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HousingPartnershipMinutes2022 Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday January 10, 2022 Due to the Covid-19 emergency, this was a Zoom Virtual meeting: MEMBERS Carmen Junno, Chair Edgardo Cancel Hannah Shaffer Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair Sara Howard Richard Abuza Jennifer Dieringer Julio Alves Ace Tayloe Staff: Wayne Feiden 1. Notice that the meeting is being recorded- by Chair Junno 2. Public Comments- Megan Paik of the Human Rights Commission announced an affordable housing training event at Forbes Library 3. Approve December 6, 2021 minutes- The Commission postponed action on the minutes to allow the chair time to make corrections. 4. Bridge Street Nursing Home affordable housing- recommendations for funding-Laura Baker of Valley Community Development Corporation (VCDC) presented concept plans for Prospect Place, an affordable housing development for former nursing home at Bridge Road, Prospect, and Hatfield Road. She addressed questions from partnership members and the public on the nature of their joint venture partnership structure, unit composition mix, target affordability, and other details. Louis Hasbrouck, building department, reported that the building has great bones. Laura Baker indicated that VCDC would be asking for $1 million in CPA or some combination of CPA and CDBG funding to support the project. Housing Partnership members spoke in favor of the project. Upon motion by Ace Tayloe, second by Richard Abuza, the board voted unanimously by roll call vote to support the project and write a letter of support to the Community Preservation Act. 5. Update on Housing Authority- Edgardo Cancel gave an update on Housing Authority projects, especially the CDBG funded playground at Hampshire Heights. 6. Housing Partnership projects- The Housing Partnership agreed to schedule an extra brainstorming meeting to identify projects for members. There was a brief discussion on special legislation to limit rental housing broker fees charged to renters. 7. The partnership adjourned at 6:45 PM. Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday January 24, 2022 Due to the Covid-19 emergency, this was a Zoom Virtual meeting MEMBERS Carmen Junno, Chair Edgardo Cancel Hannah Shaffer Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair Sara Howard Richard Abuza Jennifer Dieringer Julio Alves Ace Tayloe 1. Public Comments- MJ Adams gave an update on Burts Meadow Affordable Homeownership Homes- - construction this spring with six affordable homeownership opportunities. The lottery is expected in the spring. Information on the affordable housing is available at www.hpmgnoho.com under Affordable Homes. The information was sent to 70 people who expressed interest, large employers, and housing groups. Rich Madowiz is leading the Emerson Way LLC development, as part of a deal to develop eight affordable homes as a condition of the Emerson Way subdivision. Two affordable units have been built and Emerson Way and these six condo units will complete the project. Carmen Ahearn is going to draw the names in the lottery as an impartial observer. 2. Ordinance to abolish brokers’ fees for tenants. There was discussion about moving forward and a clear indication of partnership general support, but the consensus was to hold a focus group or forum first to hear from diverse stakeholders. Upon motion by Edgardo Cancel and second by Richard Abuza, the Partnership voted unanimously to table the matter. 3. Housing Partnership Goals. The partnership discussed Jim Reis’s op-ed piece in the Daily Hampshire Gazette summarizing recent Housing Partnership actions and directions. The Partnerships duiscussed their role in education and as a sounding board for affordable housing policies. Carmen Junno pointed out that she has replaced Todd Weir on the CDBG Public Services review group, making recommendations to the Mayor on the public services portion of CDBG funds. Members discussed various projects, from promotion, education, real esate transfer fees, brokers fees, the upcoming Boston representative for the housing trust (tentatively in April), CDBG funded housing stabilization funds through CAPV, engagement of Housing Authority residents. No actions were taken. 4. Upon motion by Ace Tayloe and second by Richard Abuza, the Partnership voted unanimously to adjourn. Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday March 7, 2022 Due to the Covid-19 emergency, this was a virtual (zoom) meeting MEMBERS Carmen Junno, Chair Edgardo Cancel Hannah Shaffer Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair Sara Howard-absent Richard Abuza Jennifer Dieringer Julio Alves Ace Tayloe Staff: Wayne Feiden 1. Notice that the meeting is being recorded 2. Public Comments- there was no public comment 3. Unanimously approve minutes of December 6, 2021, January 10, 2022, and January 24, 2022, upon motion by Richard Abuza and second by Ace Tayloe and roll call vote 4. Consultation on FY23 CDBG Action Plan- Wayne Feiden presented the draft MA-FY23 (FFY22) CDBG Action Plan. Public service recommendations were accepted by the Mayor (Carmen Junno represented the Housing Partnership on this review group), Housing Rehabilitation is being moved from PVPC to Community Action Pioneer Valley both because PVPC did not enter a new proposal and because the city wanted a group with better contacts among those in need, and purchase the former Bridge Road nursing home for the Valley Community Development planned Prospect Place affordable housing. The Partnership agreed with the City’s approach to look at its two big self-funded affordable housing support (CPA, CDBG), two large grants the city often obtains (Housing Choice grants, MassWorks), and two small city affordable housing programs (Tax Increment Financing and Short Term Rental Fees) and rationalize what makes the most sense for each project. Housing Partnership members agreed with this approach and supported some of the support for Prospect Place coming from CDBG instead of CPA, while also indicating that they would continue to lobby for more CPA funds to go to affordable housing. 5. Special Legislation to Prohibit Landlords and Brokers from Requiring Brokers’ Commissions to be Paid By a Tenant or Prospective Tenant-Councilors Jarrett and Mairoe updated the Partnership on the legislation and urged members to attend the March 21, 2022 public forum as it moves through the City Council process. Richard Abuza urged that the City Councilors reach out to the largest brokers and management companies (including Rent NoHo and Hampshire Property Management) to engage them in the conversation. Upon motion by Carmen Junno and second by Ace Tayloe, the Partnership voted unanimously, on a roll call vote, to support the home rule petition. 