Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-15-2006 Housing & Community Development CommissionAGENDA HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION GRANT WOOD ELEMENTARY, FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER 1930 LAKESIDE DRIVE, IOWA CITY TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2006 6:30 P.M. 1. Call Meeting to Order 2. Approval of the July 20, 2006 Minutes 3. Public Comment of Items Not on the Agenda 4. New Business • Discussion of CDBG and HOME Investment Policies • Discussion of CDBG & HOME Council Earmarks • Discussion of Design Standards for Federally Assisted Housing Projects 5. Old Business • Amendment to HCDC Bylaws, Specifically Article 4, Section B and Article 6, & Application Form 6. Monitoring Reports • Johnson County Permanent Supportive Housing L.P. — Affordable Rental (FY06) • The Housing Fellowship — Affordable Rental (FY05 & FY06) • The Housing Fellowship — Affordable Homeownership (FY03 & FY06) 7. Adjournment Note: The meeting will be held at Grant Wood Elementary Family Resource Center 1930 Lakeside Drive, Iowa City r �-�-�:.®r, CITY OF IOWA CITY "WUMS. MEMORANDUM Date: August 10, 2006 To: Housing and Community Development Commission From: Community Development Staff Re: HCDC Meeting on August 15, 2006 The following is a short description of the August agenda items. If you have any questions about the agenda or if you are unable to attend the meeting, please contact Tracy Hightshoe at 356-5244 or by email at tracy-hightshoe@iowa-city.org. New Business Discussion of CDBG & HOME Investment Policies & Council Earmarks See enclosed memo. Discussion of Design Standards for Federally Assisted Housing Projects In each CDBG/HOME housing agreement there is a requirement that the City provide written approval of the project's architectural design before obtaining a building permit. City staff reviews each site plan; however, there are no design standards to reference in case any problems arise. City staff encourages the commission to adopt design guidelines for single family and duplex housing. The zoning code has design standards for multi -family housing, but does not address single family homes. The purpose of the guidelines is to foster a positive public perception of affordable housing by promoting homes that complement surrounding single family housing styles, ensures a quality design that will contribute to the neighborhood over time and may lessen neighborhood resistance to new housing projects or what is commonly referred to as NIMBYism. If interested in pursuing, city staff would draft guidelines for review and approval by HCDC to submit to Council for consideration for FY08 housing projects. Old Business Amendment to HCDC Bylaws and Application Form Last month the commission discussed the membership preferences as the bylaws state that, when possible, persons with construction and finance expertise and one person who receives rental assistance shall be appointed to HCDC. The application also requests applicants to identify if they are a senior citizen, person of color, low income, disabled, receive rental assistance or a member of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board. At this meeting the commission may decide and vote to amend the bylaws. Monitoring Reports • Johnson County Permanent Supportive Housing L.P. —Affordable Rental (FY06), Staff • The Housing Fellowship — Affordable Rental (FY05 & FY06), Staff • The Housing Fellowship — Affordable Homeownership (FY03 & FY06), Staff Reminder: The August HCDC meeting will follow the Community Development Celebration at Grant Wood Elementary. City of Iowa City Date: To: From: Re: MEMORANDUM August 9, 2006 HCDC Members Community Development Staff CDBG and HOME Policy Review As you know, we have been reviewing the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership Funds (HOME) set -asides and Council earmarks and also the CDBG and HOME investment policies. We would like to discuss the following items at your August 15 meeting. Currently, the following have funds automatically set -aside prior to the allocation of CDBG and HOME funds to the eligible applicants. Administration of CDBG and HOME funds: Up to 20% of the total CDBG allocation and up to 10% of the total HOME allocation. Aid to Agencies: $105,000 of the total CDBG allocation. Economic Development: 9% of the total combined CDBG and HOME allocation. Housing Rehab $200,000 or 13% of the total combined CDBG and HOME allocation, whichever is less. The set -aside for CDBG and HOME administration is set by HUD, the remaining set -asides are governed by local policy. Aid to Agencies The Aid to Agencies set -aside of $105,000 is taken out of the Public Service category which is capped at 15% of the total CDBG allocation (HUD rule). The $105,000 has been a set -aside since FY94. The allocation of CDBG funds awarded to Iowa City has decreased 30% since FY02, therefore, the amount of Public Service funds remaining after the $105,000 has been taken out has also declined. Last year, the commission had $14,300 in Public Service funds available after the $105,000 set -aside was removed. The $105,000 in CDBG Aid to Agencies funds is part of a larger City contribution to human service agencies. For example, in FY07 the City contributed $341,973 in local funds in addition to the CDBG funds for a total of $446,973 to go towards operational expenses for a variety of human service agencies. Two members of the City Council review funding applications and participate in agency site visits to develop recommendations to the City Council. Since the CDBG funds available after the $105,000 have been declining, the commission may want to review some options regarding funding decisions. There are at least three funding options for Public Service projects. o HCDC recommends funding allocations for all public service projects, including the CDBG Aid to Agencies and City funded allocations. o Council recommends funding allocations for all public service projects, including the CDBG Aid to Agencies and City funded allocations. o $105,000 Aid to Agencies funding continues to be set -aside and HCDC continues to recommend funding for the remaining CDBG Public Service ($14,300) projects and City Council continues to recommend funding for the City allocation (current process). Economic Development The economic development set -aside was created in November 2001 via City Council Resolution # 01-367. The resolution allowed for an increase in funding for economic development activities from 5% to 9% of the funding "earmarked" in Iowa City's 2001-2006 Consolidated Plan. Since the FY03 allocation cycle, 9% of the total CDBG and HOME allocations have been set -aside annually for economic development activities. However, the 9% actually comes directly out of the CDBG allocation because HOME funds can not be used for economic development activities. Staff is recommending that the Consolidated Plan be amended to clarify that 9% of the funds be used for economic development; however, the 9% should be calculated based on the amount of CDBG funds available and not the total of CDBG and HOME funds available. Last year, $141,000 was set aside for economic development based on 9% of the total CDBG and HOME funds available. If 9% of the CDBG allocation was used then $76,000 would have been set -aside for economic development. The economic development fund currently has a total of $243,915 in CDBG funds available to allocate to projects in FY07. 2 CDBG and HOME Program Investment Policies Staff would also like to discuss the CDBG and HOME Program Investment Policies (Council Resolution 05-213) at your August 15 meeting. The current policy for housing projects states that the interest rate for all rental housing activities will be zero percent (0%) for non-profit owned projects and prime rate (determined at the time the CDBG/HOME agreement is executed by the City) minus two points for for -profit owned projects with an amortization period up to thirty (30) years or the period of affordability, whichever is less. After discussing the policy with non-profit housing developers it was determined that the zero (0%) loan is not feasible for projects involving the development of transitional housing for homeless families. The families typically do not have any income when entering the transitional housing program. The maximum stay is 24 months and each family works with a counselor to gain stability during their stay. The goal is to have an income source and to be in permanent housing after 24 months. Since the families typically do not have an income source while in transitional housing, the non-profit has a difficult time paying back even a zero (0%) loan to the City. Staff recommends that the policy be revised to say that if CDBG/HOME assistance is provided to a certified non-profit organization to develop transitional housing for homeless families, the CDBG/HOME funds will be in the form of a Conditional Occupancy Loan (COL), payable only upon transfer of title or termination of services or occupancy as outlined in the applicable CDBG/HOME Agreement. Please review the attached policies and let us know if you have any suggestions or comments on the proposed changes or any suggestions or comments for additional changes. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Steve Long at steve- long@iowa-city.org or at 356.5250 or contact Tracy Hightshoe at tracy- hightshoe@iowa-city.org or at 356.5244. 