2026 and this is the monthly meeting of the affordable housing review board. Going to
call the meeting to order with roll call. Brady McCertie he's on his way. Rebecca Strike Keley.
Miranda Penner here.
Troy Pal here. Paul Schneers here. Tracy Terrell
and Valerie Denise Black Turner.
We do have a quorum for this meeting and with the bitter weather outside,
we do thank all the board members for making it as well as our applicants.
Sorry, technical difficulties sir. Okay, a review of the agenda is
um we're going to approve next or November's minutes. We'll have a uh two presentations
from the housing development loan gr loan program applications. Uh we'll do couple of updates and a
reminder and then we'll open it to other business and open discussion and then adjourn the meeting.
Okay. Does anybody have a motion to approve the November 24th,
2025 meeting minutes? I motion to approve the November 24, 2025 meeting minutes. Second.
All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose.
passes for Libro.
Next item of business is housing development loan program applications. There are a few
presentations here. the um each application your applicant will have up to 20 minutes
uh to present and answer questions on their uh proposals. We have a Commonwealth
Development Corporation and Menite Housing Rehabilitation Services. So without further ado,
I'd like to ask uh representative of Commonwealth Development to come forward and present please.
Good afternoon.
Uh, so you can hear me online. Um, appreciate you having me here today. Uh, Danny D Franchesco with
Commonwealth Development. Um, and so we are here today to uh propose a project at located
at 212 North Market Street in uh Witchah, which we're calling a former Landmark Square building.
So, just to give you an idea of who Commonwealth is, um, we are a national affordable housing
developer based out of Madison, Wisconsin. Um, I do have to say, and I've already mentioned to
a few of you, I did not bring the weather from up north down here. Um, city of Witchaw actually
got more than Madison. Um, we probably beat you in temperature uh -40° chill, but I was looking
forward to coming here and getting some warmth, but uh that was the opposite. Um, and so yeah,
like I mentioned, we are a national affordable housing developer. Uh, we've been developing,
you know, since the late 1990s and we developed over, you want me to admit that? Oh, okay. Um,
and we've developed over 130 oral housing projects across 15 states. Um, you know, again, we've been
just strictly national oral housing. That's all we do, uh, is low income tax credit projects. Um,
the project that we're looking at is located at 212 North Market Square, which would be a
historic conversion um, where we would convert the building into affordable housing. And so with
that, Commonwealth has a vast experience where we completed over 20 projects. um where we converted
historic buildings into affordable housing. Um another thing about Commonwealth is we are a
long-term owner. Um so we don't develop and then look to sell, you know, in three or four years.
We're here for the long haul and we're going to be integrating with the city and work with, you know,
communities and organizations that are based out of Witchah. Um as we our property management team
is a local, um we get Omega is our property management company as well as working with a
local general contractor. So again, you know, Commonwealth will be partnering with local
organizations and, you know, being here for the long haul. So just to give you just an overview
of the site, again, it's located at 212 North Market Street there along uh Market Street and
First Street. Um, and currently it's a vacant uh building. I know um it's probably a familiar site
to most of you based on uh last year's submitt. Um and so again, we're looking to do something very
similar um where we're just looking to convert uh this building into 53 units of oral housing.
And so this is just a breakdown as you probably saw from the application of you know how we're
breaking the units down. So 100% of the units will be all affordable. And so when I say that
I mean they'll all be at 60% of the area median income or less. And so, you know,
this breakdown is really based on how to be competitive when applying to the state agency. Um,
so you can see that we have a majority or we have a vast majority, you know, between one,
twos, and three bedrooms for individuals and families. Um, the reason we like the site,
um, it's a very competitive site from KHRC standpoint and scoring,
but we also love the the downtown location. And we think it's very ideal for residents to, you know,
not have to rely on a car um and be able to live downtown, have access to public transit,
a lot of local shops and entertainment, you know, all within this area. Um and so we really like
um you know, where this is located in the downtown area. Uh some of the amenities that
we'll have for this project is we'll have on-site uh management. So we Omega will have a full-time
property manager and maintenance. Um there we will have a community room for residents to
gather um you know along with a fitness center um business center computers that tends can use free
of charge. Um so really you know trying to make a very encompassing you know workload play all in
the downtown area here with the typical features that you see in a market rate development.
Um these are some photos of the interior of the Landmark Square that we've pulled. Um we did tour
the building about uh probably now five or six weeks ago with a local GC um to get a sense of
pricing, you know, in order to be making sure that our numbers are aligned when proposing to KHRC.
