Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-02-09; Housing Commission; MinutesMinutes of: Time of Meeting: Date of Meeting: Place of Meeting: CALL TO ORDER HOUSING COMMISSION 6:00 P.M. FEBRUARY 9, 2017 COUNCIL CHAMBERS Chairperson Igoe called the Meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Newman led with the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Present: Absent: Staff Present: Commissioners: Susan Igoe, Chairperson Arline Carrillo Joy Evans Alan Newman Shaunee Williams None Housing & Neighborhood Services Director: Debbie Fountain Senior Planner: Scott Donnell APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of September 22, 2016, were approved as written. ITEM NOT ON AGENDA There were no items not on the agenda. NEW BUSINESS Debbie Fountain, Director of Housing & Neighborhood Services, said the Housing Commission has before them the 2017 Housing Element Update to be presented by Scott Donnell, Senior Planner. This will be a request from the Housing Commission for a recommendation to the City Council of a General Plan Amendment to revise the General Plan Housing Element. It is an element of the General Plan that applies citywide. Scott Donnell, Senior Planner, gave a presentation on the 2017 Housing Element Update. Commissioner Williams asked who decided where the land is that is developable. The vacant land? Mr. Donnell said that is a reflection of the private sector. They are just parcels that are yet to be developed at any time. Commissioner Evans thanked Mr. Donnell for his presentation and his expertise. It was very informative. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 2 of 13 Commissioner Newman said one of the comments that came in was allowing development over all of Carlsbad rather than on a quadrant basis. I see the reasoning you are staying by the quadrant is you want it dispersed, but don't some of the quadrants not have any places available, so there is no place to go while other quadrants have a little bit more available? Mr. Donnell said Commissioner Newman is correct. There are some quadrants that have more than others, but there is potential in each quadrant to satisfy the developer's inclusionary housing need. It is very important to ensure that affordable housing is not clustered in one location and that it continues to be spread throughout the city. I think even as an alternative to developing affordable housing, for example other ways could include the purchase of credits in an existing project or the rehabilitation of an existing project and its rent restriction to maintain its affordability. I think there are options that should be exhausted first before we propose a change in our policy. Ms. Fountain added, we also give alternatives to meeting the inclusionary so it doesn't always have to be new construction. Sometimes we can look at acquisition and rehab and rent restrictions so you can use an existing project and meet the requirements that way. The inclusionary ordinance does provide some alternatives that the council can approve if there is not additional land to be able to construct the units. Chairperson Igoe opened the floor to speakers. Brooks Worthington - I have a specific question about the law that was passed, AB2299, and the size of second dwelling units. Is the new Housing Element going to take into account this change that came into effect on January 1, 2017? Mr. Donnell said I believe that particular state law is mentioned in the Housing Element under a program that we have. The Housing Element itself will not address it, but we are already underway with proposing or preparing an ordinance to comply with the new state laws with regard to the changes in the size. That is something our department is working on. Mr. Worthington asked, are we going to stay with their 1200 square foot or are you going to crank it back to where it is before January 1, 2017, where it was 640 feet? Mr. Donnell answered that he is sorry he does not know the details, but he will be happy to provide later. Mr. Worthington said as somebody who has built 29 of them in the different cities up and down the coast, I would vote for more than 640. I just sold my own home that had the 640, it is tiny. Oceanside you can do 1100 if you are attached or 1200 square feet, and they have that threshold for a long time. Carlsbad has 640, Encinitas has 750 or 30% of your existing living space, whichever is less. So everybody has a different interpretation and the state came in and wiped out everybody's second dwelling ordinances and overrode the global laws. It is much easier to make this work for people if we could get a little bit more than 640 feet. I just wanted to put that plug in if you haven't decided that. Staff says you are going towards 640 at the end, you are going to keep it where it is. I don't know how you are going to keep with this law if you don't go with the 1200 feet. Fred Chambers - I am one of the lucky people in Carlsbad to receive housing rental assistance. It is also called Section 8 or HUD and as of New Year's Eve, I have been displaced through a big hike in the rent of my old apartment that I have happened to live in for 12 years. The rent more than doubled in those 12 years, and my income did not go up. The housing assistance could not keep me in that unit. I could not HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 3 of 13 afford to live on the remaining $25 left over each month. I wanted to bring up those problems. Properties just raise rent without thinking. My owner moved to Minnesota and he thought the housing office would cover this new rent and of course it wouldn't. I have been hunting for the past three months and calling and visiting property managers, and they say sorry we have a few people here on HUD but we don't want it anymore. We keep the people we have and no longer accept any new people. We will have no Section 8 or Carlsbad Housing Rental Assistance so that is happening· all over the