All right, call the meeting to order. Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, my name is Joe Graalisi, um, the chair of the affordable housing trust fund board and community development planner for the city of River. Um, this is the July 9th,
2020 2025 meeting of the city affordable housing trust fund board. Uh we'll begin with roll call of the members. Uh so Joe Graalisi, I'm present. Vice Chair Matt Wolford here. Treasurer Manio present.
Lori Manzo is is not here. She couldn't make it today. So she let us know that she couldn't make it. Um Deb Frank uh here. So she's here virtually. Leila Petri present. And Dean Harris present.
And then our newest member. So welcome. It's her first meeting with us. Our Judy Gossel. Thank you. Present. All right. With that, um, we're going to, as usual, start with just a check-in on the finances from the treasur's side. Sure. Good afternoon everyone. My name
is Sue. I'll read the the current balance as it stands now. Read from provided to us by Auton Newton, assistant budget director of River City. Uh the current budget is $910,658.73. That's 91065873.
Thank you. Then a couple caveats I'll add to that is that I don't believe the check has been cut yet for uh the uh the neighborhood developers for the project we're supporting. So uh we'd have to, you know, include that. Um, and then also we have funds that we've portioned
out for the first-time home buyer down payment assistance that haven't been allocated yet. So, I think if you take into account kind of what's been encumbered but not spent, you I think reduce 90,000 from that, but still we're on track with kind of what we set for our budget goals for the year and
kind of staying staying on board with that. So, that's good. Any other questions on the finances side? So, we'll move we have a guest presentation today. uh if you want to come on come on up and introduce yourself um from North SuffK regarding
some work that they're doing in the community. Um and you know with that Yep. Come right up. And so um yeah, if you just want to just state your name, address, affiliation into the mic. Yeah, if you could just uh um turn you
have to turn the mic on. I don't know if it there. Hi. Uh my name is Tim Gray. Um I work for North Suffach Community Services. Um we've been in the city of Riviera for 65 years providing um services and
residential programs. Uh one of the reasons I'm here today is we have a current project um at 131 Hitchbond Street in River. It um was a property that we've owned for 35 years.
it wasn't handicap accessible. Oh, by the way, we serve the disabled um in residential uh rental housing in the community. We we have 10 residential programs in the city of Riviera. We're also I want us want you to know we're a
substantial um taxpayer through a pilot agreement with the city as well. Um and a proud taxpayer at that as well. Um so um I I think you've seen a budget from our project down in Hitchbond and um
this is a hugely successful project. It's 85% complete. The original home that was there served five individuals for 35 years. Um tremendous success. The location worked really well for
residents. uh they had access to public transportation and community services and uh just thrived and did really well at this location. The state and North Suffach decided to um it decided it was obsolete. the lack of
accessibility um made it so that the individuals living there, some for 30 years um a couple of the ladies that live there have been in place for 30 years could no longer live there because of that lack of um wheelchair accessibility. Uh so
they've been temporarily relocated. The home was demolished. new um duplexes being built uh be nine units uh bedrooms units for um individuals with disabilities referred through uh the Mass Department of Developmental
Services. Um it's a beautiful project and I would encourage any of you interested to come and take a look at it. It's state-of-the-art um from uh accessibility uh bathrooms features for durability and uh sustainability over
time. It's energy efficient. It has some of the most um modern uh efficiencies and uh energy efficiencies built into it. Although it was designed prior to um us being mandated to do electric heat.
So uh while we have charging stations and uh solar installation on the roof uh many other features that will uh bring efficiency and cost efficiency to the project um we didn't get the electric heat in. Um, and at the time we were
would have loved to have done that, but um, went through design. We were uh, pressing for a building permit and uh, it turned out to take a little longer to get that building permit, but um, we got it. We we're 85% complete. Again, it's
beautiful and you're welcome to come. And anyone that wants to um come out and if you'd like to have a tour of the site, by all means, you could ask Joe uh through an email and we're there um five, six days a
week. So, um happy to accommodate that. And we're on site weekly, every Monday. So, uh the development team. Um, so the reason we're here is we want next year we're going to close. This project has um various funding. We got a grant from
the Federal Home Loan Bank. We have a a large sum of money coming from the um state through a fund that's uh set aside for people with disabilities. Um and we had a $300,000 grant with the support of
the city of Ravier uh through the North Suburban Consortium. Um, and it was awesome. We're really psyched about it. We worked hard. We applied for it. We had um the mayor and the planner. Um, we had really strong support from the city uh which
we're and still grateful for. Um um and we applied and we won and we told the city of Malden that we're ready to start construction and they said, "Well, you can't start construction right away because we have to complete an environmental review." And we said, "No
problem. we'll help with it. What can we do? And they said, well, one of the time consuming things, for example, was the mass historic sign off, right? Well, we had already done that. So, we're like, here, here it is. And um and you know, we had a phase one environmental site
assessment. We had a lot of environmental review. Uh lenders and every participant in the project needed it, but you know, that home program has its unique review. Um, and they said they needed some time to do it. Well, it
turned out we thought we were going to start that project in May and of 2024, and we didn't get started until October. Uh, and that was just through our rookie attempts of the permitting process,
national grid, you name it. There was a lot going on there. Took us all that time. By the time we got were ready to start, we had been out to bid. We had our contractors lined up obviously and um we weren't in a position to say, "Oh,
we can't wait for the city of Maldin to complete the environmental review." It was tragic. But the about 6 months that they had had it, they just weren't able to complete it. And for that reason, we lost that $300,000 grant. And we're
trying to make up as much of that as we can. And we understand that the trust fund we understood this two years ago by the way that it was didn't have a lot of money probably wasn't a great source but at the same time um and that's where the
city directed us through Malden through the pool of home funds um um but at the same time we we think we're great worthy project we have nine residents five of them are longtime Riviera citizens the
others are generally people referred where their families are from REIA. It isn't a guarantee, but that's people they site people in communities to be close to their family to have those connections. Um so, um it it it they're
