Well, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I don't know why I put Well, I put a mic so that Zoom Zoom can hear. Thanksgiving was nice. Thank you. How was yours? It was excellent. We made the very smart
decision as a family to go to the Wararf restaurant instead of cooking. Saved everyone a lot of time. So, that was good. >> Okay, that is a brilliant idea. >> It was great. Okay, we're at 6:30, so I'm about to gabble us in. Okay.
Good evening. Uh, welcome to the December 20205 um, affordable housing trust fund board meeting. My name is Joe Graalisi, chair of the affordable housing trust fund board. Um, we will begin with a roll call of the members. So, if you're here uh, state present and that includes if
you're here uh, via Zoom, just unmute yourself and state it. So, Joe Graveli, I'm here. Matt Wolver >> present. and Annayia Swaki. >> Okay. And Deb Frank I know is not here. She stated that she would not be. Uh
Lori Manzo >> here. >> Leila Petri >> present. >> Okay. Judy Gosselin >> here >> and Dean Harris >> here. >> Great. Uh so now we'll move on to start with ratification of the November 2025
meeting minutes. Uh so you all should have had a draft sent to you right after the meeting. Um and then the final minutes um sent to you as well with the agenda. Uh with that um does anyone have any questions about the minutes from the last meeting? If not, I'm going to ask
for unanimous consent to ratify those minutes. Any objections? Seeing none. Right. So now we'll move um as we usually do. We start with an update from the treasurer uh on our finances. Uh good evening everyone. Uh this report is
provided to me by the Asuta Asuta Newton. Uh as it reads, the current balance for the affordable housing trust committee is $892,8218. This balance is reflective of the approximately 1767,000 that is encumbered for the next two
payments to the neighborhood developers. The interest posted for this period is $3,36856. and there was a deposit made for $250,000. Thank you so much. >> Terrific. Um and we're going to kind of
stick with you because I'm going to start one agenda item is um to report out on a fundraising subcommittee meeting that was held last week. Um, as I think everyone on the board knows, um, ANIO, um, has headed up, um, a
subcommittee that's really focused on how to identify and seek out private, uh, and philanthropic support for the work that we do. Um, and he had some updates and then I'll I'll also have an update as well, but I just want to kick it to you and I to report on that meeting and some of the conversations we had and some of the work that we're
doing moving forward on this front. >> Absolutely. Thanks a lot. Okay, great. Yes, Joe mentioned, we met uh last week, December 3rd. Uh we discussed quite a few things. Primarily, we discussed our strategy for next year uh in terms of the fundraising efforts to one to reach
out to community partners to to try to kind of work with current partners to look for you know to to fund grant right proper grants and other things. We also met to discuss one of uh our potential
sponsors who I won't name out of because we're still sort of developing it. But one of the key things we talked about was coming up our brainstorming a list of what we called funding needs for first-time homeowners and uh we came up with this list and we'll we'll put it together. But just to briefly describe
to you what we discussed, some of the topics that I'm going to present now are some ways in which we can help uh craft a proposal to our sponsor and also it would allow us to kind of harmonize our uh our our development or crystallize our approach for next year
as we we we look for additional sponsors. The topics thus far submitted are are one is the subsidies for unit sales uh or these are so the broad theme is called funding needs for first-time homeowners and the idea behind it is to come up with some topics that we think
might be helpful for firsttime home buyers. The first is uh in no particular order is subsidies for unit sales. Second is closing costs for affordable housing. Third are things like additional homeowners repairs program such that if you for one of the
challenges that homeowners often face before actually buying a property is that they don't realize some of the cost they might need to repair some of the parts of the building or the property that they weren't know. So the idea behind that is to help with that. The other two upfront purchase cost home
inspection uh lead inspection that sort of things and finally subsidies for insurance. Again, none of these things are particularly um uh set in stone, but these are just general fundraising ideas or brainstorming ideas that we hope will
eventually select one or maybe two to present to a current uh or a sponsor. >> Good summary. um and would agree uh on a lot of those priorities as things that we should definitely consider uh and also potentially things that would be of
interest to possibly a nonprofit partner to then work to apply for support from like a bank or financial institution or some other foundation or you know ways that we can get charitable funding. Um to build off something else in IIO said
um yes we're not going to you know uh name drop uh yet at this point uh but I am I've had some initial conversations about and then we talked about it in the committee um opportunities for partnership to expand on the work that
we did with the senior repairs program and I feel pretty optimistic including um some further conversations that were had recently that we may be able to go to a potential, you know, private funer with a real proposal, right, that says
if we got X YZ, we'd be able to grow what we did with the senior repairs program from approximately $53,000 to support 11 or 12 households to, you know, a larger dollar total. Uh, that would allow us to really go like
soup to nuts and really get someone's home in a state of good repair that's like a older low-income home buyer. Um, I would like to, um, schedule a follow-up on this with you and other members of the fundraising. So, one
