. Gunter went over how the subdivision would be laid out and the process behind each phase of the construction. B.Rural Development Home Loan Program Presentation-Jacob Ghena, Realtor (4:30-4:55p.m.). Jacob Ghena Slideshow.pdf Mr. Ghena gave an educational presentation which touched on the following topics. House Hacking Grants Land Trust Vouchers Subsidies 2 of 12 C. Long Range Planning Update-Brandon Goldman, Community Development Director (4:55-5:10 p.m.). Mr. Goldman updated the Committee on the short- and long-range planning projects the Community Development Department is currently working on. Accessory Dwelling Unit guide is in the works. Land Trust Working with the Legal Department on tax exemption for nonprofit affordable housing. Climate Friendly area designation and code analysis. Croman Mill District to rezone to allow for a greater amount of residential. Manufactured house zone, the process will start ideally now, and should go through December of this year. The city will be working with the Department of Land Conservation and Development, which is a state agency under the Governor’s office. Economic development for future business growth for our community. The goal is to create housing above business buildings, mixed used buildings. D.Middle Housing Development Presentation-Derek Sherrell (5:10-5:25 p.m.). Mr. Sherrell gave an exciting presentation on ADU’s (Accessory Dwelling Units) and how obtainable they are for every homeowner in the city of Ashland. Deciding which ADU is right for you and your property. How to save on costs by the homeowner taking on the role as the project manager. Setting expectations on costs and the process. Infrastructure costs. E. Homeless Services Masterplan Subcommittee Update (5:25-5:40 p.m.). Reschedule the next meeting for later in June as opposed to July. The draft report needs to be completed so it can be presented to Staff at the next City Council th meeting. July 18 will be the next meeting. VI.UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. None VII.INFORMATIONAL ITEMS A. Liaison Reports Councilor Kaplan gave the committee a detailed report on the happenings with the city council. The Ad hoc committee for the site plan at 2200 Ashland Street has been created. There are 12 committee members who are a mix of local business owners in the 3 of 12 neighborhood, local service providers, and residents of the area. Mayor Tonya Graham and Councilors Duquenne and Kaplan will be liaisons to the committee. Building Official Steven Matiaco and Community Development Director Brandon Goldman presented the new updated building code to the City Council. The city has a new website which went live on May 22, 2024. Development Services Coordinator, April Lucas, who represented the DPMAC (Development Process Management Advisory Committee) presented the DPMAC report which gave the city councilors great insight into the city’s development process. DPMAC Report_final_05082024.pdf B.General Announcements VIII.AGENDA BUILDING – Future Meetings Consolidated plan updated needs to be on the agenda for June’s meeting. Planning for our rent burden event. CDBG item. IX.ADJOURNMENT:6:00 p.m. Next Meeting Date: June 27, 2024 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). 4 of 12 DATE: June 27, 2024 TO: Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee FROM: Linda Reid, Housing Program Manager DEPT: Fire & Rescue RE: Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) Update A Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) identifies and prioritizes opportunities for wildfire risk reduction in at-risk communities. Ashland ranks high in state and regional wildfire risk assessments. Homes have burned in the past 15 years, including the Almeda Fire in 2020, which started in Ashland and burned more than 2,800 structures in Ashland and neighboring communities. Smoke from regional wildfires annually plagues tourism and public health. In 2018, the entirety of the City was formally declared a Wildfire Hazard Zone (aka WUI) by the City Council. In 2023, Ashland received a grant to implement an ambitious proposal to fund a major rewrite of Ashland’s 2004 CWPP. The updated CWPP will enable the City of Ashland to better understand wildfire risk in the built environment, wrestle with fire-adapted community issues and capacity limits, address vulnerable population knowledge gaps, and map out and prioritize community initiatives based on extensive public engagement. By design, the CWPP belongs to the community. To be inclusive we need a wide range of perspectives and ideas for engagement and problem solving before, during, and after a major and worst-case wildfire. We are particularly interested in enabling “socially vulnerable” persons to have wildfire resistant homes. 5 of 12 Goal Statement Develop a strategy/framework/plan to motivate and enable socially vulnerable persons (SVP*) who have not been engaged so far for whatever reason to reduce the risk of wildfire where they live. *Socially vulnerable populations in this context are renters, low-income, housing- insecure, manufactured home park, limited mobility (e.g., disabled, senior, and single parent), and non-English speaking residents. Others may be identified as we learn more. Desired Future Conditions Socially vulnerable persons are empowered and motivated to do what is necessary to have a home to return to when wildfire occurs in Ashland. Measurable Outcomes/Deliverables for the CWPP Development Process: Formulate a project implementation plan before July 1, 2024. Significantly improve understanding of the perspectives of renters, low income, housing insecure, manufactured home park, disabled, seniors, and single parent residents’ that affect their ability to create and maintain a wildfire resistant residence. Formulate strategies that are humanizing, empowering, effective, and meaningful for target populations to have wildfire resistant homes and outdoor spaces. Integrate renters’ issues from a sampling of that population who rent from landlords who don’t use property management companies and/or have less than 1-4 rentals. Develop strategies to educate renters and motivate landlords to reduce wildfire risk on residential rental properties. Develop forward-looking customized framework(s) and pathway(s) to progressively address the needs of target populations for at least the next five years. Identify potential means to support follow- through. Incorporate findings in the Ashland’s updated CWPP and make recommendations to address needs for from 1-10 years. 