3 MINUTES PRELIMINARY HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2006, 6:30 P.M. LOBBY CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL Members Present: Jerry Anthony, Marcy DeFrance, William Greazel, Holly Hart, Matthew Hayek, Kelly Mellecker, Brian Richman, Michael Shaw Members Absent: Thomas Niblock Staff Present: Sue Dulek, Tracy Hightshoe, Steve Long Public Present: Maryanne Dennis, Charles Eastham, Dan Smith Call to Order Richman called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. Commission members introduced themselves for the benefit of the new members. Approval of the April 20, 2006 Meeting Minutes MOTION: Hayek moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Greazel seconded, and the motion carried on a vote of 5-0. Anthony, Hart, and Shaw not present. Public discussion of any item not on the agenda Hightshoe said there is a commission meeting scheduled for August 17, which is the Thursday after the Community Development Celebration. She asked if the commission members would like to reschedule to meet right after the celebration on Tuesday, August 15 instead. The celebration is 4:30-6:00, with a program beginning at 5:00. The Celebration will be in the new Family Resource Center at Grant Wood School. She asked for a preference from the commission members present. Richman said moving the meeting to Tuesday after the celebration is fine with him. Greazel said he would email his preference to Hightshoe. Mellecker said the current meeting would be her last, since she will be moving to New York for school. Anthony arrived at this point. Hightshoe updated Anthony on the current discussion about the next commission meeting date. Hayek said it seems like the commission members are fine with doing a combined meeting. Anthony agreed. Hightshoe announced that the August meeting will follow the Community Development Celebration. New Business Long asked if the discussion about the bylaws could be first. Anthony agreed. Holly Hart arrived at this point. Discussion of HCDC Bylaws, Specifically Article 4, Section B and Article 6, and Application Form Dulek asked if the commission members had any questions regarding the bylaws or the memo included in the packet. She said HUD does not have membership requirements at this point, and noted that the application question was raised by someone who brought it to the council. Anthony asked if any of the changes are absolutely necessary. Dulek said no, but the phrase about a "HUD requirement" makes the bylaws inaccurate. Anthony asked for confirmation that if the commission continues to maintain those preferences, it would be acceptable to remove the phrase "as required by HUD" from the bylaws. Dulek said yes, and whether the categories are retained or changed is up to the discretion of the commission. Greazel said at the minimum, the bylaws should be changed to remove the reference to HUD. Hightshoe asked if the preference categories should be maintained. MOTION: Greazel moved to accept the change as noted by Anthony. Mellecker seconded. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 2 Dulek said the actual decision on changes to the bylaws requires two meetings. Anthony said the motion could be tabled, then the commission could discuss before bringing the motion up from the table at the next meeting. Dulek said yes. Hightshoe asked if the commission members would like to make any other changes. Greazel asked what is done with the information, whether it is relevant to what the commission does. Anthony asked if there currently are representatives from construction and finance on the commission. Hightshoe said DeFrance has a background in construction, and there have been lenders on the commission in the past to represent finance. Long said conflicts of interest make it difficult to keep a representative from the Local Homelessness Coordinating Board on the commission, because most of those groups receive CDBG funding. Anthony suggested removing that category. Hightshoe asked about the need for race and age information. Richman confirmed those are not in the bylaws, just on the application. Hayek said there is a recommendation to change the application as well, so there are three things being addressed. One already has a motion. Richman said it would be valuable to have people from the construction and finance fields on the commission. He asked whether that should be in the bylaws. Greazel said if there is a problem with compliance, the question should be investigated. Hightshoe said while there is currently no active recruitment from those areas, it could be done. Greazel asked about adding the phrase "if at all possible" to that part of the bylaws. Richman said that is what is currently written. Hightshoe said there could be an active effort at recruitment. Richman said even if those representatives are not actively recruited, it is good to have something in the bylaws that gives the council guidance on what would be valuable when they consider new members. He said he would like to only remove the reference to HUD. Hightshoe asked whether changing or removing information from the application would require council approval. Dulek said no. Mellecker asked if the council gives preference to seniors or disabled persons, for example. Anthony asked what is done with the information. Hightshoe said the city clerk's office collects it and shares it with the council, but she is not aware of any reports being released. Richman said the issue is probably that representatives from certain populations would be helpful on the commission, given that much of the funding is geared towards those with lower income and disabilities. Hightshoe asked if the commission members think asking all applicants their income information is valid. Long pointed out that the application information becomes public information. Hayek said specifying "lower" income might exclude qualified individuals of moderate income. Hightshoe said that for CDBG, "lower" would be anyone under 80 percent of median income, but not everyone would know that. Mellecker said she would assume it is less than median income. Hayek asked if the legal department recently did an investigation about whether receiving funds constitutes a conflict of interest. Hightshoe asked for confirmation that he means whether someone receiving, for example, tenant -based rental assistance could be on the commission. Dulek said that could be a conflict. Hightshoe asked how that would be identified. Dulek said an analysis would be done on the individual, including whether they received CDBG assistance. Greazel asked if there was a recommendation from staff. Long said the information is not used, except in the sense that they strive to have as diverse a group as possible. No one is disqualified based on their answers. If someone is uncomfortable filling it out, it is voluntary. Long asked if any other commissions have similar questions on their applications. Dulek said only the Human Rights Commission has similar questions, but none have questions about socioeconomic level. Hightshoe said because of the nature of the commission, it would be good to have representation from the lower -income community. Whether that should be made public information might be too much of an intrusion of privacy. Hayek asked about putting the preferences in the bylaws, along with the statements about construction and finance, so then it is a guideline and something to strive for, but not a matter of disclosure that is made public record. Richman asked how the council then is going to determine whether people meet these preferences. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 3 Long said the council does ask what the current makeup of the commission is when new appointments are needed. Greazel said it is not all that integral to the function of the commission, so if disclosing the information discourages people from applying to be a part of the commission, then the preference categories are not serving their purpose. Anthony asked whether a decision could be made today. Hightshoe said no. Long said it would be on the next meeting agenda. Greazel noted that additional questions and suggestions could be emailed to Hightshoe, as necessary. Anthony recommended moving to the next topic. Community Land Trust Presentation — The Housing Fellowship Dennis handed out copies of Housing Fellowship brochures and a copy of an article about the Land Trust program in Boulder, Colorado. She said she and Long attended the National Community Land Trust Conference recently, which is where she got the article on Boulder. She said she also has copies of the Land Trust lease available for people who would like to review it. Dennis introduced herself by saying she is the Executive Director for the Housing Fellowship (HF), located in Eastdale Plaza. Community Land Trusts (CLTs) offer housing options for low- and moderate - income segments of the population. CLTs were created to keep homeownership options affordable, and are typically run by a non-profit organization. Essentially, the land is held by the non-profit organization, while the owner holds the improvements or the home. Dennis said the homeowner and the CLT enter into a long-term ground lease. The HF buys a piece of land, build a house and sell it, but they do not sell the land, instead entering into a 99-year ground lease that is renewable at the end of the term. The benefit of this structure is that the cost of the house is reduced because the price of the land is not included. Restrictions on the resale price limitations are included in the lease. Dennis said she learned at the conference that there are a lot of CLTs in the country. They are springing up all over, and different non -profits use them to accomplish different goals. Sometimes they are used as preservation of long-term affordability, which is one of the reasons the HF uses them. They also are used for promotion of first time home ownership, neighborhood preservation, neighborhood restoration, and to block commercial development. Conventional wisdom is that the motivation of the CLT should be clearly defined in the purpose of the individual program. Dennis said in order to block commercial development; some organizations anchor a CLT home on four corners of a specified area, which effectively removes the land from the speculative market. The non- profit will never sell it, so no commercial interests will be able to buy the land. Dennis said the HF uses CLTs to promote home ownership to income -targeted buyers, and ensure their long-term affordability. The overall mission of the HF is to increase access to and availability of affordable housing in Johnson County. According to information from the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors, the average lot price in Iowa City/Coralville increased by $11K in one year, from 2004 to 2005. Similarly, there was also a $30K increase in the same time period in the average price of homes. Dennis noted the averages include every piece of real estate sold in Iowa City and Coralville. When looking only at single-family homes in Iowa City, the average price in 2005 was $253K. In contrast the debt capacity of a family of four in Iowa City at 80 percent median income is between $145K and $155K, which assumes $5K down payment, $200 per month utility costs, and $500 of other monthly debt. Dennis said the HF has only done CLTs in Iowa City so far, because of the use of HOME funds. They acquire the land either with a HOME grant, or a declining -balance forgivable loan. The grants are easier, because the loan does have a mortgage attached to it, which lenders to take into consideration when evaluating a loan application. The HF builds the houses through private construction financing, and recently they have also gotten lower -interest loans from Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County. They pay off those loans from the sales proceeds when the improvements on the land are sold. The houses are sold on the MLS through a local realtor, who donates his commission to the project. Any administration costs incurred by the HF are also paid for from the proceeds of the sale as well. Dennis said 13 houses have been sold in Iowa City so far, eight ranches with basements, two duplexes on slabs, two duplexes with basements, and one two-story with a basement. 