6. Discussion of possible affordable housing story map project—Wayne Feiden presented the City’s idea of creating a new story map, similar to the current Picture Main Street web page and the Sustainable Northampton page under development, to help educate the public on the need for affordable and attainable housing, the methods the city is using to promote and create such housing, the other steps the Housing Partnership is doing, and generally provide resources, but that it would not be a site that could be updated as easily as the city’s content management driven website so it would have to be focused on static data. Housing Partnership members supported the effort and agreed to help identify what should be on the site, while stressing the need to continue to use other ways to inform the public. 7. Other Housing Partnership projects: real estate fee, HUD fair market rents- Ace Tayloe reported that there was no current action on real estate transfer fees. On the HUD Fair Market rents, Congressman McGovern’s office indicated that they would set up a meeting with HUD on the issue. Jennifer Dieringer reported that funding to address Covid and other rises in evictions is running out, with at least some expiring in May, creating some new significant risks, but at least there is some funding available in the City of Northampton CDBG rental assistance program (only for Covid arrears) run by CAPV. 8. Partnership engagement-pending affordable housing (Prospect Ave, Burts Pit-NSH, Oak St, City Hall lot, Evergreen, Woodland Dr, Burts Pit/Burts Bog, Chapel St., Laurel St.)- there was a brief discussion that the Partnership members are happy to help in community conversations when that is useful. 9. The Partnership briefly discussed the applications the Mayor’s office has received for community boards, including the Partnership. Carmen Junno said that she would reach out to hope to advance those appointments. 10. The Partnership tentatively agreed to stay with their April 4th date for their next meeting if Keith Benoit is back by then. Wayne Feiden will be out of town that day, so if April 4th doesn’t work for Keith we would need to set a new April date when Wayne can staff the meeting. They decided to put off a speaker on Boston’s experience with a Housing Trust for a future meeting. 11. The Partnership adjourned at 6:45 PM (motion by Richard Abuza, second by Ace Tayloe) Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday April 4, 2022 Due to the COVID-19 emergency, this was a virtual (zoom) meeting MEMBERS Carmen Junno, Chair X Edgardo Cancel Hannah Shaffer Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair X Sara Howard X Richard Abuza X Jennifer Dieringer X Julio Alves X Ace Tayloe X Staff: Keith Benoit X 1. Notice that the meeting is being recorded. Carmen Junno mentioned that there were a few members of the public and the Housing Partnership gave introductions. Members of the public, some of whom showed interest in joining the Housing Partnership also give introduced themselves. 2. There was no public comment. 3. The Housing Partnership approved the March 7, 2022 Minutes with motion Gordon Shaw and seconded by Jennifer Dieringer after a correction by Ace Tayloe on the spelling of Councilor Rachel Maiore’s name. 4. Ace Tayloe gave a brief summary of the Real Estate Transaction Fees that was proposed by Councilors Rachel Maiore and Alex Jarrett. Status: Ace Tayloe has been working with the councilor and some of the other municipalities that are interested. There will be a meeting later in the month. Ace Tayloe invited the other members to join in the subcommittee. Gordon Shaw wondered what the price point would be and who would pay, the seller or the buyer. 5. Carmen Junno introduced the housing study that was released recently from the Donahue Institute and the need for 20,000 housing units. She opened the floor to discussion. Ace Tayloe said that building housing takes time and that although urgent, the house building should have started five years ago. Gordon Shaw said that the Housing Partnership is always looking to support housing construction. Richard Abuza believe that education and outreach into the community is a goal that the Housing Partnership should strive for, by laying the groundwork for support of housing. Julio Alves said that the Housing Partnership is not a housing trust, so the role is to only support projects that other entities bring forward for development. It would be better to see where the money is and how it can be utilized better. Ace Tayloe discussed the market rate infill development that is happening in Ward 3 and would like to find ways incentivize more affordable housing as infill development. Julio Alves discussed the corporate entities that are buying up single family homes, especially in communities of color, and then renting them out. 6. Gwen Nabad asked through the chat function if there could be a Housing Trust. Carmen Junno said that we are looking into it. Gordon Shaw said that the Housing Trust exists but is not funded currently. 7. Shana Fishel appreciated the bringing up the study on regional housing and asked if there is any partnership with other towns in the area. Keith Benoit gave an overview of the information gathering with Amherst regarding housing trusts and the work with the Housing Authority regarding vouchers. Julio Alves said that the work to sustain the Housing Trust take a lot of work, with more work even to create one. It would be a heavy lift to start the trust back up, but is possible. Gwen Nabad mentioned that Wellfleet has a big fundraiser each year and that calling Northampton’s housing as sustainable housing instead of affordable could draw more support. Gordon Shaw said that funding a housing trust with CPA would be good. Beverly Bates said that she worked on the Cambridge housing trust and that it was a good experience and there is a lot of synergy if the Northampton Housing Partnership were to reach out to them. 8. Carmen Junno gave an update on Rental Brokers' Fees Legislation, Monday, April 25th, at 5:30 pm, as part of the City Council's Community Resources meeting over Zoom. The City Council and the Mayor have introduced legislation to prohibit landlords and brokers from requiring brokers’ commissions to be paid by a tenant or prospective tenant. This is a home rule petition which must be approved by the state legislature in order to take effect. Read the full order here: https://northamptonma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/18622?fileID=163539 9. Ace Tayloe said that anyone can attend the meeting and that renters should be encouraged to attend. 10. Keith Benoit gave an update on 22.071 An Order to Approve $50,000 from Short Term Rental Impact Fees to give to Valley CDC for the purchase of the former nursing home on Bridge Street: that the City Council referred it to the Finance Committee for further discussion and public input. The order will actually be taken up at a Finance Committee meeting embedded within the regular City Council meeting on April 14, 2022. 