Sound great. And we're ready to go live as soon as you gavl us in. >> All right. I'm holding the gavvel. I'm going to hit it at 6:30. We are still waiting on one virtual participant and one potential in-person
participant. But we do have a quorum regardless. So, we're just gonna get cracking because we've got a pretty full agenda, including some votes, which is exciting. Okay. Uh, good evening. Uh, welcome to the November 12th, 2025 meeting of the
City of River Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board. Uh, my name is Joe Graalisi. I serve as the mayor's appointee as chair of the board. Um, and this is our regular monthly meeting. I'll begin this meeting with a um roll call of the members. So, myself, Joe Graalisi, I'm
present. Uh, Matt Woler, I see is not here. I know he was having some travel issues. Um, by the way, if you're here virtually, um, just unmute yourself and shout out when you hear your name. Um, Anna was >> here. Okay. Deb Frank,
>> I'm here. Lori Manzo um I do not see here Leila Petri >> present. >> Okay. Judy Gosselin >> here >> and Dean Harris >> here. >> Great. So I do note that with um six
members present including two virtual uh we do have the presence of a quorum. So we'll move forward. Um first item in your packets is ratification of the October minutes. Um, I sent those out. So, if anyone had any issues or
questions, um, I assume not. Uh, but if you do, feel free to raise them now. Otherwise, can I ask for a motion to accept those minutes? >> Second. >> Okay, great. Uh, all in favor? >> I any opposed? Seeing none.
Okay, those have been ratified, >> we'll now move on to our finances check-in for the treasurer. So, we'll kick that over to you and then I'll have some updates on this front as well. Good evening everyone. Uh this is the current budget statement as provided to me by
Sutin Newton from the afford uh revier uh budget office. The current balance of the affordable housing c trust committee is 663,62429. Uh this balance is respective reflective of the approximately 167,000 that is encumbered for the next two month two
payments uh to the new neighborhood developers. Uh the interest posted to this period of this account is $3,329.95. Lastly, uh there there will be two there are some pending payments uh for the senior citizens home repairs program uh
that will be paid this week resulting in a further balance reduction of $10,625.19. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Uh so a couple finance related notes. Um, one we talked about last month, but just wanted to state for the record that it's official. Uh, which
is that we received the $250,000 uh from the developers of the Madera uh development on River Beach. Uh, that was a condition um of their approval for their project. And so we received those checks last week and they have been deposited. So I don't know if the
balance would reflect that yet. I don't think so. >> This is the balance as of today. Yeah. So I wanted to make because I read that there was some transactions pending and whatnot. I waited till this morning to ask her. So this is what it reflects to today. >> Perfect. So I I believe that um we'll be
replenished a bit once we get that that 250 which will be great. Um either way, you know, wonderful to see that and hopefully that is the beginning of um you know, additional support from development projects that come on board uh to support affordable housing initiatives. Um, as an IO mentioned, the
uh money coming out of the account comes from the uh senior citizen home repairs program. Uh, we've had a few that have already paid out, which I'll give a full update on when we get to that on the agenda, which has been super exciting. Um, but then also we do have um there's
a little bit of like financial um clarification that needs to happen, but half of the budget for the senior repairs program is going to be paid for out of a donation uh that came in from former speaker DO, which we all mentioned, and we're really grateful for that. The mechanics of how that's going to work, I have to talk to the treasur's
office about because we can only pay out of one account. So, the money is coming out of the affordable housing trust and then I think the money would come into the housing trust to replenish for the 25,000 is I believe how that's going to work, but I'll confirm that with you. We'll we'll find some time to talk to
the CFO's office. Um, but that hasn't been reflected in our balance either. Um, because that mechanic still needs to be worked out, but when we think about budgeting, um, that's useful information. Um the other financial note I want to mention is and I'll be kicking
it over to Nio and Judy to talk more about some of our fundraising efforts, but um we did have outreach um for something that we're working on to try to add a small additional balance uh so from the River Housing Coalition group. So they were an advocacy group uh that
has done really incredible work in the city um to advocate for affordable housing to advocate for you know some zoning changes to promote affordability in units uh and also really to advocate frankly for the existence of this board and of the trust fund. Uh so we're
really grateful for the work they did to kind of pave the way for what we do. uh their activities have kind of sunset in recent years and as of now they're not active and they do have a small balance of about $4,000 and um we have respectfully asked if they would
consider um making that donation of what's remaining. Uh the form the chair Laura Holmes has you know been expressed some interest in that and we talked about you know ways that we would use the funding to support some of their goals. uh that's up to them. Uh but uh
we're really grateful even for the consideration whether we get a part of what's remaining or none but they just consider it or if they do do it. Really really grateful for the River Housing Coalition for all the work they've done in the city um and for their consideration and outreach to us for