12 have been new Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 4 construction, and one was an acquisition of an existing home that they rehabilitated. They always include egress windows and rough -in plumbing in the basements of the homes for future finishing. The covenants in the various neighborhoods do restrict what the HF can build. Dennis said people need to apply to qualify for a CLT house. They can apply at any time, and they must include a copy of their most recent tax return. Income is verified again at the time of sale. The process of verifying income and then approving or denying applicants is not an intense process because the HF does not build or sell a lot of houses at once. They maintain a file of approved applications, and then when a house is under construction, they contact the applicants to see if they are still interested and qualified. Dennis said buyers must go to a lender that is approved by the HF, and the options currently are Hills Bank, Wells Fargo, and Iowa State Bank. They do that because there are many lenders that will not loan on CLTs, and time is wasted by going through the process elsewhere. Greazel asked what happens if someone defaults on their mortgage. Dennis said it depends. If it is a Fannie Mae loan, Fannie Mae includes a rider that states the land lease goes away. Greazel asked for confirmation that the non-profit might lose the land. Dennis said yes, but practically speaking, what typically happens is the mortgage holder looks at the abstract and sees that the HF owns the land and asks them if they want to buy the house. The biggest reason the lenders do not like to do CLTs is because they cannot do desktop underwriting, so they require a huge amount of time to do it by hand. It has nothing to do with whether the HF has a preference about the banks, it is just because those banks will lend on CLTs. Greazel asked whether there are restrictions on second mortgages. Dennis said not necessarily, but they still have to be mortgage -qualified. Because the HF owns the land, they are made aware of any activity, and they have the right to tell owners they cannot go to a mortgage -broker. Dennis said what she learned at the conference is that most CLTs in the nation have an intensive homeownership education program. The experience of the HF is that the people they sell to in Iowa City are very bright and educated, and most cases have been successful. She said the other side of the application process is that the house will be on the MLS, then the realtor calls the HF if other people contact him directly, then she sends them an application and starts them on the process. Dennis said buyers in the program have to have an income between 60 and 80 percent of the area median income. The household incomes they have been selling to are quite a bit lower than the cap. The other thing is that the house they acquired on Stanford Avenue was on the market for 89 days, which was due to the fact that it was listed on the market while it was being rehabbed, and the buyers were going through a secondary -market approval, which slowed things down. That skews the averages a bit. Richman asked for confirmation that the HF currently has seven active applications, and only build one or two houses a year. Dennis said yes. Richman asked if potentially people on the list might not get a house for a few years. Dennis said yes, and when she calls applicants to follow up, a lot of times they are no longer looking. If they are still looking, however, their income needs to be reverified at the time of the sale. Dennis said one of their current projects is a student -built house in the Feel Good Project, which won the 2001 Iowa City Community Development Award for Fostering Community Partnership, and was featured on the national HUD website. The local partners in the project are the city, the Association of Realtors, the Homebuilders Association, and the Iowa City Community School District. Four houses have been built in this program. The HF purchases the lots with HOME funds, and then the Vocational Training Council of Homebuilders provides technical expertise and assistance, while students build the house. The HF guarantees that they will purchase the house at the end of the year, which is then sold as a CLT. Dennis said the land lease is based on a document developed by the Institute for Community Economics. The lease is a lengthy document that is difficult to summarize, but the key point is that the HF lease has been approved by Fannie Mae and Countrywide, which is not an easy thing to accomplish. Countrywide is the market that services the Iowa Finance Authority first home loans, so HF buyers can qualify for those. The homeowner has full and free use of the land, but when the house is sold, the owners must find an income -qualified buyer. An attorney must verify that the buyer understands the lease, and there is a resale formula in the lease that limits the resale price of the homes. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 5 Dennis said the home must be sold to an income -targeted buyer, or the HF has the option to purchase the improvements back and resell it. The homeowner is charged a monthly fee for use of the land, which is currently $20 per month. Long asked how property tax is handled. Dennis said it depends on the CLT. If the HF pays the property taxes, they charge more for the monthly land fee. In the HF lease, the owner of the home pays taxes on the land, and any improvements. Greazel asked if land is exempted from taxes. Dennis said no. Richman asked for confirmation that the ground lease for all the houses Dennis discussed is $20 per month per house. Dennis said yes. Essentially the HF is subsidizing the land, while the homeowner still retains all the rights for free use of the land. She said the HF also has occupancy and use restrictions. The home must be used as the owner's primary residence, so they cannot be rented out. The lease defines what is considered a "major" improvement to the home, and those need to be approved by the HF. Shaw arrived at this point. Dennis said in terms of equity and resale, the longer the owner lives in the home, a larger percentage of the increase in value the owner will receive when the house is resold. The formula is stated in the lease, and is how the house remains affordable. This only applies when the house is sold. If the first buyer lives out her life in that home, she can will the home to her heirs. Hayek asked how the house is appraised with that sort of restriction, and whether the lender hires the appraiser. Dennis said they have done a lot of work with the appraisers, and Fannie Mae has a guide on how to appraise CLT homes. Any appraisal on any home separates out the land, however, so it is not too complicated. Dennis said the resale price is the original appraised value of the house plus the percentage of change in the increase in the value based on your length of residency, which is what comprises the purchase option price. That is what needs to be explained to potential buyers. They have only had one sale so far, and it was successful. Dennis said in closing, through CLTs the house remains affordable for subsequent buyers, and it is a one-time investment that continues to benefit low-income buyers throughout the lease term of 99 years. Also, the lease is renewable for another 99-year term at the time of its expiration. DeFrance asked who the HF purchases lots from, and whether they pay appraised value or more for them. Hightshoe said lots must be purchased for no greater than the appraised value. Dennis said three lots have also been donated for this program. Anthony asked whether the HF would like to have the program expanded in the area, either through them or someone else. Dennis said yes, through the HF or anyone else would be fine. This program is great for first-time home ownership, and the HF does not have to be the only group involved. There are also a variety of approaches to the leases and other aspects; another group would not have to adopt the approach that the HF uses. Anthony asked what the challenges are for expansion of this program in Iowa City. Dennis said lenders who are willing to do CLTs, but that is also a nationwide problem. Richman asked for confirmation that the same problems exist for buying lots for CLT houses as for other programs. Dennis said it is both the price of the lots and the covenant restrictions. The buyer pool is becoming smaller, because the council has to approve every site individually. Since there are restrictions on certain elementary attendance areas, the available areas have covenants that create problems with building houses their buyers can afford. For example, if the area requires a 1500 square foot house, the HF cannot build a house there that their buyer incomes can afford. Anthony asked whether Dennis has seen a rise in areas with restrictive covenants over the past years. Dennis said no, all subdivisions have covenants, and the ones with the less expensive lots usually require houses that are 1000 square feet. That works well for them, since they usually build 1100-1300 square Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 6 foot