Written by the reviewer from the ASR + docket; [verbatim-ASR] = quoted machine transcript; [paraphrase] = reviewer's wording, not a quote.
0:00 Good evening everybody. I'd like to call the April 27th, 2026 meeting of the Housing
0:07 Planning and Development Committee to order. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes
0:11 of the March 30th, 2026 meeting of the committee. Can I hear a second? Second. All those in
0:16 favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. We're here today to talk about affordable housing.
0:24 This is the first of what's hopefully a larger community conversation about this issue. I
0:32 know on my time at council, which admittedly hasn't been that long, I've never gotten
0:36 a full rundown from planning about all the efforts we do. Our successes, where we could
0:43 use some help, so I'm looking forward to hearing from you today. We have some
0:47 folks in the audience who I'm sure are going to have some questions. I'm sure
0:49 my colleagues will have questions, so I'd like it if we can, colleagues, if we can go
0:54 through the presentation from the city first and do questions after, so we make sure we
1:00 save time for us and to have folks from the audience talk as well. But just before I kick
1:06 off, thanks in advance to the planning department for putting together and coming
1:09 out in force this evening to talk about this. I'm really excited to bring this to the
1:15 forefront and have this be something we put a lot more concentration on on council
1:20 and with and at the city in general. So thank you and I'll hand it over to you.
1:25 Thank you members of council and thank you councilman Evans for referring this matter
1:29 to committee. As you know, one of our department's goals is to further affordable housing.
1:35 Tonight we'll provide an overview of our existing programs, resources, and challenges.
1:40 Additionally, we will talk about the state of affordable housing today in Lakewood
1:44 and the continual upward trend regarding the average cost of homes and reduction of available
1:48 affordable units. This discussion is timely as this year we created the position of housing
1:53 and development manager filled now by Ian Andrews. One of Ian's many tasks is to assist
1:59 in reviewing our existing programs as they relate to the current environment in Lakewood
2:03 and to provide recommendations on amending or creating new programs as permitted by our
2:08 federal funding sources. We understand that programs can always be improved upon. We see
2:13 tonight not as just an overview of our programs but as the beginning of a conversation and an
2:18 opportunity to work with council and the community on this important matter. First I'd like to
2:23 introduce our key staff. Dan Wyman is our development officer. Dan manages the city's
2:27 federal dollars that fund our existing housing programs as well as capital projects such as
2:32 street and park improvements and public service programs. He oversees all compliance matters
2:38 including eligibility, program policy, and administration, reporting, and the fiscal
2:42 responsibilities tied to the federal funds. Next is Marty Castelletti our program manager.
2:48 He is our direct department liaison with the residents utilizing our programs. He works closely
2:53 with families and individuals to help them through the process. I'll turn the presentation
2:57 over to Ian at this point who will move into the state of the existing housing stock in
3:01 Lakewood, provide a high overview of our programs, and talk a bit on the eligibility
3:05 as it relates to household income. Thank you. Thanks and just one second one more point of
3:10 order. Two colleagues, Matt Dixon Stein will be here late but he will come in. He's working
3:17 on another ward four matter and councilman Hamilton, councilperson Hamilton Steiner is
3:22 traveling for work. She couldn't be here but really wish she could be and so just wanted
3:26 to put that for the record. I think all of us know this is a very important issue so
3:32 just can't be everywhere at once sometimes so thank you. Sorry about that. Oh good.
3:36 Oh excuse me. A little different being on this side of the table right?
3:40 Thank you chair Evans. Thank you members of council. Thank you to the members of the public
3:44 who are here. Yeah it's an incredibly important topic and we're glad we can have this
3:49 conversation tonight so thank you for teeing it up to invite us here. Affordable housing
3:53 and the availability of housing resources for low to moderate income homeowners and renters
3:57 are critical importance to the entire city. Briefly we all know Lakewood has aging
4:02 housing stock. Of the nearly 13,000 one and two family homes 80 percent of them are 90 years or
4:07 older. Lakewood has limited opportunity for new residential development as a fully built
4:11 out community. It must rely heavily on preserving, maintaining and reinvesting in existing homes
4:16 while seeking to support both affordable and market rate housing where opportunities
4:19 exist for a mixed income community. Approximately 55 percent of Lakewood's housing units are
4:24 renter occupied. A significant portion of the city's approximately 11,000 renter households
4:29 earn below 80 percent area median income. We'll hear more about that as we go along.
4:34 Approximately 15 percent or 7,500 Lakewood residents or seniors many of whom lived on
4:38 fixed incomes and are disproportionately low to moderate income. We all know sales prices
4:43 continue to climb coupled with rising property taxes and cost of living all three
4:46 of which are taking place across the country. Demand remains strong while supply is limited.
4:51 We need more supply both affordable and market rate units. Five projects are coming online
4:56 starting this spring into the next few years adding 616 housing units of which 84 are set
5:02 aside per the citywide community reinvestment area that added tax incentives to developers
5:06 of 100 units or more. These factors combine to create a housing environment where affordability
5:11 is fragile. Without public intervention within the major constraints of a private market
5:16 rising maintenance costs and deferred repairs the results lead to housing deterioration rent
5:21 increases displacement and lack of access for low to moderate income households. Next slide please.
5:27 In a market-driven economy there are limits to public intervention however the federal
5:31 department of housing and urban development HUD provides access to funds to support efforts in
5:36 the affordable housing space and dictates how those funds can be used. The bulk of our
5:40 programming that supports low to moderate income residents already in those homes
5:45 includes home rehabilitation revolving loan programs, repair accessibility and maintenance
5:49 program also known as RAMP, home weatherization, the home improvement rebate, paint Lakewood
5:55 administered by Lakewood Alive, ESG emergency solutions grants and home ARP rent and utility
6:01 assistance which provide direct support to very low income households facing imminent homelessness.
6:06 My colleagues will describe these programs in more detail as we go along tonight and I'll
6:10 reiterate that HUD dictates income levels to qualify for support based on the metropolitan
6:15 statistical area that you can see here in the table. Next slide please. This map shows
6:22 the census tracts that HUD has deemed as low to moderate income while the programs I briefly
6:26 listed are applicable to those at 80% area median income or below. This map shows entire
6:31 census tracts that are eligible for CDBG investments including street repaving, park
6:36 improvements, etc. To be clear by living in one of these tracts doesn't mean you
6:40 automatically qualify for assistance you still have to income qualify. The point is to show
6:45 that we have a fair number of low mod census tracts and they are spread across the
6:49 community. This also speaks to the needs of the existing community and the importance of
6:54 maintaining affordability for those who are living here in income challenge situations.
6:58 Next slide please. I just want to I'll make one clarification about the map.
7:07 Those census tracts have at least 51% of their residents as low and moderate income.
7:12 Just to make make it clear what that means. So I'm going to talk a bit about the
7:18 affordable housing resources that the city has at its disposal as well as some housing
7:24 assistance resources the city also has at its disposal from the federal government.
7:30 So the Department of Planning Development administers two primary federal affordable
7:35 housing funding sources the Community Development Block Grant Program or CDBG
7:40 and the Home Investment Partnerships Program or HOME. CDBG is a broad flexible resource
7:46 supporting a range of housing related activities and HOME is a more housing specific tightly
7:52 focused program that focuses on affordable housing development preservation and assistance.