challenge I have is I'd like to schedule a follow-up on this, but we can't have a majority of our members on the call because then it becomes a open meeting law issue. Um, so let's work on scheduling a fundraising subcommittee call next week and then we can open it up um to other members of the board that
might be interested in talking about this, but then we'll have to set a cap on participants. Um, so let's work on that together. If you want to maybe send out like a Google poll or sometimes tomorrow for us to meet next week, I think that would be great and we can continue to flush this out a bit. Um,
but yeah, to an IO's point, you know, I think we look at two different kind of broad avenues for where we're looking for some financial support or where there may be opportunities to partner with private entities. Uh, one is the senior repairs or not necessarily seniors, but like home repairs in
general for low-inccome or first-time home buyers. Uh, and then also just some of this sort of purchasing support for first-time home buyers. So excited about the possibilities there and just wanted to stop and see if anyone had questions, comments, thoughts
and I I think covered it pretty comprehensively. Um it has some good information compiled as well on a Google uh sheet which is serving as a guide for a lot of this work too. So we will move forward. Um as I mentioned, we'll work on getting something scheduled hopefully
in the next week or so to continue the conversation. That'd be terrific. Um, and then actually what I'd like to do with the board's permission is take an agenda item out of order and move straight into, you know, I had on here sort of a a goals and objectives for
2026 um item and I wanted to take that up a little bit sooner because I want to make sure to have adequate time to talk about some new ideas. Do I have the Can I ask for unanimous consent to take that item out of order? >> Second. >> Y any objection? Yep. Okay, great. So
seeing none um so first of all you know I think first we're now that we're at the end of the calendar year this is our last meeting for the calendar year I just want to reflect on you know this was after the planning work started in 2023 and then in 2024 we kind of started
to put the wheels in motion um 2025 we we've really accomplished a lot. You know, this is our first time we saw the actual completion of an affordable condo project that was supported in part by our funds. So, that was really exciting. So, now those people moved into homes in
River uh that were able to do so, you know, because in part of the support that we provided. So, that's something we can be really proud of. Uh we've had now um three first-time home buyers supported by the down payment assistance program. Um
again like real tangible results for real people. So something that we can be really proud of as well. Um the senior repairs program I'll give a full update on it but you know supporting 12 households with critical repairs that they need. Uh and then of course uh 110
ocean you know we'll be the construction is beginning and you know we'll be able to celebrate that. So um a lot of good done in just one year uh over this past year which is exciting. I think when we look to 2026, we've talked about, you know, there's a few things that we've already kind of set in stone that we
know we want to do. So, continuing some form of a senior repairs program. Um, supporting a affordable ADU construction is something we've already voted on and so we're going to be moving forward with that. Um, continuing to support the 110 ocean project and maybe similar things
if they move forward. Uh but then we have this sort of broad bucket or category that we've budgeted for and talked about around homeowner assistance or um first-time home buyer assistance and things like that. And I want to take some time to sharpen up or discuss some
ideas around what that might look like. Um so I and then I also want to hear about other ideas that people have beyond that, but I just want to take some time to start there. Um, so I know one idea that we've talked about and I'm still I still think could
be viable for us, but I think we just need to research some of the complicating factors. Um, is this concept that we talked about where if like a two or three or four unit development goes up for sale, would we be able to subsidize the sale on one of the units indeed restrict it? I think
that's definitely doable. I think you get sort of condo association issues and things like that are one of the mitigating challenges that we have to overcome but I think it's definitely doable. Uh but I have taken some time uh and I'd love to and this is the reading material that I was supposed
to send you all today and I didn't but I'll send it and would like to get everyone's review and feedback. Um I've looked at some other programs that trusts or similar entities have done not just in Massachusetts but around the country on this front. Um, there are some sort of buy down programs that I
found intriguing uh that have been done for first-time home buyers. Um, some examples in Massachusetts include Plymouth, uh, Sudbury, and Norphick. And essentially, there's a few different models for it, but it's if there's a first-time home buyer with income under
a certain level, there can be a subsidy of, you know, in the Plymouth example, up to $75,000 to sort of buy down the purchase price of the home. Um, and then in exchange there's a deed restriction on the property for either 15 years or in perpetuity depending on
the program. Um, I think this is an interesting model that we could consider. Um, the pros and cons are very similar to other ones that we've weighed, right? Where you the longer a deed restriction on a property, you know, the less someone who's a first-time home buyer has a
chance to, you know, accumulate an asset. But at the same time, we also don't want to sort of fully just subsidize something that only occurs to benefit someone's personal interest, right? You'd want to make sure that it either adds to the city's subsidized