Barrio. I am focusing on that area of the coastal zone and west of El Camino Real within walking distance of City Hall, Cole Library and the community garden. I don't know how you are equipped to encourage people to keep providing affordable rents. Another aspect of my problem is I think we should make it easier for people who are on Section 8 to team up with other people who are on Section 8 or not to be able to afford the rent, something that is close to the coaster, shopping and walking. Right now it is difficult to team up unless you marry the person. I would encourage that we look into expanding that market. There are people who plan to sit on their rental for five years, and they hope to retire and move into the home. The homeless people could rent it at a price. Several of them have said they would rent to me, but I have to come up with $2,200 a month, and that is more than one guy and a dog can provide. Commissioner Williams asked Mr. Chambers where his apartment complex was that raised his rent. Mr. Chambers said it is just south of Pine Avenue and West of Lincoln. If I had been north of Pine or east or north of Pine, that owner cannot have the ability to flip this property and jack up the rents. He was lucky to find that property and that is what happened. It is only a block from the beach. The properties are Garfield, Pine and Lincoln. Commissioner Evans asked Mr. Chambers if we could assist you in any way with a meeting with the Section 8 counselor. Mr. Chambers said sure their office is next to this building. I am well known. Rebeca is the gal who is in charge and is always helpful and full of advice, but often people phone in to the office that they have a place to rent out, but they are rarely in this area. They are far out into La Costa or in places that are too far away. I would like to be near the coaster station so I can travel. Commissioner Carrillo said if you find a place, maybe she can go with you through the process. They have done that before. Ms. Fountain said that staff is very familiar with Mr. Chambers. He has brought up a really good point, one that we are struggling with in Carlsbad; there is low inventory for rentals so rents are going up. At one point, we had less than 1% vacancy rates in Carlsbad. That means from basic economics when you have high demand and low inventory, your prices go up and that is what is happening in Carlsbad. We do try to work with all of our rental assistance clients to help them find a unit somewhere, but this might be a good ad for the audience if anybody has a place that you would like to rent to Mr. Chambers, I am sure he would be happy to come and take a look. Commissioner Newman asked Mr. Chambers, what size apartment you have now. Mr. Chambers said at the moment I am not renting, I am between homes. Commissioner Newman said okay, how big was your apartment? HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 4 of 13 Mr. Chambers said it was a 750 square foot, two bedroom apartment. Ms. Fountain said unfortunately we are not able to solve Mr. Chambers' problem tonight, but it does bring to light what some of the concerns are and what the need is for affordable housing. Evelyn Thomas - I have been a 26 year resident of the Village of Carlsbad. I moved to Carlsbad after I was honorably discharged from the military. I served on the National Guard, and I served in the United States Marine Corp. My last station was at Camp Pendleton. When I was discharged from the military, I used my veteran's educational benefits to attend college. I went to Mira Costa Community College, I went to Cal State San Marcos University where I earned an Associate's Degree, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, I earned my social science teaching credential and I earned a Master of Arts in Education focused toward teaching and leadership. I was an educator with the Oceanside School District for about a decade until my injuries that I suffered in the military started impacting my teaching. So I had to give up teaching, and w_hen I enrolled in the veteran's health care system and tried to get the help with my injuries, I discovered they didn't have adequate health care. So that is why I am advocating for veterans to get adequate healthcare; mainly focusing on the LGBT community and survivors of military sexual trauma. My wife could not attend tonight because she is ill; she had a stroke two years ago where she had to learn how to walk, talk and to do everything, which was really challenging for her since she is a retired employee with the Department of Defense and she was a navy representative for the Marine Corp. I became her caretaker. The reason why I came here tonight is because I am deeply concerned for us. We are renters. With all the changes taking place, and with all the development taking place, condos being built in the village, rental prices are increasing. We began, I guess about a year ago with the changes, with condos being built right behind our apartment building, we know that the owner of our property will increase the rent. We are concerned about where we will live. It is not easy for an interracial lesbian couple with 21 years age between us to find housing, even though this is 2017. It is very difficult and challenging. I wanted to put a face to this project and let you know that people are being deeply impacted by this, and I did take a look at the General Plan, and I did take a look at the Maps; how you have 'all the areas in the village sectioned off, some for retail property and for commercial property, with very little • residential property. I am concerned as part of that map is in my area where I live. The project was for retail, I don't have it in front of me but I think it was section five or six; it is a multicultural area. Where I am located that section is for retail and commercial, not residential. So I am concerned my wife and I in 2017 or 2020 may not have a place to live, like Mr. Chambers. I am