very low income. The individuals are disabled. They're never going to improve their income beyond a cost of living increase. And um they're nine permanent units for the city of Riviera's housing inventory. They get those no matter what, but they are not counted as nine
permanent units. Um um that's that's a lot of information. I'd be happy to answer any questions about North Suffach or this project. Yeah. So, I I'll make it I'm a little bit more familiar than maybe some of the others. So, I want them to get a chance
to ask questions, but I also just want to um get a sense from you, you know, so is 300,000 that kind of fell through from the NSC grant. Is that the entire gap that you're looking to fill for the project funding at this point? So, what are some of the other sources that
you're looking to right now to try to do in terms of filling the gap? Yeah. Well, so um whatever we don't unable to raise through public sources, our quasi public, our grant, um we're going to raise through citizens
bank um our primary bank. Um so we would otherw we wouldn't have been able to go forward if we weren't able to guarantee that. Um so that's our position. Um you know, one of the things we have to do on a project like this because our
individuals are either they're all considered um very low income. That's 50% of the area median or below. But our individual is actually below 30% of the median income. And it would not be uncommon for an individual to have as
little as $1,000 social security payment a month. We take 30% of that for their rent. Um the the 45% of the rest of that goes to their board um in their care. and and those
individuals end up with 25% or $250 a month for the rest of their budget, social, you name it. Um so our people are so are very poor. They're they're always going to be poor. And we feel like we we just want to advocate for
them as strong as we can um to get whatever resources we could if any from the trust fund. Um any money goes it's a fabulous cause. It's a worthy cause. Um, these are permanent units, too. They'll
never not be there. The existing home that we bought in 1990 lasted 35 years. It it was a great site. It was a hugely successful site. And back then, you know, getting any site and getting people out of institutions and housed
such a big move that we weren't thinking we need accessibility and we need places that people to age in place. We just did, you know, we got 35 good years, but it wasn't well planned and well thought out. Today, the new housing is well
planned, is well thought out, is strictly regulated by the state. Um, to be the to maintain and hold the features that are necessary for people with disabilities to be served and to live well in a residential setting. Um, so
these are, you know, new resources for the city. um they're permanent. They'll always um be here and always be a priority for local people. Um and that's our story. I mean it, you know, we understand it's a limited source, but we
would be grateful for any amount of money, any commitment at all that would help us offset the loss of the home funds um if that's possible. And just one more thing, we're not closing with our funding sources, all of them, the Federal Home Loan Bank, the state till
January or later of 2026. So, um just the way the this project flows, um we close all the sources at the same time. So, we don't need money today, but we do need it uh for next year. And if it's a
possibility, we'd be grateful for it. fill out any application, comply with any requirements, including environmental. Uh, and I'm not meaning to even joke about that. It was really um an unfortunate unfortunate situation
for us to to lose that home commitment. Tragic really, you know. Yeah. And I think I I'll get on my unrelated soap box and and say I think this is a good reminder for a lot of folks that um you know there are states that have looked into some ways to do some streamlining of some of the
environmental reviews and permitting when it comes to affordable housing projects just make those projects that process work more smoothly and that's something you know we have no control over it as a board but to the extent that I have my bully pulpit for that you know we certainly believe in that and
help allow you know folks folks like you to do the work that you're doing. I think obviously we had a little conversation about the budget realities of kind of where we sit as a trust and I'll get into that a bit. But before I do, I do want to just make sure that other members have a chance to ask
questions about the project itself, you know, for those that may not be as familiar with it. Yeah, I guess it it would be good for us to understand like what like how does it impact North Suffach and you know your other initiatives if you know the worst
case scenario transpires and you do have to fund this whole gap with the conventional financing. Well, so um we pay a higher mortgage and we pay longer higher carrying costs. Um the
what happens is um we maintain the affordability for the residents you know because we have to do that. Um even the funding sources the federal home loan bank and the state it's called facilities consolidation fund um those
two funds require lowincome disabled um um people paying 30% of their income towards rent. Um, so what happens is we make up the difference. We pay a higher mortgage. What we try to do is neutralize the cost of the housing.
That's our goal in every project that we develop. Um, because we don't make money on housing. Our business really is services and taking care of people. Um, housing costs are costs like everyone and we try to neutralize those costs
using the public resources. Um and and then to the best of our ability, um if you or I to buy a house, we'd do it based on our income, our job, and um and it would work and we'd buy whatever we could afford and the bank would be
willing to finance us. Um but our clients um would never be able to afford a housing, even an affordable unit in the inventory of the rental market today. Our clients would never be able to afford those rents. and never be able
to live in affordable accessible housing. So, um what we we we upset the market in the sense that we will um do what it takes to house our people and here we're you know we're paying um we're going to make up the
difference. That's what we're going to do is make it up. But what but you know in a real world the income of the individuals would support the housing and and in this case we lose that by losing the grant. Um so it's it is the
nature of it. Um and it sounds a little strange but we fight for every dollar even in construction. You know you have a project $2 and a half million dollars. It seems like a lot of money, and it certainly is a lot of money, but there's not an extra
$10,000. There's never, you know, it's amazing to me that we fight and scrimp and um scr and and insist on real uh fiscal discipline on these deals. Uh and there's never any extra money. There's
never a bonanza um or a surplus. And um you know in this project uh we did this budget about a year and a half to two years ago. And the fact that um it hasn't been updated, but uh we've used about 90% of our contingency in
construction and we're we're getting down to the end. We're going to make it and we're going to hold the budget. even our bank, our lender at Citizens Bank, who's also the agency's primary bank, um, you know, is like, "Wow, how did you do that? How did you hold the budget?"