housing inventory or some way or we could look into like the Commonwealth builder style agreement where half the proceeds of a sale if it were sold were to go back to the trust, something like that. Um, so I think that's a model that we should consider. Um, I'll send you a listing of some of the different types,
but basically, you know, some of them are exactly like I said. Uh, others it's like in perpetuity. Um, there's a a flat rate subsidy that goes into the sale and then the restrictions in perpetuity and then when the property is sold, there's
a lottery held for the resale of it to people that are on the qualified buyers list. I find that intriguing. I think that's something that, you know, we we might want to consider. Um, so I'll send like the different models that I read, but they all kind of
converge around those key themes. So I want to open up for discussion, kind of see what people think. If you've heard about things like this before, if you have gut reactions, things you'd want to research, but I think it's a model that could be interesting for us. Yeah, I I think the spirit of it um is
totally aligned with, you know, what we're trying to do and some of the programs that we had this year. Um and just one thing it actually brings to mind too, like I I know, and this is something we'd have to definitely do more research in and Deb would probably be a good good resource here, but I know the National Builders like you don't
hear about it as much around here, but like that, you know, the Toll Brothers, the Dr. importance of the world. Um they kind of put together these agreements with different loan originators to do what are called rate buyowns. So instead of just taking $75,000 and throwing it
at the purchase price of the house, you get more bang for your buck in terms of affordability by doing a rate buy down on the front end. Giving that $75,000 upfront to the lender and they can reduce the rate accordingly based on
like how much that reduces, you know, the present value of whatever they would have gotten at the market interest rate. and you're actually able to get the home buyer more purchasing power doing that than just straight up reducing the purchase price 75%. So, I don't know what what kind of partnerships we would
have to form or if it's like a really straightforward thing or if it's a really complicated thing, but um something that's kind of in the spirit of that program that's worth doing more research on. >> Thank you. Definitely something that we should talk about with Deb and with
others as well. Yeah. So my my thought process is if we only have 900,000 let's say in the account right now if we were to buy a unit or two or something like that then then we're limited and in some ways those bigger chunks of money when they go to
individual units um limit us to impacting one or two families or maybe three families. I did like the idea when we were helping some of the developers out. Uh I think the the neighborhood developers specifically where we gave a
significant amount of money and there was the impact of you know 50 affordable units. Um and so I thought bang for your buck. Um, but I do like the the idea though that if we did some sort of, you know, maybe we take one unit and if at
some point in time they do sell it and we we we get, you know, 50% of the profit back that it does bank some of that money for the future. You know, it may not be, you know, 10 10 years from now there'll be a there'll be a trust fund board. Maybe not me and and uh
they'll all of a sudden there'll be a couple hundred thousand coming back into them. So you you're kind of feeding the program in the future. Um and I and I do like the rate buy down thing, too. I think that's a good idea. >> Yeah. I think what I particularly like kind of to your point is that if you do
like a split proceeds deed restriction like the Commonwealth builder one, um you know, you allow the firsttime home buyer to benefit from the appreciation of the home's value. Um, but also part of the benefit pays forward helping
other people, you know, have that same opportunity that they did to be supported by city programs. Um, you know, we've se I've seen the examples just in the past couple months of, you know, if someone sells their affordable unit at resale and all they
kind of get for it is what the growth in sort of inflation was over that period of time. uh they have pretty limited resources than to go find another place to live in the in the greater Boston area. They're kind of back at square one. Um obviously
we can't solve the problem, you know, like the fully the problem that affordable units aren't for everybody, right? Like they they might fit certain phases of your life and might not. but a hybrid approach that does to your point could help kind of alleviate that a
little bit but also make sure that we're making this a self-sustaining program. So I appreciate your your thoughts there if others have um and I want to make sure I'm looking at the Zoom screen too. I apologize I if I missed anyone with a
virtual hand up. any further comments on this one? So, if not, um when it comes to the buy down program specifically, I will send around some documents and some stuff that I found about other uh communities that have done these. Um some other things
that I've looked into that are interesting, although I don't quite have them as like fleshed out, but I want to just put them out there as things that I've I've researched. Um, trusts do have the ability to accept like property conveyed to them by people
that choose to donate it or are compelled to donate it, you know, for whatever reason. Uh, I haven't found any examples of this in Massachusetts, but I have seen some examples in other states of like there's relief programs for property taxes or home repairs for folks
uh that are part of an agreement where, you know, a property might be conveyed to the trust upon, you know, the person's death. Like that's something that is a model that I've that I've seen or read about in other states. haven't quite drilled down into the details of that and whether we think that would be a good idea or not