houses. Anthony asked whether there is a difficulty with finding buyers for the program. Dennis said no, but it can be difficult to explain the program to people. Dennis said Mayo Clinic has invested a lot of land into CLTs in Rochester, and their restriction is that if, for example, a nurse buys the house, then the house must be sold to a nurse. Some other very expensive towns have CLTs that serve fire fighters and teachers. Long said a project in Boulder involved a non-profit and the city putting a mobile home park that was being threatened by development on a land trust. The city bought it as part of a flood project, and then sold it to the non-profit. Hayek left the room at this point. DeFrance asked whether the HF had any property locations in mind. Dennis said they look on the MLS. She added that when the program first started in 1998, they were able to acquire a lot valued at $18K, and in just that amount of time the lot prices have risen drastically. Greazel said one of the valuable aspects of infill lots is that their covenants have expired or they did not have one originally, so they do not have as many restrictions. Hayek returned to the room at this point. Dennis said these programs have a lot of success in communities with a lot of infill available, or where there are a lot of properties that need to be torn down. Iowa City does not have either of those situations. DeFrance asked whether any properties affected by the recent tornado would be available. Dennis said no. Introductions were done for the benefit of those absent at the beginning of the meeting. Hightshoe said Greazel's and Shaw's terms are expiring, so they will need to reapply for another term. Review of Allocation Process - Creation of Subcommittee Anthony said last year a subcommittee was created to review the process and produced some very good recommendations that were implemented last year. He asked whether the commission members feel the need to revisit the allocation process. Greazel said one of the things the commission discussed earlier was being more focused and deciding what they wanted to accomplish with the limited funds that need to be allocated. It would be good to discuss a plan before going into the process rather than being reactionary to whatever is presented to the commission. Anthony agreed that it is good to be focused. He said that would be different than what was evaluated last year. Last year the commission looked at the application process. This would be a review of the commission's efforts. Anthony asked whether the other commission members think having this sort of focus would be beneficial, and if so, should a subcommittee be created to discuss it. Shaw asked what method would be more efficient. Anthony said the committee approach last year was very good, and seemed to work efficiency. Hayek said the changes from last year were great, so the application process does not need to be reviewed again. Anthony said it would not be tinkering with the application process this year. Hightshoe said it would be more along the lines of additional information to be sent out with the applications, to let people know what sorts of projects the commission is looking for. Anthony said the focus could be just for one year. Richman said it would need to get done sooner rather than later, because applications will be due soon. It does not seem fair to put out guidelines a month before applications are due. Mellecker asked whether this would be similar to the CITY STEPS plan. Greazel said the problem with CITY STEPS is that it is ambiguous. There are times he would like to focus effort in a project to allow it to really get off the ground and viable. He would like to give some projects a bigger impact so they can be done right, instead of spreading things out so thin. Greazel said he does not know if this has been tried before, to have the commission establish guidelines rather than react to whatever the applicants submit. Hightshoe said that CITY STEPS is reviewed each year, but setting a focused priority has never been done before, and would need to be approved by the council. This would have to be done soon in order to get quality applicants for the focus area. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 7 Hayek said that though the commission has a tendency to fund a lot of projects with a little money, they all tend to score high according to CITY STEPS. He asked whether creating a focus is permissible. Hightshoe said yes, because federal funds are allocated at the council's discretion. Council would have to agree with whatever focus the commission would like to establish. Shaw asked if the commission would need to make a recommendation to the council. Hightshoe said yes. Long said this would need to be done by mid -August. Richman said it is unlikely anything formal would be in place before September, which is already almost too late. Richman suggested forming a subcommittee to implement this for next year. Hightshoe said in terms of CITY STEPS, almost all public services and several other items are high priorities. Mellecker said she thinks a yearly statement would be good, so some areas are not mislabeled a low priority. Hightshoe said CITY STEPS is revised every year, and amendments need to go to the council for approval. That might be a way of focusing efforts, through amending CITY STEPS, and then it would be reviewed on an annual basis. Richman asked when CITY STEPS is reviewed. Hightshoe said it is reviewed in September, approved in October. It is only taken to council if there are amendments. Hayek said it would be hard to downgrade high priorities to medium or low, because they are high priorities whether the commission chooses to focus on them or not. Instead of going through an extended review process that has to go through council, instead would it be possible to just decide on one area within the commission and go with that. Shaw asked for confirmation that Hayek is leaning towards Mellecker's suggestion of a commission mission statement for each cycle. Anthony said that approach avoids the issue of having to downgrade priorities. They all remain high priorities, but are not being focused on all the time. Hayek noted that a lot of non -profits depend on a relatively steady stream of funding. Hightshoe said there could also be an issue where it is just the right time for a group to do a particular project, and if it does not fall within the focus of the commission, the opportunity could be lost. Richman said he thinks the focus would not be centered so much on housing and public service projects. He said he is thinking more in the public facilities project area. Anthony asked whether the council had discussed what might happen to the public service funds. Long said council will talk about it in August. Anthony asked whether there is consensus on if a subcommittee should be formed or not. No commission members voiced opposition to forming a subcommittee. Anthony asked for volunteers to serve on the subcommittee. Shaw said he would be willing to serve on the committee if there are specific objectives and a timeline. Hart said she would be willing. Hightshoe said if this will not be effective for this year; it could be done in conjunction with community input received during the CITY STEPS review process for implementation next year. The subcommittee would work with city staff to come up with a focus based on recent community input on community needs. Also it might be good to hold off until new appointments to the commission are complete. Anthony agreed. Discuss Inclusionary Zoning Shaw asked whether there was a meeting at the library about inclusionary zoning. He saw that one of the meeting rooms was set aside for a meeting about inclusionary zoning. No other attendees had any information. Anthony said materials regarding this topic were sent out in the April meeting packet. Hightshoe said this would be a subcommittee situation, to research the issue. She said a problem should be identified that the proposed regulations attempt to address, before looking at the merits of inclusionary zoning. That might be a longer process. Then the subcommittee would bring their conclusions and recommendations to the full commission for discussion. Anthony said first the subcommittee would look at whether or not inclusionary zoning is needed, rather than the mechanisms involved. If the subcommittee decides that inclusionary zoning would be beneficial, they need to first convince the commission before it goes any further. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 8 Hayek said the full commission should also see the information the subcommittee reviews. Hightshoe agreed. Anthony said the subcommittee could look at the information that staff supplies, as well as the market conditions in Iowa City. Then they would make a determination whether or not it is needed, and present their evidence to the commission. Mellecker said the first question should be confined to why inclusionary zoning is needed, not any sort of policies or other discussions. Shaw asked for confirmation of what question the subcommittee should be addressing, why it is needed, or whether it is needed. Hightshoe said she thinks the first question is what issue or concern the commission is trying to address, and then whether or not inclusionary zoning would help that identified issue. Long said the solution might not be inclusionary zoning. Hightshoe said she anticipates that the subcommittee would be working with staff and also consulting with Planning and Zoning. P&Z staff would have to have time to research and evaluate any recommendation before it went before council. Richman asked whether there was general agreement to form a subcommittee to discuss this. No commission members voiced objections. Long said there are other groups in the community that have an interest in this topic, which the subcommittee could meet with. Hightshoe said that the commission members would be invited if the subcommittee meets with any outside groups, and summaries of subcommittee meetings would be included with commission agendas. Hayek said it is a very complex and difficult topic to discuss, so the subcommittee tasks would need to be very focused. Anthony asked for volunteers for the subcommittee. Anthony, Hart, Hayek, and Shaw volunteered. Hayek said