But it's because it's a disciplined, uh, approach. And the other thing, too, when we bid, we had to start construction. We couldn't wait on the environmental after all those months, or else we were going to lose the bid and go back out and maybe lose even more than $300,000. It
was an awful situation for us to be in. Um, so we were at a point where we had to start. We didn't think we were going to lose the grant at first. Um, because we had done so much to help get what was completed on the environmental done. The
stuff they told us was timeconuming because we had already had that done and was able to turn it right in. we thought and we offered, you know, to do everything else that we could uh under our control, but it is what it is. That's the story. I'm sorry I probably
went on a little too much there. No, that's great. Thank you. You bet. I've got one follow-up question. I'm sorry if I you've said this already, but just for clarity. Is it a short-time funding loss or is it a perpetual shortfall? I'm sorry. Is it
is it like a one time you may have said it before 300,000? It's a short time. It's a short-term one time one time amount of money that we're going to whatever happens come January, if we're able to raise some towards it, we're going to reduce that deficit. If
we're not, we're going to fund it through an increased first mortgage and a loan on the property. A couple of questions. Um, the existing building that was there prior to construction, how many units were there? Five. So you're increasing that to nine. So it's a net gain of four. And then the
total construction costs um for the project, how much is the the total project? The total development cost or just hard construction? The development cost. Okay. So um the total development cost is 2.552 and change $2.5 million.
And so you'd need about 10% of that now. Okay. And then um just you know we own the property outright so we didn't have any acquisition costs on this project um which was of gift you know um and and so
that was a big uh that saved us some money and that was a big bonus. Okay. Um the only ones who can apply are people or families who are belong to su community service. So that's an excellent question. The people that can apply are people with
developmental disabilities that are eligible through the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services. And so, you know, th those decisions for the housing placements, it's tough. I've worked with families for more than 30
years that are being placed in housing. And um it's a some families wait 10, 15 years for their sons and daughters to be placed. A lot of times what happens the pay parents are aging. These are all adults by the way. All adults living in
the housing, no children. So um what happens is the adults the children become adults. The parents become elderly. They they're not able to care for their children. Sometimes it's an emergency. So decisions are made locally. There's a local um office that
covers REIA that from DDS. They make the decisions of who gets served. They know who's local waiting needed um you know in an emergency and and those referrals come in and anyone can make a referral
um through this system for this housing. The this is publicly funded in part and um and it's a public resource. It is a just a you know a restricted occupancy for the disability type and the reason
is the services needed to take care of people to provide for their care and safety in in quality of life um needs to be such that people are served you know in a program that is have like needs and
uh that's just the way it works. This home is set up as a duplex. There's five and four and the in and it's, you know, there's a firewall. They're completely separate units. It's connected physically, but that you can't walk from one unit to the other unit. They're
they're private um spaces. So that um you know, just you can't have nine people living in a really big space. These are and they're big spaces. here. Um
I wanted to just take a look at the square footage off the You think I would know this? Um but I can't tell from looking at this, but um you know like 2800 square feet aside with that fifth unit, the the one with the five units
has a second floor units made for an individual that can live a little more independently. still needs to be connected to the to the staff and the service, but they they allowed more independence to the point where they're able to live independently completely
out in the community. So, it's sort of a transitional place uh for them, that one um fifth unit. So, but it goes all through the state. We 100% of the referrals come through the state. Um, you know, we have a fair housing
marketing plan that we have to promote. And in our case, um, you know, we're a we we're a minority neighborhood, um, uh, majority minority neighborhood and
our targets are everyone in the community. We want our residential programs to look and our whole organization looks and feels and represents the community. We're well represented in in that way in terms of
diversity of of who's being served. Not every home, not every project or program, but overall we're a tremendous um communitywide provider um advocate.
And you know, it's our mission to take care of people, period. And we're good at it. I want to say we are really good at it. Um and North Suffach is um is a big agency. They have um over a thousand
employees. Nearly a hundred of those employees are REIA residents. um you know in um it's a tremendous uh over $60 million a year um business um serving
just this really tight-knit um river uh the north suburban communities east Boston and um well Chelsea obviously but just a really tight geographical area so we have a unbelievable impact just
because even though we got a huge presence in Riviera, we also do in the other handful of communities that are involved. Um and um so and we're always um hiring um always have openings. Um so
we're we're a huge economic force in the community, period. I want to I want to just say boy, we're a great company and um anyone you know is looking for a job, looking for a good outfit to work for with great benefits, North Suffach is
the place to send them to because it it is a resource for all of us, you know. um whether we're going to serve our family, our relatives, our friends, our neighbors, or whether we're going to work there. Um it's a tremendous place and they have unbelievable jobs. Not
just frontline service jobs, but administrative and professional level positions, clinical um nursing, a full range of um level of care and and job service jobs that uh they provide. So if
you ever want to make a referral or look for a job for yourself, this is a great company. So questions on the project. I want to make sure Deb as well just make sure I didn't miss uh any virtual hand you'll see there. Um so I'll just kind of get
in on the um path forward. You know, I'd say um as you know from the fact that you know the mayor's office and planning and community development was very strongly supportive of the project and application. I think I can speak for the board and that we share the appreciation
for the work North Suffach does in the community and we we value your partnership and want to be partners. You know, whether it be on this or others moving forward, you know, as we discussed just like from a funding standpoint, you know, we we face challenges as as you do. I want to
figure out a way to be helpful. But I think just to kind of set context, um the the TND project, which was in conjunction with with North SuffK also uh 110 Ocean, which came before us, you know, really uh we were able to allocate
$50,000 uh to support that project. Uh and that was over a three-year window. Uh and that was for a larger project. Um, you know, so I just think, you know, in terms of like kind of cost per unit, just to kind of set expectations in terms of what we'd be able to kind of
entertain for an ask just based on our budget realities. Um, you know, we also had a reduction, you know, with for all good reasons, you know, new high school and other commitments in the city. we had a reduction in kind of what came in this year for us for for bud um from the city
council to the trust um in terms of our ongoing sustainable funding. So that's the downsides. You know, on the opportunities side of the ledger, you know, I'd say that a we have a commitment, you know, from our treasurer and Judy, our newest member, and other
folks that have been involved to kind of try to find additional fundraising opportunities, you know, and perhaps find ways that we can partner with organizations where, you know, we can leverage support from the trust to unlock philanthropy,