7:58 Both are governed by federal requirements that strictly define eligible uses
8:03 beneficiaries and implementation structure. The next two slides explain what each program
8:09 can fund and who they serve. Next slide please. CDBG supports a wide range of housing
8:16 related activities particularly rehabilitation and preservation. The broad range of eligible
8:24 activities under CDBG include owner and rental rehabilitation, home buyer assistance,
8:30 property acquisition, property demolition, and lead hazard reduction. CDBG housing resources
8:37 as Ian mentioned must benefit low to moderate income households earning less than 80 percent
8:42 of the area immediate income. In Lakewood CDBG is primarily utilized for owner and renter
8:48 occupied housing rehabilitation and sometimes for lead abatement but it's more difficult
8:56 to use it solely for lead abatement on its own typically it's lead abatement in the
9:00 context of a rehabilitation project. The annual CDBG housing budget you see here
9:08 is comprised of annual entitlement grant funds both the current year's entitlement grant funding
9:14 plus typically carry forward from prior years which is allowed under the program and then
9:20 revolving loan program income which is also comprised of current year estimated program income
9:27 plus some carried forward from prior years which has diminished over the past several years
9:33 meaning we have less program income carried forward year to year because of a diminishing
9:38 loan portfolio. While CDBG provides flexibility across different types of housing activities
9:45 home on the other hand operates quite differently with a much narrower focus and
9:49 more structured requirements next slide please. Home is dedicated specifically to
9:55 housing production preservation and affordability eligible activities under home include rental
10:00 development homeowner rehabilitation down payment assistance rental assistance and new
10:05 construction. Most home activities serve households below 80 percent AMI but the rental projects
10:11 have a an even deeper income targeting typically below 50 percent AMI. In Lakewood
10:18 home funds are used for single-family home rehabilitation new single-family home construction
10:23 and multi-family rental rehabilitation project excuse me. Home projects are less frequent
10:30 but larger in scale reflecting the program's regulatory structure and local funding levels
10:36 which typically are about $275,000 a year. The next slide demonstrates how CDBG and home
10:45 function differently in practice particularly in a community like Lakewood. Next slide please.
10:51 So CDBG and home are complementary but fundamentally different affordable housing tools.
10:58 CDBG supports small-scale scattered site rehabilitation allowing assistance to many
11:04 households annually. On the other hand home supports larger project-based investments
11:10 resulting in fewer more substantial projects. CDBG emphasizes flexibility and local discretion
11:16 home emphasizes structure and long-term affordability. In Lakewood CDBG serves as
11:23 a housing preservation tool while home supports targeted long-term housing investment.
11:29 I'll now turn to federal resources the city receives to prevent home insist and promote housing
11:34 stability. Next slide please. First I'll start with ESG the emergency solutions grant program
11:41 I'm sorry this is I'll give an overview of both both sources first. The emergency solutions
11:47 grant program and the home American rescue plan program focus on increasing housing stability
11:52 rather than the prior two programs which focus on preserving developing affordable housing.
11:58 ESG is an ongoing annual federal entitlement program and home arc was a one-time stimulus
12:05 COVID stimulus era allocation that we received in 2021 but didn't actually begin
12:13 spending that allocation for a lot of different reasons none of them our own until 2024. Both
12:20 provide short-term assistance and supportive services to stabilize households at risk of
12:25 homelessness. Next slide please. So ESG supports homelessness prevention or can support
12:31 homelessness prevention emergency shelter street outreach and rapid rehousing. Eligible
12:36 beneficiaries must either be literally homeless on the street or below 30% of the area median
12:42 income and at imminent risk of homelessness. Lakewood has partnered with Lakewood Community
12:48 Services Center for more than 15 years to implement ESG funded programs including both
12:53 emergency shelter and homelessness prevention but the city's current focus is solely on
12:59 homelessness prevention which reflects both the local needs and LCSE service capacity.
13:06 Next slide please. Home ARP is a broader more flexible as I said one-time allocation
13:13 which initially was a $1,067,000 that promotes housing that addresses housing instability
13:24 among vulnerable populations. Eligible activities include supportive services,
13:28 rental assistance, non-congregate shelter, and housing development. Lakewood is deploying
13:34 home ARP funds for rental assistance, utility assistance, complemented by case management
13:40 services and we are targeting households at greatest risk of housing instability.
13:45 I'll close by discussing measurable outcomes achieved by the CDBG home ESG and home ARP
13:51 programs over the past several years. Next slide please. Since 2016 Lakewood's more than
13:59 $2.7 million CDBG investment in affordable housing has improved 357 owner and rental
14:05 housing units. This reflects CDBG's smaller per unit investments broad distribution across
14:12 many households and role as a consistent housing preservation engine. As indicated earlier home
14:18 investments show a different pattern reflecting fewer but more substantial affordable housing
14:23 projects. Next slide please. Here are the significant home projects completed over the
14:28 past several years which include as I discussed earlier single family new home construction,
14:36 single family home rehabilitation, and multi-family rehabilitation. Home projects are
14:42 fewer in number, higher in cost, and far far more administratively complex and labor intensive
14:49 and demonstrate the home program's role in creating and preserving long-term affordable
14:54 housing. My colleague Marty Castelletti will be discussing in more depth the 1472 Bell
15:00 and Nelson Court projects during his remarks. Next slide please. Since 2016 Lakewood's
15:06 approximately $1.4 million investment in ESG housing assistance has prevented homelessness
15:12 for 1,547 Lakewood residents and provided an emergency shelter for 50 literally homeless
15:18 Lakewood residents or households. Next slide please. Over the past two years Lakewood's
15:24 more than $780,000 investment in home housing assistance has provided short-term rent assistance,
15:31 utility assistance, and case management services for 147 very low income Lakewood
15:37 households comprised of 297 Lakewood residents. Thank you.
15:46 Thank you. This slide just shows lists out the some of the eligible housing improvements that
15:52 the funds can be used for as they relate to six categories. Health and safety, code compliance,
16:00 accessibility improvements, energy efficiency and weatherization, environmental hazard remediation,
16:06 and exterior and site work. At this time I'd like to take the opportunity to talk about a
16:15 few projects we recently completed. The first project is on Marlowe Avenue. This project is a
16:23 good example of how we combine two of our CDBG programs to provide important safety and
16:29 accessibility improvements to this home. The scope of work included installing a new furnace,
16:34 hot water tank, electric panel, and rebuilding the front porch so the elderly homeowner could
16:41 remain in her house. This project also highlights our efforts to partner with organizations like
16:46 Lakewood Alive which were able to provide volunteers to get the house power washed
16:52 and paint the entire exterior as well as do some landscaping improvements. Next slide.
16:59 For this particular property we used a zero deferred loan in the amount of $23,574
17:09 to replace the electric panel and the front porch rebuild and a weatherization grant to
17:16 install the furnace and hot water tank for a grand total of $32,542. Next slide.
17:23 This picture shows the house being worked on in the basement for the hot water tank and the
17:31 electrical panel on the outside. This shows the complete rebuild of the front porch.
17:40 And lastly this is the finished product on the exterior.