for us, but it's something that, you know, is interesting and that we've been able to learn a little bit about um and other kind of different creative types of deed restrictions. So, you know, with that, I just want to open up I I had
this time sort of blocked off for big picture, right? Like we look at our different buckets of things we're trying to accomplish. Do we think we have the right goals? And are there, you know, things that you think we should be doing to dig into those goals? So, I know I have said a
lot, so I'll stop and see if others have uh things they want to offer on this topic. So, I think we've accomplished a lot with the little that we have. And and look, the the gifts that we we've received and the money that received, you know, is substantial, but in the
grand scheme of things with the cost of housing prices when you you know, the the lowest price house is probably, you know, 600,000 in the city right now. Um, but what we've done with what we've had, I think, is tremendous. whether it's, you know, working with the the elderly for their repairs or um looking at
first-time home buyer um um initiatives or, you know, subsidizing different uh projects throughout the the city. Um so I I like us continuing um and kind of picking and choosing, you know, what what's the best for the for us. I almost
say the house with uh but the both what's the best for the the trust fund. So, I think we we're moving forward in in utilize we're trying to maximize um the bang for the buck that that we do have and and I do think that that's the direction we should continue to go in.
>> Great. And one thing to re-emphasize Dean's point um in terms of doing what we can with limited resources um our friends at Habitat for Humanity that I know we've talked to and you know worked with in some ways in the past you know just in a recent conversation with them
you know as an organization that does kind of no frills moderate low to moderate income housing and gets a lot of volunteer labor uh they're still looking at a per unit cost of like $4 to $500,000 per unit to build a unit of affordable housing in greater Boston. Um
so and that's like again with a lot of donated labor and with no frills like these aren't luxury units. These are you know they they build really nice properties but um fairly modest, right? So I think that goes to show a the scope
of the housing crisis and b you know why we have to be to your point selective with where and how we invest money because if we were just pure unit creation we can create one maybe two with what we have in the um in the fund.
I did see I think a comment in the chat. Um Lori uh pointed out, you know, a program for veterans. Agreed. Definitely, you know, something that we should think about like whether it be and I'd have to look into whether this falls within the
guidelines of what we're allowed to do, but something like the senior program or first time or a first time like could we take the senior program and expand it to include eligibility for income eligible veterans? I don't see why not. you know, first-time home buyer. Could that be expanded to be like a program for
veterans, too? That might be a little trickier because I think that a lot of the programs for first-time home buyers, like there's really strict definitions of what is a first-time home buyer. Um, um, where you can't have had like interest in a property in x number of
years. Um, and I think that's kind of more defined, but I think like repair programs or other types of programs, we could definitely look at ways to expand eligibility and work with the Veterans Affairs Office as well, you know, on ways to do that. So, appreciate the
comment there. And if you have anything else you want to add, Lori, I didn't mean to speak for you. I just saw that you dropped it in the chat, so I figured I'd relay it. >> Oh, no. That was exactly what I was hoping for because the veterans,
especially in our city, have so little help. It's good to think of ways that we might be able to give back. >> Absolutely. And really appreciate you making sure to to put that on the
agenda. Um, other thoughts, feedback, comments? Yeah, some people ask me until you know they still can apply for the home repairs. It's still open. >> Uh we've given out all the money for the
senior repairs. So that program is closed at this time. Yeah, >> which somewhat buries the spoils a future agenda item, but uh in a good way. I mean, not in a good way if you're looking to apply, but um the good news is it's gone really well and really
smoothly and I think, you know, we'll be repeating it in the future for sure. >> I've had a quick question about public uh comment. Is there a way for I don't know if there is but a a portal for which the public can provide feedback to us in terms of things that they're
interested in seeing because I know one of the challenges that we talked about in the funding affordable housing communities on my end is understanding what the real need is more more than just sort of like a broad way but more specific so as we can for example the veterans program that Lori mentioned I'm
very curious to know but I don't know what they need or in a sort of a specific way is there a way for us to craft a way a portal so that they can comment on like this meeting or anything else. >> So, we do have that. Um, so appreciate
you making sure we have a chance to speak about it for those that are watching. Um, so if you go on the affordable housing trust website, there's like a comment or inquiry box and we do actually receive some of those inquiries in the planning community development office. Um, usually they're
inquiries related to like how can my family, you know, receive support for affordable housing and so our office steps in and does what we can to help. Um, but that box is also generally there for feedback. So we should emphas appreciate that emphasize that you know