supporting our work. So any questions about any of those items? Okay. Well then I'm going to kick it to Anio if you can lead the way on, you know, some of the fundraising conversation. um that you had referenced. >> Sure. Thanks a lot. Uh Joe. Yeah. So,
basically, I'd like to provide an update to the subcommittee of fundraising. Uh basically, when last we spoke and worked, we were putting together a database that uh we were able to identify uh financial institutions that would offer grants that we could that
aligned with our goals here, the affordable housing trust committee. And as well as we tracked when those grants were due. uh to and to extend that conversation or to advance those efforts. I've since added to the database by providing or putting
together a group of possible non 501c3s that we could reach out to. And what today I'm will briefly kind of talk about is ways we can kind of put together some target dates of activities for next year and also some short-term goals we can look at. Okay. So one of
the key things I noticed when we were looking at the grants last year was that a majority of the grants required a partnership with the 501c3 and uh as uh so that was kind of a challenge for us at least that's why we couldn't go ahead and apply for some of these grants. What
I have done and since since the proposed is actually uh come up with an agenda for next year so that we can create these partnerships at the beginning of the year and uh and then sort of put together a a targeted campaign for these grants. What I mean by that specifically is that there are
four specific items uh that I pro will propose. One uh establish community partnerships uh with are in with River to work towards these affordable goals. So that's the first thing and I put that date between December and February. So in between now and February I'll be
reaching out in our group will be reaching out with targeted emails to these organizations and we can add more uh so that we can start these uh these uh create these partnerships. The second of the fourpoint plan is once we have these partnerships, we would basically
have specific we would codify specific goals uh such that when we let's say we choose to write a grant or go for a funding activity, we'd specifically have targeted how much we'd like to raise, what are our aims and how this would benefit the community. Uh and then third
is implementation. Right? So the first the reason why this is heavier at the beginning of the year February March is when I'd like us to have codify these goals is because a lot of the grants are due May and April and so ideally we would like to have these partnerships
established and these go these co these goals codified by May Aprilish so that we can at least start the pro process of the or filling out some of these these these grants and then the last part of the goal is analysis and learn um review of lessons learned. So we
would take a look at what we what accomplishments we've done and where we can grow and I was targeting this towards let's say August September. So ideally the ide so the point of this effort is to essentially uh expand and
maybe offset some of the burden that the public has on some of the activities that we do. Uh so what does that mean? These short-term goals the first obviously is to create these partnerships. There are some that actually we've already started the ball rolling one and uh this is with uh Laura
Christopher uh with this affordable housing or this community land trust and we she came and presented sometime beginning maybe it's May or August of this year or so and my what I will do is reach out again to her and see how far they've advanced with that tax status
because one of the last thing they talked about was how far they were with establishing this 501c3 and then we can you perhaps formalize or or more make more concrete some of our joint efforts and I'll definitely I'll follow up with her and that group and there are a few
others because we they have not presented themselves here I won't call their names out publicly but I will with the committee's approval obviously reach out to them and say okay we would how would you you know propose these joint partnerships and I hope to have this
wrapped up December February so this I thinking this May or November February or November, December, January, February, try to have all of that kind of like cemented. So, we have these partnerships and and then essentially the last part of the short-term goals is
we have great progress and great uh great great results from the senior home repairs program and uh this affordable the uh the first time home homeowners assistance program. And ideally we can craft somewhat of a draft of this to
present to financial institutions that would help see that we had a great start and perhaps we so basically grant writing itself need not be necessarily be specifically filling application. Some of it simply can be just petitioning for additional support from these grants and now that we have a
history a track record of success we can go out and so we need not wait till the deadlines of February, March whatever and so that was the second shortterm goal. So the first short-term goal is to make these contacts, these email campaign and the second short-term goal is sort of to draft our own sort of like
uh proposal that we can either leverage in a formal grant writing or we can just initiate to these banks ourselves. And that's where I'll pause for now. >> Thank you for that update. That was really helpful um and extensive which I appreciate. Uh would love to ask you to
do a couple follow-ups. Uh, one is, um, let's get a subcommittee, you know, conversation on the books and if you could just spearhead that after the meeting, we could find some time to really follow up on all this and divide up tasks. Um, and then if you can also