17:43 Here we go. The homeowner, obviously I'm aware of this project, having been a part of Lakewood
17:56 Alive when this was happening, but Mrs. M in her mid-90s, just very briefly, the internal
18:00 systems were failing and by working with my former colleagues Mark McNamara and Matt Clark,
18:07 then working with Marty here at the city, it really was a terrific coupling of the partnership
18:11 between the nonprofit community development corporation and the city of Lakewood.
18:14 But the one thing that she wanted the most was to be able to sit on her front porch,
18:18 which was failing, and enjoy a glass of lemonade. That's all she wanted.
18:23 By going through this process, by being able to have this partnership between the two entities
18:27 and invest in this home, we were in the end able to celebrate ultimately by having an
18:33 event in our front porch where we could sit down and have a glass of lemonade with Mrs. M.
18:37 So it's one house out of almost 13,000 one or two family homes,
18:40 but that house matters and it matters to her and we're proud to be a part of it.
18:46 Okay, the next project was on Bell Avenue. 1472 Bell Avenue was acquired by the city
18:54 when we took ownership of the hospital property across the street. For this project,
18:58 we used home funds to perform a comprehensive interior exterior rehabilitation of this house
19:05 as part of our affordable housing program. The house was updated to meet today's market
19:10 requirements while also retaining much of its original character. The rehabilitation included
19:16 environmental abatement, structural repair, complete redesign of the kitchen to bring it to
19:22 current market standards, and the addition of a full bath and a half bath to the original floor
19:28 plan. The exterior received all new paint, new windows, a new roof and gutters, and a front
19:35 porch rebuild. The house was sold to an income eligible family to meet the goals of the home
19:41 program, which is to provide decent, safe, affordable housing for low to moderate income
19:47 eligible buyers. Next slide. This is a picture of the front foyer area.
19:54 This is a picture of the dining room.
20:00 And lastly, this is the kitchen update.
20:06 That's the final exterior project.
20:12 The next project is on Nelson Court. We recently completed phase two of the Emerald
20:18 Development and Economic Network apartment complex on Nelson Court. Both phase one and two
20:24 included a complete rehabilitation and reconfiguration of a four-unit apartment building while also
20:31 adding a fifth unit on the rooftop. The result of this project provided 10 units of affordable
20:37 housing with an investment of $3.3 million for both phases. The city provided a total of
20:43 $800,000 in home funds to help complete both phases. All 10 units are currently leased.
20:50 The very low income tenants at or below 50% of area median income. These are some pictures
20:58 of the existing complex before it was rehabbed.
21:05 And these are some pictures as well, and plus on the lower left you can see a rendering of
21:11 the unit that was added to the rooftop. And here's some post rehab and during rehab pictures.
21:20 So the city investment again was $800,000 and the total investment by Eden
21:25 to create 10 affordable units was $3.3 million.
21:34 We appreciate the opportunity to talk through challenges that we also find in this space.
21:39 Regulatory and program constraints, HUD income limits, and eligible uses.
21:43 It can be incredibly restrictive. Even a state program providing low income housing tax credits
21:48 is dictated by a rigid points-based rubric. A senior affordable housing project proposed for
21:53 Lakewood recently couldn't move forward when that rubric showed the project didn't score
21:57 well enough based on the project's geographic location. This project had support from the
22:02 city of Lakewood and local nonprofits leading the charge. Financing inventory and market
22:06 limits. Programs to support financing for low to moderate income and 80 to 120 percent
22:12 area median income residents are limited. All repairs or replacements,
22:16 furnaces, hot water tanks, roofs have become exceptionally more expensive.
22:20 One program, Cuyahoga County's housing enhancement loan program or HELP,
22:24 allows homeowners in the county to borrow funds for repairing or remodeling homes at
22:28 three percentage points below a bank's market rate for home improvement loan. However,
22:32 the program, which Lakewoodites used to use in significant volume, has a property value
22:39 ceiling of $250,000. Not only is this almost completely unusable in Lakewood,
22:44 much of the county also now exceeds that valuation. In general, demand is sky high
22:50 while supply remains low. We need more supply, both affordable and market.
22:55 The city receives affidavits from the county prosecutor to consider acquiring single-family
22:59 homes to perhaps renovate and sell as an affordable home. Even if the city shows interest,
23:04 a sheriff sale still proceeds and 99 times out of 100, a house in Lakewood won't remain
23:08 available for the city to acquire after that sheriff sale. In a market-driven economy,
23:13 there are very real constraints as to how much public intervention can take place.
23:17 There's only so much that can be done when the private market is squeezing people out
23:20 here and across the country. However, that doesn't mean we ought not to look at current and
23:25 future programming to maximize the funds that we do have.
23:35 Clearly, as said, we have a lack of available, buildable land, so guiding infill development
23:39 for all types of housing that meet the needs of the community is important. There are a lack
23:43 of units where affordable housing vouchers are accepted, and that number continues to decline.
23:47 Landlords are refusing to accept vouchers, and many buildings where vouchers were accepted
23:52 have been bought up and converted to market-rate units, further limiting supply.
23:56 We lack inventory to age and place, with few homes that have first-floor bathrooms and
24:00 bedrooms forcing people to make their dining room into a bedroom, in part because there
24:04 aren't enough senior affordable housing units, especially if someone wants to stay in a community
24:07 where they've lived for decades. They're stuck in a home they can't afford to maintain,
24:11 it cannot navigate safely, but where do they go? Next slide, please.
24:17 You've probably seen these slides before. We presented them, I presented them,
24:20 on behalf of Lakewood Alive back in November, and I thought it was important to bring them back.
24:25 One example of limitations put in the community by HUD are garages are just as old as our homes,
24:29 but they weren't necessarily meant to last this long without significant maintenance.
24:33 Yet HUD won't allow CDBG funds to be used to repair or replace a garage except in rare
24:37 circumstances. A resident can be cited for the condition of the garage, end up in court,
24:42 and still have little recourse to abate the problem. A teardown new pad, new garage,
24:47 can cost anywhere from forty to sixty thousand dollars. Who can afford that,
24:52 let alone a senior on fixed income? Funding for driveways faces same limitations. Next slide,
24:57 please. While hoarding isn't directly germane to the cost of housing, we need to acknowledge
25:03 and be honest about the conditions some of our neighbors find themselves in as we try to
25:06 maintain affordability. Those tasked with tackling this mental health condition are
25:11 struggling to keep up. Small shops like Lakewood Alive would try to address the
25:16 symptoms of the condition, helping to clear paths in partnership with Lakewood Fire Department,
25:21 do all they can, but Lakewood Alive is not equipped, nor should they be,
25:24 to be able to deal with the mental health challenge these folks face.