he might be leaving the commission at the end of the year. Anthony said the subcommittee would meet to decide on a process. Smith said his group, which involves the Homebuilders Association, the Chamber of Commerce, Housing Fellowship, and others, is very interested in and discussing this issue. There appears there are overlapping areas of interest, so he hopes to work with the commission and subcommittee during the discussion. Shaw left at this point. Announce Upcoming HCDC Vacancies Hightshoe announced that Shaw and Greazel's terms will be expiring soon and they must reapply if interested. Hightshoe confirmed that Mellecker is leaving so an additional spot will be open. She said applications for these two vacancies are due to the city clerk's office by July 26. Old Business Discuss National Community Development Week Celebration Hightshoe said the celebration would be held at Grant Wood Elementary on August 15 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. The plan is to have a band from 4:30 to 5:00, with the program beginning at 5:00. The principal at Grant Wood will do some introductory remarks, and the principal from Southeast has agreed to be the guest speaker. Regina Bailey will be handing the big checks and awards. Awards decisions have not been made yet. Hightshoe said she is trying to arrange to have developers set up some information about future private development plans for the Highway 6 area as well. Review of Down Payment Assistance Program Long reported that no money has been spent. The lender told him they are having a difficult time finding interest in the program since it has a $5K cap and house prices have increased. Lenders also make more money doing 100 percent financing than with other strategies. The higher the interest rates go, however, the more attractive the program might be. The commission needs to decide what to do with the money. Hayek asked whether the money could be used for closing costs. Long said yes. Richman asked whether it would be possible to market the program directly to buyers, rather than through the lender. Hightshoe Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 9 said part of the problem is that it is not a grant, so they have to pay it back. Also, if the buyer is going with the IFA first -time -buyer program, they cannot combine assistance, so they do not qualify. Richman asked for confirmation that the problems are that there are too many competing programs, the program is overly complex, and it is being poorly marketed. Richman said if there are so many problems with the program, then the commission should consider doing something else with the money. Hightshoe said the money could be recaptured and allocated during the next round. Long said the city could also take over administration directly. He added that the city has written letters to all the realtors and lenders in town, so people know about it. Also, they do receive inquiries into the program, but once people hear the parameters, they go elsewhere. Richman said there is no incentive for lenders or realtors to market this program. Anthony asked whether the restriction on not combining this with other sources was flexible. Hightshoe says the restrictions are on the other sources, not with our requirements. Mellecker asked for confirmation whether the money would go into the next round's funds if it was recaptured. Long said yes, or to cover overruns. Richman asked whether this was from HOME or CDBG. Long said CDBG. Hayek said it seems odd that there is not a need for the money. Anthony said part of the problem stems from housing prices. Most of the houses that would be priced in the range where people in this income bracket would qualify for the assistance were built before 1978, which leads to issues with lead paint. Hightshoe agreed that is another problem. As these are federal funds, the city cannot fund a house built prior to 1978 due to lead based paint issues. Hayek asked whether it would be possible to increase the grants to $10K. Long said the lender says that would help. Hightshoe said the city could also look at combining with other programs, such as with the Housing Fellowship or the Iowa City Housing Authority programs for homeownership. Hayek suggested giving the money to the Housing Fellowship. Richman said if that is the case, then the commission should recapture the money and reallocate it. Richman asked whether the commission needed to make a decision on this at the current meeting. Hightshoe said according to council policy, it was required that half of the money be spent by March 15. If not, the commission must reevaluate the project and could recapture funds based on the circumstances. Long said since it is already past the beginning of the year, the commission could wait until December to decide. Hayek asked whether there was a chance to spend the money before December. It might do some good in the current program, and if not, the money could still be recaptured by the time the commission allocates next year's funds (FY08). Richman asked when the applications for next year's CDBG funds go out. Hightshoe said November. Richman suggested waiting until October 15, and if the money is not spent, then recapturing it and putting it with next year's funds. Hightshoe asked whether the funds would have to be administered through the current lender if city staff made some arrangement with other groups. Long said it does have to go through Hills Bank. MOTION: Richman moved that the program continue until October 15, at that time any remaining balance would be recaptured and allocated in the next funding round. Greazel seconded, and the motion carried on a vote of 7-0. Monitorina Reports Economic Development Fund and Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity Greazel distributed a summary to all the commission members. Hightshoe said $200K would be carried over to the Economic Development Fund for allocation, which includes money from previous years as well as this year's allocation. As indicated on the report, some of the applications have been successful, but the majority was not able to maintain the business past three years. Hightshoe said the plan for this fiscal year is to involve lenders more in the process, and have the city do more gap funding for people who can get some private financing but are collateral thin, for example. The goal is to have more success stories. She said she would still be the contact for the fund, and will present to the Economic Development Committee in a couple months. She has talked to the Small Business Development Center, and they thought that approach would be attractive to lenders. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes July 20, 2006 Page 10 Long said nine percent of the CDBG/HOME budget is taken out for economic development, which includes both CDBG and HOME funds. Since only CDBG funds are eligible for economic development, staff is taking a request to council that just nine percent of CDBG funds be used for economic development. Greazel noted that Habitat for Humanity spent their money purchasing lots. Goodwill Industries, Planned Parenthood, Housing Rehabilitation, Downpayment Assistance Mellecker said Goodwill spent their money and is all done. She was not able to talk to Planned Parenthood. Long said their project is finished, which included moving the entrance out of the public right of way to protect their clients, redoing the lobby, and installing a new counter top. The owner of the property paved the lot and installed a privacy fence. Mellecker said that Housing Rehab spent some of their money, but stopped because the rest of their funding was tied up in Congress. They finished up their existing projects, and have been getting tornado repair requests recently. Long said the funds were released on July 19. Mellecker noted the status of the Downpayment Assistance program was discussed previously. Hightshoe said that at the August meeting, staff would do the updates on all FY06 projects and carry over projects that had not been reviewed this past year. Long said the Senate Appropriations Committee increased CDBG funds for the first time in five years. That means there should be approximately a $200 million increase nationwide. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the committee, Hayek moved to adjourn. Greazel seconded and the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. s:/pcd/minutes/HCDC/2006/07-20-06. doc ,.,.mA0Zwe gust 2006 Published by the Heritage Area Agency on Aging and Marengo Publishing Corporation, Marengo, Iowa Volume 35 No. 2 11X.4.'x'xv'** tZtaR—RT LO7-&-VCO2,— =3:'c1: 9 S2D ai tage Area Agency on Aging C ITY, OF Iowa CITY` Involvement Magazine / , 41D t_ WASHINGTON ST wood Community College Lswt I014A CITY ra 52240-1225 Box 208, Marengo, Iowa 52301 r t t! 1 Visit to Uptown hill's Small Mail tory and Photos by an Hinshaw This started off to be an article about one man and his decision about what to do after retirement. It has ended up being a story about a group of people, whose lives are intertwined and made richer because of it, and, as you will see, many other people's lives as well. But before we cart talk more about Tom and Gretchen and Mick and Dorothy and Dale and Lynn, we have to talk about Bill and Barry and Mickey Rooney. Sonic readers may be familiar with the story of local legend Bill Sackter, the name behind the Uptown Bill's Coffee Shop on Gilbert Street in Iowa City, and the rote that Dr. Thomas Walz, retired dean of the School of Social Work at the University Iowa, played in the story. For those of you, like me, who are a bit sketchy on the whole thing, this is how Tom explained it to me while sitting around a table at Uptown Bill's. In 1972, Tom came to Iowa City to take on his new job at the University, and it wasn't long thereafter that he called upon a friend with whom he had previously worked in Minnesota, Barry Morrow, and asked him to come and work for him here in Iowa. In the interim, Barry had assumed legal guardianship of Bill Sackter, who had spent a half -century in a state institution. [Named the School for Feeble -Minded and Epileptics when Bill entered in 1920.] Torn continued with his story: "Barry said he would come, but I would have to give Bill a job as well. So I said sure, why not. So Barry shows up with Bill, who I had never