sorry to use you as an example, but you did share this in a public meeting. I met Mr. Chambers some time agowith his dog, Churchill, and he is also disabled. It is very challenging and difficult for us just trying to live and we would really demand that you would consider the fact that not everyone has jobs that we can make $100,000 a year and could afford homes and have two or three cars and go on family vacations. Some of us are on limited income and a large percentage goes to housing. With that being said, we do need affordable housing for senior citizens. We do need affordable housing for our veteran population. We do need affordable housing for single-parent homes. Carlsbad is a vibrant, rich community but sometimes I think you forget about the people who are low income who are struggling to survive. You forget you have to take care of the people in your community. I expect that, and I demand that, and I also demand affordable housing here in the village in Carlsbad. I would like to know how does one person or family or community begin that process to sign up for affordable housing. Just to let you know how long I have been here; I was one of the residents in Carlsbad when the city wanted to bring Legoland to Carlsbad, and my wife and I protested on Hwy 101 and Tamarack right across from the Sandbar, which is now currently called Vigilucci's. We also protested against Carlsbad citizens against the bars. I think the City Council hired an artist from New York to create that art design by the fish hut. Please consider us. Please remember that not everyone makes a $100,000 and we do need affordable housing. / HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 5 of 13 Brian Flock - A resident of Carlsbad since 2009. Hearing these stories, I can really relate. I am on a different side of things. I am in residential real estate, a broker and I know we are dealing with a housing crises in a different way that seems trite compared to these stories. Our population has grown about 33% in the past 12 years. Now the housing available for sale, forget other situations with renting, is actually lower than 12 years ago. So that means there is less turnover of housing available than there was 12 years ago when we have grown 33% since then. This is really a serious issue. This is my first time before this commission. I guess the last time you met was in September, is that what I hear? So you don't meet that often. I also took my first crack at reading the Housing Update, with 190 pages it was kind of exciting. I realize that even with a broker's license and keeping up on laws and stuff, I didn't really know much of anything. With all the external laws and the cross referencing in the different sections, I don't think this was intended for the average citizen, though it was definitely available to everybody. I don't think it was · very accessible so I have a question. How is this used in practice in the city? It definitely was a checklist item to comply with, with the state code and the state laws. I would like a better sense of how we use it in practice on a daily basis. Mr. Donnell said in large part of what we do is to comply with the checklist that the state produces. With that said, it also serves as the backbone for the city's housing policy. It really, in practical terms, is our guide just like the whole General Plan as to how we want to grow, or in this case how we want to provide housing. It is, for example, the basis for why we have an inclusionary ordinance. It is a basis for why we have a housing trust fund. It guides us with how the money from the housing trust fund should be spent. While it does comply with state laws, it is a recipe for how we proceed with addressing housing needs for all the different levels. Mr. Flock clarified by asking is there an example for where it comes in to play, people are meeting and they bring it out. What is a recent example of that, a practical example? Mr. Donnell said he doesn't know how recent it is, but the first one that pops into his mind is the Housing Element has been reviewed by the state for a number of times over the years. A case in point would be in the early 1990's the state reviewed our Housing Element and said that Carlsbad needs to do a number of things. Let's say in general terms, they said we need to find a way to better promote affordable housing, you need to find a way to provide low income housing, so our response to that directive from the state was to develop a program in the Housing Element that became the inclusionary ordinance. So it was based on that program that the City Council adopted that then gave the city staff the direction to go forward with the ordinance for inclusionary housing. Mr. Flock said so the inclusionary housing is like 20% or whatever. Mr. Donnell said it is 15%. Mr. Flock continued that sometimes it is 20%. Ms. Fountain added our department uses the Housing Element quite a bit with the demographics and the statistics part of it, there is a number of funding sources, either through the state or the federal government that you have to make findings of consistency with your housing element to be eligible for a lot of that funding. The information that is provided in the Housing Element helps not only developers, but helps with the city in obtaining funding; so it might be for homeless programs, it could be for construction of new housing, it could be for other types of programs like the Rental Assistance Program HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 6 of 13 in making that information available in a document that can be referred to by the public and we can refer to for consistency findings helps us quite a bit in being able to getting a number of those programs funded for the city. Lisa McCarthy-I have become more interested in the different things that go on in the city, and I have looked at the General Plan. I did go to the Cole Library and it was not easily available so I guess my