if if that's if people have feedback commentary uh in addition to the fact that people are welcome here or on our on our Zoom meetings um that um comment box is on our website as well for people to and that email goes to myself and to
Tom the chief of planning um and I'll share some of like I said most of what we've gotten through there has been requests for assistance um or questions questions about like the repairs program or down payment assistance program. We get a lot of questions about the down payment assistance program. Uh but in
terms of like feedback about sort of policies or things we've implemented, we haven't gotten a lot of that. Uh so I think it's to your point, it's good that we emphasize that that's something that we welcome. So and I'll I'll talk to um 311 and the website folks about making
sure that that's prominent and people see that we welcome and and encourage feedback. So thank you for that. Yeah. Anyone else? Okay. So, we'll move forward. I just wanted to make sure to kind of have that time for some December feels like a good time for big picture,
you know, big picture conversations. Um, okay. Uh, moving on to the next item of the agenda. Um, so we talked about scheduling subcommittee meetings. We talked about fundraising. I think home ownership subcommittee is one that I'll
send around um a meeting schedule for, you know, to meet like in two to three weeks or so or actually probably not because that's the holidays. So, probably more like early January before or adjacent to our next meeting. And that's where I'd like to dig into some of what we talked about
like these buy down programs either for interest or for um purchase cost uh as well as other ideas for affordable units. So, I will be sending out some information about that. Uh, moving on to the senior repairs program. I promised
you a status update. Um, so we have seven people that have actually been paid out because the work has been completed, which is exciting uh for a total of $26,475 as of this week. And then we have another six people that uh they've been
approved, they've signed their contract, and we're just waiting for them to send in their final invoice. and um pictures of the completed work. And once that happens, we then send them out their payment, assuming all of that happens, we'll pay out the total of 55,000 that
we allocated, which is perfect. And um we have a wait list. So if any of these projects like don't get completed or someone withdraws from the program for some reason, we have I think seven or eight people that have been approved that are on a waiting list that if funds become available, we'll reach out to
them. Uh but at this point my assumption and anticipation is we're going to pay out to these six people and that'll be the full program for the year. So um any questions about that program or how it's going?
I'll say from my seat things have gone incredibly smoothly. Um I know Anio and Matt I've copied you on a lot of the correspondence about the actual outlays of the funds so you kind of see what that process looks like. Um, I've been pleasantly, knock on wood, uh, pleased
with how smooth everything has gone. I mean, I think it speaks obviously to the professionalism of the staff and the, uh, you know, treasurer's office and our CFO, um, in processing all of these smoothly. uh John Fesa uh the work that
he's done in our planning community development office with his construction experience of you know being in touch with the seniors about their projects and making sure that they're getting appropriate work done and getting an appropriate deal and things of that nature. Um as well as the work everyone
did in helping craft a program. Right. We put a lot of leg work in up front so that way we knew it would go smooth when we when it came time for it to go. Um, so I know we had like five or six meetings where we went over the application over and over and over again. Uh, but like the efforts were
very fruitful. It was really worthwhile because the program has gone, like I said, knock on wood, incredibly smoothly. Um, just really pleased. All the different hiccups and concerns that we talked through mostly haven't come to fruition at this point. So, um, really grateful for everyone's support and help
on this one and, uh, excited to get those last six checks out the door hopefully in the next, you know, month or so. Um, any questions about the program? Okay, well, great job everyone. Uh, moving on. quick update on affordable
condo sales because I know that we had I think two or one that was in progress and one that was forthcoming last time we met. Um so we actually had one unit that's under agreement which is exciting. Uh one of the units um that we had inherited from the Malden
Redevelopment Authority is under agreement to be sold to a rever resident. So that's really exciting. Someone who' been renting in the city and um now we'll have you know a condo here in the community. So, they're eligible for down payment assistance in addition to getting the affordable unit,
which is awesome. We love when we can like bundle everything together and really help make it as good a deal as possible. Um, so that was exciting. Uh, there's another unit in that same building that's on the market now. So, that's listed. So on the city of River
website under the programs and support page which you can find um on planning and community development and on the affordable housing trust fund websites we're maintaining a list when units become available. Um and so it's listed there now and it should also be in the
rever journal today although I haven't read it yet. Apologies to our friends at the Rever Journal. I have it in my bag but I haven't read the paper yet today. Uh but it should be listed in there as well. Um, and it's on my mass home, which is a listing uh website that has all the affordable units all throughout
Massachusetts. And we're requiring them to be listed there so everyone knows exactly where to look um, you know, when units become available. So excited that one is under agreement and then we hope that this next one does as well. Um, >> yep.