maybe help us lead the way and I'll obviously help with this on putting together this narrative about the senior repairs program. Uh, tell the story a little bit and I'll add some color commentary and we'll we'll put it together and kind of use that as a template for some of what you're talking about. I think that would be great. Um,
I do have a couple um, institutional partners that I have I'm overdue to set up meetings with and that I'd like to tag you in on on those conversations as well as well as anyone else that wants to be in on it. So, um, great thank great update. You thank you
for that. I don't know if anyone else has anything to add or any questions on the fundraising side. >> Thank you. >> Making sure I'm checking the Zoom as well. All right. Uh seeing none, we will move on to our senior repairs program
update. So uh it's both in front of you and then also sent via email for those that are digital. But I'll just talk through it a little bit. Um this has been uh a great success. It's something that I'm really excited. It took up a lot of um I say this in a good way, a
lot of staff time, you know, for us uh because we had there was a lot of interest, a lot of applicants. The questions came fast and furious. A few of you were so nice enough to join uh for the launch meeting of the senior center when we had a big crowd of people
asking questions. Um ultimately we got 26 actual applications submitted for the program within a week. Yeah, definitely like everyone's efforts led to that. Um, I'm confident, you know, that if we had
left the application open for like two weeks, we probably would have got 50 or 60 because there were a lot of people that were interested in it. We're trying to put together their quotes and things like that. Um, I'll get into the logistics of kind of where we're at on awarding the money, but I just want to share some feedback both that I received
and then also that I'm just kind of picking up on uh from the process. You know, I think that um I do think that ultimately the the rules that we all set together were really fair and appropriate in terms of like it's going to be the first fully complete application with everything in
timestamped and received just because there was really no other fair way to do it. You know, we only had the funding to support a limited number of projects. We knew we were going to get more applications than we were going to get. And like it wouldn't have been fair, I
think, to hold someone's spot if they submitted a partial application uh or to have you know other some other sort of way. I think we had to do it the way we did. I think uh really grateful that the senior center launched it with their resource
fair because it allowed us to introduce people to uh JM services who they have kind of a agreement with the senior center to do free estimates and quotes for seniors. They don't the work isn't free. they have to pay for the work, but they're able to get a quote, which even that can be really difficult and
challenging. I'll say that I don't have a solution to this, but I think a big challenge for us to overcome, you know, for us to do this again is the fact that it is difficult even to get quotes, you know, for like a smaller dollar project. um contractors are so busy and so in
demand right now that unless you're going to them with a $50,000 project, you know, they might not even want to take the time to come out and give you an estimate, let alone put you on the schedule for for work. So, if there's a way we can grease that a little bit,
like by pitching to a certain approved, like I don't know, there's got to be ways we can do it to try to kind of smooth that process out because we did have, you know, some people submit their applications and they really well documented the challenges they had and the things they wanted to fix but under
the terms of the program until they got a professional quote you know we couldn't approve them which we had to treat everyone fairly but at the same time it's still unfortunate you know to see that oh well there's obviously a documented need here and I believe them that they've called seven you know seven
roofers or seven plumbers or seven and have had trouble get getting someone scheduled so senior cent's done great work with that but that's something that we can think about if we can with that, you know, in some way moving forward. Um, I think the
on the online application again was kind of like a necessary evil, you know, and that I know that we have folks that are technologically like it's not their favorite thing. We were able to offset that by having people make appointments with the digital navigators at the
senior center. But one thing that I would like to improve upon for next time, and again we'd have to figure out how to do this, is the fact that if someone scheduled an appointment with the digital navigator and it was for even the next day, so many applications came in that they kind of lost out on
that. And so I think that um we had a few people that filled out and submitted applications that they had appointments for and by that point all the money had been awarded and they all ended up, you know, on a waiting list. So, I think that when we do it over again, that's something to think about is how do we maybe balance that
open to ideas, you know, I think we did it as fairly as we could. >> Um, but we want to make sure that we're just thinking through all these questions about equity and fairness of how to, you know, run it run it properly. So, that's some of the feedback that I have on the process of
how it played out. Obviously, if others have feedback that they heard or that they want to offer, uh, but the application itself was a labor of love from everyone. I think a lot of you were in like 18 different meetings about it about putting together the language and crafting the questions and so we're just
really grateful for everyone's work on this. Um, you did a great thing. I mean, this is something that's already making an impact for and I'll tell you some stories >> in a moment, but um, any other thoughts on the process or feedback on kind of how it went so far?