point is or my thought is, if we had a Citizens Academy 2.0 where we were answering questions specific to the General Plan and maybe tutoring me and other interested citizens about how the plans work and how our input would be valuable. What Brian said about the check off list, I think the more informed the public is, the more valuable the input would be, specifically I am thinking about the Village and Barrio Plan. If we can give input and make that available to us, we can make for ourselves findings and more deliberate comments. So when we look at the General Plan on line, it is very dense and hard to read, but to have a copy, and I think it is either $60 or $80, I think those should be available as checkouts so we can take it home and make our own copies. Maybe even have seminars where we could ask questions not in a setting like this, so we are informing the public as to what it is when you make a public comment so it is more clear and understanding the grants and other things. Recently there was a luxury apartment that was approved in a smart growth area and the housing seemed very low, so does your committee address that? Ms. Fountain asked if that was all her questions. Ms. McCarthy said if she had a better, if I had been at a meeting like this, I might have better questions. Ms. Fountain said the in lieu fee, there is actually several parts to our inclusionary housing ordinance. If you are seven units or more, you have to produce the housing. If you are six units or less, you can pay an in lieu fee. That in lieu fee was set a while ago. We probably will be looking at that in the near future, and honestly a lot of our funding does not come from that in lieu fee. It comes from other ways of repayments of loans, it comes from housing credit from sales. So our Housing Trust Fund is about $13,000,000. It is a fund that stays about constant with its information coming in. That number does seem low to people, and will probably be taking a look at it. It is not the largest part of our funding plan. It will not be a Housing Commission action, it will be a City Council action. Amanda Macha - I teach little children how to cook. Lately we have been teaching the children how to cook for the homeless people in Carlsbad. I would like to echo the sentiment that we heard from Mr. Chambers that it is in our diversity that we thrive and that we need to pay special care to diversity. That diversity is in ableness, it is when you serve, it is in your age, and we need to protect those that are not really wealthy. There are a lot of us like that. I struggle to get affordable housing in this area, and I have had to really struggle in this area. When we look out for others and when we provide that safety net, it makes us a better community, it makes us a better people, it makes us a better town, and it makes us a heck of a lot more interesting and wonderful when we have a diverse community. I am a little concerned about the specific homeless housing element. I understand there are wonderful programs. Solutions for Change are for homeless families, La Posada is for only men and mainly migrant workers so where do women go? There are a lot of women in this community who are homeless and they need to get off the street. We need to make sure we have housing for homeless women. Another thing I would like to suggest is a rent review board. We are hearing a lot of rents skyrocketing after a certain percentage, the owners should have to come and face up why they have to increase the rent for those people; either over 5% or 10%, I do not know the answer. I hear stories from friends and businesses that their rent triples. My other question is, how many current units in the very low category are for Section 8, and how many HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 7 of 13 of those can't be grandfathered out? That they can't be paid off in a bond and they can't be washed out later? When the very low comes into the market and stays in the market, how does that work? Ms. Fountain said all of those developments, and Mr. Donnell shared this a little bit in his presentation, but all of our developments that have regulatory agreements on them through the inclusionary program or other projects that we worked with to develop, they have the 55 year agreement. So at the end of 55 years, they could convert to market rate. They are not in perpetuity. There is some thought that it should be in perpetuity, but basically 55 years is considered the life of the development. At the end of that life, it is probably going to need some substantial rehab so you either refinance it and get additional restrictions on it or you let it convert to something else. It is a pretty long term, but if you had developments like the Santa Fe Ranch, they were developed back in the SO's, it always seems like it is longer than it is; 55 years seems like a really long time. Those bond projects were 30 year bond projects. So our inclusionary is several years longer than a bond project would be. Our regulatory requirement requires them to be 55 years whether they pay off the loan early or not. Bond projects are different so they have requirements as long as the bonds are outstanding. We do not have that many of those projects left, which is why we removed the at-risk and those projects have already converted that were going to convert. Now everything that we have in our inventory is under our regulatory agreement at 55 year terms and more of those are newer developments. Our oldest development is from 1996 that is under those regulatory agreements so they have a while to go before they would be converted to something else. Your point about the women's shelter is a very good one. This year the city participated directly in the point in time count for the homeless, and we have actually been interviewing the homeless about their specific needs and we have been finding more women in that population. When we developed La Posada shelter, the primary