11. Richard Abuza said that infill is a community concern and that we should be discussing it. The City needs more housing and across all income levels, both big A Affordable and little a affordable. The Housing Partnership has done a lot to advocate for different aspects of creating housing. He said some people are bringing up that the character of neighborhoods and how does the balance of neighborhoods and infill happen. Sara Howard said that she echoed Richard Abuza’s point that there are voices that need to be heard and this topic is a lot to discuss and glad that Richard brought it up. Gwen Nabad said that she went to the community meeting for the Bridge Street nursing home affordable housing. 12. For next meeting: A. Housing Trust discussion, possible Shelling Goering in attendance B. Brokers Fees C. Transfer Fees D. Report back from Edgardo Cancel regarding the Housing Authority 13. The Partnership adjourned at 6:42 PM (motion by Ace Tayloe, seconded by Gordon Shaw) Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday May 2, 2022 Due to the COVID-19 emergency, this was a virtual (zoom) meeting MEMBERS Carmen Junno, Chair X Edgardo Cancel X Hannah Shaffer X Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair X Sara Howard X Richard Abuza X Jennifer Dieringer Julio Alves Ace Tayloe X Staff: Keith Benoit 1. Carmen Junno gave notice that the meeting is being recorded. 2. There was no public comment. 3. The Housing Partnership approved the April 4, 2022 Minutes with motion by Gordon Shaw and seconded by Edgard Cancel. Approved unanimously. 4. Edgard Cancel gave an update on the work with Northampton Housing Authority. Edgardo said that it has been difficult to get things put on the agenda and discuss things that are of interest of community members. There is a gap between organization and the tenants. Edgardo Cancel hears a lot of things from the community and it has been frustrating when those issues have not been put on the agenda. Edgardo said that the Board of Directors does not get involved with daily operations. There seems to be a culture of dismissal of concerns. Gordon Shaw asked what agenda items are typically at the meetings. Edgardo said they look at different Executive Director initiative. There is not enough time to review documents that are given at the last minute, and there is a lot of documents. Gordon Shaw also asked if there were public comments and there is. There is quite a few residents that attend. Carmen Junno asked if there is a way that the Housing Partnership can help them. Edgardo says that the NHA is very responsive to the Housing Partnership. Richard Abuza gave Edgardo respect for being on the board and the Partnership. 5. Edgardo Cancel said that NHA had asked for a waiver for an exception to the Small Area FMR (tied to Springfield). There were many Cities across the state that were concerned with the new HUD formulations and that Northampton was approved for 120% of the Small Area FMR for all three zip codes. (It was noted in the following meeting that the Northampton Housing Authority recently took over another housing authority and that the number of zip codes that NHA has could be up to 15, not three). The newly acquired housing authority will have its 8 vouchers managed by NHA. 6. Gordon Shaw, Vice-Chair gave an update on the Brokers Fees legislation. Gordon said that the result with positive with a positive recommendation from the Community Resources . Gordon said that several people from the Housing Partnership spoke and that there was overwhelming public support in favor. Richard Abuza said there was some vilification of landlords and that did not service anybody well. The Housing Partnership came out of a time of polarization between renters and landlords and the tenor of the current conversation is concerning. Ace Tayloe said the comment regarding if people cannot afford Northampton was also disturbing. Gwen Nabad said that the comment regarding the threat of raising rents if this passes was concerning. Hannah Shaffer said that the brokers said that they are the only protection from some illegal activity. Richard Abuza said that landlords in Massachusetts should know the law. Carmen Junno said that the Housing Partnership does educate landlords, having done a workshop in the last year. Gordon Shaw asked what the next step are: reach out to the sponsors at City Council? Carmen Junno said that an op-ed would be helpful, along with other housing related issues that are in the news. 7. Ace Tayloe gave a brief summary of the Real Estate Transaction Fees said there are several options for the City to do. It may be harder to get something done on the City level with an open Home Rule Petition, if the state is also doing that. It would be helpful to get the sales data from the Assessor’s office, which Ace is in the process of doing. There are other Cities that are working on having first time homebuyer being exempt, or low-income seniors. The process is moving forward. 8. Carmen Junno introduced the topic of the Affordable Housing Trust fund. Shelly Goering from Boston would be willing to come to next meeting. One question that has come up, how much money for affordable housing is coming from CPA or short-term rental fees. The Partnership should create a sub-committee to go deeper on the issue. Ace Tayloe said that subcommittee is a great idea and that the transfer fee situation could go to CPA, but the % of transfer fee funds could go to non-housing. Richard Abuza wanted to go on record that Wayne Feiden, Director of Planning & Sustainability is not seeing the big picture regarding the affordable housing trust fund. Richard Abuza said that the Housing Partnership could double as members of the Affordable Housing Trust. Gordon Shaw would also like to have a sub-committee. 9. Carmen Junno brought up the idea of writing an op-ed for brokers fees. Ace Tayloe said that a sub-committee would write it and brought back to the Housing Partnership, but that City Council meeting would happen before the Partnership could meeting again. 10. For next meeting: A. Possible Op-Ed B. Ace Tayloe will reach out to City Council sponsors C. Shelly Goering for Affordable Housing Trust Fund 11. The Partnership adjourned at 6:29 PM motion by Ace Tayloe, seconded by Hannah Schaffer. Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday June 6, 2022 Zoom Meeting Members Carmen Junno, Chair ☒ Edgardo Cancel ☒ Hannah Shaffer ☒ Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair ☒ Jennifer Dieringer ☒ Bev Bates. ☒ Richard Abuza ☒ Ace Tayloe ☒ Gwen Nabad ☒ Sara Howard ☒ Staff: Keith Benoit ☒ 1. Chair gave notice that the meeting is being recorded. 2. Introductions & public comment. No public comment. 3. Regarding the previous minutes, Carmen Junno said that on the first page, regarding zip code there are only three in Northampton, not 15. Also, remove dangling sentence that started with Carmen Junno. Edgardo Cancel mentioned that the 15 zip codes was for the Housing Authority which recently took control of another housing authority. 4. Richard Abuza motioned to approve the May 2, 2022 minutes with the corrections and seconded by Edgardo Cancel. They were approved unanimously upon a roll call vote 5. Carmen Junno mentioned that Julio Alves has officially resigned from the Housing Partnership. 