met before inany life. I gave him a job making coffee and he became so instantly popular that it just wasn't going to work to Have him only making coffee and running around. We needed to have a location, so we took one of our classrooms and turned it into a coffeeshop. I had to cheat a little bit and call it a library, but in effect it was Bill's coffee shop. It becarne Wild Bill's Coffee Shop." [And continues in operation to this day, on the University of Iowa campus.] "Around the fourth or fifth year Bill had become so well-known and well -loved in this community that lie was practically an institution," Tom continued, "a town character, but for all the right reasons. He was a beautiful personality. He was one of the healthiest human beings I've ever met in my life." As awareness of Bill grew, he was selected to be awarded the Handicapped Iowan of the Year, and had a big story about him in the Des Moines Register. By this time, Barry and Tom started thinking about telling Bill's story to a wider audience, and by happenstance that came to be, and in a much bigger way than anyone had imagined. They were invited to New York to meet with people at CBS, and Tom explains what happened. "The next thing we know, they ask Barry to write a screenplay, so he writes the screenplay, and they decide they are going to make this movie, with Dennis Quaid and Mickey Rooney. On December 21, 1981 it's shown, and 40 million people see it that Saturday night. By Monday morning, Bill is a national celebrity. And 90 days later it's the movie of the year, wins the Golden Globe as best picture, and it gets two Emmys, one for Mickey Rooney as best actor (as Bill), and one for Barry Morrow as the screenwriter." At this point I am just sitting back listening to Tom's story. "Bill is now a national celebrity, and he goes everywhere; he gets invited to two White Houses. He has a ball, but he could care less, he doesn't even know it's about his life, he just loves people. [Bill once comment about how Mickey Rooney's life was a lot like his, after seeing the movie]. Bill lives for two more years. The movie is such a success they make a sequel about it in 1983, but Bill dies just before that. And as a memorial to him we decided to keep hi, coffee shop going and hire handicapped people to run it. For the past 25 years we've hired handicapped people to carry on the tradition of Bill." During all these years Tom worked to keep it alive. He was the faculty member with the most investment in it, and he wanted Bill to be able to "tell the world what an incredible human being he was that had nothing to do with his disability, and everything to do with his spirituality." Tom retired from the University of Iowa in 2001. I asked him if it was a hard decision to decide what to in the next chapter of his life, and what his retirement meant for Bill's legacy. "I was either going to stay here or go to Mother Teresa's," Tom said. "I had fallen in love with the Sisters of Charity. I had met Mother Teresa in Calcutta years ago. They did a lot of work with AIDS and the elderly. I'm a gerontologist, and I thought it made awfully goo( sense to do something worthwhile before you die as long as you're not a burden to anybody else, o get in their way. And I was pretty healthy, so..." "Mother Teresa?" I asked. "It's an interesting story;" Tom answered. "I had met a man from Calcutta who was a prominent philosopher and he stayed with me when he came to Iowa as a visiting faculty member when I was dean. He was a very interesting man, but I didn't know a lot about him, but? knew about his philosophy, It had to do with issues around development and poverty. He was exiled from India at the time because Indira Gandhi didn't like him and she was killing off a lot of these critics, so he went to Australia, and eventually died of a heart attack. About a year later I heard from his son who was a professor at Notre Dame, and his son said "Did you know that my dad named you in his last will and testament? You're in the will." "And I said, "For what?" Tom continued with his story. "To dispose of his writings," the man said. "So I started to go to Calcutta to research his writings and to re -write them for an English audience as a ghost writer in his name. I made three trips to India in the 1980s, and on the last trip I was giving a speech in Calcutta, and I ran into Mother Teresa. I went to her House of Charity and we talked and I asked her if I could come there when I retired. She said people do, and that they would accommodate me." As Tom told his story, customers came and went from the coffee shop, and as each one entered, Tom would greet them by name, with a combination of warmth and teasing. This indeed was an unusual place, with deeply shared bonds that even a visitor like me could sense right away. "So when you retired, did you consider going back to India?" I asked. In answering Tom said, "Bill had had such an impact on my life, and these guys did too," he said, motioning to the people around him, "what am I going to do with the rest of my life? I'll give it the rest of my life, as long as 1 have health to keep this program going. I plan to die here... not for a week or two, though." There was laughter in the room, but also a sudden solemnness on this topic. "Life goes on," Tom said quietly. "I don't think life is going to go on quite the same when you're gone." a friend said. Another added; "I don't either." "Oh is that right?" Tom joked. "It could be better... it could be better. We never know. We could have said the same thing about Bill, but people who followed Bill were just such incredibly beautiful people, that when you added them all up it's like a flower garden." Hearing Toni talk, and the way that people responded to him, I was increasingly curious about Tom's life, and what had influenced him. So I asked him. "I was raised by my grandparents who were dirt poor; my parents were just kids, hardly old enough to have babies; it was during the Great Depression, so I was raised by these grandparents. They never told me how to live or anything, so my first exposure to ideas about life and others was from the gentleness of the rural area that I was in. "And where was that?" I asked "It was in Minnesota, the northern part, in a deserted mining town. I lived there until I was seven, and then we moved to the twin cities, and then we moved from the city back to what is today suburbia. We lived out there until my folks died and then I went to a Catholic high school, and ended up going to a Catholic college, St. John's, a monastery in northern Minnesota. From there I got drafted and sent overseas. during the Korean War. Then I came back and finished my social work degree, moved back to Minneapolis, got a Ph.D. from the university, and started teaching and ended up being a career teacher." "Why did you choose social work?" "I got in my head that the purpose of life was service. And that was its own reward. I mean, if you wanted to be happy, that's the route to happiness. This acquisitiveness, materialism, of our culture is just destined for failure. It makes you always hungry; always feeling deprived; always feeling that someone else has more than you. So, 1 don't know, from about seven years old on, I knew I wanted to do service. It didn't make any difference, I didn't know how you did it, you just did it. And then when I found out there was such a thing as [social work], and you got paid to do it, that meant I could have a family." See UPTOWN BILLS, page 14 ILong-time volunteer, Dorothy Newmire UPTOWN BILL's continued from page 13 So that's the story, and in there I had a dream at some point, I had come out of Catholicism and I was used to the notion of different lay groups, and I wanted to have a group that was built out of people in retirement who were not accountable to anybody except to their God and their conscience. And that would become pursuant to social justice and issues. That was my dream at first, and then this sort of happened and that is what we are doing." Operating under the auspices of the Extend the Dream Foundation. board member Dale Hankins explained what they are doing: "When Tom retired from the School of Social Work, he wrote some grants and got some local philanthropists to give some money to set up the Extend the Dream foundation, and then he opened up Uptown Bills Small Mall. Basically this consisted of the coffee shop and ice cream parlor, the bookstore, and it had at that time another thing called Leslie's Luxuries, which sold antiques and collectibles, and the Mad Hatters Tea Room which is a venue for bands and poets, and a place for meetings." "And then about a year ago, he continued, "we bought a building over on F Street behind Walgreen's and set out two main things: Gretchen's Vintage Shop, which has vintage clothing and also sells antiques, and the E-Commerce center, which trains people how to do e-commerce, mostly eBay- related, how to bury and sell a k 6 .ls .......... .