focus at that time was mostly men were in the environment because they were farmworkers, and we have seen that start to change. We are aware of that, and that is another way that the Housing Element can help us and the Regional Task Force on the Homeless does an annual report for us. That is helpful information as well. The more information we get about the people that are homeless, because you have some sheltered homeless and you have a lot that are not sheltered yet. Those populations are what we need to look at from a special needs standpoint. Transitional shelters are helpful, permanent housing is helpful, mental health care is helpful, so you have a variety of programs that need to be looked at to address some of those issues. I think we try to do the best that we can to make sure that we have long term restrictions on properties. That has really helped through the inclusionary ordinance. The City of Carlsbad has been for a quite a while one of the only cities in San Diego county that actually has a mandatory inclusionary housing. In many cities, they can pay a fee to get out of it. Money is great, but it doesn't build your housing. We need to be able to have the land, we need to be able to have the funding to build that and a lot of things have to come together to make that happen. That is one of the reasons why we have those types of restrictions because they are written into the ordinance that if it is a rental product, it has to be affordable for 55 years. If it is an ownership product, it has to be affordable for 30 years. Mr. Donnell said just as a point of reference, the draft Housing Element in table 10-13 does list a number of homeless shelter providers, including shelters that are specifically for women and families. Also table 10-21 in the Housing Element identifies all of the rental projects t~at the city assists, those that have the 55 year rent restrictions and also the year those rent restrictions would expire. It clearly indicates that the earliest it would expire would be 2051. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 8 of 13 Pat Amador - a resident of Carlsbad. I am trying to read through the state's mandates for RHNA, and I have gotten through one of them and it is incredible. I really respect what you are trying to do for the housing here. One of my comments is, and it is kind of disturbing because a week or so ago at the City Council meeting it was approved for the development in the Poinsettia area, I think it is Lennar. There was quite a discussion about the inclusionary units and they are within the homes, but they have no access to the rest of the house. So what was kind of disturbing for inclusionary is that people were kind of laughing because it was like you have this inclusionary unit that is meant for a specific population, but you have them inside of home and you have a bedroom and you have a small kitchen and bathroom, but that is not inclusionary housing. When someone even mentioned that you could put your housekeeper or somebody in there, that is not inclusionary housing. So I think because this commission really listens to what we are saying here in the city for everyone that is the developers, not only do they participate in payments to buildings in inclusionary housing, but now they are even building where you can't help somebody. Who is going to rent that out? Ms. Fountain said the Poinsettia project is intending to meet their inclusionary housing requirement for second dwelling units so it is actually what the first speaker was talking about. What we were trying to do on some of the conditions on that was to make them legitimate units so that they were one bedroom; they did not have access to the main house so they would be more likely to be rented. What we typically find is that there is a good amount of those units. We have about 150 second dwelling units that were built to meet the inclusionary requirements. There are people renting them out at the affordable income level, but they are controversial for the reasons that you mentioned. They are considered an alternative and the City Council has to say yes to that alternative, it is just not an automatic given that they can meet their inclusionary with the second dwelling unit, but the state as was mentioned does require the city to allow for second dwelling units or accessory units as what the state refers to them. When they are used for inclusionary, we usually step up our conditions on them to try and make sure they are available for the market, it is tough. Chairperson Igoe asked if Mr. Donnell had a comment on that as well. Mr. Donnell said no. Angela Nugent - I am a resident of Carlsbad and have lived here quite a long time and have raised my children in Carlsbad. I am involved in affordable housing in two ways. I owned a home in Aviara during the economy crash. My husband is a decorated military veteran from the Marine Corps and suffers from PTSD and we had some changes in our family. We didn't lose our home; we did sell our home and profited from our home. Due to other factors, we needed to support our family in different ways. Education is very important to me, and I am sure my husband would appreciate my efforts in keeping my children in college in the area and moving forward on their careers. In doing so, I needed to spend most of my savings for housing and the housing market was steadily increasing with the economy decline. Whi(e doing so, I needed to look for affordable housing while I went back to school. I almost had to be broke to qualify. Because I was a full-time student, I was able to qualify for a 30% affordable housing unit in Vista, a new one. It was quite embarrassing to go there and find out if I was offered a job from the City of Carlsbad managing affordable housing, that I would no longer meet the affordable housing restrictions. There is no foul play in this. It is just a series of errors and difficulty. I have been able to find work in affordable