6. Carmen Junno, Chair, acknowledged the new members to the Northampton Housing Partnership; Beverly Bates and Gwen Nabad. They both declined to offer any more comments about themselves. 7. The Housing Partnership discussed the draft Op-Ed piece written by Hannah Shaffer. Ace Tayloe would like to see some next steps into the letter. The City Council did vote on the bill and it was approved unanimously. Gordon Shaw shared his screen of his edits and Keith Benoit sent the draft to email. Ace Tayloe proposed that we vote on the letter as edited and if it goes forward send it, and it does not pass the vote, then the Housing Partnership should continue to edit. Bev Bates said that it was hard to read and pay attention to the discussion going on during the meeting. Richard Abuza gave some edits regarding word choices but thought it was generally supportive of the values that that the Housing Partnership. 8. Gwen Nabad was supportive of having more time to read and edit. Hannah Shaffer thanked Carmen Junno and asked about the process of making more edits. Sara Howard shared the process concern with Hannah Shaffer and said that if the letter sounds defensive, that is valuable information especially for people who are not attuned to housing issues. Bev Bates asked why we need to send this this month. Gordon Shaw said that people can make a subcommittee to edit it and then the Housing Partnership can simply approve the final draft. 9. Shelly Goehring from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership was invited to discuss the Municipal Affordable Housing Trusts. The Housing Partnership introduced themselves. Carmen Junno said that the Housing Partnership has been investigating housing trusts for over two years now. Shelly Goering shared a brief overview of the work at MHP. Shelly Goehring said that Northampton does have an affordable housing trust, but it does not appear to be active. Municipal Affordable Housing Trust is a board on the City. It is a public entity, to create & preserve affordable housing, and it led by Board of Trustees. Never suggest that private developers on the board. 10. There are many ways that housing trusts can be funded. Start with local housing needs. Shelly Goehring suggested that the City get an updated housing assessment. The City needs to determine it needs, sets it priorities, and then create benchmarks for supporting. Start with creating a mission statement, create a plan, maybe with a consultant. There is limited capacity with a volunteer board. Clarify roles between different organizations within the City early on. Helps with accountability and to stop from stepping on each other’s roles. Use website to communicate about the trust. Trusts acquire, create, preserve, and support affordable housing, the same as the CPA. Sometimes a great way to rehab a dilapidated building. Part of role is to monitor expiring use restrictions. Consider need for needs & resources and the capacity in the City to carry it out. Do a few things well. 11. Gordon Shaw said that one of the arguments for not having a trust is that the City has a CPA. The CPA is involved in many affordable housing trusts. Creating affordable housing is very complex and asking CPC members to know of that is a stretch. A trust can be nimbler. Paid staff would be good to move projects forward. Does the City have the capacity to have another board? Bev Bates said that a trust could bring more resources that is not there in the community. Shelly Goehring said that having a trust can help with local politics and show community support. Some smaller towns have started trusts, but have not had the capacity to run them and they have had to absorb them into other groups. Sara Howard said the City goal is to increase the CPA funding for housing. Shelly Goehring said that Cambridge using its trust to support CPA funding to the tune of 80% of its funding. Gordon Shaw said that we should get the CPC to the Housing Partnership meeting. What are the next steps? Bev Bates asked what the community support in Northampton is. 12. Ace Tayloe gave an update regarding the Real Estate Transaction Fees. They created a spreadsheet with the last five years of sales data and can manipulate the data if people need more items in it. Keith Benoit will send out to the data to the Housing Partnership. 13. Richard Abuza mentioned that the Housing Partnership should recognize the work of Julio Alves who is stepping down and Wayne Feiden who is retiring from the City. Richard Abuza motioned to write a letter and seconded by Gordon Shaw, passed unanimously by a roll call vote. 14. Bev Bates asked if the Housing Partnership has had a conversation regarding in person meetings or not. There was some brief discussion and the opportunity to do some in-person meetings, while doing mostly remote was mentioned. Gwen Nabad said that she knows that people who normally did not go to meetings have been coming to them since they are remote. She would prefer to keep them remote. 15. For Next Meeting: • Check on Open Meeting Law regarding subcommittee drafting a letter. • Real Estate Transfer Fee data analysis from Ace Tayloe • Move meeting to July 11th due to July 4th holiday, 16. Meeting ended a motion by Bev Bates and seconded by at Ave Tayloe at 7:01 Ace Tayloe at 7:01 PM. Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday July 11th, 2022 Zoom Meeting Members Carmen Junno, Chair ☒ Edgardo Cancel ☒ Hannah Shaffer ☐ Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair ☒ Jennifer Dieringer ☐ Bev Bates. ☐ Richard Abuza ☒ Ace Tayloe ☒ Gwen Nabad ☒ Sara Howard ☐ Staff: Keith Benoit ☒ 1. Meeting made quorum at 5:48 PM. Chair gave notice that the meeting is being recorded. 2. Discussed the final draft of the Op-Ed and finessed the language. 3. Approval of the June 6, 2022 minutes passed unanimously by a roll call vote. Correction, last sentence has extra words. Carmen Junno requested to name what the Op-Ed was about. 4. Ace Tayloe gave an update on the real estate transfer fee data, on how much revenue could have been generated at different transfer fee rates. There was a lot more sales in 2021 that in previous years, with single family homes and condos taking up the largest two categories. The numbers for percentage charged were based on what other municipalities had done. The two numbers that are variable are the tax percentage charged and the median sale price that would be affected. The purpose of the data is to better understand what the effects of sales tax on housing in the City. The current legislation is moving in process at the state level, but is months away. There was brief discussion on what exemptions there could be. Richard Abuza thought that it is in the purview of the partnership to recommended where the revenue should go. The Partnership will continue this discussion. 