25:28 As a county, we need to do better with this slice of the mental health pie. Next slide,
25:33 please. These charts are pretty telling. On the left, you can see the number of
25:38 single-family home sales from 2017 to date with a significant decline from 2023 onward,
25:43 which is juxtaposed with the continued rise of the average sales price of single-family homes
25:48 over the same time period. It's a telling chart and it visualizes what many of us already
25:52 perceive. Next slide, please. There have been existing studies and conversations that have taken
25:58 place over the years. We wanted to briefly review those. The Affordable Housing Strategy,
26:02 an eight-point plan developed in 2019 was the first step to address the needs of Lakewood's
26:07 low to moderate income residents. We're happy to talk that through, but I won't
26:10 list off every one of the steps. The Community Health Needs Assessment
26:14 outcome states that housing is a social determinant of health. There's a shortage
26:18 of affordable units and units accepting vouchers. It also found that there are
26:22 accessibility gaps for people with disabilities and low to moderate income families struggle
26:25 to find housing in a strong school district. The Community Health Needs Assessment action
26:30 priorities laid out policies to support available housing expansion, zoning reforms
26:34 to encourage density, support diversified housing types, landlord education and program
26:39 evaluation, and to identify and pursue new support and opportunities. And finally,
26:43 the Lincoln Institute, which was a scenario planning recommendation,
26:48 advised to invest in infrastructure to evaluate and improve affordable housing
26:52 programs, educate landlords and homebuyers. You're hearing a theme here, right? Maintain
26:56 and strengthen local regulations and enforcement and identify new supports
26:59 and opportunities. Next slide, please. So where are we now? Current efforts.
27:06 In short term, the landlord training program now includes coverage of housing voucher
27:12 program to better educate landlords, but perhaps we could do more. We need to strengthen
27:16 advocacy at the county level, specifically regarding the help loan property valuations,
27:19 which I spoke of tonight. The current zoning refresh still in process is working towards
27:24 affordability in two ways. First, it seeks to streamline the zoning approval process to
27:28 reduce time and costs for development. And second is to allow our higher densities in the
27:32 areas that can accommodate such density. We're evaluating affordable housing programs we've
27:37 discussed today in the strategic use of home funds. We're finally able to begin implementing
27:41 the CRA for tax incentives for large scale developments, beginning with Westline, formerly
27:46 Barry Buick. We're auditing past performance based on Lincoln Institute and CNHA data and
27:52 assessing current programming. Is the programming effective? Can we do more or do things
27:56 differently? We're conducting a regional benchmarking study of comparable cities
28:01 who've conducted various forms of housing studies or created housing plans.
28:04 We're also evaluating property acquisition methods, and we're considering what a comprehensive
28:08 housing roadmap could look like. Partnerships and collaborations are also key. We need to
28:15 further deepen the ties with our established partners, including Eden, Liquid Alive,
28:18 LCSC. But we also seek to expand this partnership network to include local,
28:22 regional, and third party affordable housing related partners. Next slide, please.
28:26 And I want to list here some of those partners that we have. We can't all do it all ourselves.
28:32 We can't do it in a vacuum. But it's also important to note the different departments
28:35 within the city government that play a role in this, but also external partners.
28:41 Next slide, please. We thank you for the time. We look forward to your questions. We
28:45 look forward to hearing from the audience and doing the best that we can. Thank you.
28:50 Thank you, Mr. Andrews, and thanks to all the planning staff. Again,
28:53 really appreciate your thoughtful presentation and running through all this with us.
28:58 I myself have a million questions. I'm really happy to see the successes we have,
29:05 but a lot of my questions revolve around what more can we do and how, and Mr. Andrews
29:10 appreciated you several times talking about the need to be proactive and look at, get creative
29:17 and dealing with different ways because there's, as we all know, this is a big complex problem
29:22 and there's no silver bullet. So appreciate the work you do and the willingness to
29:27 move forward and think about this collaboratively with everybody here at the table. So thanks.
29:33 I'm going to let my colleagues ask some questions now, and I will reserve time at the
29:39 end to make sure we hear from the audience as well. So I don't think we're going to get
29:43 through every possible question, everything tonight, so I'll make sure to keep track of
29:50 things we don't answer on, and quickly now before we get into it, the way I see this
29:57 folding out in the future is I really want to take this out into the community
30:01 and hear firsthand from some folks, have them get a better understanding of what programs are
30:07 available and the limitations on those programs, honestly, and to have a conversation about
30:13 with that folks, but I think we also might end up back here in committee with maybe a
30:18 session to answer some of the questions that we don't get around to today. So thank you,
30:22 and with that, I'm sure everybody has questions, so Vice President Baker.
30:30 Thank you, and interested in public comment as well, but thank you, you know,
30:34 the whole planning department's here. It's maybe one person or two people,
30:37 so you guys have really come out, appreciate the high level. I mean, I knew most of that,
30:41 but it's nice to see it coalesced into a presentation and also for the public to see
30:46 as well. A couple things. It seems to be affordable housing is kind of a catch-all phrase or
30:52 kind of how to tackle affordability when it's really, there's kind of two elements, right,
30:56 like one is like how do we help the people that currently live here kind of more senior
31:00 based or income based, make sure they can age in place, which is a different problem
31:05 and sometimes pulls on the problem of like having affordability for people who may want to
31:09 move here and raise a family here, and in fact sometimes they push against each other,
31:13 right, so having someone invest in their home so they stay in place raises their property value
31:17 which makes it harder for that person to come in and start a family here. So really every kind
31:23 of like big market study, which Lakewood's market is a sub-market within a MSA, right,
31:29 says that to tackle affordable housing you need units, volume, right, so the kind of
31:37 classic critique is look at markets like Florida, Texas, you know, they build lots of homes because
31:44 they're, it's less of a regulatory framework to do so, so housing starts can go quicker
31:49 and you look at areas that have a little bit more regulation like the northeast,
31:54 it's a little harder to build homes so the market is constrained. So I will say that with
32:00 within the zoning refresh we're doing, it's really important that it's boring but it's
32:05 really germane to what we're talking about here that, you know, people say they want
32:10 affordable housing and then I've sat in planning commission here and the moment you try to put
32:14 density somewhere in Lakewood a lot of people come out and speak against it and so I think we
32:20 all need to create this connection in our head, both the members of the public and us up here,
32:25 that when we say we want affordable housing that means you have to stick up for density,
32:30 that means you have to be okay telling your neighbors that no more units in that building,
32:34 more floors in that building is good. Now that's all a careful kind of thing we do.
32:40 The other thing I will say is on garages and driveways that's also related to the zoning
32:45 refresh, I think we're going to have a lot of movement there. It is expensive. The one thing
32:49 I do want to hammer on and I've been getting a lot of emails about it is the help loan
32:53 program. So whatever advocacy that we can do up here, it is vitally important to our age
32:58 of housing stock. I mean the national survey show, I think the average house is like 70
33:01 years old, right? So if we're not providing resources for folks to borrow money at a lower
33:08 rate, which the county is mostly funded by property values anyway, so it's a good program
33:12 for them because it increases property values and it makes sure people are investing in their
33:16 homes. I used it to do, you know, invest in my own home. I've also understood that I think
33:24 they've like stopped being as responsive on the county side. I don't know whether that's
33:29 funding-based or programmatic or what, but I know people who are still under that 250 mark
33:33 that can't get answers from KeyBank or the county on that. So I think whatever advocacy
33:38 we can work together to make that happen would be really good. The other thing I think we
33:42 should look at and write, I think you can regulate your way out of it or deregulate
33:48 your way out of it or help, or you can bring money. The money, most of the money we've
33:53 talked about is restricted funds, well it's directed funds in the federal government that
33:56 are very narrow and limited and don't give you much room to move. You look at a place
34:03 like Cuyahoga Heights, way smaller community, but they literally have a program where you
34:08 get $1,000 a year to invest in your exterior of your home. Now they have a giant steel
34:13 mill, so they have a giant property tax base, a giant income tax base, and very
34:17 few residents, but I think something like that could be targeted to seniors in our
34:20 community, low-income seniors, whereas if you own your home, you know, we can create
34:25 a targeted set-aside, you know, where it's like you can get X amount per year for your
34:29 gutters, for your whatever exterior home maintenance, so you can stay on top of those
34:33 things. Now does that solve every problem? No, but it helps. So I think that's something
34:37 that I'd certainly look forward to helping. And then the other is the Landlord Training
34:41 Program. Is that in person or is it still only virtual? I really think that if you want
34:48 to have an impact, and this is a purely administrative thing, but I will strongly
34:53 encourage the administration to go back to in-person, because I think you can have
34:57 way more of an effect on those landlords to understand exactly what's going on.