housing in the City of Carlsbad and subsequently my children have been able to go on to college and find affordable housing at the higher rate in the City of Vista. I am greatly appreciative for the opportunity in both avenues given to my family. That may sound complicated. I know it is hard to understand. The reason why I bring up my very personal detail is I am a recipient as well as an employee of affordable HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 9 of 13 housing. I probably don't look like I need affordable housing. I drive a Mercedes; I kept it. I probably don't look like that window. It is very important. I have had the opportunity to interview Mr. Chambers, but he was too young for the community that I manage, but knowing that his needs were out there, the walkability of the Barrio, the seniors that I serve in this community. When Smart & Final came in, how that was a boom to our residents because they had alternatives for purchasing food, quality food in a holistic environment. Having the senior's center and all of its programs within a walkability, what community has that? It is so flat they can get around, they don't have to wait for a bus. When we talk about RHNA and the units that are available and what is needed, I think it is also important for everybody on the council and the commission to also consider the unity of the units. Maybe with development or when developers come in, you spoke about having these inclusionary units, if there is a way to offer incentives to increase for maybe Section 8. If you are an investor and you bought a home, you want to have a return. There is no harm in that, but it does hurt other people. So if we can give them an incentive where there is still an economically viable incentive, then maybe offering an inclusionary unit to a Section 8 recipient or we can increase the incentive to a developer to look at maybe revitalizing a Barrio building and maybe increasing the walkability, not just the universal design, but the utility of the design, or maybe a lower level unit. There was a lady on our Citizen's Academy that is a very strong advocate for the hearing impaired, and maybe having some more services to that specific population. Think about those in our community who are very underserved or just neglected because of their disability, not so much identified but we are offering these units, but thinking about who they can serve and bring those incentives to be increased to the diversity of the people we serve in the community. I know the units at Robertson Ranch are going to be beautiful like at Tavarua. They are outside. Are there going to be services for the seniors there that do not drive? Is there going to be a new community facility or are they going to be served by the Barrio area Senior Center? Ms. Fountain said she knows that Robertson Ranch does have a commercial component that will be built as part of that development. El Camino Real is considered a major thoroughfare for the bus lines, so I would be surprised if the Barrio and the Village would be their primary shopping area. I know they will have facilities and services within there, I just don't know exactly what they all are yet. They are under construction. They will have 101 senior housing, and then they will also have another development that is rental and it will have 56 moderate income, but that is more families not restricted to seniors. If I had my grandmother, I wouldn't want her to be in a better place than Carlsbad, I wouldn't want her to have to wait and have a hard time getting around and to be independent as long as possible. We do have that beautiful opportunity here in design and I hope we utilize that. Commissioner Newman made a motion to make a recommendation to adopt the resolution proposing to the City Council that they accept the amended Housing Plan as presented to us. Commissioner Williams seconded the motion. VOTE: 5-0 AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: ABSENT: Carrillo, Evans, Igoe, Newman and Williams None None None Ms. Fountain said the commission has approved the recommendation to approve the Housing Element. Staff does appreciate that. I did want to share one thing, I think it was Ms. Thomas about how to find out about affordable housing opportunities that are available within the city. I want to share with HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 10 of 13 everyone here that there is a lot of information that is on the city website. If you go to www.carlsbadca.gov and in the search box type in Affordable Housing. We actually have a map and if you click on the different bullets, it will come up with the information on the contact for the affordable housing. Pretty much all of the affordable housing in Carlsbad has been privately developed. The city does own Tyler Court Apartments and we do have those managed for us, but all of the rest of the affordable housing is privately owned. We do have all that information on our website. We do know that pretty much every development has a waiting list. We know there is a high demand in Carlsbad and I think we just keep working through it as quickly as we can. The developments take a while to get approved and they take a while to get constructed. I wanted to give you some hope there are new developments coming into town. We mentioned a couple of the developments like Robertson Ranch, Quarry Creek is under construction with 64 units of family housing that will be for low-income households. We also have several projects in the Barrio Village area that Mr. Donnell explained one of them was a veteran's housing project, which was approved by the Planning Commission a couple of weeks ago; it is 50 units. We are going to have 25 of those units, 24 or 25, will be for homeless veterans. The others will be for family veterans. A family can be two people, it can be several people. Those are projects you should keep your eyes on. We also have a project that is going to be going