5. Discussion regarding next steps for the affordable housing trust fund. One idea is to bring the CPC to the Partnership and the Mayor. At minimum, the City staff persona and the Chair of the CPC. 6. Carmen Junno, Chair asked the Partnership how they felt about doing some in person meetings. Gordon Shaw thought that meeting with the Mayor should come first. Ace Tayloe thought that the Partnership distinguishing how the housing trust is different from the CPC. Gwen Nabad thought that the staffing of the trust is important, it would be a separate board form the Housing Partnership. Richard Abuza said that due to the ongoing pandemic and people who are immunocompromised, we should exercise extreme caution. 7. Carmen Junno proposed having at least in person meeting once a year. She proposed the October meeting for in-person. Ace Tayloe did not want the first in person meeting to be in October and Gordon Shaw asked if hybrid meeting is possible. Keith Benoit, staff, said yes we can. 8. Keith Benoit, staff gave city updates. He said that the 278 Burts Pitt Road project was transferred to Habitat for Humanity and that this will be three affordable housing units for first time homebuyers. These will be added to the subsided housing inventory. He also gave a brief overview of the open meeting law for drafting op-eds, the subcommittee can draft the language for a letter and that it does not need to go back to the full housing partnership. The action that was voted on, the intent was established when the vote was taken to write the op-ed. 9. Carmen Junno said that there is a opening for the Housing Partnership, so if anyone knows someone 10. For Next Meeting: • Invite the Mayor for the October meeting. before the CPC staff person and the Chair to the meeting 11. Meeting ended a motion by Gordon Shaw and seconded by Richard Abuza at 6:45 PM. Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday August 1st, 2022 Zoom Meeting Members Carmen Junno, Chair ☒ Edgardo Cancel ☒ Hannah Shaffer ☒ Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair ☒ Jennifer Dieringer ☒ Gwen Nabad ☒ Richard Abuza ☒ Ace Tayloe ☒ Bev Bates ☒ Sara Howard ☐ Staff: Keith Benoit ☒ 1. Chair gave notice that the meeting is being recorded. 2. Introductions & public comment. Nathan Chung, CDBG Administrator introduced himself. He will be covering the September 12th meeting. The meeting will be a week later due to Labor Day holiday. 3. The Partnership approved the July 11th 2022 minutes upon motion by Gordon Shaw and seconded by Richard Abuza. Hannah Shaffer and Bev Bates both abstained. 4. Keith Benoit introduced the Draft Bylaws and Rules of Procedure to the Housing Partnership and the reasoning behind them. These are almost identical to similar documents that the Planning Board, Central Business Architecture, Conservation Commission, ZBA, and Historical Commission. The bylaws would act as a charge, something that would change often. It would be approved by the Housing Partnership at any following meeting and any additional changed would need two meetings: one to propose and another to approve. This document would work in tandem with the Housing Partnership Membership Guide or manual that would act as a how-to and allowed to update as needed. 5. Richard Abuza shared his comments regarding Subsection 3 and Subsection 7, allowing for more flexibility with public comments. He screen-shared a document with some edits and will send that to Keith Benoit to incorporate into the next draft. The Housing Partnership was supportive of the language suggestions. 6. Richard Abuza also mentioned that historical enabling ordinance for the Partnership used to have more language regarding the charter had more regarding the role of the Partnership and affordable housing. Gwen Nabad asked why the change was made and Richard Abuza said that is it just happened without the Housing Partnership input. Members asked if the Partnership if that language could be shared. Pamela Powers in the City Clerk’s office would have that original language. 7. Carmen Junno asked the Partnership what the next steps are for the Affordable Housing Trust fund. The Mayor has agreed to meet at the October 3rd meeting but will also use this meeting to as a meet and greet. Gordon Shaw said that the Partnership could use the meeting to understand the Mayor’s priority without making a recommendation. Ace Tayloe said that the Partnership should make a recommendation before the meeting with the Mayor and be affective with the arguments. Bev Bates asked if the Partnership knows for certain if money or capacity is the limiting factor. Keith Benoit said that capacity was the developers and the pipeline of land. Ace Tayloe clarified that they were talking about the capacity of the CPA to meet, which meets twice a year. 8. Bev Bates asked if there was hot topics that the Partnership could identify issues that an affordable housing trust fund could work on. There is also pre-development costs that needed that banks do not give out. Jennifer Dieringer said that it looks like it is a slow process and asked if Carolyn Misch (new Planning Director) should also weigh in. Richard Abuza said that the Partnership could make a positive statement in support but not a formal recommendation and that we should develop rapport with Carolyn Misch and ask of her opinion of it. Bev Bates said the City’s money is just a small amount of money compared to what the state gives and that state only gives out one pot of money per developer per year. 9. The Partnership discussed the reelection of officers. Keith Benoit said that historically the Partnership have voted in officers in July. If members want to run for an office, they should could contact Keith Benoit before the next meeting. Bev Bates asked if this is a way to fund the affordable housing trust fund. It would have to go to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund per the regulation. 10. Ace Tayloe gave an update on the Real Estate Transfer fee. Data was collected on the eight municipalities that already have a real estate transfer fee. There are some exceptions for first-time homebuyers and the max 2%. There are a few distinctions between all of the cities, but the $1million level seems to not generate enough income. Gwen Nabad said looking at the Impact Fees is something that could be investigated, especially given some of the new landlords that are raising rents. She read a story in the Gazette about a woman who was being systematically evicted (by cause of raised rent) and now has to move out of the state. There was some further discussion from the report by Alex Jarrett, and the cannabis business. Could cannabis businesses making Northampton more desirable to live in cause gentrification? And if Northampton is appealing from people who do not live in the city, then there should continue to be an impact fee for cannabis businesses especially if the businesses are not owned by historically marginalized owners such as: black, Hispanic, Asian, and Women. 11. Hannah Shaffer asked if there was an update on the broker fee legislation. Nothing father has progressed since the last committee. Hannah Shaffer asked if the Housing Partnership could discuss the empty building ordinances that other cities have enacted. 12. For Next Meeting: • Invite Carolyn Misch, Director of Planning & Sustainability to discuss the Affordable Housing Trust Fund • Send out job description of Chair and Vice-Chair for the election officers • Vote for Officers 13. Meeting ended a motion by Richard Abuza and seconded by Ace Tayloe at 6:46 PM. Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday September 12th, 2022 Zoom Meeting Members Carmen Junno, Chair ☒ Edgardo Cancel ☒ Hannah Shaffer ☒ Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair ☒ Jennifer Dieringer ☒ Gwen Nabad ☐ Richard Abuza ☒ Ace Tayloe ☒ Bev Bates ☐ Sara Howard ☒ Staff: Nathan Chung ☒ Public • Megan McDonough, Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity 1. Chair gave notice that the meeting is being recorded. 2. Introductions & public comment. Chair Carmen Junno said Bev Bates and Gwen Nabad will not be at the Megan McDonough from the public was at the meeting to present for an agenda item. 3. The Partnership approved the August 1 2022 minutes upon motion by Gordon Shaw and seconded by Edgardo Cancel. Sara had to abstain due to being absent. Carmen Junno noted typos in the minutes. 4. Megan McDonough, Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity (PVHH) discussed PVHH’s application to the CPA for a funding request for a project at 278 Burts Pit Road to create three affordable houses for first-time homebuyers. The project’s name is Victoria Bismark Farm (VBF). Megan came to the meeting to ask for a letter of Support from NHP. Megan explained the history of the site and how it was transferred to PVHH in June of 2022. PVHH is planning for construction in spring 2023. Megan opened up for questions. Partnership members asked questions about how the deed restriction works. Megan answered that the deed restriction has a maximum sale price restriction formula based on income so it is affordable to people earning 80% of AMI. The formula is set by DHCD. The homeowner needs to contact the City, DHCD, and PVHH to set the price. The homeowner can gain equity but cannot gain a windfall profit. Megan explained PVHH currently uses a deed rider from the state to record a mortgage on the property, so that it is easy to recognize the deed restriction when doing property transfers. Gordon Shaw asked about the Burts Pit home sales prices being lower than the actual cost and the purchase lottery structure. Megan answered that PVHH sets the price based on an income range, which is 60% of the Area Median Income based on family size with a minimum income of $30,000. PVHH might have to set a lower price to meet the affordability threshold or set a deferred forgivable loan. The sales prices are adjusted for the actual buyer’s income and purchasing the home is a lottery. Gordon pointed out a possible error in the draft application since $700 seems too low for a downpayment for a $150,000 house. Megan answered PVHH only requires $700, but it still might have mixed up some numbers. Sara Howard asked about plans for public transit since the homes are far away from buses. Megan was not aware of any. The closest bus is at the jail which is less than a mile. The homes are likely for car users. Carmen Junno voiced support for the project and offered to write the letter of support. Richard Abuza made the motion stating that NHP understands the importance of affordable housing and NHP supports the development of VBF and encourages CPA to give strong support when they fund it. Jennifer Dieringer seconded the motion. Gordon Shaw asked for an amendment about NHP writing a letter of support. All voted yes. Carmen discussed the letter deadline and required letterhead with Nathan Chung and Megan. 5. Carmen Junno asked the Housing Partnership for ideas regarding the housing production ideas report by Bev that was circulated. Carolyn Misch, the new Director of Planning and Sustainability and Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra will be at the October meeting, which will be important. Carmen felt NHP has been spinning wheels with less progress and whittling down the 14 questions in the document will be effective to present to the two people. Ace Tayloe liked the metrics question, #5, because the right metrics can help create action-oriented goals. Carmen said that five or six questions were pertinent NHP and listed them. Carmen said that Bev offered to be a part of a small subcommittee that would hone down the questions to present at the next meeting. Richard Abuza was struck by the first paragraph and wanted to discuss it before talking about the subcommittee. Richard said that the historical overarching goal of the NHP seems to have gotten lost and analysis needs to keep the components of the goals in mind. Carmen said that the charter being watered down can be next month’s topic. Richard was mixed about it because he thought the NHP needs to get its thoughts and feelings in order before exploring it in an unstructured way with Carolyn Misch and Mayor Sciarra. He was reluctant to bring it up next month and have some criticisms of the Planning Office and the mayor. Carmen said the paper is quiet technical and would like to summarize it before sharing it with Carolyn and the Mayor. Carmen asked if a subcommittee for the summary is appropriate. Jennifer Dieringer said people need to stay open- minded since the two are new to the positions, leave out personal feelings, and figure out a way to collaborate. Carmen asked if NHP members would prefer an open discussion without presenting these topics. Jennifer was open to either. She felt grateful to the previous director, Wayne Feiden, and Carolyn for bringing projects to the Planning Board and taking the lead. She agreed with Carmen that it seems adrift and would welcome guidance from the two guests. Gordon Shaw said that questions might restrict the free flow and pressure Carolyn Misch to prepare in advance. He wants to ask them about the Housing Trust and these questions will take away from it. Richard said the meeting is a perfect juncture to listen, be open, and raise in a less definitive way questions about funding. NHP can ask how much CPA funding goes into housing and mention its interesting in learning about the Housing Trust fund. 6. Carmen presented Carmen (herself) and Gordon Shaw as candidates. Richard proposed Carmen as the Chair and Gordon as the Vice Chair. Ace mentioned the past discussion about training people to be officers and expressed interest in wanting to be trained in the future but not having a current interest in being an officer. Carmen said Gordon will step down later, and Gordon added that terms end in July, which means people should indicate interest in being officers and start training. Carmen added Spring will the time to prepare. Richard Abuza moved the motion for Carmen to be re-elected as the Chair and Gordon as the Vice Chair. Sara seconded. All voted yes. 7. Ace gave updates on the transfer fee bill. Ace spoke with City Councilors about it, who in turn mentioned it to the Mayor. Ace did not have the most recent details or current proposals. Ace suggested the topic being proper for the next meeting. Councilors were hoping for a written draft bill, but since it might be difficult for the Partnership, it was not required. The next steps might have more to do with the City Council rather than the NHP. Carmen asked if the transfer fee would follow the same process as the renter fee bill. Ace answered it depends on the state legislature and what kind of bill it ends up being. If the State says the transfer fee bill does not require a home rule petition, it will be very easy. If not, it needs votes by the City Council and approval by the State. Sara asked if Ace would like to a write a bill proposal. Ace said they (Ace’s preferred prounoun) can send it to the City Council or NHP if helpful. Carmen said putting the bill proposal on the November agenda will be helpful. 