for instance. like that's an avenue that we can explore and go down. Um we've have some projects that are designed like I mentioned as like zero interest loans or low interest loans and other things that we could explore. So, I think, you know, since you have time,
um, you know, I think if you were kind of asking us for like a dollar figure today, it would be hard for us to do that just because we we're hopefully approving two additional pro uh programs that we've been working on for months today and we had, you know, 110 ocean last month. Uh, but,
you know, I think to I want to I can't speak for everyone. I want to figure out ways that we can be involved and supportive of the organization's work. you know, to some capacity and support the project in some capacity. I just want to make sure that we're kind of setting
some budget kind of un just some understanding of kind of where we sit from. I want to say I totally get that. Totally understood it. Uh Tom told me up front. Yeah. Two years ago. Yeah. Don't count from the trust fund. He told me that. But let me say this. We want to help with the trust fund. We've seen
successful trust funds grow in other communities, cities and towns of Massachusetts. So, we we're a great partner. I don't know whether it's us squeezing our bank or how we help you grow that, but um remember we have prominent well-educated connected people
in the community. Some of them making a lot of money. We need we need to work together to make sure we because you have a tremendous resource and if you could tie linkage or um one way or the other if you could grow your trust fund you could do so much more and not I'm
not talking just for us and I'm not even talking just for this project because uh Dian Reese was going to join me today and he had a family thing and couldn't make it tonight but we've talked today in over the last few days and we realize we might not you know we're We we're
going to hope to get something out of it. Reduce our costs, stretch the dollars. That's our hope. But we're not here for this single project. We're here for the long term. We're going to work with you. We're going to have other projects down the road. Um and we're
going to figure out ways to help you grow the trust fund. If we can be supportive in those ways, then you have a partner that's ready to roll up the sleeves. Um and North Suffach's not going anywhere. This is our home turf. Um we've got we just celebrated our 65th
anniversary. Um and we're on to our 66th and and we're going to keep going and um even in difficult financial times and these are seem to be where we're headed right now. Um you know um we're up for
the fight and we're going to be here working alongside everyone. So I I appreciate that and certainly the spirit of of partnership and continued work together. I think we we all share that for sure. Um, want to make sure that I'm offering folks the opportunity
to ask questions or kind of weigh in. I just think I agree with you that that we would have to decide as a as a trust. um sit down and maybe decide, you know, how much of our budget do we want to go to these types of development projects
and then maybe put out some sort of of an RFP like, hey, the the Affordable Housing Trust is going to issue $100,000 or $50,000 and then and then weigh in uh proposals and give everyone kind of a fair shake um and and do it that way.
North SuffK's a great great institution. They do a lot of good work for the community. Um, so there's no no denying that. Um, but I think as Joe's saying, no, that's an excellent point. Consider considering a third of our budget right now would be be a a tough thing to do.
No, no, you just made an excellent point and that's how it works everywhere else. I mean, you know, you that's the way it is. So, um, even the Federal Home Loan Bank and the state funds, everything we're competing for these funds. um on the Federal Home Loan Bank side, 50% of
the people that try to apply never make it. So, we know it's it's a battle and um we compete and that's an excellent point. That's exactly the way these things work and how we we do it and we're we're up for that. You know, we don't always win, but we always try real
hard and put our best foot forward. I don't think it has to be a protracted um thing either where where you know in my mind you know maybe by you know September we put something out October, November we make a decision that that you know if you were to win it would
come within you know your your January 26 deadline that's needed. Um you know maybe it's several awards at at certain amounts, maybe it's you know one larger one but but I think that's something that that we should discuss at some point before we make make that decision.
Well, thank you. You know that we'd be up for that and follow whatever process you recommend and that would be very normal and a simplified process. You know, one of the things like the state is tends to be really bureaucrat. The federal home loan bank a lot easier in
trust funds in the local funds, even home funds generally are pretty easy flown. So, you can have a simple process but a good and fair process for everyone in the community. And we know we're just one need, right? there's you guys have got every you got the whole
communitywide needs. Um and we respect everyone else's need as well. Um we know we fight for ours and advocate for ours, but we also recognize that we all all of us need to be uh considered. So um there's a lot going on out there and a
lot of needs for sure. And and Dean, thank you for that. I think I would agree that that's the route for us that we'd want to take in terms of funding like supportive housing or maybe extremely low income rental housing kind of we can figure out how we'd want to group that bucket of our
budget I'd say and then make it an application process. So I think that makes sense. So I think that's something that we should um work on, you know, as a group between now and the next meeting. Um, and I also think like I mentioned, you know, we're going to continue to explore on our end
ways to grow the trust and ways that we can kind of grow what we can do. And so as that as those conversations continue, we'd certainly want you to be, you know, part of those conversations, too. Um, other questions, comments, feedback. Okay. So I think next steps for us, you
know, we're going to have an internal conversation about what we can allocate, you know, to these types of projects and kind of create that u that application process. Sure. Um let's also be in touch over the course of the next month about, you know, ways
that we can be supportive. You know, frankly, one of the challenges I think for us is that to try to stretch the limited dollars that we have. Um we've really focused on areas where if we lean in with X it kind of helps unlock other
funds afterwards like you know with 110 ocean we kind of provided the city back stop to support getting state funding in um you know I want to just say that's an excellent point and usually we come to you for us get a little seed money then we go to the state and say look the
city's giving us seed money and even a small amount of money from the city it brings the state money. So, I'm with you on that, too. That's we we're on the back end. This is but opposite time. But, um, that's an excellent point. And
we've done that, you know, dozens of times where we get that small amount of local money. That's the seed it and just you used to have to have a little something from the city or town before you could qualify for state. Uh, now not as much, but you used to have to
have that. And we we're familiar with that. It's familiar really. Yeah. And I think that like those are the you know as we develop first of all just projects that we discuss on an ad hoc basis but I think as we develop standards for these things too those are the types of opportunities that we advan
that we'd advantage. Um that being said obviously I think I understand the importance of the situation that you're in and also the work that you're doing. So we'd want to continue to to you know have that conversation about you know what the budget looks like for us. Sure. Um, I'd say I'll reach out to you
also about, you know, if folks do want to do a site visit and go see the site. I'm sure I'd be interested in doing that. Even just wearing the city, you know, the city hat as well. Um, absolutely love that as as a possibility. Um, yeah. So, I think um you know, we'll keep in touch about what
this looks like on our end and those conversations and we'll have you come back whether it just be as a call or if you want to come back again and uh we'll we'll keep in touch about this, you know, in the months ahead. Absolutely. So, you know, I want to say I always love coming to Ravier because I'm originally from Ravier. My family is