Um so just want to give you some kind of examples of what we've done on past
projects. So, this project you're looking at was a conversion of a former uh manufacturing casket
company as well as the cheese manufacturing company. Yeah. Um and so we converted it into
um two boardwalk life um apartment projects there in Pondac, Wisconsin. Um another example here is
uh down in Oklahoma City. We converted a former uh elementary school that was
built in the 1920s and converted that into 62 units of uh senior affordable housing.
And then this just kind of gives us an idea of, you know, unit finishes that will have, you know,
again, typically what we try to do is, you know, make everything look feel like it's a market rate,
um, you know, property with the finishes, but obviously at the aorable rents.
Um these are just kind of some examples of the Pondelac building of what we did with the interior
um with the historic component involved. Um so we really do like these historic
deals. They're very unique. We have in-house architecture team that has a lot of experience
with having to work with these unique spaces and you know being able to turn
um you know these former buildings that weren't meant for apartments you know into livable units.
This is another example of the one down in Dunar Common. So, you can see on the bottom there
uh there's a unit there with an old chalkboard um in there. So, I think it's kind of cool,
you know, where each unit had proposed and kind of have its own uniqueness to it.
Just a rough timeline um for you all. So, we will we have submitted the pre that was due
uh last week or no two weeks ago, sorry. um tok and they're right now is going through the preapp
uh process and then we'll be invited um should we move forward with the poll application that
would be due miday of this year with finding out about an award um end of July of this year
and so with our timeline and our experience with historic properties we would anticipate closing
on the the building having our investors and lenders all lined up by May of 2027. Um, again,
typically on these historic deals, we get our architect in there to really find every nook
and cranny of, you know, making sure all the asbesus testing and mold testing that has to
be done throughout that due diligence period. It just has a little bit of a longer lead time
um to get there. But again, we're projecting a May 2027 closing um with a completion in August
of 2028 um with units being ready to occupy in 2029. Um and so yeah,
one other thing I'd like to add to is this will be Commonwall second project
um in the city of Witchah. We're currently uh working on closing a 42 unit multifamily project
there just south of East 47th Street along South Broadway. Um different project. It's a 42 unit new
construction walk up style. Um but again, so we're very familiar or getting familiar with, you know,
working with the city and the county probability permit timeline and just going through, you know,
just each municipality has to process. So, you know, this will be the second project if awarded
um in the city of Witchah. So, we're very excited of kind of continuing that momentum
of bringing addition additional affordable housing units um here to the city of Witchah.
And then this is just kind of a highle overview of the sources and uses that we're looking to
bring into the deal. Um so as most of you know um you know receiving these home funds is extremely
competitive. Um as we're aware and you know goes a long way in applying to KRC and can
really be the difference of getting an award or not. Um and so you know we were making a request
of $213,000 from the city of Witchah and home funds which would come out to $4,19 a unit. Um
you can receive five points if it's 4,000 or more. So we're trying to get the minimum also
understanding the city of Witchah has available. Um and so again the vast majority is really coming
from your federal and state historic tax credit pricing along with you know permanent loans. Um,
and so when it came to construction costs, again, we tooured the building and worked with local GC,
um, that's going to be doing our project, um, the other 42 unit project in Witchah. So,
we have a good rapport with them to get a sense of cost because, you know, going into these historic,
you really never know what costs are going to be until you get behind the walls. Um,
so with the knowledge that we've had on past projects, you know, we we're very confident the
numbers that we're showing today. Um and so yeah, this just kind of gives a a sense of where you
know the capital stack lines up. So you can see there's a lot of sources um coming into this as
well as applying to KGRC for additional home and housing trust funds as well when we apply to them.
Um I guess with that I don't know if it's questions now or objective if the board
has questions now you can ask them or you can reserve the right to ask after the next
presentation I just have a question is there's tax credit or not I'm sorry there's historic
there's already historic credits against this building is there historical tax credits yeah
so The project is on the National Register of Historic Places and so we've reached out to our
investors that have done past historic deals with us to get um you know pricing on what those would
be for the historic side. So it does qualify for federal and state historic tax credits.
You mentioned a special population Who who is the special population? Yeah. So,
uh we um in our application have set aside 10% to be for uh special needs and so that'll be mental,
physically disabled. Um so we'll have units that will meet those requirements that'll be fully
accessible. Um we would be refurbishing the elevators that are currently there
um to make sure that there's, you know, full access for the complex to those residents. How'd
you get them in the building? That building's not ADA. Um, so that building for 10 years,
so I know lots about that building. Yeah. So, we've actually had to deal with this
on a school in Iowa where we had to install lift. Um, but they put the three steps out front. Yeah,
it's Yeah, it's unique. Um, I'd have to go with our architect on I don't know the slope on that.