35:01 So I would strongly encourage the administration to do that, and whatever
35:04 we need to do from council, let us know to help you do that.
35:12 Mr. Chair? Yes, Councilman Bullock. Thanks. Good comments. Quick follow on that
35:17 Landlord Training Program. In the curriculum of it, in the old days, it would rotate
35:22 through a number of different topics. And I was on council when we first created the
35:27 requirement, there were qualifier housing license, you had to qualify within a certain
35:31 period of time for two out of three or three out of four criteria. And this was one of
35:37 them. And so it's an option for people, but it's putting the city on a footing of
35:41 investing in business person education, because it's perhaps the largest cottage
35:48 industry in town is being a small kind of family landlord. And if it's at 90 plus
35:55 percent, no, 80% of homes are 90 years old or older. It's not a small... The primary
36:02 focus has always been on fair housing. Right. The contract that we have
36:07 and the provider has always been the Fair Housing Center with that seminar. So,
36:12 at some point it was also Landlord Tenant Relations. Right. So those were the dual
36:20 focus. You could get the building department in here though, and there's a million things
36:25 about housing quality. And Chris Parmley would all... Yeah. So I mean, there could
36:28 be a systematic and thoughtful approach there. And you could imitate what Lakewood
36:34 Alive has done. I see multiple Lakewood Alive current and past people here in
36:39 Allison or Banach model the Knowing Your Home series. And what they do from a
36:45 nonprofit perspective for homeowners is they'll rotate through a standard library. And if
36:50 you don't catch it topic A this year, you can catch it next year. So anyway, I
36:56 agree that that's a good point that Mr. Baker raised. First of all, thank
37:00 you, Chairman and Director Bidington and looking at the mayor's desk over
37:06 there. And it's Mr. Vargo. But thank you, George administration and Chairman Evans
37:11 for lifting up this topic. It is worth our time. It's really a strategic
37:18 access for us all because it touches on everything, including I'm looking at Kate
37:22 Ingersoll, Healthy Lakewood Foundation, you know, a lot of physical and mental
37:27 health issues. So worth our time. Look forward to participating, keeping my
37:33 knowledge. I've got one or two quick questions. First, on slide three, on my
37:41 thing, it's slide three. I don't know if it's ever three. The fact of April
37:45 1 2025 until further notice, we see the area median income 8% thresholds
37:53 defined. How frequently do they update? Is that every couple of years or is
37:57 it we'll let you know and 12 years go by?
38:10 I had issued a notice recently that said, for various reasons related to
38:15 delays in census data, that they would be issued on May 1st this year.
38:19 Okay. So do they jump significantly from year to year? Does it track
38:24 inflation in a really direct manner or mechanical manner?
38:27 It's a complex formula that they use based on American community survey data.
38:33 So I wouldn't say it's precipitous jumps. I'd say it's a consistent,
38:40 moderate increase. So it may be lagging actual inflation.
38:44 Probably. Okay. Lakewood local inflation is even a more intense
38:51 microclimate. And I think I heard that Cuyahoga County
38:55 itself is outpacing the region. Have we ever talked to HUD or the local HUD
39:01 secretary? That's been a subtle hint. I've been subtly dropping for many years.
39:05 I can write a letter. I'd be happy to do that. Maybe it's more effective
39:10 coming from the executive branch or us in partnership. Totally serious about
39:14 this. We wish you luck.
39:17 But the point is not that we expect it to work the first time. It's
39:20 that we should be driving the conversation and educate it. We have
39:24 congressional allies in this. We can call it the member of Congress.
39:27 I'm not saying that that isn't worth trying again. But we've spoken to
39:33 people local level and the regional and even the federal level periodically
39:38 or incrementally throughout time. It is something that I've always
39:46 considered a non-starter. Okay. So no, I appreciate that.
39:50 This is not a criticism. These are new ideas. But for that to work,
39:54 have a prayer of working, it's not just technical staff doing logical
39:59 things. It's going to have to be a coalition of many cities. And we
40:03 elevate it to front page news. And I'm sitting here willing to help.
40:06 And so let's, like, unloosh the kraken, as it were, which is
40:10 probably not a phrase the chairman expected here. All right. Final
40:14 question here is on slide six, there's a toolbox of different
40:25 affordable housing resources and programs we've had for years.
40:32 Where is it? It says affordable. I think you've got to go back.
40:44 Okay. It says affordable housing resources, CDBG, eligible activities.
40:51 So it's not a chart. It's a list. Anyway, so the, and I know the
40:56 presentation said we've had a different proportions. There we go.
41:00 Nope. Couple more up. That one. Yep. So the list at the top,
41:08 great toolbox. I think the answer to my question is going to be we
41:12 evolved these over the years, but what's the mix and proportion of
41:15 these programs? And how do we choose them and adjust them? Is this
41:20 just lived experience with our clients? Or is there an opportunity
41:25 to say, hey, we really could triage some of these and prioritize
41:30 one or two and have different outcomes out in the community?
41:33 Based on community need and the actual definition of what these
41:39 eligible activities are, the first two are the ones that meet the needs
41:47 of our residents most directly. If you look at home ownership
41:52 assistance, that's really just down payment assistance that we do,
41:55 that we provide with home funds already. Acquisition, we don't really,
42:01 the city does not actively acquire property for rehabilitation with CDBG
42:08 funds. If we ever do that, we simply aren't in that business anymore.
42:12 We did that periodically a decade ago or so. That's really not
42:18 the model we follow anymore. We certainly don't use CDBG for
42:22 demolition any longer. That kind of became somewhat of a policy
42:27 quite some time ago that we just aren't demolishing a lot of homes.
42:31 It's just not done much anymore. Relocation assistance is a very
42:35 narrow activity that occurs only when you
42:37 displace someone with federal funds and must pay to
42:41 relocate them, so that is not a viable use. As I said,
42:47 we do remediate lead hazards as part of a larger rehabilitation
42:53 projects if necessary. That is a frequent use in the
42:57 context of existing rehabilitation projects. That
43:02 runs the gamut of all of those eligible activities and really
43:07 the primary uses, the first two, are the ones that truly meet the
43:13 needs of Lakewood residents. Okay, so it's an honest question that I
43:18 don't actually know the answer to it. I'm
43:20 happy to be informed, but go ahead. I'm sorry. I was just going to say,
43:25 you know, working in a couple other communities, I would agree that the
43:27 first two activities are the most heavily used
43:31 and the most heavily needed, but I do want to just bring up that
43:35 we've been doing the programs exactly the same way for a lot of years,
43:38 so we are looking at that to see how we can modify them to meet the
43:42 needs of today, but I would agree with Dan that the
43:44 first two are most used and most necessary. Okay, and those funds
43:48 feed into Marty's programs, is that true?