from Ravier. My grandparents ran the arcade bazaar on the beach and lived on the beach for decades and uh even in the Shirley AB neighborhood and um so I was talking to a couple of my brothers on the way over and I said hey I'm going over to Rivia City Hall and they're like
oh this is they so we say we're going to have to test your bonafides like what street you know but maybe we can leave that for the for for the next meeting. Absolutely. I do have the information though. So, I want to thank you all really and wish you well and uh we'll look forward to
talking some more and and finding out what we can do. You know, it's two-way street. So, we want to want to make we want to add to the plan and grow the budget. Absolutely. Well, thank you for the information. We really appreciate it. I'll be in touch about coming to visit
and then also kind of how things evolve for us. Appreciate it. Nice to meet everyone. Thank you. All right. Take care. Thank you. Right. Anything else from anyone on that agenda item before we move? Thank you. Um, okay. With that,
we'll move to the next item on the agenda, which is our senior citizen um, home repairs program, which I sent everyone I should I think I gave everyone a handout uh, physically in addition to email that I sent out earlier with some information about kind
of where this sits. Did anyone not receive it or are we Okay, so just to provide an overview, um, one of the first things that we really talked about when we got off and running with the affordable housing trust was creating
some sort of program to support uh, low-income seniors uh, to support their sort of aging in place within the city. uh and this is something that we discussed as something that we could partner with an external agency with or ultimately it was decided that we were going to go forward with doing something
internally that we ran um through the city and that was funded through the affordable housing trust fund. Um it's gone through a few different iterations I'd say as we discussed kind of guidelines ways it could go what the application process would look like. Um,
but in conversation with the trust board as well as with city staff, with elder affairs, the mayor's office, um, we've started to shape kind of contours of what a program could look like and wanted to bring to everybody, you know,
it's not sort of finalized. I think there's obviously room for input on any kind of last minute changes, uh, but a concept for what this program would look like. And I think the idea behind it is um we want to help you know senior citizens that have lived in their
homes you know that are part of the community here uh that have certain accessibility needs um you know they might need to put in a ramp or replace some railings in their home or have HVAC needs that have evolved as they've gotten older. you know, maybe they have
an older home that wasn't built with modern HVAC and as we know with, you know, weather getting hotter here and also people getting older, they may need to upgrade, you know, put in an air conditioning unit. Um, so it could be something small like that or it could be something on the bigger end like there's
certain critical safety related roof repairs that need to be done that, you know, present a significant financial burden for folks. Um, so it's a priority for the mayor, you know, and for myself and I think for all of us to try to support some of these folks. And, uh,
the way that we'd like to do this is through a, uh, program that allows us to fund projects up to $5,000. Um, we have sort of a set of, you'll see on the document, examples of types of projects that we'd fund, although it's
not limited to those. We'd review all the applications on a case-by case basis with the justification being, you know, this is kind of for health, safety, allowing folks to age in place in the home. Um, eligibility is based on, you
know, rever residency, owner occupancy, uh, being 60 or older, and also being at or below 80% of area median income, which generally applies to, you know, most seniors who are retired. Um, and this would be based on household income,
you know, and I think that in household income for these purposes includes anyone that lives in the home. So, we would take into consideration, you know, the income of if they have like an adult child living at home or someone else that lives in the home with them that they might have the financial capacity
to support. So, you know, the real target audience for this really are those folks that maybe just don't have other resources to lean on, and it might be hard for them to access this kind of work without a little bit of extra support and funds from the city. Um, that's a little bit of a long-winded
windup into saying, you know, we we have a few different documents that I sent to you all to review that show the application itself, uh, some of the program guidelines and then the award letter that spells out like the terms and conditions that people have to agree
to in order to receive the funding. Uh, but I just want to talk through how we kind of envision it going and then we can talk through some of the specifications. Um but the the way it's been discussed with elder affairs and
with the chief financial officer and I think you know some of us have have been on these conversations as well is uh people will fill out an application either on their own or with the assistance of senior center staff. So senior center staff will be trained on how to help people with this in case
that you know might not have access to the internet or kind of as internet literate to be able to fill out an online application. So, senior center staff will be trained to help people do these in person. Um, they will submit um, you know, their proof of owner
occupancy, their proof of their income, and then also a project description and a contractor's estimate. Uh, so they would get the contractor's estimate first. Uh, then through the process of reviewing the application, you know, the trust
would be represented on this process. um planning and community development, elder affairs, and then also um John Fesa um who's in planning and community development uh in conjunction with like the building department. He does some of our small business loan programs. He has
a construction background. Uh we would review these applications, ensure that the contractor is licensed, you know, has all their proper permitting. We'd make sure that, you know, the assessor's office records match, you know, the owner occupancy that's listed in the
application. And then we would also do kind of a a spot check, I suppose, of the contractor's estimate, of the photos, of the work description to ensure that it's logical, right? That it's something that meets the definition of need for aging in place. Um, and that the estimate is fair and appropriate,
you know, for the scope of work that's going to be done. Um, if approved, an award letter with terms and conditions would be signed by the recipient uh that says that they receive either the cost of the project or $5,000, whichever
number is lower. So, the maximum award to an individual will be $5,000 um as a reimbursement at the end of once the work is completed. Uh so essentially when the work is completed um contractor you know photos would be submitted uh to
the city verifying that the work has been completed. We'd probably have someone just go by to do a quick site visit to check and verify that that it's been completed. Uh and then the resident could be reimbursed by that amount. Uh the amount would be set would be capped at you know what was submitted in
advance. Um, so we wouldn't be responsible for like overruns, cost increases, things like that. Um, and that's all spelled out in the agreement, you know, so residents would have to understand that if there was additional work that needed to be done or overruns
or things of that nature, you know, we're funding kind of what we agreed to fund up front. So, we just trying to be really kind of strict and clear about that. Um, and this would be a grant. So, it wouldn't be a loan. You know, it would be something that would be just a grant to help support um
uh the the homeowner, you know, in this instance, senior citizen. I feel like I probably skipped a step or two, you know, over the course. It's a pretty comprehensive set of documents, but that's a broad contour. And I wanted to just put up for questions, you know, for those of you that either have or haven't
had a chance to review it. Um, questions, feedback, input kind of on the the contours of the program. Honestly, first of all, this seems like an amazing program. I'm glad we're this is an opportunity for the seniors to take advantage of. My question is the time, when does it start? Does it end?