If you change that to a slope and if it would be within code or not. I don't think it would be. Um,
you have enough. Yeah. Sidewalk. Mhm. But we have in house architecture team that's looked at this
and I know the limit is one option and I think the other may be I know there's the back back door
option for the back room but I don't think that's going to suffice. So um that be the front door.
Any other questions at this time?
Okay, thank you D.
Oh, you're good. Thanks. Up next to present is min housing and rehabilitation
Good afternoon. I'm Byron Adrian with Midnight Housing and our proposal is for a 46 unit
uh senior tax credit u project that we plan to submit to uh HRC this year and
it's on two sites. You can see those are on the screen. 8031 East Gilbert and that's
uh just a couple blocks south of Kellogg on Rock Road and then also 1511 West 27th Street South,
couple blocks west of Senica um on 27th Street South. And these are a couple properties that the
uh Presbyterian of Southern Kansas has had approached us at Menite Housing on as far
as doing uh affordable housing development and we're very interested in talking with them and
looking at the possibility and so we've moved forward with this proposal and we
have Bill Hendris here from the presetary who would like to make several comments.
Hi everybody. I am Bill Hendricks. I'm moderator of the trustees of the Presbytery of Southern
Kansas. Like many denominations, the Presbytery of Southern Kansas finds itself in a season of
numeric and episcopal decline. So we have these two properties that are owned by the Presbyterian
that are currently being considered for alternative ministries. In late 2023,
seven elders from the presetary gathered to consider options for these two properties after
significant due diligence and consideration. The decision was made to partner with Menanite Housing
for the development of affordable senior housing. The reason that we chose Nanite Housing is that
they are local and have an extensive history of successful management of senior properties.
Among other considerations, the criteria for establishing these two properties as affordable
senior housing included the need to honor the 65 plus year legacy of the ministries of these
congregations in these two locations to create something that would be complimentary to each
neighborhood but most importantly something that would serve an additional ministry need.
These two properties, if developed, will assist the city council in responding to the appeals
of justice together for affordable housing and they will develop vacant land within the
city limits so it makes transportation easier for the residents. Thank you.
And Menac Housing is a local nonprofit organization located here in Witchah Mission
is and has been for many years provide affordable housing in the communities we serve. Most of what
we have developed in the past is in the Witchah uh area. We have worked with KHRC for 35 years,
developed 22 uh LITC properties, over 900 units, and we currently manage um a little over,300 units
in 35 properties all in Kansas. That includes 960 units at 24 properties here in Witchah. And in
those we got 226 units at the four properties that are uh witchaw uh city uh rad properties
that we have taken the over the property management on. So we're very excited about
the opportunity to have two local organizations with a common goal come together to provide
additional affordable housing for the Witchah community and specifically for seniors here. So,
a little bit about the description of the project. Again, 46 units, seniors, uh to be 55 and older,
two locations. Uh we've got the unit mix split evenly between one and three bedrooms. You can
see the square footage. Each unit uh includes a safe room and a onecar garage. Both locations,
both the Gilbert Street and the 27th Street South would include a building, pub house building,
uh that would have a community room, kitchen, restrooms, exercise equipment, outdoor patio,
and we do have on-site manager, uh part-time on-site manager, part-time
uh maintenance technicians, and then I announcing would be responsible for the ground maintenance.
And this gives you a picture uh rendering architect's rendering a couple views of what the
uh the forlex design looks like. And we've uh used this design on another project that
uh we developed in Newton about 5 years ago. Uh we just got approval to the second phase there. So
we're going to do a similar look here in Newton. um is very well received in Newton and u we've
identified few improvements from from that project that we've included in with what we're proposing
to do here. So uh forlex design you see the front elevation garages um you know pretty much on side
uh side view and then the rear view. the rear view shows the open back patio and we do um have a
divider in the middle between the interior units. When we were um developing the Newton project,
we did have dividers on the end, but um when we talked to the residents, they really prefer
to have that open. So, it's a nice open look back there. So, each resident would have its own front
entrance, own onecar garage, and its own uh rear patio. And then the site plan, this is at 8031
East Gilbert there, uh, close to Kellogg and Roth. Uh, here. So, the forplexes, there's six forlex,
six forplexes that you can see uh, on the site plan here. And then on the East Gilbert site,
we do plan to keep the existing church building. And so the building is right here. And we would
use the sanctuary and fellowship hall. And there's also a good size kitchen already. We would use
those here for our community space and build out the amenities that were shown on a previous slide.