very soon, which is a 90 unit project called Pacific Wind that is in the Barrio, a low income apartment complex. There are more projects that are coming forward, and we are looking forward to them. There are several projects that still have inclusionary requirements that we need to work with them to figure out how they are going to meet it. As soon as we have information from the developers, we actually have on line you can subscribe to a notification, and you just put in your email. As soon as we have information on those developments, we will push out an email to you telling you how to apply and who to contact. That is one way to get the information a little sooner rather than waiting to read about it in an article. You are also welcome to contact our office and we will share any information we may have. We are not sure we will ever meet the total demand, but we are working hard to try and finance those projects and try to get those projects moving forward as quickly as we can. All of your comments will go forward to the City Council in the minutes. When the City Council considers it, if they want to ask staff to research any other new programs or they want to add programs, that will be their opportunity to do that. Your input is very valuable for us in identifying the key needs so we can bring that to the Planning Commission and the City Council. Does somebody want to speak on something not on the agenda? I have a comment based on the information you gave us. My name is Diane Rivera. Thank you for the information. I am new to Carlsbad. I have been here two years and two months and I love it. However, I am one of those seniors who are on a fixed income. I do have retirement money saved. I worry about it all the time, and I am sure many people in this room are. I listen to your information about all of these senior housing units whether it is in Carlsbad, Vista or wherever. I went to your office and I got the map. I have been on line jotting down information. I have been almost two years trying to figure out what my next move is going to be. I have to recap by saying, I had the wherewithal to get in my 14 year old car and ride around to each one of these units only to find out that they couldn't really help me because they all have different requirements for how much their waiting list is, some take Section 8, some won't take Section 8 because Carlsbad has Section 8 rules. I said tell me how do I know, with the amount of money I have in savings and the amount of income I have coming in every month which qualifies me for lower income, no one can tell me. I did get some help in your office where they told me I could go up to Oceanside and apply for Section 8, which is nothing more than getting on the waiting list. Then they would take my application and send it to Carlsbad. It took me from October to just now to get a copy of that approval for Section 8 to come to me so I can say yes I am on a waiting list, which by the way is for HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 11 of 13 eight years. An eight year waiting list. Then there is this thing about income. My income is a tiny pension I have from the teamsters, but then I have this little reserve and I want to know how does that fit into this income piece, because I have to qualify. No one can give me a really good answer. My point is this, it is very, very hard to go from place to place and try and figure out what waiting list you think you can get on based on income. The reason I get up here now is that I am really pleased that you brought this up. My experience is that it is not friendly. I still don't know how I can qualify. I did apply with SDG&E to get a lower rate. I am afraid someone is going to come back to me and say I don't qualify. I am going on what they say is income. I can't find out how my modest savings pushes me out of that. I am in violation of asking that question. This is not an easy process. It is not easy here, it is not easy anywhere else. There are people like this gentleman. He is not going to be able to go all over these cities, go to all of these houses to find out where he can qualify. Someday I might not be able to either. I am willing to get on a team. I am willing to do the work, but I hear it is all talk. This is not the first time I have had this problem. I don't know where it goes. I just want to tell you it is frustrating, it is scary, I do have the wherewithal, but tomorrow I may not. Many of us live here and love it and volunteer for things. Please hear us. If we can find some way to have a centralized area where people can go and get the information they need, that would help. Commissioner Evans said I am new on the commission. I waited for Section 8 for 11 years. I know exactly what you are talking about. I think what we have here is a lot of lack of communication and we are talking about the computer and going on line. I am computer free. There are a lot of people who do not own a computer. Your idea of having a central office or maybe a book that shows everybody what they can look at because as this gentleman said, our Housing Element is clear as, I won't say mud, but it is hard to understand. Like you said, you have a car, a lot of people do not have a car. The transit system isn't that good. I see a lot of lack of communication. Maybe not between us and you, but someway where it has to be easier for the public to find out the information. I think your idea is a very good idea. Commission Carrillo suggested a workshop maybe once a year. Ms. Fountain said that staff meets with all of the affordable housing managers fairly regularly and why don't we put it out to those affordable housing managers and see if they can come up with some ideas. It is difficult because a lot of the developments have different ways they are financed and they have different regulations, so it does get fairly complicated quickly. You do not have to have Section 8 to live in the developments, but if your