Or is it just once we approve it, it just sort of goes into effect right away? Yeah. So, I think the um we're in the process right now if if the if and when the trust board a approves the project uh and then also b um my initial hope
was that we'd get external funding to cover the entire cost of it. I am going to ask that we allocate $37,500 to support this. Um, we have 12,500 that came from a donation um from uh former speaker Robert Deo um that you know can
be committed to to support this and then we would want to backfill the rest. Um if we get on board with that and we vote and we approve it um then the next step is this application you know plus any edits that might need
to be made to it are going to be created on an online portal. Um, so it is working on that now. Once that's created, we would take some time for training of senior center staff. Uh, because senior center staff will be kind of on the front lines of answering
questions, helping people fill out the applications, anticipating challenges or struggles that I think people will have. So, I'd anticipate probably like two to three weeks for that to go through kind of a training process. And then we'd want to create some time for marketing. Um, I
think our thought is we'd probably launch it with an in-person like Q&A at the senior center um, and allow people to actually come and at the end of that Q&A sit down with a digital navigator at the senior center and apply right there in person. So, I don't want to pin down
like a specific date right now, but I'd say that if we approve this, probably like six weeks or so, I'd say to open it up and then we'd have the application open and funds available on a first come, first- serve basis until we exhaust the um $50,000. That's my
thought, you know, open to other if we want to create a different window for it. Um but that's kind of what I had in mind. um if that's agreeable to the board. Is that hopefully that answers your question? Yeah. Other questions either
on timeline, on program guidelines, on design costs, anything. And and if folks feel like they need more time to review too, we can obviously take could you just give a voice over on how application reviews are going to work?
Sure. So um essentially uh the first step is the senior centers involved in kind of that upfront like the application comes in. When the application comes in, it'll have a time stamp much like the first-time home buyer because it's all going to go through the a digital system that's been
set up. So that's what's going to allow us to determine, you know, the first come first-s serve basis. It'll be the planning and community development's job to create to internally track each applicant, how much money has been awarded, you know, where the applicant
is in the process. Uh, and then myself and John Fesa. Uh so we kind of have primary responsibility within planning and community development to make sure that folks submitted their income documents, they submitted their estimates, they submitted, you know, proof of their owner occupancy status,
etc. Then we would uh send it to the assessor's office to make sure that everything matched with their records. Um and then we would have um John and then possibly with the assistance of the building department if needed uh verify
license status with the contractor and then also do like a site visit and just quickly evaluate the feasibility of the project. Um once all those steps are completed at that point um if they've met all the guidelines we
would do the approval. We'd have them fill out the signing of the terms and conditions uh and at that point a purchase order can be generated um which would come out of the elder affairs office. So I know I'm kind of throwing a lot of pingponging around but we have it
pretty mapped out kind of how it would go. Um and then once they actually complete the work at that point they submit the proof that the work has been completed along with photos. We'll do a site visit if necessary. um it would be kind of closed out on our
internal tracking system within planning and community development and the check would go out from the treasures uh you know from the treasurer's office. Um so hopefully that answers your question. Um it's yeah that's good. Yep. And there's a little bit of a
diagram um at the on the last page that kind of maps out sort of step one the actual you know resident fills out the application. Step two is when we're reviewing the application and then step three is people have been approved kind of what happens between there and when they get
the money if that makes sense other questions so I think um you know certainly I'd want to make sure if folks had additional questions um or wanted to take additional time we could offer that. I do want to make a motion, you
know, to approve the funding. You know, I I know that the hope was that this would be covered externally. Um I think it's the budget's a little bit tighter, you know, than I think we maybe wanted it to be um across all aspects of of, you know, government and public service
right now. Um, I think this is a really worthwhile, you know, and much to Dean's point, we're and you know, we're going to be prioritizing the work that we do and really thinking through that budget paradig um, template that we put together. But this is something that's a
really important priority, I think, for me as chair. It's an important priority for us as a department. Uh, and I think I for the board as well to to do this work. And I would make a motion that we approve that funding to allocate um the 37,500 for the project.