And then we are looking to use the north wing of the existing building to put a couple units in
there, one zero and one two bedrooms. So, we believe that we could really do an efficient
um construction property here by keeping the existing um building utilizing that for some
of these amenities and also a couple units rather than doing demolition on this one and
uh and building new. On the U South property, the 27th Street South, we would plan to
uh demolish the church building based on where it was located. we just couldn't um work that
into the plans and we'd have the uh five forlexes for 20 units. And then here where it shows office,
that would actually be about a 1500 ft² office/lothouse uh facility there.
And this shows the unit mix, shows the rent rates and the various uh levels of uh qualifying
individuals based on their income. And so what we tried to do was to focus as many units as
we could at the various um different levels. So we've got an even distribution between 30, 50,
and 60% AMI. And that allows for a a a very good impact on those lowest um income individuals um
seniors that we'd be working with here. So the same number of units at 30, 50, and 60. We also
normally elect income averaging. We've done that for about the last four or five years as that's
been made available through KHRC. And what that does is allows us to provide some units for folks
that are above 60% area median income but below 80%. Now you'll notice the rent rates are the same
for the 60 and the 80s. So we're not looking to really going into the project increase the rents,
but this does give us flexibility to allow for a little bit wider population that needs
to be served. If they're just a little over 60 in that 70% range, whatever below 80, they can still
potentially qualify. Not a lot of units, but we do have four units through the to have been electing
the income averaging. Gives us a little more flexibility there. The funding sources are shown
here and we do um uh include the federal state uh litec uh funding uh permanent loan. We will
be requesting both home and htf funds from KHRC. And then you can see we're requesting 200,000 uh
here from the city of Waw home funds. And uh you know that is critical for uh the application. It
does make the application stronger by um receiving uh as was mentioned at least $4,000 per uh unit.
So that's a critical piece of the application there. And then the timeline in this case,
we've already started a process to go through a zoning change. And you can see we've been involved
with that since November and have proceeded with the various uh uh meetings with um council members
and uh planning commission, planning staff, dab meetings, and we got city council next Tuesday.
So, so far it's met with positive uh reaction. from each of those groups. And so, uh, last step
would be next Tuesday. We'll see how things go next Tuesday. But, uh, in order to put this, uh,
application be able to move forward with it, we decided, let's go ahead and start working towards,
uh, getting its own multifamily from, uh, single family. And then um if we're awarded then we would
anticipate starting construction uh by March of next year 2027 and complete construction in
uh in about 12 months. So with that be happy to answer any questions.
I'd like to say I love the collaboration and the partnership ensuring that not only are
you meeting the needs for affordable housing, but you're also um ensuring that the historical value
of the community is protected. I am curious to know what ministry you indicated there as long
as there's some ways to provide ministry in this development. Just curious what that looks like.
There are a couple of opportunities for ministry. My wife serves coffee at Second Light two days
a week and there's a huge need for seniors down there with some really heartbreaking stories. So,
there's a ministry to aid those seniors. You've seen the rent levels here. They're
extremely affordable, $360 a month for the least expensive unit. We looked at the central landing
development that Central Community Church did on West Maple and Menanite Housing is managing
that. But listen to the the thrill in the lives of the people that had a place to
call home. When we began our due diligence with the nearby schools in each of these locations,
we met with the principles and the social workers of each of the schools asking,
"What can we do? How can we help?" The dominant response from each of them is we just need help
with bodies. We need people to come in and help kids get across pony to get to school. We need
people to come in and read. We need help. My my wife was a social worker with school system and
volunteered at Park Elementary School before it became second life. So she could go down
with Gracie, a kindergarten teacher with way too many kids in her class, and helped read,
and she became Grandma Susie. So in the same way, we see the opportunity for the seniors in these
two communities who are willing and able to go to the neighboring school that are not too far away,
read to the kids, and when you have that type of symbiotic relationship,
it's great for the kids and it's great for the seniors. So there's an ongoing ministry of support
with one another throughout the community. Thank you. Thank you. You know, we at Men House Housing,
we also really enjoy the opportunities to partner with other organizations here um in the community
a couple years ago. We partnered with Stepstone and uh develop Bluffy Place um Harry and Hillside
area uh 28 units for domestic violence survivors. And it was just such a need and we're just always
very thankful when we can partner with those organizations uh to meet a comp.
Hi, this is Tracy. Um, can you hear me?
Yes. Yes, Tracy, we can hear you, but you may need to go a little bit. Awesome. Well,
hey, the question that I had is can I ask why the distribution of the units
um do you have like data that supports that for senior housing they need more than one bedroom?
Yeah, for senior I think the question is uh for the senior housing why more than one bedroom and
we've over the years um we have noticed that the demand with seniors is actually greater for two
bedrooms than one bedroom. Even though most of the time the residents that are uh living there,
it's a one person household, but they really like having that extra bedroom for either doing
um like office work, you know, like an office space or craft space or just have a place that
their kids or grandkid come over to stay for, you know, a short visit, something like that.