8. In an earlier part of this meeting, Item #5, the NHP discussed bringing up the topic of Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund with the Mayor and Carolyn Misch, and this part of the agenda was skipped. 9. Meeting ended a motion by Ace and seconded by Edgardo at around 5:40 PM. Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday October 3rd, 2022 Zoom Meeting Members Carmen Junno, Chair ☒ Edgardo Cancel ☒ Hannah Shaffer ☒ Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair ☒ Jennifer Dieringer ☒ Gwen Nabad ☒ Richard Abuza ☒ Ace Tayloe ☒ Bev Bates ☒ Sara Howard ☒ Staff: Keith Benoit ☒ 1. Chair gave notice that the meeting is being recorded. 2. No public comment 3. Housing Partnership introduced themselves to Carolyn Misch, Director of Planning & Sustainability. 4. Carmen Junno welcomed Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra to the meeting. The Mayor gave a brief statement regarding affordable housing. Carolyn Misch said that she is looking forward to working with the Housing Partnership on affordable housing. She emphasized her work in regulatory side of housing over last 22 years working in Northampton. 5. Carmen Junno summarized some of the work that the Housing Partnership has been working such as broker’s fees, transfer fees, and has been researching the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund (MAHTF, which is currently dormant). Mayor Sciarra said that she interested in learning more about the transfer fees. Ace Tayloe said that as the legislation is currently written, the money would have to go to the MAHTF. Carolyn Misch added that it would go to the CPC (if no MAHTF is established). Mayor Sciarra said that projects that come to the City get money and the City has been really good at created building lots for Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity. Carolyn Misch added that there is capacity issue with developers and staff as well. Bev Bates clarified the difference between the transfer fee and the CPC funding and then asked if the problem funding or something else. 6. Carolyn Misch said that the City is trying to meet the developers where they are, but that the City does not have a strategic number of units to build. The City cannot build up to the amount of the need. Ace Tayloe asked if there are other ways to incentivize those units to be built in the City? Carolyn Misch said that the City has been working on removing barriers and creating different incentives. Where there needs to be work is having support at meetings when there is community resistance. Richard Abuza asked for clarification on subsidies, regarding thresholds and other requirements. Richard Abuza said that developers feel constrained by only going to the CPC and a MAHTF could relieve some of that. Carolyn Misch said that she is concerned with the low and moderate homeowners who could be harmed by this. 7. Carmen Junno asked Mayor Sciarra and Carolyn Misch what the Housing Partnership can do to move affordable housing and what their priorities are for housing. Mayor Sciarra said that supporting current projects would be helpful. The City has been creative in creating lots, such as the lot behind City Hall, any support or ideas for creating more lots/housing would be appreciated. There are a few projects in the pipeline from Valley CDC. Gordon Shaw opened up the discussion regarding rental fees and that rental fees is huge barrier to people entering Northampton. The other barrier is housing voucher which is often too low to rent up in Northampton. Mayor Sciarra said that she is supportive of this legislation, having written the rental fees legislation as a City Councilor. Sarah Howard asked for clarification regarding the MAHTF. Carolyn Misch said that the City does not want to duplicate efforts by having CPC and MAHTF. Hannah Shaffer many people are awaiting on the answer to the transfer fee legislation and if that timeline could be summarized in a better way. Carolyn Misch clarified the percentage of money spent on the four categories of CPC funding, where affordable housing was about 25% of CPC. Mayor Sciarra and Carolyn Misch left the meeting. 8. Edgardo Cancel said that he appreciated Gwen Nabad’s comments that the MAHTF would be focused on affordable housing. Ace Tayloe said that other aid money, such as down-payment assistance. Bev Bates was surprised that money did not seem like it was a problem to City staff. Gwen Nabad mentioned that to prevent sprawl the City needs to do infill development. Carmen Junno asked if a subcommittee would be appropriate to outline. Richard Abuza would be interested in talking to developers to see what their constraints are. Richard Abuza said that there did not seem to be City support for creating a MAHTF. Bev Bates said that inclusionary zoning could really benefit the City and does not understand why the City left the developers from Emerson Way off the hook from not including all of the affordable unit that they said they would build. 9. The Housing Partnership approved the September 12, 2022 minutes upon motion by Richard Abuza and seconded by Ace Tayloe by a roll call vote. 10. Bev Bates added that she has been appointed to the CPC. 11. For Next Meeting: • Invite housing developers • Housing Partnership Ordinance 12. Meeting ended a motion by Ace Tayloe and seconded by Gordon Shaw at 7:02 PM. Housing Partnership 5:30 PM, Monday November 7th, 2022 Zoom Meeting Members Carmen Junno, Chair ☒ Edgardo Cancel ☒ Hannah Shaffer ☒ Gordon Shaw, Vice Chair ☒ Gwen Nabad ☒ Richard Abuza ☒ Ace Tayloe ☒ Bev Bates ☐ Sara Howard ☒ Staff: Keith Benoit ☒ 1. Chair gave notice that the meeting is being recorded. 2. Introductions & public comment. Carmen Junno acknowledged that there was a member of the public and asked if they wanted to comment. They were just there to listen. 