>> Sorry, Joe. Would you be able to um, state again what website that is? MymmassHome is it.org.com. >> Yes, I believe it's.org. Let me Mymass Yeah, it's mymassome.org. And um they compile listings statewide
of affordable housing. Um and we're requiring resale units that are affordable to be listed there first. Um to be just to make sure that it's a process that's fair for everybody. We put it there and we put it on the rever.org or website so
that everyone knows what's available and send it to the newspaper as well. >> Thank you again for repeating that. >> Yep, absolutely. And I'll put that in the minutes as well. Um,
so great great to have that one done and you know hopefully this sets a trend of people knowing kind of what the process is like and how to do it. Um so any other questions on on this? Okay. Uh so moving on to the
next item and it's continuation from the last meeting and it's obviously related to this. It's the topic of closing cost assistance. Um I know we had looked we wanted to take some time to look further into what would a reasonable amount be. You know if folks have thoughts of
research I'd love to hear that. I think from from my standpoint, I think what I would probably propose or want us to to consider as a starting point is we could create a pool of I'd say
$30,000 as an example. Um, and we can allow applicants to apply themselves for up to $5,000 max per applicant. And they would have to document like what those closing costs were to have them reimbured. So, it's not just like a straight check.
It's, you know, it cost me X for this fee. It cost me Y for that fee. It cost me Z for this fee, and then have it reimbursed. Um, and people that would be eligible to get it would either be the buyer of an affordable unit, and then the seller, if it's a low to moderate income seller who's selling an
affordable unit, right? Because then they have to go back to market. Um, the seller wouldn't be eligible if they were not income eligible. So, I think that this would be, for instance, if you inherited an income eligible unit from a loved one and you're it's not your
principal residence, so you're selling it. I would not want, you know, not that we have anything against them, but that that's not what this is intended for. It's more intended for the actual like low to moderate income family that owns the property. Um, I would not want to
make the broker fee eligible, you know, because that's a mandatory part of the process is it's built right into the affordable price is the broker fee. Um, and then I would not include the 1.5% fee that's payable to the city, which
with your support, we've waved anyway for for properties that go through the process of working with us to market it to a river resident. Uh, but if for some reason they didn't work with us or if they sold it to a non-re resident, um, I wouldn't
want to make this pool eligible um, to have that fee waved. I think that fee is supposed to help us fund what we do with the trust. So, that's my modest proposal for what we might want to do, but I I know that others wanted to take some time to look into it, so wanted to
open it up for discussion. Yeah, I think it's I think it's a good idea. I mean, even, you know, maybe we only carve out $30,000 for it now and we realize it's it's actually not that easy to execute on, but I don't know. I feel like this solves the same issue as the
down payment assistance program. You know, you don't have to bring as much cash to the table to close on your new house. Um, but I feel like we we might even have more success with this program because, you know, we have the natural filtering of people are only going to engage with this if most likely if
they've already got a housing contract, they're more motivated to follow through. Um, so yeah, I'm I I think that's the most interesting thing about this is it's really accomplishing the same thing. Um, but curious to see if, you know, we have a little bit kind of
better response and easier execution because, you know, we're going to be getting people engaged when they're a little further along in the process versus um probably a part of the difficulty we've had with the down payment assistance program is it's a little little bit chicken in the egg and
um you know, maybe people are a little bit less motivated to uh look into that because they're they're not actually kind of across that line of I've got an offer accepted on a house. I've got to got to figure out how I'm going to fund it. Well, that range is actually consistent