So have that extra space for those seniors that can afford it. We've found uh there's actually we
we often times will rent out the two bedrooms for seniors quicker than the one bedrooms.
Any more board member questions for Midnight Housing?
Hearing none, we'll move into board discussion and a funding recommendation. Both applicants
uh will still be here if you want to direct additional questions to them during this time.
Now would be a good time, I guess, to update you on the budget situation. Yeah. And why we're
doing an either or a forward here, excuse me. We currently have $245,000 left in the HDL budget.
uh one of these applications uh Commonwealth is asking for 213,000
and Menite is asking for 200. So that limits us to being able to do one award.
And just to ask, it's not worth splitting because the part of the point is to get the points for the
LITC funding. That's correct. And can we change the capital stack for both projects, which I don't
believe at this point in time since they already submitted applications would be appropriate.
I'm asking a question out of ignorance. the home affordability period. I'm reading through
the scoring sheet. Is does that line up with LITC? Is it the same time period? Um, no. It
the affordability period based is based on the amount of the award and in both of these cases I
believe it would be 20 years. Is that right? Be 20 years of of uh portability period and monitoring.
As far as points go, I'm pretty even with both of these candidates. Does anyone want to discuss
pros and cons such as building or um percentage of special needs as in weighing one higher than
another in our decision? Uh this is a really tough one. They're both incredibly strong applications.
I thought about that too, Miranda. And one thing that stood out to me with the Menite and uh is the
first of all the collaboration. They're local and also the fact that their percentage of addressing
uh special needs population the percentage is much higher in the other proposal.
I was seeing that as well and just feasibility of their units versus this big
uh 212 Market Street older property. But like I said,
these are both amazing opportunities, amazing builds. How do you pick?
Did notice. I mean, based on that comment that Midnight is asking for two bedrooms,
that will likely go to single family homes, uh, renters, excuse me, single person renters,
that, you know, there is more housing per dollar being provided in the Commonwealth development
application if that's worth a consideration. So, it is less less of a special population.
So, I guess it's kind of one of those cases, right? So, if this if they both if both these
projects go before and try to get LITC funding, right? Um, if they don't get the
additional amount, I guess, do we need to look at the likelihood that this is going to get approved
at the next level? So, if we don't push one over the other and it doesn't make to the next phase,
now we've just missed financing the one that has a likelihood of coming to fruition. Yeah,
Tracy, I forgot to ask Commonwealth while they're up here. It It's been
a while since it's been a month since our last meeting, and I done my research then,
and I thought I I still knew it. When I looked up the property Commonwealth was looking at,
I saw a really long development history. looked like a an IRB was applied for potentially other
funings like activity since 2023. I saw Menanite might have been a developer
partner at one point. Would Commonwealth be willing to talk about their development
history of that project? Like has it been a long time long process and not been approved?
Yeah. So, uh, Commonwealth has been under contract with the current seller, um, late, uh, 2025. So,
I can't speak for a minute housing. They were the one with another developer last year that
applied. So, we had no affiliation. We're not part of that project. The other property that um,
is that you're working on in Witchah, is that a lit supported project or is that Yep. Yeah. So,
that one's a 42 unit new construction um walk up style. So, completely different
kind of product type. Yeah. 4% or uh 9% 100% affordable. Okay. You got your foot in the
That res's
property came before this board before your tenure call and
uh they received home funding at that time.
So the question that I have is like kind of looking from the number of units, right,
that could potentially be in there, the location of the historic property,
plus taking into account other funding that could be stacked with this as far as the
historical funding. Now you're combining multiple funding sources in to take this
older building that eventually something's going to need to be done to it. Anyway,
that's why I guess I'm kind of leaning more towards the Commonwealth project only from
the aspect of being able to couple it with other funds to make it happen. Um,
I don't know. What are your guys' thoughts on that?
Sorry. So, there's a lot going on downtown and when you take that historic building, it's going
to take a lot of work. I am concerned that the tax credits are going to be enough to pay for the help
with the renovations that are going to be in order to stay in that historic registry. Um,
it's going to be a lot to to make happen. There's a lot of other construction going on downtown,
hotels. Um, more apartments coming. We need them. I mean, I think that's great. I I'm
leaning more towards a menite housing just for the component the the uh collaboration component that,
you know, the seniors seem to be getting the short end of the stick a lot of times when you
talk about like downtown apartments and stuff. There's they don't want to live downtown. They
don't work for downtown. We need more of that type housing in the, you know,
outside of the city. I'm leaning more towards the the Menanite housing just for that. I mean,
just thinking we need more more housing for our seniors.