43:51 Okay, so Marty, I should be calling you by your last name, but I'm going to
43:55 mispronounce it. Is there any feedback from lived experience in the
44:00 front lines that you could say, hey, if we made a course correction here,
44:03 we might get more impact? I actually think that
44:08 the way the programs are designed right now, they're the most effective,
44:11 especially for our elderly population.
44:17 As Dan alluded to before, the home program
44:20 is really limited and it's more dedicated to
44:24 rehabilitation, entire rehabilitation of a house,
44:29 and I think it's a good use of the funds on occasion, but I think the CDBG
44:37 funds, as they're being used right now, is the most effective
44:42 for the residents of this city. Okay, good to know. Thanks for the time, Mr.
44:45 Chairman. Yeah, absolutely. President Capel.
44:50 Thank you, and thank you for this opportunity to talk about this into the
44:54 planning department for all being here. I wanted to ask
44:58 a couple things. One, with the vouchers, do we have feedback from the landlords
45:05 of, I know we're losing units because a lot of these,
45:09 I mean, I just hear this anecdotally in the community too, that some of the
45:12 rental units, you know, bought, they get restored,
45:15 they're no longer affordable, so that they wouldn't even be
45:18 achievable with a voucher because the price would be so high, but
45:22 for the landlords who don't want to, who might be able to
45:26 take them but don't want to, one of the things that I've read anecdotally is
45:30 that, or heard anecdotally, is there's a
45:32 concern about the waiting period. So if you're getting a new voucher tenant
45:36 potentially coming in, then you have to have the inspection, then that's
45:39 eight weeks before you have income, and if you're a
45:42 mom and pop running a duplex or something, that might be
45:46 cost prohibitive. Does that track with what you're hearing?
45:51 Because what I'm wondering is if there's ways to incentivize
45:55 or offset some of that lost revenue, so I don't know if anyone has feedback.
46:01 What we've heard in the past, we've had landlord meetings about this very
46:05 topic, I can't remember. A few years ago,
46:10 there was a more intense focus on trying to understand
46:14 the issue better among landlords in that room
46:17 back there. It was, it got kind of contentious
46:21 at times. There were some landlords that have some very, as you can imagine,
46:24 very strong feelings about the issue. I think that was around requiring it,
46:27 rather than... Actually, we actually didn't take a position.
46:31 We just wanted their feedback. Townsman Rader did, but not you.
46:35 Yeah, go ahead. Really, I think there was a
46:39 lot of it was the perception of Section 8, as you can imagine.
46:43 There were lots of falsehoods, lots of preconceived notions about how that
46:47 program works that were untrue, that were hard to dispel, and
46:53 there were some truths about it, locally and nationally,
46:56 with regard to the waiting period and with regard to the payment system and
46:59 the delays in actually getting paid. But most of the untruths were about
47:04 the tenants themselves and their character,
47:07 perceived character, laws, let's say, that were just absolutely,
47:12 you know, just biases, let's say. So all of that kind of came out,
47:19 and there was not a lot of follow-up. I think it's the administration at the
47:25 time didn't pursue it at that time. And then that was the extent of it.
47:31 So I think those things remain to this day.
47:36 I think it's worth... I think that's a topic I'd like to explore
47:39 further and what we can do to, you know, helps out that.
47:43 The other thing I wanted to ask about was the deferred payment loan
47:47 program, the zero percent deferred payment loan program.
47:51 How is that funded, and is that through which program? How is that funded?
47:56 That is funded through a revolving loan program. So
47:58 it would fund CDBG funds set aside many, many years ago to
48:06 capitalize that revolving loan fund. I do not know the amount. This was...
48:10 I mean, I've been here 16 years. It was well before I got here.
48:14 Anyway, so that became a revolving loan. The rules around that
48:18 fund for CDBG are that that fund must revolve.
48:21 All funds expended from that account must go back into that account
48:25 and revolve, obviously. So we, over time,
48:30 hundreds of loans have been issued. Some...
48:34 many of them were like three percent loans. Those have all been...
48:38 We don't do that anymore because of the nature of our clients. Many of
48:42 them are 50 or 30 percent AMI, so every all of those loans
48:46 now are zero percent deferred, no payment.
48:49 The loan is repaid upon transfer of the home. Typically, if they're seniors,
48:53 understand what that means. If they're not a senior, they're
48:57 usually 50 or 30 percent AMI, and that is if they sell the home.
49:01 That's how it's settled. And that account,
49:04 over time, has been diminishing because the portfolio has gotten smaller.
49:09 And so at one point, you know, there may be...
49:12 When I got here, that was like a million dollar revolving fund.
49:16 Its balance now is 300... low 300,000. And so,
49:23 you know, that's a diminishing resource.
49:27 That's something we need to think about as a community and as a
49:30 department moving forward. And I'm looking on...
49:34 I'm just refreshing my brain off of the website. So the three percent
49:37 loan says there's a 25,000 dollar maximum, but I don't see a maximum on
49:41 the zero percent deferred loan. Is that also a 25,000 dollar maximum?
49:46 We're working on a more definitive policy manual this year, but
49:53 right now, that's the same limit for the zero percent loan.
49:58 Is that... It seems like it would be worth re-looking at that, too, with
50:02 the rising costs of repairs into Ian's point about...
50:06 There's always a tension between available resources and cost.
50:10 Right. But if a garage is 40 to 60 thousand dollars, a 25,000
50:15 dollar loan's not going to get you there. And that's where leveraging
50:17 resources, our own and other, you know, trying to partner or find
50:22 other resources to leverage. Because, you know, frankly, at that
50:27 average cost per project, we would be in trouble.
50:30 Yeah. Well, and the reason I'm asking all these questions is
50:33 because we are going to be having a council budget retreat fairly soon.
50:36 So, trying to get a handle on resources. So, thank you.
50:43 Thank you. Thank you all for being here tonight. Thank you for
50:46 all this information. And I have been a landlady in Lakewood for
50:51 25 years. So, a lot of this is familiar to me. And a lot of it
50:54 is new. And I'm wondering, Ian, I think I just heard you
50:58 say in four rapid fashion sentences that education was an input,
51:05 or important. Education is important. And I'm wondering,
51:09 outside of the landlord, one landlord meeting that we have
51:16 that we're required to attend once a year, what other ideas
51:20 do you guys have on educating landlords?
51:25 Right now, we're trying to figure that out, to be completely honest.
51:28 And we'd love to be able to get feedback from you and from
51:29 members of the public about how we can work with landlords to
51:32 dispel those biases that do exist and are real, or to be able
51:37 to knock down the limitations that ended up resulting in
51:40 landlords saying, we're just not going to accept the
51:41 vouchers, because we don't want the government to tell us
51:43 what our space should look like, even though they're
51:45 going to be held to a high standard. Some don't want to
51:47 abide by a high standard. That's a problem. So, I think
51:50 we need to figure out what that education looks like.
51:53 And I agree. I think coming back to in-person is important.
51:57 100 percent. Get them in the room.
51:59 Yeah. I couldn't agree more. And you know what? Landlords are
52:03 going to moan a little bit. Absolutely. But we're kind of
52:06 used to that, I think. And I think there were opportunities.