with the average medium price for uh the the the uh closing cost and homes in RV. I just looked it up. Uh my qu my only uh followup for the last time we talked about is the extent to which it can the the effect it would have on the folks
who apply for it and uh my so to that what is the a total amount is you said 30,000 and and how many folks can are we trying to help with that? >> So my proposal would be we make it a maximum of 30,000 sort of in the pool
for a year. Um, and each individual applicant can apply for up to $5,000 for themselves. So that would fund up to six. Um, based on my understanding of the history, that's more than enough for the amount of affordable sales we'd
expect to happen in a given year. Obviously, that won't be the case if we have like a large building open that has a lot of affordable restricted units that come open at once, which I think is a good problem to have and we can address it, you know, as it as it
happens. Um, so six roughly and I I'd say buyers and then sellers who are income eligible. So, it could be like three sales if it's three that are both people are eligible to get support. Um,
but that's what I had in mind. Yeah. >> And if you want to limit what what the categories were, I think you were talking about, you know, not covering broker's fees or some of the other fees. I mean, I just looked up some of the the common ones, but you could put in there, you know, maybe the recording fee, you know, prepaid taxes, title insurance,
things like that. that would probably come out to about $5,000 and say, you know, the affordable housing trust fund will contribute five towards these three or four items off your, you know, show up on the HUD statement. Um, said appraisal, but, you know, you want to make sure that, you know, things I think that the house is going to close at that
point and that's where you're where you're paying the money. Um, that that I like the idea. So, if someone makes the motion, I'll second or if I make the whatever you want to do. Well, I think what I would say is if someone wants to make the motion, what I
would do is take that as a framework, I would develop it into an actual application with like here are the types of things we do and do not cover. Here are the guidelines for who's eligible for it and here's what the application would look like. I would present that to everybody and then we could ratify it
from there. That would be my suggestion if anyone would agree to make that motion or wants to discuss it further. make the motion to set aside $30,000 uh in total towards a um closing cost assistance program that'll be developed
um by the affordable housing trust fund. Are you is that how it works? >> I second. >> I'll ask for a voice vote. All in favor say I. I >> I I >> I >> I
>> I >> And uh any opposed? >> Okay, seeing none, I will uh work to develop what that application will look like. I'll circulate it to everyone and then we'll do a formal ratification vote or modification if necessary
um at the next meeting. And then I'd ask if we could have like maybe two volunteers that want to just maybe take a a preview run of it with me like we did with the senior repairs application. Um show of hands. Anyone that wants to >> I could help out if you'd like.
>> Perfect. Yep. That'd be great. >> I could as well. >> Lori, I'll have Lori join on this one. So, well, I'll >> Lori, I don't want to steal your thunder. You're more than welcome to do it. >> Yeah. No, I think the three of us, we can do it and we can we'll we'll we'll put together a draft and we'll run
through it. We'll make sure it's smooth, makes sense, and we'll present it to the broader group for a full a full vote. All right, terrific. Thank you everyone. Um, moving on to the next item.
It is I'm withdrawing this one. So, this was going to be request for a waiver per um a waiver to our down payment assistance program. So, the person who most recently was approved for it was enrolled in first-time home buyer class, but it wasn't going to be complete in
time, I guess, possibly for closing, but it's no longer an issue. She just sent me her certificate that she completed her class, so we're good. I was going to suggest that we vote to wave it, you know, because she was in process. Not an issue anymore. So, I'm withdrawing this agenda item. I don't know if anyone
would object to, you know, if this comes up in the future. I think as long as someone is enrolled in a course, if it's going to prevent them from being able to close, I'd like to, you know, we can't formally say that we would, but is that something people would entertain if we were to have to wave that in the future? >> Case by case bas.