Well, plus the location of the one, especially the one on 27th Street. I mean,
that's a prime integrated area for that to be infilled in.
with other family members and things like that that could potentially be living nearby. I mean,
that's I said they both have good merits about them. I am concerned about parking
for Commonwealth. Where are you going to park everybody?
Um, so with the property, there's 26. Um, we're currently in discussions with
neighboring properties. Um I spoke to one of the owners that owns the market center parking
garage and he's worked with um the national and the lux apartments and he rent stalls out
um to those to that ownership and then he's also working with um I don't know
the affordable house developer that's doing the is it market center 114 unit bond deal
um so we would look to potentially pay rest spaces for that parking
You got to take it. Uh yeah, we we don't have anything set. So there goes your rent. Um but
yeah, we realized that was something that we needed to definitely address because when
we spoke with management, that was a concern was party. So you know, that's something for
Um, can I ask another question from Menite as far as like you
guys going to the district advisory boards? It showed that you went there
in January. What was the feedback from area residents around there?
Yeah, we've had positive responses from uh residents in both locations. you know, it's
been good to have discussions with them because they have brought up concerns that they've got
um at both locations. You know, they've uh talked about um uh security type of concerns that they've
got, especially for seniors. And so, we often times will um put in uh surveillance cameras. So,
after listening to them, we thought uh we definitely want to go ahead and do that.
um you know, we don't see the either one of these areas as a really a difficult area from a like a
crime or or is or that kind of a standpoint. Again, we've got a lot of properties in many
different locations in Witchah. Some that we were concerned about when we went in with the
developments and um and we've been we've been fine with the way we managed property. So, we don't see
uh from a crime or uh security situation any heightened sense that we need to be alarmed about,
but just having the conversations with the neighbors and listening to their concerns
has been very good. We we weren't required to have neighborhood meetings, but when we do
developments, we want to be good neighbors. So, we sent out uh postcards and scheduled
u neighborhood like town hall kind of meetings. We didn't have a great response,
but we at least allowed them the opportunity to come and listen to what the development uh what
our development plans were. We had probably maybe 8 to 10 uh residents that were concerned enough
to show up and we had good discussion with them. And um I would say that we talked about drainage
concerns and we talked about specifically at the East Gilbert location which has Bostic Elementary
just to the east. And when the buses come in in the morning and the evening to uh drop off and
and pick up kids and and and parents come by, just the volume of traffic has been a concern. And so
I know Bill has started some conversations with principal at Boston Elementary and we want to see
what we can do to actually maybe help them with with uh improving the situation. We don't want to
go in and make any any situation worse. On the uh on the east side of the 831 East Gilbert property,
there is a an existing parking lot that when kids get dropped off and picked up uh that the the
the parents use that. And so we are uh starting conversations with the school since that a part of
our plan is to put apartments there. That parking lot would no longer be there. And so we want to
talk to the school about what's going to be their plan to take care of that situation. You know,
they should not really be relying on private property to um to to address that situation.
And so we believe there is um sufficient land on uh their property that uh that could be used for
parking. So our conversations, you know, it's not like it's always been totally positive. We never
see that when we go into developments. But we want to be open and that's what we've been and we've
heard from them and they've heard from us. And um you know, we did not get negative comments at the
DAB meetings. the comments that we've had were at the meetings we scheduled prior to that and
they've they've all got opportunities to come and share at any any of the dab meetings. So, um so
we we've had positive responses at really all the meetings we've had and good open communication.
So, I have sorry to go back and forth, but I do have one question for Commonwealth. Um,
one of the things is the properties that are going up are the the properties that you plan
on redoing, are you going you're not going to be looking for a tax abatement later? Correct.
Uh, yeah. Tax abatement currently is not anticipated. Yeah, no uh tax payment we're
applying for. We are going to be applying for the sales tax exemption again to be more competitive,
but at this time we're not anticipating um a request for a tax payment. Okay. So, whenever
these properties are developed or these units are developed from this property, then the city
of Witchaw and the county will be able to assess property taxes against that property. Correct.
Correct. Yeah, we uh we make sure when we go into a new municipality that we work with the tax
assessor because some of them each municipality is very different on how they assess low-inccome tax
credit projects. So, we want to make sure that obviously what we're putting in our model is
reflective of you know what they're going to tax it at. So, um but yeah, uh we are anticipating to
pay the taxes to the city and county. Okay. So basically part of the funds then will be
recaptured t taxpayer funds will be recaptured from property taxes where I know with the other
project they're applying to be tax exempt on real estate tax exempt on those properties. Our river
is not tax there's no tax payment on that. We have sales tax exemption but uh the river
project we are real estate taxes will be paid as well if that was your question. Okay, thank you.