Were there any like specifics that you saw like a trend of what people were coming in for like around bathroom, you know, the grab bars and Yeah. all the other things. Was there any? >> Yeah. Sorend grab bars, comfort height toilets. Uh but then also a lot of roof work.
>> A lot of roof work. Um where those are the ones where it would be like the big really expensive project that we're only covering a piece of but the piece that we're covering can help make it feasible. I did have, you know, Obviously, without sharing names, one
person who was very nice, who got approved and we supported her project, it was for her roof repair. And she said to me, you know, I never thought I'd live long enough here to have to fix my roof three times. So, I didn't really plan for that. So, glad the city was able to help out with it. And I was like, well, I'm really glad that you
did, you know, and she's she has been in that house since I think it was like 1962 or something. And so, she already made two roof repairs on that house. and the third one came around and she just needed that little bit of extra help to do it. So, I was glad we were able to do
that. Um, we did do a, you know, one of the like chair lift systems, uh, for someone for like wheelchair to go up and downstairs. Uh, but several of the, um, bathroom projects like the comfort height toilet and the grab bars, that was pretty common. Um there was a mish
mash of other things too like someone got their um heating you know tank replaced the oil tank. Um there was some other HVAC work. Uh so it was a mix but those are the the most common you know
types of projects for sure. Make sure I'm paying attention to the screen as well if anyone on Zoom had comments on the process or questions or anything like that. Otherwise, I'll start talking through where we're at. >> No, no comments.
>> All right. Okay. So, where we're at, we got 26 applications. Um, so I mentioned that we have 12 that are conditionally approved. And that brings me to a vote that I want to bring us to tonight. Uh, so we've paid out five awards uh for a total of $19,525.19.
Uh I think some of the checks maybe did or did not were were not reflected in the total but that's the amount that we've actually authorized um to this point. We have six others that have signed their contract. So basically after we approve their application and
see that see their quote and approve it. They sign a contract that outlines the terms of the program. it says that they're going to submit us their final invoice from the contractor and we reimburse them the cost of the project or $5,000 whichever is smaller. Um, and
so we have six that have signed their contracts, but we haven't paid out the work yet. One because we haven't had a chance to go over and just inspect it, and then the other is because they haven't completed it yet. Um, or at least if they've completed it, they haven't told us they completed it. Um,
and that's a total of $28,548. So for a total between those of 48,73 and then we have an additional uh project that so I'll tell you again you know for the most part this went really smoothly there was only one one thing
that happened where we actually had someone submitted an online uh quote to complete their application they had done the application already and they didn't have the quote and they submitted the quote to me via email literally as I was meeting in person
with someone else who came in to ing their quote. Uh um so we are going by like the basically when documents are received in person where I've timestamped them to have an accurate and I have like it completely listed of exactly what minute and second
everything came in to prevent any confusion. That being said in the interest of complete fairness and transparency I don't know like I don't know if I immediately stamped this person's is the second they walked in or if we talked a little bit first and I that you know then then took the time down. So, because these two essentially
came in at like the exact same time and they had everything completed, uh, I have a conditional approval out for one and wanted to ask if we, you know, I don't want to get in the habit of doing this for we, you know, approve X dollars for a project and then go back and add more because we want to make sure that
we're budgeting, you know, smartly. Um, but I'm going to make a motion and request that we authorize an additional $5,000 for the program for two reasons. One is to basically cover this situation of the two people that were basically
equal like it was within a minute if anything um with some lack of clarity there. Uh then also we already have a little bit of wiggle room if you see because a couple of the projects came in under the $5,000. Um and so
That means that we might have like 1,200 or 1300 or even more like 2,000 or 2500 or something depending on the way the others go to fund someone that's on the waiting list. I think it would be great if we can do that, you know, because we have um eight applicants that completed
everything and they're on the wait list because they came in after everyone else was already approved. um they've all been informed that, you know, if we expand or repeat this program in the future, they're going to get first crack at it. Um but then also we'll go to them
if for some reason someone doesn't complete their project or if they come in under budget or whatever the case may be. So, um, like I said, I don't I know we want to try to make a budget and stick to it, but I think given these circumstances and frankly the success and interest in the program, I'd like to