>> Yeah. Case by case, right? Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. I believe that's a smart idea. >> Yeah. Obviously, we don't want to go too willy-nilly with it. We want people to follow the guidelines, but if it's, you know, an obvious case. So, appreciate that. Um,
okay. So, um, next is an update on the call for proposals, which we discussed. Really, the only update is that it's been posted. Um, it was in the newspaper. It's on the website. And I've also reached out to some nonprofits that have
historically worked with us or been interested in the work we do. And I won't name names because you know them. They've come before and spoken to us. Let them know that it's available. So, we've not received any proposals to this point. Um, if we do, I'll send them to everybody and then we'd start discussing
them at the next meeting. Um, but that continues a pace. So, and if you think of other audiences that we should be putting that in front of, let me know and I'll make sure that we get it around. Um, and I'll repeat the announcement of it in the paper, you know, every, you know, say four to six
weeks or so, so it continues to be out there and circulated. Um, any questions about that? Okay, seeing none. Um, next was just a check-in on some of the first-time home buyer programs. As I mentioned, we had the use of the down payment assistance, which was great. So, we're excited about
that. Um, like I said, it'll be there'll be two new ones that'll be done in the next couple weeks. So, that's exciting. Um, EMTT Bank completed their first-time home buyer um, workshop uh, for rever residents last week, I think it was. I
don't know, I lose track of time. Uh, a week feels like a month sometimes. This is especially this time of year, but I think it was last week and we had about a dozen people come to the Romany Marsh Academy for it, which is not bad for a freezing cold night in the middle of the holiday season. Um, so thank you to our
friends at Mnt Bank for talking through, you know, the OnePlus mortgage and all the different types of mortgage programs that people might be eligible for, credit tips, and, you know, different things that people need to know about the home buying process. So really appreciated that. We're definitely going
to do it again. And um I know Deb has been in touch about doing a rever Chelsea combined program with through um her bank and we'll send the details around to that to everyone once that gets scheduled. But that's something that we're excited about. Um and then
we're continuing to develop and utilize the consolidated interest list that I mentioned. So, we had people like sign up for expressing interest in being notified about affordable units when they become available um or being notified about things like down payment
assistance or seminars. Uh we've grown that mailing list and we've used that mailing list to advertise the affordable units when they become available. So, if that's if you're out there and you're watching and you're interested in joining this list, um that's also on the affordable housing trust website um sort
of how to sign up for it. Um or you can call or email the planning and community development office and we're happy to add you to that. Um and that way you can be notified anytime there's an affordable housing lottery or a unit that goes up for sale or anything like that. Um any questions about these
items? Okay. Um next is just a quick timing update. Um we put together that application for the ADU loan program. Uh, I've begun the groundwork of getting it on the website.
My hope is to have like a draft of what the application will look like for everyone to look at at our January meeting. Um, but again, much like with the senior repairs, I'm going to want everyone to like walk through it a million times and make sure that we get it exactly right and that there's nothing, you know, left up to that's
confusing. Um, so be on the lookout for that. I'll probably try to do some breakout calls with small groups to make sure people look at the application, they put in like a dummy application, make sure that it feels like a smooth process. Uh, but my ultimate goal would
be to get that up and running and have people be able to apply for it by like February, you know, once we get closer to the spring construction season, be able to market it and have it available. So, any questions about that? >> I have one quick question. Yes. Um, are
these applications available in other lang languages for maybe residents that don't have English as their first language? >> Yep. So, uh, all um everything will be made available in at least the four at
bare minimum the four languages that are most commonly spoken. Uh, so um, English, Spanish, uh, Portuguese and why am I blanking? um Arabic. Uh those are the four languages that we put everything on the website in to begin
with and then there's a translation available through our community liaison program if needed to create um additional versions if people request them. So the four would be created by default and then additional versions could be created on request if needed.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. Appreciate you um making sure that we address that. Other questions? All right. So, excited to get that moving. And um you know, I can state um from like a city update standpoint that
there's a pretty steady stream every month of a few new ADU applications. So, the interest is definitely there. Um and you know, hopefully with this program, we can help smooth that process out for some people. Um okay, so next we move to
public comment. Um, seeing none, I'll just ask if anyone else has anything additional to add or things that we haven't covered that they'd like to speak to, and that includes anyone that's on Zoom. >> Okay. Well, then if not, uh, do I hear a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn.
>> All right. Uh, >> I will say happy holidays and yes, >> good year, good good cheer for next year. really look forward to prosperity and happy um health prosperity everything else for folks on the call and folks here. It's been a pleasure
working with all y'all. >> My thoughts exactly. I really appreciate the work everyone's done. You know, it's been a great year and um I know that it's not easy to be um you know, part of a volunteer board and get emails from me
at like 6:00 in the morning or things like that. and um the the service that you provide does not go unnoticed and it's much appreciated and warm wishes to your family for great holiday season and look forward to seeing everyone in January. And so there's been a motion to
adjourn. Uh do I hear any objection? Seeing none, we'll see you in 2026. >> Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you to everyone on