Brandon,
he's sleeping.
What did you It's interesting. He's sleeping. More so the discussion piece. I mean, weighing
these two. I think they're both great options. Um, I definitely do think that the uh Menite
Housing Program and specifically the senior and the affordability aspect is a little stronger. And
so that's that's where my mind's at right now. And I definitely don't want to discredit Commonwealth.
I think doing something with that building would be amazing. Uh, I think something needs to happen
to that building downtown. I hate that you're come I know I know this affordable housing,
so I got to be careful what I say here. I hate that you're coming in under that,
but I think there that's a great property to housing, but careful what I say in this board.
And to add to that, I can see how beneficial it would be for students who are going to school
downtown and how it could provide affordable housing. I would say that that's a um a plus
um in providing um affordable housing in that building. Um but once again uh with the menite
um I just I think that's um more viable option and I'd like to make a motion. Is
this a good time to do that? Certainly. Okay. I'd like to make a motion that we approve the
Menite Housing Rehab Services application for $200,000. Second. I have a motion and a second.
All those in favor of the motion say I. I. I. Those opposed. I I.
So I'm hearing four board members for the proposal,
two against, zero abstain. Is that correct?
Okay, I believe the motion passes
and housing will be awarded a commitment of $200,000 from the city of Wah's HLP fund.
Having said that, the applicants are welcome to stay or leave or can
hang around until after the meeting if you have questions or discussion for chat. But
uh we certainly thank you for your presentations today, all the thought preparation that went into
it. We're appreciative of uh your willingness to help affordable housing in the city. That's right.
Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate.
We'll move on to the next item of updates and reminders. I'd like to update you on the
Country Acres request for proposal. That's 26 housing units and five vacant lots at
um the northwest area of Witchaw. Uh that RFP was released on January 8th. Uh our property
walkthroughs were uh conducted January 13th through 16th and then an out ofstate group
actually walk through this morning. We begin receiving questions uh via email
for the question and answer addendum that we will uh post on January 28th. Proposals are
due February 13th and you guys will get this brought before you tenatively on the February
23rd meeting here with the goal of presenting it to city council in March. Um, we're fairly
optimistic in this schedule. So, that'll give you something to look forward to next month.
And one thing I did want to remind you of is um, regardless of when you started,
your board term ends March 31st of this year. So, uh, staff recommends that you reach out to your
appointing council member or mayor and schedule your future in the board. If you wish to remain,
um, they will need to, um, appoint you for another term. And if this isn't something
you want to continue to do, they would appreciate the heads up. I'm sure you uh,
find another appointee. So, just wanted to bring that out there.
Having said that, is there any other business or open discussion? Yeah, I I'm very much putting
the cart before the horse here. Don't shoot me down. Um, the role potentially of this board could
change depending on how council votes on sales tax and the community votes on the sales tax.
Will that affect terms in any way? Should we be expecting this board to expand? Is
the work needed on our end um in the coming months or are we just uh we're just kind of
rolling through March and then we're good to go. We'll see what happens next term. I'm gonna
invite Sally to chime in here. She's on, but I'm I'm here too. Um it's it's status quo for now,
right? So um tomorrow this is a presentation of the guard rails and how we see it. But
um in terms of increasing financial resources to affordable housing in our community, it was
foreseen that a lot of the standard operating practices that this board executes will continue
to deliver those additional services. And there was talk of expanding just the size of this board,
but that's also not new to expand the size of this board because of the difficulty in
maintaining quorum if you will. So right now status quo you don't get off that.
Any other discussion? So I do have one thing that I wanted to talk to to ask about. So
like right now from I guess the overall goal of the housing department and where the need is in
the community is there like so like for example with these two particular projects we had a lot
of you know they were close and I guess one is serving a different population over another. So,
do we have like a current list of what are we really short of what I know and
I know it's all housing, but are we short more one-bedroom units? Are we short more two-bedroom
units? Like where's the gap? So, if the city has a need and if the need is 10,000 units,
what's the breakdown of the gap that we have in our area now? Is there a way for
us to go find that? We need 44,000 rooftops. That's how short we are.