Can I second that? So ask all in favor? I I Any opposed? Yes. Approve. Yep. Great. So I'll record that as a unanimous vote of approval. So I'll I'll draft that up
um through you. The funds will be allocated to the Department of Elder Affairs. So, it'll come out of their budget, but it'll come basically the trust fund is going to be allocating the funds to the Department of Elder Affairs. They have the 12,500 in additional support to pair with it. So,
it'll be a $50,000 program in total. Um, and then next, I would ask, you know, if folks are comfortable approving the program design and application language as it's laid out, that would be great. If you want to take more time, I you respect and understand that, but I would ask if people would consider approving
it. I don't know. Does anyone have any objections to that? You feel like you need more time? Okay, then I make a motion to approve the program design and applications. Second. All in favor? I I
Any oppose? Great. Okay. So that's been recorded um that we've approved both the program design, the application, the terms and conditions, and then also the funding uh to go to elder affairs. So I'll draft up all of that and get it around to everyone so that you have it for your
records and an IO the treasures piece of it will handle um as well. And just thank you to everyone for all your work on this. I know this has been a journey. Uh we started talking about this whenever I think it was your first meeting I think you said, right? So about two years. So, uh, really excited
to get it going. Looking forward to it. I think this is a way that we can really tangibly help people that really need it, right? And really kind of help them, um, be able to remain in our community and do and age in place. And, you know, I think we all have family and we know
that that can be a real challenge for folks. So, thank you all for your support on this. Uh, if you could we give another appreciation to Senator Robert Deleo for his contribution. Uh that's uh very worth very admirable for him to
contribute this much. I would agree with that. Uh speaker Deo has been a you know a friend to the community and in particular a friend to uh the senior center uh and he's supported a few different initiatives there and we're grateful that um you
know this is one of the projects that uh through through that generous gift we're able to support. So thank you for that. All right. So, with that, we'll move on to the next item on our agenda, um, which is a report back on some of the discussions on, uh, an ADU loan program.
Um, this is another one where I, so I said I gave you all some documentation on this, uh, but this is more new. This is actually was fin like we're kind of put together the first draft this week, so we're not going to vote on anything today, but I just wanted to start the conversation. Um, we talked a little bit
about the program that Wellfleet did to support um, loans to help people construct ADUs. And we kind of took that model. We had a bit of a subcommittee meeting about that um, with Judy, with Matt. Lori was part of it, although she couldn't attend
today. Um, and just kind of took the contours of that program and tried to develop something that fit our needs for Revier. Um, and the way we kind of structured it and put it together was that we would offer five $10,000 loans,
um, fully forgivable loans, um, to help with the construction of ADUs with the caveat or requirement that for five years they'd have to rent it at at or below um, what would be considered affordable to someone at 100% of area
median income. um open to discussing kind of why why we structured it that way, any changes that we'd want to make to it. Um but that's the rough kind of program outline. Um and then also in the documentation, it shows kind of how I envision the steps for the application
process and things like that. But just wanted to put it out for discussion, kind of see what people think about it as a concept and how people feel about the guidelines because I know that we had a conversation last month about, you know, where we'd want to set those, how long we'd want to set it for, etc. So,
just want to open it up for conversation. Anyone? I mean, I don't really have any any questions, but I guess I'll just add that, you know, we spent a lot of time working together on this and including like an hour before this meeting, and I I think kind of how it's laid out here
is is really comprehensive. I think the application and just kind of the terms and conditions of the program are are pretty pretty solid for, you know, what what we're trying to do. And um I think like as written, it's it's adequate for
for what the goal is here. I appreciate you calling my work adequate. I'm kidding. Um, so what I would ask is if everyone, you know, if you have more questions now, great. Um, but take um take a look at it. If I I think I sent
it to everyone by email, but if not, I will at the end of the meeting and you have your hard copies, review it, put together your questions. Uh, next meeting, you know, we'll we'll dive into it, maybe vote to finalize a program design. Um, but I think that a lot of
the work that we did first through first-time home buyer and then now through the senior repairs program helped make it kind of okay, we kind of know these are the types of documents that we need people to sign, you know, loan agreement, terms and conditions, application, what the requirements are.
Um, so it helped kind of smooth the way to put something together and I think we'd be in pretty good position. you. I think that um as you all know, we have our new ADU ordinance in the city to be in compliance with state law. Hopefully, this helps encourage uh some additional
ADU construction. Uh but I do know just anecdotally, you know, that we have had a few people go through the process and you know, there's certain financial burdens that come up with it. You know, the pre-construction costs, the permitting costs. you know, if you're going if you're adding a third unit,
more often than not, you may also need to install like sprinklers for fire safety that you may not have had to have before. Um, and if we can just help kind of smooth smooth the process for a few people and help them, that might create
a few ADUs that might not otherwise have been available. Uh, and that can create some affordable rental inventory in the city. So um certainly ask that we all take a look at this, provide your feedback and hope that we can move forward with something in the months ahead.
All the programs that are the city is going to do they're going to be advertising on the media on the newspaper. Yeah. So I would and that would be part of it too, right? We'd want to put together like press campaign, TV media,
social media. Um maybe we'll make the mayor, you know, do a video get him out there maybe when he's doing one of his cooking shows if he's watching. We always appreciate those. Um but want to get the word out and let people know. I think we'd also want to include it um
right up front, you know, while the funds remain available um at the building department or at like site plan when people are actually going to apply for permits uh to know that this is something that would be available to them if they're willing to rent it, you know, at the affordable rate. So,
other questions, comments, feedback on ADUs. Great. So, appreciate everyone's help with this. Um, other quick things because I know we're at an hour, so some of it can be kind of quick updates and we can move. Uh, I'm going to reach out to everyone about scheduling some of
those subcommittee meetings. I know Judy, you've uh got a lot um of uh you've had some energy around some of the private fundraising that we might be able to do. So, I'd love to have you join our fundraising subcommittee uh which Annio is the chair of. So, I'm just going to not even ask. I'm
assigning you to it. We're drafting you into duty. Um and then on the home ownership side, you know, we can continue to talk about some of the other ideas that we've had. Uh, but I just want to see if anyone has I'm going to reach out about trying to set up these subcommittee meetings virtually next
week. Are there any days that you know anyone that's like absolutely you wouldn't be available for a call or can I just send out some windows and hopefully we can get everyone on? Great. Awesome. So, expect um an email with like a proposed date and
time and hopefully we can get those set up. Uh other quick updates I mentioned just for um first-time home buyer down payment assistance. We've had a couple new applications come in since we expanded eligibility. So, thank you for that. Um that was really much appreciated. Um we actually got a new
application literally like at 6:30. I saw I got the email notification as the meeting was starting. Should we still encourage folks to apply or is it at the Yes. Um although I would say that we're getting closer to the point where we'd have everything kind of spoken for if
everyone that's been approved actually executes a purchase and sale agreement. But we do have seven people in the in the queue right now who have been approved. They've met all the eligibility guidelines, but they haven't actually, you know, entered into a purchase and sale yet. So they're in
that window. They have six months to do it. Uh, and then we had one that was fully paid out, you know, and someone received the funding. So, that was great. So, I think and I we have it tracked and I don't have the tracker in front of me, but I believe we still have two spaces available that are like fully
completely unclaimed and unaccounted for. So, so the payout would have been would have been recognized in the current balance. Yes, that's correct. So, the 910 900,000 reflects the the deficit. Yep. But it doesn't reflect the people that have been approved, but the money hasn't gone out yet. I see.