52:13 It was always one of my favorite segments when Judge
52:16 Carroll got up and talked to us about what was going on and
52:23 what the laws were. And that was very important.
52:26 But I think that the biases on both sides with landlords are
52:33 bad people. And I think at one point Mayor Summers made
52:37 the statement when he was asking about increasing rent
52:42 that kind of struck him. I think that at one point he
52:46 said, well, you are all subsidizing your tenants
52:49 because you're not raising rents once you find a really
52:52 good tenant. And we were like, yeah, exactly.
52:54 So we kind of do in some situations help with the
52:59 affordability. And I think that that's something that
53:02 needs to be appreciated and celebrated.
53:05 And I think that a lot of this conversation around
53:08 vouchers also needs to be further educational.
53:14 Because you're right, a lot of people are not interested
53:16 in that. But I also think that a lot of people don't
53:18 have all the information and also the skills to even find
53:24 out how to do this. I can remember a couple years
53:27 back before I had four solid tenants that I was looking
53:32 at the program. And I went online and I could not
53:35 figure out, I couldn't figure out the county system.
53:38 I'm an educated person. Even after I sent an email
53:42 to them on two occasions, I had no response.
53:45 Well, by that time I found a new tenant.
53:46 So I think that there's systematic failures within
53:52 the county system there to help people that are
53:56 sincerely looking to get into this program.
54:01 Thank you. Thank you,
54:03 Councilperson and Councilman Bixenstein. Thank you,
54:06 Chair Evans. I wanted to apologize for my tardiness
54:09 this evening. I had an extenuating circumstance
54:12 in my ward that I was trying to assist with.
54:15 So I need to go back and listen to the bulk of the
54:18 presentation stream before I have any questions.
54:20 So really, I just wanted to chime in and say thank
54:22 you to Chair Evans, to members of the Planning
54:25 Department, and to members of the public for
54:29 bringing attention to this issue that's of utmost
54:31 importance. It's really not lost on me that I
54:34 represent a ward that has the most low-mod income
54:38 census tracts in Lakewood. But even if that
54:41 wasn't the case, it's an important issue citywide.
54:44 And I look forward to doing whatever I can to
54:47 support housing affordability as we work on
54:50 this issue collectively.
54:54 Thanks, Councilman, and thanks everybody for your
54:57 thoughts. I think there's a lot of agreement here
55:00 amongst figuring out how we can attack these
55:03 problems. But now I do want to turn it over to
55:05 folks in the audience. And thank you especially
55:09 to people who've been working with us on this
55:12 Healthy Lakewood Foundation. Kate, thank you.
55:14 Obviously Lakewood Alive and Alison Urbanek,
55:17 who are tremendous community resources for this.
55:20 And I think it's important that we have people who
55:22 are not in the administration and not in these
55:25 days that are invested in this. So whoever
55:30 would like to come up, I don't think we have
55:32 a sign-in or anything. So you can just come up
55:34 one by one, and thank you.
55:39 Good evening. My name is Alison Urbanek. I
55:42 work for Barton Communities, and I'm also a
55:44 big community advocate for affordable housing.
55:47 Thank you so much for having this conversation.
55:49 I've been working, I think, approximately 10
55:52 years to continue to push forward a
55:55 conversation about affordable housing and
55:58 not just a one-off conversation. As you
56:00 heard tonight, affordable housing is complex.
56:03 There's many different layers that go into
56:05 it. Councilman Baker has talked about all
56:07 the different people that fall into affordable
56:09 housing, and we as a community need to define
56:11 what that means for us.
56:12 My feedback is that we should have affordable
56:15 housing ingrained in our DNA and everything
56:17 that we talk about. To define affordable housing,
56:21 and we can determine if that's what it means
56:22 to us in Lakewood, is a person should be
56:25 spending 30 percent or less of their gross
56:27 income. Unfortunately, it's gross income.
56:29 It should be net income because we don't
56:31 take home our gross income. We take home
56:33 our net income. But just as a universal
56:35 definition, it's 30 percent of your gross
56:37 income. 75 percent of Americans are over
56:41 that 30 percent in their housing costs
56:44 today. That's a staggering number. 75
56:47 percent of Americans, their mortgages are
56:49 over 30 percent of their annual income.
56:52 It's scary if we think back to 2008
56:54 and what the world looked like with
56:56 the housing crisis, and unfortunately we
56:58 have an administration now federally
56:59 that does not care about the people
57:01 who live in those homes. And I could
57:03 talk for 87 minutes, and I'm not
57:05 going to. I do have some questions,
57:07 but I just really want us to set
57:09 kind of that stage and define what
57:10 affordable housing means. In my work
57:13 with Barton Communities, we house
57:14 approximately 700 older adults in our
57:17 affordable housing units through the
57:19 Westerly apartments as well as Fedor
57:21 Manor, and I'm proud to live in a
57:23 community that back in 1963 and in
57:26 1983 made that a priority and decided
57:29 to set that up and set it up in
57:31 perpetuity to house our older adults.
57:34 Right now, there are two-year waiting
57:36 lists at both Fedor Manor and the
57:38 Westerly. Two years. We also manage
57:41 about five other properties, and all
57:43 of those properties have two-year
57:44 waiting lists as well. And in the
57:46 state of Ohio, for every unit of
57:49 affordable housing, there are 268
57:51 people who are competing for that
57:52 housing. So it is a big issue. We are
57:55 here, we're in the middle of it,
57:57 and I again am proud to live in a
57:59 community that's willing to have the
58:00 conversation. I've met with almost
58:02 everyone in this room and I've talked
58:04 to them about affordable housing over
58:06 the past 12 to 18 months, and I am
58:09 really, again, proud that we are
58:10 continuing that conversation. So my
58:12 questions. I don't know if I address
58:14 them to you, Councilman Evans, or?
58:17 Yes, that's appropriate, and we'll
58:19 keep track of them. Obviously, I
58:20 don't think we're going to get to
58:21 time to answer them today, but for
58:23 the record, so we all have them. So
58:24 yes, just go ahead.
58:26 Okay, so I'm just going to narrow
58:30 it down to if we could get some more
58:34 information, Councilman, on the
58:36 down payment assistance program, and I
58:39 believe we have some of the same
58:40 struggles as we have had with income
58:43 limits. I think that we're struggling
58:45 with the overall purchase price in
58:47 order to use the down payment
58:48 assistance program. So continuing to
58:51 have some sort of education on that,
58:53 and are we still forgiving two-family
58:56 home down payment assistance instead
58:59 of owner-occupied properties? So if
59:01 you were to own a two-family home, is
59:03 that still forgiven just for that
59:05 landlord who lived there for five years
59:07 and then decides to rent it out?
59:09 Or, because owner occupants still have
59:13 to pay back that down payment
59:14 assistance. So more information on that,
59:15 please. And is there a document online
59:18 where we can see all these programs
59:20 so that residents could easily look
59:22 up the resources and learn how to use
59:24 them, as well as, you know, I know
59:26 it's kind of complicated who can use
59:28 them, so is it easily and clearly
59:29 spelled out how folks can utilize these
59:35 And then for the CDBG project numbers,
59:38 do those include other programs like
59:41 the down, the liquid alive paint
59:42 liquid program? So the numbers that
59:44 were shown for the city, all the
59:47 great work that was done, does that
59:49 also include the paint liquid program?