Steve, do you have any insight on that or sadly? No. No. And I'm also looking at coal
because right coal does a gap and needs analysis for our homelessness services sector. We've got
44,000 units and generally we believe that any new rooftop is beneficial to the system because even
if it's not in the affordable range, you know, it rolls downhill to affordable when somebody moves
up the ladder, if you will. I voted against the senior housing, but that will open up homes that
currently need to be used by families, but are you know by like I it's a complex ecosystem. But
I hear what you're saying, Tracy, and I wondered the same thing as I was going through. Like,
which population is worth more points is kind of the harshest way to say it. Are seniors worth more
points than the disabled community? Is that something that needs to be defined by us? Yes
or no? Or is that just taken project by project? The gap is so big. We have to look at everything
like he just said, rooftops, rooftops, rooftop, however we get. That's what I was saying about
that Commonwealth deal. Hate that you're coming in not hate but that you're coming in because it
could be great 50s whatever unit apartments. Yeah. When I look at the Commonwealth versus Menites,
the percentage I think is what made me think about because they were only going to have like 10% of
the units available whereas seniors it's it's a broader uh group. the percentage was more right.
But I'm also looking at it like at what point if we if we're really trying to provide affordable
housing, it's one of those like in knowing where the gap is, right? If we understand that, hey,
like right now we know number one homeless population is what? Single men and women.
So it it's like okay onebedroom or efficiency units helps fill the greatest need right but
if the greatest need is Sally says hey we need a whole bunch of people because we need five
bedroomedroom sixbedroom units to support larger families then I guess it's also going back into
which is the highest best use of the resources that we're being given because eventually if the
resources aren't there or the resources, you know, aren't matching what we need, whether a sales tax
is passed or not, it's still understanding like where that gap is. Where have we identified that?
Because the cost to build multi-unit properties for three-bedroom or onebs, there should be some
sort of priority, not just to the total number of units, but to which needs to be served right now.
And if it's senior housing, then great. It's senior housing, right? Then we know and now
you could say senior housing, one bedrooms, two bedrooms. I I think it'd be a great problem for
us to have to talk about in the future of starting to ask our developers, hey, we really need one,
you know, we need 41bedrooms because that's our biggest need. I don't I mean you can speak to this
and I but I'm I don't feel like that's where we're at yet that we need so many rooftops,
so many different size rooms, units, everything. I mean, that's a great problem that we'll have to
address at some point hopefully. I would love for this board to get that far into it that
we need to start focusing in on certain demographics or sizes if you will. So,
but it also goes back to the per unit, right? It goes back to the cost per unit. If you look at
some of the other projects that we've given out funding to at $90,000 to be able to serve an x
amount of number of people where if the money was set back and going, okay, that $90,000 if some of
the properties that we hadn't funded before, there would have been enough funds to be able to support
both of these multi-unit projects. Then you're risking losing the a developer at that time.
Troy, my comment is sort of around that. We need so many rooftops. The best facilities
are mixed mixed income, mixed sizes, right, in the right spots. Some developers need
to have that mixed one, two, threebedroom in order to for it to pencil. So, I mean,
we don't want to definitely get in the position where we're over like del we're overstating you
need to have a complex of efficiency apartments that are all for people that are 30% AMI. What's
going to be the outcome of that? Well, it's going to be more difficult to pencil. It's going to be
more complicated to operate. It's going to require more more social services perhaps.
So I mean we definitely don't want to impinge on the market's ability to self-direct and right
and make it do its thing. I mean this is come so this board does you know does allocate a lot of
funds but in terms of what this board allocates and what the private market constructs are they
even comparable in terms of how much housing is put on the floor put put out in the community is
it even worth that's what I'm trying to ask is it even worth having this conversation just in
terms of the impact this board's able to have compared to the private market when we know
what we really need is as many as many units as we can get you know online as possible. I don't know
the answer to that. Tracy just rhetorically Lance can I comment on something real quick
please? Uh is this Corey with this is Corey? Yeah. Yeah. I was a little under the weather,
so I didn't want to expose everybody. Uh, when we say 55 or older senior,
you can also be disabled and younger and qualify to be in one of our residences.
So, we it's not just senior, it's also disabled and stuff like that as well.
And Cole, what we haven't necessarily done a good job of in the past is that, you know,
we've got 74 seniors at the homeless shelter and we've got these projects developing that
are specific for seniors. We haven't really been doing a good job of connecting those
dots like we did recently at Greenway, right? We've got 20 open spots at Greenway. We've got
74 seniors at how do we connect the dots? We did a better job of doing that lately.
And if we can watch that and make sure that we can if we do target towards affordable housing needs,
we're also targeting the people who specifically need them or let the market drive itself.
That was a good point. Thank you for your insight, sir, Corey.
Any further discussion?
Hearing none. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? I have a motion to adjourn.
All those in favor? I I those opposed.
Just one. Thank you all very much. I wanted to stay longer.
That's good. I need it. I I need to be humbled around.