Because the money doesn't go out until you've entered into a purchase and sale and we would do the accounting when like that accounting is sort of where now. So, um we have it in our minutes that we've allocated the funding and and it should be denoted that the um like for
instance the state earmark that came in is specifically earmarked for this program. Um what I mean by that it's not it's not like a pending transaction anywhere. It's just something that we have recorded somewhere. It's not like any ether, right? So, we've restricted it for our
own purposes, but it's not a separate budget item like within Okay. municipal finance, if that makes sense. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Other questions about that. So, yep. Continue to encourage people to apply, but um we're getting closer to filling
all the slots, which is great. So, thank you to everyone for your vote on that last month. Um, the R RFPs, the long- aaited RFPs for city own properties, uh, I believe are going out like within the next few weeks. So, that's exciting. I'll keep you all updated on that. And I
had a conversation, um, with the North Suburb North Suburban Consortium uh, about some of those deed restricted properties that initially were Malden Redevelopment Authority and then came into the city. So, I think we know where they all are now, which is great. Uh so
uh thank you all for kind of helping with that with that process as we learned and I'm in the process of reaching out to some of the owners of those deed restricted properties to let them know that as a board we kind of all agreed that we're willing to help. You
know if someone is looking to do that resale we want to offer some assistance. We don't ne we don't want to necessarily buy the house, but we do want to help with, you know, maybe we can provide some support for marketing the property. We can connect people with people who applied for first-time home buyer down
payment assistance. We might be able to connect them to, you know, like interest rate buy down programs, just different things we can do to help them smooth the process of uh what can be a little bit complicated of selling a deed restricted property. So, uh that is ongoing. Um,
does anyone have any other additional like late items that weren't reflected on the agenda that they'd want to add? Yeah, just just one small one. I don't know if we ever had any luck. Um, I know you had reached out to the treasurer's office in IO on like get getting like
some sort of a cadence on bank statements and just some of that information. And I don't know um if there's been any progress there, but um just thinking about all all the money that you know we're kind of thinking about committing here and like it's kind of hard to put into context like even
North Suffach here, like what's an amount of money that that could make sense for us with the um other commitments that we have and and other things that we want to do without having an up-to-date budget. And I don't know if there's a way we could just get like a monthly statement for our account and
that would be just a good prompt for like, okay, let's do the monthly budget reconciliation and and get that out so we're all kind of across, you know, what what the forecast looks like. Correct. So, first of all, thanks for that. I did actually follow up several times with your request directly to the
city budget of budgeters and uh I I will follow up again to because I thought they resolved the concern that you had or the question to fill out your you had like uh you put together an agenda of schedule a schedule of payments of sorts. Yeah. Yeah. thought, but if not, I can
definitely follow that up. Also, to your question or concern about uh getting some sort of a more maybe an automated form of recordkeeping monthly, quarterly, some frequency that we can sort of rely on. I have kind of hinted at that, but I do think it's a kind of
the domain of that of the city managers like Sut Newton and those that she reports to. That's why most of my correspondence with her directly through email. Um, but I can definitely inquire about that if there's more of a way to kind of automate those sorts of processes. Yeah, it'd be good to find out and if we
can't get an automated monthly statement, that's fine, right? We don't have to reconcile things to the penny. Um but your point is well taken because for example we have some flows that are outflows that are expected with these uh these uh the folks that were successful
with the the uh you know the first-time homeowners appro and I in Nasuta may they that team may or may not be aware of these uh because as I said it's not like pending in some sort of electronic transaction it's an accounting that we are uh sort of physically recording but
if we would communicate to them it would be it would be best so I agree with you and that we should communicate that if we can have more automated processes. Yeah, maybe we can try to set up a conversation with the treasurer's office for officers, you know, um about that just to make sure that that's all being
tracked, you know, in a way that's consistent for everybody. Um and then also we should take that budget framework that you you sent to us and we kind of look through and really formalize that and turn it into a way that we're internally tracking here are our existing commitments, here are our
planned commitments and then also to Dean's point, you know, what we're specifically we we kind of put it in broad strokes, but really creating kind of what we're allocating to each type of project. Um we definitely should do that. So I think that's a a point.
Sure. that please do send that again to me if they didn't get back to you. I was sort of back and forth for a while and I did sort of assume that they kind of satisfied your concern but if you if you start that up again I can definitely you know Yeah. Yeah. the the the one time concern was satisfied, but just um I guess this
is kind of a new ask if if we haven't asked directly on the the monthly statement maybe offline if you we can coordinate as Joe because I agree with you a system that's a little bit more transparent maybe a little bit more automated but again the process by which I sort of
been functioning on is basically through email chains and correspondence and the extent to which that always requires me to go and bug the team I trust me I hear you Yeah. Cool. All right. Any other items from anyone?
If not, do I hear a motion to adjurnn? Second. All right. All in favor? All right. See you in August.