59:51 So it would be interesting to see what
59:52 the city programs are versus what
59:55 the additional work is through liquid
59:56 alive, so we could see the
59:58 difference between what's being pushed
59:59 through the planning department, as
1:00:01 well as other community organizations.
1:00:09 Is there somebody signed in?
1:00:10 Okay, nobody signed in, so never mind.
1:00:11 Okay, so anybody is welcome to come up
1:00:15 and ask questions at this point,
1:00:18 or speak, yes, or just, or yeah,
1:00:25 I'm George Graham. Is that on now?
1:00:27 And I'm sort of on the BART board
1:00:30 of Barton communities, and my question
1:00:33 is really around the 616 housing
1:00:37 units that are coming online, and 84
1:00:44 low income, and I would just be
1:00:45 interested to know how decisions are
1:00:49 made and encourage that affordable
1:00:57 part of the conversation on any new
1:01:00 housing, and I guess the other thing
1:01:02 I'd say is more a comment, and that
1:01:04 that is that I hope that you'll think
1:01:06 of Barton communities as a partner
1:01:09 in this conversation and in that work,
1:01:11 and we offer housing to a lot of
1:01:14 folks in the community affordably.
1:01:20 Great. Thanks for your comment, Mr.
1:01:22 Chair. Just let me just make sure.
1:01:25 Is there anybody else here from
1:01:27 the public who'd like to speak?
1:01:34 Yeah, two follow-ups inspired by
1:01:36 those questions by Alison and George.
1:01:38 So pardon me, as it occurs to me,
1:01:45 Mr. Graham, the answer, by the way,
1:01:47 to your question is that the
1:01:49 tax abatements that the City
1:01:51 granted to those properties required
1:01:54 20 percent affordable housing to be
1:01:57 included, and that is a standing
1:02:04 Tax abatements aren't all that
1:02:06 frequent in Lakewood, but sometimes
1:02:09 can, could be, and perhaps that
1:02:11 could be expanded, but the question
1:02:13 that occurred to me, I don't even
1:02:14 know this, once those projects come
1:02:16 online and those affordable housing
1:02:19 units exist, how is the decision
1:02:23 made about who gets to live in them?
1:02:26 I guess is it the property owner
1:02:28 would have to field applications
1:02:31 and check income qualifications?
1:02:34 Yes, it goes through the property
1:02:37 They're responsible for doing the
1:02:39 income qualification and leasing it
1:02:41 out. So we do monitor, we'll have
1:02:43 a yearly monitor of a random check
1:02:47 on who they're renting to and
1:02:52 The other question is for the City
1:02:54 is, is there opportunities today
1:02:56 or soon for expanding at least
1:03:00 the category of affordable housing
1:03:02 at the Westerly, and Allison,
1:03:05 I'm sorry, it's not called the
1:03:06 Westerly, your organization is
1:03:10 So I think I heard today that
1:03:17 residents in Lakewood are seniors
1:03:19 and could qualify or do qualify
1:03:21 for that category of housing.
1:03:22 We need more than multifamily,
1:03:25 but if we have an opportunity
1:03:28 to do multifamily, let's do it.
1:03:30 I seem to recall the City has
1:03:32 some parcels that we put on
1:03:34 the market and that could be
1:03:41 I think those are still pending,
1:03:44 opportunities, one of the tools
1:03:46 that we're lacking is site control
1:03:48 of vacant parcels that the City
1:03:51 controls so that we could put
1:03:53 out there affordable housing
1:03:56 Another would be some financial
1:03:58 entity which Councilman Evans
1:04:01 might want to tease or hold
1:04:03 off on, but if there are such
1:04:06 opportunities, I personally would
1:04:08 support the City prioritizing
1:04:19 Is there any immediate response
1:04:20 from the City on those questions
1:04:26 the last one from Councilman
1:04:29 handful of properties, a little
1:04:32 less, and we're not getting
1:04:33 them as frequently as we were,
1:04:40 We'll talk internally with the
1:04:41 Mayor's office, but they're
1:04:43 available, so we understand and
1:04:52 the 100 units or more, when
1:04:54 that was passed in 2019, at
1:04:58 Sylvester, it really was an
1:05:00 effort of thinking about not
1:05:05 intentional about the way that
1:05:06 I wrote that in that slide,
1:05:07 was to not to say that they
1:05:10 are a total of 84 affordable
1:05:12 units, because the 120% AMI,
1:05:14 while that's important, based
1:05:19 metrics that you have to use,
1:05:24 example, are actually really
1:05:27 rate, and so the way that we
1:05:34 actually really quite high and
1:05:35 focused on the 80, but the way
1:05:37 written is that of that 20%,
1:05:50 developer, you have to have
1:06:02 I don't want to presume that
1:06:04 everybody can stay here all
1:06:09 other folks with stuff to do,
1:06:13 will keep my remarks short,
1:06:15 but one other question that
1:06:16 I have, and this is just to
1:06:19 planning department would be
1:06:31 probably a large amount, and
1:06:34 know, just applying because
1:06:36 they see a lower cost house
1:06:38 and, you know, they want to
1:06:40 really, it's going to prove
1:06:43 affordability point for that
1:06:50 interesting for our points to
1:06:55 low income housing tax credit
1:07:04 So affordable housing is not
1:07:06 It's expensive, and in order
1:07:08 use and put more units into
1:07:10 the market, we need subsidies
1:07:15 And so there is a 4 percent
1:07:19 The 9 percent tax credit is
1:07:21 very competitive, and that's
1:07:23 where this application that
1:07:27 It changes every two years.
1:07:29 So four years ago, Lakewood
1:07:32 This time and the time before
1:07:34 competitive just based on how
1:07:38 The 4 percent project tax credit
1:07:45 tallest building over at the
1:07:47 percent tax credit project.
1:07:52 everything we wanted to during
1:07:53 the rehabilitation because we
1:07:54 were only given a 4 percent
1:07:59 So I would say advocacy could
1:08:01 be added to this list of ways
1:08:03 improvements is around that
1:08:05 low-income housing tax credit
1:08:08 awards are provided throughout
1:08:13 Sign me up for that advocacy.
1:08:14 I mean, truly, like we should
1:08:23 of us here could be a part,
1:08:27 Yeah, it's certainly I think,
1:08:37 So I we absolutely have to.
1:08:39 I mean, we're we're constrained
1:08:47 So it's like we're and we're
1:08:59 ways to get decision-making
1:09:03 But I'm also, as you inferred,
1:09:05 Councilman Bullock, you know,
1:09:07 really looking at ways we can
1:09:11 into this, particularly if we
1:09:15 you know, county program or
1:09:16 other folks so we can really
1:09:17 build up a head of steam to
1:09:18 make some meaningful impact.
1:09:20 So that's definitely something
1:09:34 everybody for being here today.
1:09:36 Yes, it's great to see Planning
1:09:42 first meeting, not the last.
1:09:45 We're going to work together
1:09:47 on some of these questions.
1:09:50 Andrews because he'll probably
1:09:54 this out into the community
1:09:55 to get some direct feedback
1:10:15 Thank you for everybody who
1:10:17 Please, if you have additional
1:10:29 filter answers through them.
1:10:33 We're just kicking this off.
1:10:35 So I appreciate everybody's
1:10:37 And with no further business