make a motion that we authorize an additional $5,000 so that we can cover that additional person and then have a little bit left over for for the weight list. So, >> second. >> Great. Um, can I ask all in favor of that? >> I >> I >> I
>> Any opposition? Okay. All right. Well, so I the the eyes have it. Um, so from that >> I do have one uh comment. Is it possible for any of those folks to uh share their
experience with the program? >> Yeah. >> Uh that would be like the stories you mentioned, they're amazing. The the railing and the the accommodations for the bathroom. That's amazing. And that's I mean essentially reason why it is really exciting >> and if they share that then you know one
it'll spread and then we can you know help others. So that's >> yeah so we're in the process of contacting actually the folks that have been the beneficiary now to see if they're willing to >> take a picture you know have like a news article about it. We don't want to put
anyone on the spot. We didn't do this for like publicity but at the same time if they're willing to do it we'd love to do that. So, it's a really great idea and um something that we'd love to do just >> it's not obligated. It's not obligating. It's just a heartwarming story. I think it's amazing. It's not to say we are
championing any >> Yeah. >> pushing up our chest. It's just that I smiled internally when you started to talk about uh the folks we were helping and what they were actually doing. That's amazing. So, yeah. >> Yeah, it it is great. And we it really like we really ran the gamut in like
types of projects and we had some like younger seniors, we had some older seniors. I think someone was like 90, someone else was 62. So, we had that whole range, you know, that we approved for and um all different needs, right, based on kind of where people are
in life and and uh really just appreciative of everyone's hard work because I know that it took a lot of months of iterations and planning and getting it right. But that's why we tried to make sure we get it right so that when we had it ready to go, it could go pretty smoothly. Not saying there were zero hiccups, but you know,
we were able to work through them and have policies in place. And I think it went really well. And so now with that extra 5,000 approved, which we're really grateful for, >> we've got a little bit of wiggle room to fund this one additional person, uh, and then also um, we should be able to get
to at least one person on the wait list, I think, even if it's partial funding, you know, even if they get $1,500, you know, I think that would be a help. So, thank you all for >> We can keep the folks that are on the wait list for next year. >> Yep. Exactly. And uh in addition to
keeping them on the waiting list um for you know a repeat of the program, I'm also going to let them know about any charitable resources that might exist. You know, I know we've talked about Rebuilding Together Boston is a nonprofit that does some of this kind of work. Uh and now they already have all
their materials together, so they have something to submit. I don't know what they're, you know, how much budget they have or how much work they're going to do in REI, but it helps to know that there's already people that have their projects kind of lined up and ready to go. So, um, the last piece I just wanted to share just for, you know, everyone's
information. So, we had eight that were on the wait list and then we had an additional eight that were declined. Um, seven because they didn't submit some piece of information, uh, whether it be income statements or a contractor quote or something like that. usually the
contractor quote. Um, and then one who they were not eligible just due to house to age. And then we had a few other people that asked if they'd be eligible, found out they wouldn't be and ended up not submitting an application. That was just due to income guidelines or age
guidelines or like things we talked about where if there's adult children in the house that have income, their income counts, you know, towards that. That's just based on keeping everything consistent with HUD guidelines and all the programs that we do. Full household income is what you know counts towards
it. So, any other questions about the senior repairs program, comments, feedback? >> Great job. >> Thank you everyone. I really appreciate everyone's help with this. It was a great success and by next month we should have all the rest of them probably paid out and we can share some
more stories. So, that'll be great. Um, moving on. Uh, for those that were not at the last meeting, and I think a few people were missing, I just wanted to make sure everyone had the text of the ADU loan program application that we approved. Um, there's really no
additional work that needs to be done on this from our side. It's just, um, we're going to work to get the application up after New Year's. Uh, I'm thinking probably closer to spring, like Februaryish, once we get back into construction season. Um, but
there is time to review this if anyone proposes any amendments or changes. You know, as we know, the senior repairs went through a lot of iterations even after we approved it. So, feel free to take a look at this, but this is something that we're continuing to work towards.