3. The Partnership approved the Oct. 3rd, 2022 minutes upon motion by Edgardo Cancel and seconded by Gordon Shaw. Passed unanimously by a roll call vote. 4. Housing Partnership discussed on previous Housing Partnership Charter. Richard Abuza said that when the Housing Partnership was originally formed, it was viewed as a comprehensive look at housing policy across the City. How does it happen? How does fire dept. or building dept. affect housing? The original charter said that anything that would affect affordable housing would come to the Partnership. Sometimes that would mean reaching out to the different aspects of City govt. Richard said that he wants the Housing Partnership to be aware of the historical importance of the original charter and how that it differs from the current charter. Gwen Nabad asked if the 1991 and the 1995 charter are different, and what specifically has changed. Gwen said that having an updated charter that is more reflective of the City’s current climate, especially dealing with energy and preservation. Richard said that the thing missing is the requirement for everybody decisions that affect affordable housing should go before the Housing Partnership. It would not be a hardship for things to be referred to the Housing Partnership. Richard put forward a minimum recommendation to write to the Mayor and the Budling Dept. to talk about the importance of the historical charter and welcome their input on taking steps to address it. It is always better to this our concern and ask the govt. official what they think. Richard Abuza moved to make this letter. Gwen Nabad asked how safety, environmental, and human rights concerns could be addressed with a rewrite? Gwen asked several questions regarding what else the Housing Partnership can include in a more comprehensive look at affordable housing. Are those who serve on more than one body in the city, for example (Bev Bates) applied for CPC and serves jointly, and Edgardo Cancel serves on both the Housing Authority and the Housing Authority Board. What are those roles? Should we have regular updates from jointly serving members? The Housing Partnership should connect quarterly with the HRC and planning and sustainability, board of health, or other groups doing work in the city. 5. Richard Abuza moved to draft a letter. Seconded by Hannah Shaffer. Passed unanimously by a roll call vote. Richard will work with Keith Benoit from staff to draft a letter. 6. Laura Baker from Valley Community Development, was invited to speak regarding affordable housing development in Northampton. Carmen Junno asked if we could do more affordable housing and what area the barriers. Is it money or capacity? Laura Baker served on the Housing Partnership for five years and that it is a community she cares about. The City is coming into a period of accelerated housing production, but the need is also very great. There used to be a subcommittee that would look at affordable housing projects on the Housing Partnership. Laura Baker said that finding sites was the biggest barrier, then overcoming zoning, then overcoming neighborhood opposition. And then the cost of construction in the last year, it almost impossible. It is now $500,000 per unit for affordable housing. There is also costs of related work, attorney, site prep, etc. Northampton is Laura Baker’s favorite City to work in affordable housing. The City has done a job of turning over sites, creating overlay districts, etc. For Prospect Place, the City used a Chapter 40R overlay district. The percentage of the total for development will be the same, but the cost will be much higher. City staff, the Mayor’s Office have been very supportive. Ward Councilors have been their champions to be an honest advocate for. Northampton is the only City that does not have local preference for housing applications. 7. What Northampton can work on might be having a citizen group like the Amherst affordable housing coalition that has been instrumental in getting the East Gables property in Amherst. Low-income tenants often do not have a voice. The Housing Partnership can be better at voicing their support advocating for the importance of affordable housing in the City. Letters to the editor is keeping housing in the public eye. Public education is critically important. There is an issue of the racial income gaps and the cost of housing, especially rentals. Valley Community Development would like to be better at engaging with future tenants. The City used funded an SRO outreach worked for many years but that went away during the pandemic. 8. Northampton is pushing hard on becoming fossil fuel free housing but may be have deleterious effect on the cost of operations. There will be a big push for ARPA funding and then how do we plan for the end of that? Richard Abuza asked if the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund could be a potential tool? Laura Baker said that the more dedicated resources there is the better, but it is mostly site driven and zoning. If previously, projects were staff driven, then why would they want another volunteer board? However, if there is an overflow of volunteers and capacity in the City, the MAHTF needs a dedicated person that will put it a lot of extra work. 9. Sara Howard asked for clarification on if the trust in Amherst can save up money projects. They ask the Amherst CPA for money each year, whether or not they get their full request. Gwen Nabad asked if the MAHTF can collect interest or if the state can give matching funds. Terese Hammerie asked if there was program available to reduce some of the costs for energy efficiency. 10. The next steps for the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Carmen Junno mentioned that the partnership that there are a few members down. Richard Abuza said that maybe if we build it, they will come. Ace Tayloe said that the home rule petition could take up to two years. Sara Howard said there is an unending need for housing. Edgardo Cancel asked about staffing a committee and would like to be part of a subcommittee to figure it out. Gwen Nabad volunteered to explore the MAHTF. Hannah Shaffer also joined the subcommittee. 11. Edgardo motioned to create a subcommittee to create the MAHTF. Seconded by Richard Abuza. Passed unanimously. 12. The following Housing Partnership meeting on December 5th was discussed. and rescheduling January 2nd meeting till January 9th. 13. Keith Benoit (staff) mentioned the affordable housing projects that will before the CPA meeting on Wed, Nov. 16th. Keith Benoit said that there is an Affordable Housing Fund for $50,000 that will be for pre-development costs, such as site preparation, surveys, ESAs, and utility design. These are often the costs that the City does before the parcel is really known to the public. It reduces the cost and time that the affordable housing developers need to get the sites ready. All of these parcels will have affordable housing restrictions on them. This is typical of the backend work that the City does for getting parcels ready on sites such as Burts Pit Road, Laurel Street, and many of the PV Habitat homes. The other affordable housing project is the $60,000 for the Crafts Ave, parcel behind City Hall. This money match with another $1M in other funds and go towards site design and building. It is a very complicated site that is taking a lot of coordination within the City and creativity to move forward. The affordable housing project in Leeds for $25,000 is 30% of the costs towards engineering, design, and borings to test for previous pipes on the site. 14. Next meeting is Jan. 9th 2023. 15. Meeting ended a motion by Richard Abuza and seconded by Gordon Shaw at 6:58 PM.