> ACCIDENTS, INJURIES AND ILLNESSES HAPPEN IN AN INSTANT. So it's nice to know around -the - clock emergency care is right around the comer. At Marengo Memorial Hospital, board certified physicians and specially trained nurses are ready to handle all your emergency needs — from urgent to life. threatening. Our new Emergency Department brings you three treatment rooms, a streamlined design, state-of-the-art equipment and lots of personal attention. Getting to Marengo Memorial Hospital quickly saves time. And it - may save a life. For serious medical problems like stroke or heart attack, time is muscle. The sooner you get to ,oa W. hay St, A91111�G,, /A things over eBay. And there's a shipping service, so if somebody has something they want to sell on eBay, they can drop it off and then the group over there will send it off, and they get a commission for doing that. And then there's Mick's workshop which refinishes furniture and antiques. All of those are really businesses that are owned and operated by people with disabilities, with help from volunteers and Tom." Volunteer Lynn Borders said "there's one other that you forgot, Mr. Ed's Super Graphics. I couldn't think of super graphics, the only thing I could think of was Mr. Ed." We all laughed at that one. Who could possibly forget Mr. Ed, the talking horse? Dale continued, "there's also the MARENGO Trusted Healthcare Close to Home an emergency department, the better Your chances of preserving heart muscle or brain tissue. We're state certified as a revel rV community trauma center. If you need more specialized care, we'll arrange ambulance or air transport to a tertiary hospital. You can return to Marengo Memorial Hospital for follow-up services. So, the next Cme an emergency comes close to home, don't worry. - So are we. Want to learn more about Marengo Memorial Hospital? Call 319.642.5543 or log on to - to see a photo galltny of our beautifid, newly renovated facility. rani 319.W,5542, w w&taretigoAo.,pirat ary-" Bill Sackter house, where Gretchen, Rick, Gary and Ed all live. It was done with Iowa City development block grants." Lynn added that "the cool thing about the house is that it was built for people with handicaps, so the counters are lower; and designed for wheelchairs and all that lovely stuff, so it's a cool place." "There's always new stuff on the horizon, Tom's always thinking of new businesses. Tom's pretty much the spark plug," Dale said. In the course of the day with the folks at Uptown Bill's I heard firsthand how important the work of this foundation is. The Manager of The Vintage Shoppe, Gretchen Gentsch, told me her story. "I've been coping with depression for years, and I have a real problem in the winters. I was just out of school in 2000, 1 finished my degree late because I had to cope with depression and left school, and came back to it. I ,wanted to go work with books, I $ad gone to library school, and I couldn't do that. I just couldn't do the nine to five kind of thing. I thought, my days are over, Fin gone. So I went down and talked to Tom, and he said if you want, you can help in the bookmart. So I said sure, and I started working in the bookmart, and I decided that they had a lot of good books and that we should try eBay. So I implemented the eBay for the first time at Uptown Bills. The bookmart soared after that, we went from about $500 a month to about $3000 including eBay, and it was starting to support, it was starting to work:. So, at the same time that I was doing the bookmart, I was interested in vintage clothing and I had a rare donation from a woman who was closing down a shop here in town and said I want to give you all my vintage clothing. We hdd a basement downstairs and we put the vintage clothing in the basement and I started an independent store called Gretchen's Vintage Clothing, with the Uptown Bill's Smallmall. All this time I'm working with Torn, becoming more self-sufficient and more self-sustaining, my depression starts going away, I start feeling a whole lot better than I ever did. See UPTOWN BILL's, p. 24 Page 14 NVOLVEMEN7 August 2006 The Heritage Agency 1-800-332-5434 UPTOWN BILL's Lynn Borders sat in the Uptown handicapped accessibility will continued from page 14 Bill's coffee shop and explained also be helpful for the elderly. s t w t how she got involved. The stated mission of the Extend }r, Gretchen continued, "I'm doing the Dream foundation is to help �" f "I had a cerebral aneurysm ten something purposeful, and I'm the disabled as well as the elderly.;' helping the foundation. I'm not years ago, and I almost died. TheF ` taking home a whole lot of money, University Hospitals saved my For more information; visit the life, I'm sure glad they're here, but I'm feeling really good. So didn't realized for awhile that part Uptown Bill's website: `— I think, I'm going to keep doing of my brain injury is that I can't w ttptownbills.org. this." learn new things. I went back to "So we have the vintage the same job, so I didn't have to clothing store," Gretchen goes learn anything new. But when the If you are in in " leamin more about Bill Sackter's r on, "and we have the bookmart, job was eliminated, the position g ^" " � s•^ and then Tom started dreaming was eliminated in 2003,had to life, Tom has written a book again, he saw this building, and he move to University Hospitals. entitled "The Unlikely Celebrity." said what a dream, this could be a A new 90-minute documentary is vintage shop. He said you could It was completely new, it was also nearing completion, and will as if I'd never been a secretary preview in the Iowa City area in ' do your clothing, you could do before. I couldn't do it. Ina year the spring. the antiques, we could showcase and a half, I failed at two jobs. It Mick Vevera's furniture. Mick has Tom said he would like to was awful, it was just the most �df always helping the mall, all the terrible thing I've ever been see more seniors sitting on these stuff, even this store, cutting doors through. At any rate, I've been stools, so here they are, waiting and painting; he's done all the for us. a part of the brain injury support furniture you see here. He wanted group for several years now and to showcase the furniture in a store they started meeting here, and which would sell it better." I'd wanted something to fill the Tom ended up buying the emptiness. There's not a whole building with the help of a city lot to do when you're note grant, and we have the building working, and i knew the minute now, and we started the store last I walked in the door that this - 1 October, and its doing fabulously. was the place for me, and I've" t So, we have the business, and been here ever since. I love it t T that's the business end of it, and here. a• „ we collected jewelry little by little t , I heard so many stories, a �� b little, we have the clothing,we o y too many to share in the small have a whole basement full, and x r 1 amount of space left. But books, I do rare books. We still b Uptown Bill's is a great place do the eBay business and we have T r to hear them, and tell your t e the e-Commercecenter, and wei Tom would like to have own. : n t do the classes twice per week: So p more older customers and it started as a dream and went to volunteers become a part of i a reality. So it's been workable. r And it's really fun. I work a nine- the foundation's work. He is Yr Rr M y hopeful that the E-Commerce to -five job now, I didn't think I Center will provide new tv would be doing that again and I'm T busy all the time:" opportunites for seniors, and a that their latest iniative, helping �r` p Earlier in the day volunteer to assess and retrofit homes for Page 24 INVOLVEMENT August 2006 Page 11A Tuesday, July 25, 2006 Iowa City Press -Citizen Jeff Charis-Carlson, Opinion editor Phone: 887-5435 E-mail: opinion@press-citizen.com Affordable housing doesn't mean low-income housing:, In 2001, we purchased a home from The Housing Fellowship. For the space we needed for our growing family, we would have been looking at rental properties with a minimum rent of $700. When we found the house we purchased from the Housing Fellowship, we initially assumed it would be out of our price range: a nev4 house in an established neighborhood with three bedrooms and a great back- yard that was move -in ready. Our mortgage pay- ments would be under, $800 a month In order to keep the house affordable, we own our house, but not the land upon which it sits. We lease that land from the non-prof- it Housing Fellowship for a nominal fee. Our home is in an established neighbor- hood near City High, close to school, parks and the downtown. Between our first visit to the house to the Christy Wolfe and Dan Carrell Guest Opinion time we signed the pur- chase agreement, we had worked with the members of the Housing Fellowship, the local banker at Hills Bank, and the student builders who built our house; in other words, we felt as if we were part of the community, and that the community wanted to see us become part of it. Affordable housing is not synonymous with low- income housing. A task - force on housing issues formed by city leaders last year found in Iowa City that teachers, police officers and nurses are among those professionals who struggle to find affordable housing. One of the richest elements of Iowa City — the diversity and excitement that comes from having a college or university in town — cre- ates its own set of unique challenges. Iowa City is filled with families like ours: recent graduates beginning our careers; young professionals who want to stay in Iowa but want the vibrancy a college town offers; single parents returning to school to fur- ther their own education so they can better provide for their children and their chil- dren's futures. Consequently, low- to moderate -income families like ours share the same stresses that everyone has: facing the rising cost of util- ity bills, car payments and soaring gas prices coupled with long work hours while trying to raise decent chil- dren. But we also have the additional stress and uncer- tainty of being able to pro- vide adequate food, clothing and shelter to our families when we live paycheck to paycheck. Such additional stress and uncertainty on these basic necessities cre- ates a new burden on an already hardworking family. If it serves to do any- thing, "affordable housing" should take the additional burden and stress of at least one of those basic necessi- ties out of an already over- extended family's life. Our house had new appliances, a new furnace, a new roof, solid wiring and new insula- tion and windows, which, in turn, keep our energy bills down and reduce our monthly expenses. In con- trast, an older home in need of repair would require much more time and money to bring to the same levels of quality In other words, it takes a rich person with a lot of time and money to buy an old house, make it livable and maintain it as such. Particularly for families who have little to no money to put into home improve- ment, the integrity of the house they buy should not be in question; it should not be a project that becomes yet another job that the family has to work In the past five years, our home has only appreci- ated in value. With minor, affordable improvements on our part — a porch swing, a split -rail fence to keep the kids in the yard, the addition of a laminate wood floor, and minor land- scaping enhancements — we have both made the house our home and also added to our home's value. In "It's a Wonderful Life," George Bailey said to Mr. Potter about the people of Bedford Falls: "They do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?" Iowa City is a wonder- ful community and one we are proud