>> Um, any questions about that? Great. Uh, and then the other thing that we approved at the last meeting and I wanted to just get the text out to uh in case anyone didn't get it was the text for this open call for proposals. Um, I
will raise my hand and say my intention was we were actually going to put this out before this meeting and I did not do that. Uh we've got a little bit we were pretty um busy with the senior repairs program and so this got put on the back burner for a little bit but I will put this out before the next meeting uh and
we'll advertise it as an open call for proposals for those interested in submitting for um sort of open projects that they're asking for support for like the ones that we've talked about like the ocean 110 ocean that which we approved and then some others that we didn't approve
just creating that fair process. Um, any questions about that? Okay, so moving on. Sorry about that. Uh, a couple updates on our first-time home buyer, uh, programs and resources.
First of all, we have had two additional recipients of down payment assistance since our last meeting, so that's exciting. Uh, I know it had been kind of slowgoing a little bit um for the reasons that we've talked about, but now it we've gotten a few. So, that's great. We still have several that have been
kind of conditionally approved, but they're waiting to purchase a home, you know, to get into a purchase and sale for something that is in Rivier and is in their price range. Um, we mentioned um there was supposed to be
a workshop last week with Mnt Bank, uh, first- time home buyer workshop. There ended up being a scheduling conflict with the schools for that, so we postponed that to December 6th. Uh, so you should have all received that. um email. So, apologies for any confusion for anyone that was planning on
attending last week, but we're excited about that. And I've been in touch with Deb about um hosting one with Metro Credit Union. Um and we're maybe going to do that in partnership with Chelsea. So, I'll keep everyone updated as that
goes. Um and we've let some other banks know as well that, you know, we're available and interested to host some of these first-time home buyer uh workshops. Last but not least, um we've talked about like affordable condo sales, affordable housing sales, and so one
step that we've made um as a city to try to make this information a little bit easier to access is the creation of a consolidated like interest list. So, it's not a waiting list, per se, uh, but it is an interest list, which I sent out a sign up form to anyone who's applied
for down payment assistance, anyone who was on the waiting list for those 133 Salem affordable condos, and anyone who's basically ever emailed our office and said, you know, how tell me about down payment assistance or tell me about like affordable condo sales.
Reached out to all of them, sent a sign up form and asked people to basically submit if they want to be notified when affordable condos hit the market. And so we've had a few people sign up already. We're going to advertise it and try to grow that list and just have it as like a centralized resource for folks to
know. Um and we had our first chance to use that list because um one of the condos at 133 Salem, the affordable condos, they've reached actually the end of the initial lottery list and so now they're putting it out for others that
might be interested. Um, so we're getting the word out there that there's an affordable unit available in that building. Um, so that's our our efforts to grow that. Uh, any questions about that process about the coordinating? >> Excuse me, Joe. In the email, they say
uh December 4. >> What's that? >> December 4th or December 6th. >> Let me Sorry, did I get the date wrong? It's It should It's a Thursday. December 4th. That's right. Yep. December 4th. It's a Thursday. Thank you for that. Uh, you know what? It was supposed to be
November 6. That's why I got confused. Yep. Yep. Thank you for that. Thank you for the catch. >> Um, so I mentioned 133 Salem. The next thing I want to update you on is, you know, we've talked about this 291 River Street building that was under the opices of
the Malden Redevelopment Authority that transferred control to the city. Um, and we do have two units in that building that are about to go up for sale, affordable units. Um, so that'll be happening imminently. We've been in
touch with the with the brokers for that. Um, and so we really want to use that consolidated list and then also advertise in the journal and get the word out to try to make sure that River residents have an opportunity to purchase. Um, as we've discussed, under the rules of these affordable deed
restricted condos, you know, the owner can sell it to anyone they want as long as it's below the maximum price and the person meets the income requirements. Uh, but we've tried to in, you know, incentivize owners to work with the city
a by we kind of take some of the load off of them by doing the advertising, verifying people's income eligibility and things like that. Uh but then also be through some potential financial incentives. Um
one of which is there's a 1.5% um administrative fee uh that you're supposed to pay when you complete affordable condo sale. Um and with the permission of the trust board, which I forget if it was last meeting or the one before, uh we're going to wave that for
folks that work with us to resell, you know, just to take, you know, these are people that are selling affordable units, right? they're not making a ton of money off of them. Uh, and they themselves are moderate income individuals. Uh, we're going to wave it if they work with us, right, and list it. They don't have to sell it to a