6 of 12 Assumptions: Addressing the needs of the unhoused is not part of this project. Reducing the risk of the unhoused starting wildfires is addressed in WG3.1. Evacuation and smoke preparedness concerns and issues (including evacuation for vehicle less and limited mobility populations) will be the responsibility of the Public Health and Safety Work Group (PHS). However, the SVP focus group will collaborate with the PHS to engage and seek out information from residents relevant to both work groups. Everybody is “vulnerable” to the impacts of extreme wildfire. SVP residential units are co-located (e.g., in a neighborhood) AND scattered throughout the city; some may be a room or larger portion of a shared residence. Language matters. To meet equity, diversity, and inclusivity goals we need to focus on listening in preference to simply “educating” and be respectful and cautious of the words we use to communicate. To engage SVPs we will strive to interact with them on their terms. We may use trusted individuals and organizations to represent the interests and needs of these populations (called “community navigators”). We may consult with organizations that are not physically based in Ashland but serve the interests of the community in some capacity. The project has limited funding for a “Discovery Phase” Sociologist with the Center for Social Ecology and Public Policy, Inc (CSEPP). IF we need to compensate “community navigators” or residents who volunteer to have their homes assessed, we need to seek funding for gift certificates. Volunteers may assess residential units for wildfire risk using customized protocols. 7 of 12 Due to limited AF&R capacity, the work will be done primarily by volunteers. All volunteer contributions (i.e., hours and mileage) will be tracked. 8 of 12 DATE: June 27, 2024 TO: City Manager, City Council, and the Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee FROM: Linda Reid, Housing Program Manager DEPT: Planning RE: Final CDBG Allocation and Award Adjustment The City of Ashland has received the final formula allocation for Community Development Block Grant funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The City received a decreased allocation from the previous year, by approximately 10%. Consequently, the awards recommended by the Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee and approved by the City Council will need to be amended. Each year the City issues a Request for Proposals for the use of community development block grant funds in January. This is necessary to meet the timelines for submission of plans required by HUD. HUD often does not release the final formula allocation until later in the spring. Consequently, all grantees estimate the grant amount by looking to the prior years’ allocation, which is generally close to the actual allocation. The grant funds are advertised with the caveat that the entity can be awarded based on the actual allocation. When the allocations are released, staff generally adjusts all grantees by the same percentage so that each grantee shares in the loss or gain equally. However, given that for the 2024 program year there were only two grantees, and one of the grantees received a provisional award, staff would rather opt to have the provisional award take to total reduction of funds and leave the activity that will be utilizing the funding right away fully funded to assure the most expedient use of the funding to benefit populations in need right away. 9 of 12 Anticipated/Awarded Equal Adjustment Recommended Adjustment Grant Amount$179,575 $162,639 $162,639 City-Administration$35,913$32,527 $32,527 Public Services (up to 15%) $18,000 $16,615 $18,000 requests-Maslow Capital Requests-(up to $125,660 $113,497 $112,409 100%) Because this change does not constitute a substantial amendment under the City’s public participation plan for the CDBG program, this change is not required to go through a full public hearing process. However, staff will bring this item back before the Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee, to keep that body informed of the change and to provide an additional opportunity for the public to be aware of the changes being made to the way the City is allocating CDBG funding. 10 of 12 DATE: June 27, 2024 TO: Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee FROM: Linda Reid, Housing Program Manager DEPT: Planning RE: Homeless Services Masterplan Subcommittee (HSMS) Closeout Process and Schedule In January the HHSAC establisheda workgroup to address the City Council's request to create a masterplan report on how the City can best invest limited resources toward addressing homelessness in a more thoughtful and holistic manner. To that end a subcommittee of community volunteers, City Councilors and advisory committee members have been meeting twice a month since February to accomplish this task. The work of that workgroup will culminate in a masterplan report which will need to be reviewed by the HHSAC at the next regular meeting th rescheduled for July 18 and a recommendation to the Council will need to be made at that time as well. Due to the tight timeline, a preliminary draft of the report was emailed to the full HHSAC members prior to having been discussed and revised by th the HSMS at their next regular meeting on June 26. The HHSAC liaisons to the HSMP would like to hear any initial impressions or feedback from HHSAC members to help inform revisions to the report so that the HSMS members can bring back a more complete draft for review and th recommendation at the July 18 meeting. HSMS Draft Review and revisions 06/26/2024 HHSAC Initial thoughts for revisions 06/27/2024 HHSAC Draft review and recommendations07/18/2024 City Council Review-Study Session 08/05/2024 11 of 12 DATE: June 27, 2024 TO: Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee FROM: Linda Reid, Housing Program Manager DEPT: Planning RE: Education and Community Engagement Planning Each year the HHSAC is in charge of developing an educational and community engagement event. The event can take place at any time during the year and should include a component that addresses the issue of rent burden to meet the City’s obligation to the State regarding the rent burden education to the community. The HHSAC will also have the additional responsibility of incorporating community engagement to help inform the development of the Consolidated Plan for the use of Community Development Block Grant funds, at this or another event. However, both the rent burden and the CDBG events have a lot of flexibility in how the engagement and education can be accomplished. In previous years the HHSAC has organized education and engagement events that were community forums with panels of experts. Events that included round table/world café types of discussions and prioritization processes. One time the HHSAC organized an affordable housing bus tour with the affordable housing developers providing on site presentations about the projects. Staff would like the HHSC to begin the process of brainstorming about what the Committee members might like to do/see/accomplish for this year’s event. 12 of 12