to call home. Part of what. makes us proud of the community is its commitment to realisti- cally address how to share all the best things that make this a great place to live. Christy Wolfe and Dan Carrell are Iowa City residents. Page 11A , Tuesday, July 25, 2006 Iowa City Press -Citizen Jeff Charis-Carlson, Opinion editor Phone: 887-5435 E-mail: opinion@press-citizen.com What counts as a00 ffordable housing"? Housing Fellowship may be fiscally irresponsible As a longtime advocate of affordable housing in Iowa City, I am always pleased when the efforts of many are realized and a deserving family becomes a homeowner. However, I am dismayed that the Iowa City Housing Fellowship is sub- sidizing a new home in the Lindemann Subdivision, just west of Windsor Ridge. Using a conservative estimate of $150,000 for the home (1,300-plus square feet, full basement and double car garage, accord- ing to the fellowship) and $50,000 for the lot (city assessor), the total home value will easily approach $200,000. A quick search on Realtoncom found a listing of 193 homes available in Iowa City between $125,000 4150,000, many of Mitch Barnett Guest Opinion which are nice starter homes. Homes in the Lindemann subdivision are selling in the price range that would suggest most families are not first-time buyers. It appears that the Housing Fellowship will be helping a family who could afford a modestly priced starter home qualify for a very nice brand new home. While I am confident that the Housing Fellowship will find a well deserving family, I feel that subsidizing a brand new home for a first -tune buyer may not be the most fiscal- ly responsible use of their donated funds. Mitch Barnett is an Iowa City resident. Fellowship has the right priorities The Housing Fellowship is building a home in the Lindemann Subdivision as part of our Community Land Trust (CLT) Program. A CLT is a proven approach to ensure permanently affordable homeownership. Here is how it works: The Housing Fellowship purchases the land with locally allocated, federal HOME funds — not donations. The Housing Fellowship owns the land and qualified buyers pur- chase the homes. The homebuyer signs a 99-year, renewable land lease. In exchange for purchasing the home at a below -mar- ket price, homeowners agree to limit the price of their homes when they sell and future buyers are assured that homes will be permanently affordable. The lot in Lindemann Maryann Dennis Guest Opinion was purchased for $43,000 and the home will be con- structed for $143,970. The CLT home will sell for under $150,000, because the land will be removed from the transaction The Housing Fellowship's CLT has gained the acceptance of the local goverment. We have had many community partners and won the 2002 Iowa City Community Development Award for our partnership with the Homebuilder's Vocational Training Council, the Iowa City Community School District and local lenders. The Housing Fellowship has long been a proponent of scattered site housing and has located CLT homes in several neighborhoods. The covenants and restrictions of the subdivision dictate the size of the home and garage. Our buyers are hard-working, mortgage - qualified buyers with incomes between 60 and 80 percent of the area median income levels set by the federal govemmenL Affordable housirr� is an integral part of solid economic development. CL71. are good for our neighbors and good for our community. They pro- vide fast -time homeown- ers an affordable invest- ment in which tA build equity, shay appreciation arrd money — en uig t continued ecorio- c mw,s bility of our commu►itry and its residents. Maryann Dennis is the executive director of The Housing Fellowship. i rage jLJA O0 Wednesday, August 9, 2006; Iowa City Press -Citizen Jeff Charis-Carlson, Opinion editor Phone: 887-5435 E-mail: opinion@press-citizen.com Designing short-sighted zoning policies The Iowa City Council is debating whether to pass an inclusionary zoning law. But the council should carefully consider just whom the laws will help and whom they will hurt Inclusionary zoning_ laws would require 10 to 30 per- cent of new houses be built for qualified low-income residents. This could either be done by making it mandatory for builders to build the units or by offering builders financial incentives to build them. The intention of the City Council is to make housing more affordable for low- income residents. But gov erninent policies often don't result in the intended out- comes, because the laws of economics can't be ignored and because people often don't do what♦ we expect them to do when we try to control them. Mandatory inclusionary zoning requires builders to charge a lower price for some of the houses they build. Since the builders are usually required to build the same size houses on the same size lots, they will lose money on the low-income houses. '!grey will need to raise the prices of the other houses in the subdivision to make a profit, or they won't build the subdivision at all. AWCod y Writers' Group The higher prices of the new houses will contribute to the first unintended result of the law: an overall rise in the price of Iowa City houses. (Older houses will also be worth more, because more people will compete for them to avoid higher -priced new housing.) It is true that the few low-income residents who purchase the limited num- ber of these new houses will enjoy cheaper housing. But everyone else will pay more, including renters, whose rents increase with overall housing market prices. The majority of our low-income residents are renters, so this law will hurt more poor peo- ple than it helps. Also, the increase in housing values will benefit people who already own houses. So the law will help most middle- and upper -income residents and landlords. Of course, builders will probably respond to the law by building fewer houses in Iowa City. The Coralville City Council is undoubtedly overjoyed, since the law will encourage building in Coralville and North Liberty, increasing their tax bases. Iowa City's loss will be their gain All of these results are borne out in a 2004 study by the Reason Foundation. This study of the Bay Area showed that for the median city that enacted Inclusion- ary zoning laws, there was a 31 percent decrease in con- struction, prices rose signif- icantly and only 15 afford- able houses were produced per year. The new law might merely offer financial. incen- tives for builders to build low-income housing. But those incentives will come from our property taxes, so everyone (including renters) will pay more for housing. (If property taxes are not increased, the gov- ernment must provide fewer services in other areas.) So again, most poor people will be hurt by the law. And is it right to use the tax dollars of workers to enrich wealthy developers? No matter how noble the intention, it still is precisely the kind of corporate wel- fare that most people believe is government cor- ruption. Many builders "Inclusionary zoning is yet another example of the government trying to `fix' a problem it created in the first place.' don't oppose inclusionary zoning, which should tell you something. So how can we help low- income residents afford housing? By asking the real question: Why is housing in Iowa City unaffordable in the first place? Part of it is inherent demand due to the student population and the growth of our town. But short-sighted gov- ernment policies greatly contribute to the problem: Housing codes that stipu- late that lots must be a min- imum size and houses must be set back a minimum dis- tance from the street make houses more expensive. The mortgage interest deduction, which favors the middle-class over the poor, causes more people to pur- chase houses, resulting in inflated prices. And proper- ty taxes make home owner- ship harder for low-income residents. Many older resi- dents cannot afford to keep their fully paid -off houses due to rising property taxes. If we really want to help the poor, we should repeal these harmful government policies, not add more bad policies. Inclusionary zon- ing is yet another example of the government trying to "fix" a problem it created in the first place. Beth Cody lives in Iowa City and owns a small business in Coralville. She is a member of the Press Citizen's Writers' Group. Inclusionary zoning and affordable housing I trust all can agree-» that, in order to reach their Amy full potential, adults and :Rd children alike need safe Correia and stable housing. Guest Proven and effective Opinion affordable housing policy' provides rental and owner - occupied housing at differ- ent price points across the community, thereby benefiting Iowa City in the following ways. Fast, businesses can more readily maintain a stable workforce with low turnover. Second, the increased production of housing cre- ates jobs and extends the tax base. Third, children are bet- ter equipped to learn with fewer school disruptions. There are a variety of policy tools at the disposal of local governments to ensure that residents have access to affordable housing, including inclusionary zoning., Inclusionary zoning is a locally designed policy that gen- erally requires a certain portion of housing units in a new real estate development to be reserved for affordable housing. For example, a policy can target households earning 80 percent of the area median income and below. In Iowa City, a family of four earning $58,000 and below would benefit from such a policy, and the owner -occu- pied housing developed would sell for $147,000. I fear the tendency for polarization that any mention of inclusionary zoning can bring. Dining its July 31 work session, the Iowa City Council did not pass such a policy or decide on any specifics. Rather, we agreed to learn more about the specifics of inclusionary zoning policies and to invite those sectors of our community invested in proven, effective and sound housing policy to learn along with us. Given the needs identified in Iowa City and the proven results seen in other cities, it would be irresponsible of the council to not explore the options that inclusionary zon- ing might offer our city. I invite the community to keep an open mind, to consider all the pros and cons, and to be open to new information and creative ideas. Amy Correia is a member of the Iowa City Council.