income is very low or extremely low, sometimes that is the only way you are going to be able to afford the rents. Maybe we can put it out to the affordable housing managers and see if they can come up with some creative ideas about one location where you can go in and put in your numbers and see where you qualify. With each of them having their own regulations, it may not be a pure system. We will take it under advisement. Ms. Rivera added that she enjoyed Mr. Donnell's presentation. There was some conversation about properties not honoring Section 8 so it is like why do we get on Section 8 if it is going to go away. Those are one of the things you could put into a meeting. To further that, I would be happy to share my experience, to be a voluntary part of a committee that wants to do something like that. I think it would be useful because I have to tell you everybody that I have been around are all worried about where we are going to go next year if we can't pay rent. If I qualify for 50% and I want to get a job, but I can't get a job because I can't pay $3,000 in rent. Then where do I go? It is absolutely the circular situations. Thank you. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 12 of 13 Ms. Fountain said to answer the question about Section 8, Section 8 is a federally funded program. We will have to wait and see how the new administration will fund it. Basically what happens with Section 8 is we can only fund vouchers as we have money to fund it. That is why we are capped; our Section 8 waiting list is not open right now. We will accept Carlsbad residents. With the Section 8 program, you take your voucher into the market and the owner has to say yes he/she is willing to accept that voucher as partial payment. That is one part of our rental assistance program and the other part is really the affordable housing developments that have restricted rents and they are going to calculate eligibility differently. It is very complicated. I have been in this business for 27 years and there are still things I do not understand. We just need to learn together with suggestions to make it easier to understand. I am not sure it will ever be easy. Maybe it will be easier to understand at some point. Ms. Evelyn Thomas said she just wanted to clarify to make sure she understood the City of Carlsbad does have affordable housing, but all affordable housing is privately developed and each development has their own regulations and you may receive Section 8 and you may get that voucher, but based on those requirements, they may or may not accept the Section 8 voucher. Is that what I am understanding? Ms. Fountain answered they are actually two different programs. Section 8 is a federally funded program of rental assistance. Ms. Thomas interrupted, she understands Section 8, and she grew up in a single parent home. Do I understand this correctly, if you have affordable housing in the City of Carlsbad, but that affordable housing is developed privately? Ms. Fountain said right, per our inclusionary ordinance. Ms. Thomas said in some cases they can get out of the inclusionary based on a loophole based on what you said. So they have affordable housing and if you get Section 8 and each affordable housing property has different requirements, they are not all uniform. Each is different so based on those requirements, if you are approved for Section 8 and then get the Section 8 voucher and you go out into the market, that particular property who developed that affordable housing may or may not accept the Section 8 voucher. Ms. Fountain said right, but let me make sure you understand they are actually two different programs. Our inclusionary housing makes developers build affordable housing for low income. Ms. Thomas commented, but they can get out of that based on a loophole. Ms. Fountain said no, they cannot get out of their inclusionary housing. You have an inclusionary housing requirement, you enter into a regulatory agreement that basically says you have to provide this housing for so long. What I was saying was different is that based on how they are funded, they might be affordable to very low at 50% or 60%, or they might have units available to people at 30% to 35%. Or they might have some units at 70% or 80% of the median income. So the low income could vary depending on the project and their funding levels. So depending on where their funding comes from, they might have varying requirements on how they calculate income. They are going to be the experts on that. On Section 8 you can either take it to the affordable housing development or you can take it to a market rate unit, and if that rent is within the fair market rate for the rental assistance program, and if that owner is willing to accept that voucher as part of your rent, then you can take it in. So you can HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES February 9, 2017 PAGE 13 of 13 create affordable housing, but it doesn't mean it can only go to our affordable housing. You might have the rental assistance vouchers, you might have the affordable housing development. In some cases they are put together to make it affordable to the households to get in. It is not a loophole to get out of doing the affordable because if they have an inclusionary requirement, they have a regulatory agreement for 55 years. There might be some under the rental assistance, that they might decide they will no longer accept vouchers. Then you need to find another unit that the owner is willing to accept the voucher. Mr. Donnell clarified that if someone wanted an introduction to the Housing Element, I would be happy to do that with them. Just give me your contact information. The Housing Commission for February 9, 2017, was adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Deborah Fountain Housing & Neighborhood Services Director PATRICIA CRESCENTI, Minutes Clerk MINUTES ARE ALSO TAPED AND KEPT ON FILE UNTIL THE WRITTEN MINUTES ARE APPROVED.