river resident, but at least give River residents kind of that first crack, first opportunity to apply for the unit, uh, tour the unit. You know, if they want to do their own thing and just sell it to whoever, they can. but we're going to offer this waiver of the fee, you
know, if they work with us and kind of go through our process and go through our listing. Um, and I've attached kind of a a generic version of the email that I've sent to some of the brokers kind of outlining the terms of our home
ownership sale policy that you guys can review. And I apologize for getting that to you late. Um, but it shows the information that we share, right? So, it's this is the maximum price you can sell the unit for. This is the income limits of who you can sell the unit to. And then these are the steps that we're
going to go through to try to list it um for Revier residents. The last piece that I wanted to talk about with this, which I included on this draft, uh, but you know, I know we want to bring it to a vote, is I'd like to authorize a small pool of funds to be
made available, um, which we can replenish, I would say, on an either annually or on an as needed basis, which would probably be less than annually based on how infrequently these sales happen. uh of $4,000 to support um
some closing cost assistance on both sides for transactions that are a sale to a river resident. Um where we can help support just some of the the closing costs, you know, in addition to the down payment assistance that they're probably going to get based
on eligibility, you know, if they if they choose to apply for it. Um my thought was $4,000 a frankly could match a donation that we're hopefully going to receive. Knock on wood. So that kind of can offload offset it on the budget. Uh
but that would also basically provide enough for sure for us to at least support like four sales. Uh and it seems like based on historical trends that would be a lot for one year. Like the fact that there's two is kind of surprising. Uh it seems like they they
don't come up that often. Uh, but if we do get a bunch and we're able to support several people through this, I think that would be positive. So, want to open this up for questions. See if anyone has questions about >> Is it 43 4,000 per transaction? >> No, 4,000 total is like a pool that we
kind of authorize or encumber within our budget that we're going to set aside for doing as transactions come up. >> Yeah. Does it have to be cash or could it be their time of say an attorney or somebody like that doing the closing?
>> So I just to be clear I envision this is more covering some of like the fees that are mandatory as part of like fi like filing uh with the state and like different things like that. Um I'm not sure I understand the question. I'm sorry.
They they could, but I don't envision us paying for that. Sorry, I I apolog, but I I don't envision us putting them. >> I was just looking at different options. Yeah. >> Um, any other questions? Or is this a followup to that? I think
you referring to inind donation. >> Basically, if uh you know a lawyer or whomever, which attorney fees are pretty expensive, they might be able and that would sort of uh be included with the 4,000. What I think Joe's referring to is like cash
>> and uh you know, a poll that can deal with some of the other sort of administrative or application costs >> uh specifically related to the signing of the deal. I think the other question I have is 4,000 is the pool, but would we how would that be allocated per
transaction? Would it be only a third of it or fourth of it would be offered to >> I think that that's something we can discuss. I would say my inclination is let's put a maximum of 1,000 per transaction >> because these closing costs unfortunately can be really expensive
and I can see >> 4,000 gobbled up in one transaction. That's why I was >> so I I would say maybe if we make I would propose putting a limit of a thousand. >> I was actually thinking 4,000 too small. Could we go with eight or 10? Because
again, I'm not saying that one, we have to budget for it and it's just simply >> Sure. >> So So, you know, you you want to certainly help, but we want to help, right? If the closing cost is anywhere from 10,000 per person and we're only going to give them let's say again I'm
just being throwing like $1,000 that's nice and helpful but if we have the budget for a little more >> I I just essentially saying I think $4,000 might be a bit >> okay >> too small but this is up for the committee it's so expensive with some of
these closing costs that we'd only be able to help maybe one or two people with 4,000 I think. >> So I would propose like 10,000 but As I'm looking at our budget, I think we do have it, but that's just me. >> Any other thoughts? Um, well, I think that
I'd be supportive of growing the the total pool that we authorize. And I think that maybe what we should do is not necessarily commit to doing this every year, you know, but make it something that's available. See how it goes as a pilot. see if it's well received, see if it works out. Um,
if that, you know, I don't know if you if anyone has any thoughts on how >> absolutely endorse it. My thing is I want it to be a little bigger, but yeah, I 100% endorse it. >> We could also kind of kick it for further discussion at the cost and do some research into >> it can be such a sort of buzzkill when
you're at the finish line and then you've got this because you spend so much to get a house and go to the everything's expensive and then you get this. It's almost as though it's a an insult to injury because you're at the finish line and then you get all these application costs. You're like, what is this? So,
>> yeah, that's why I think I mean, not only endorse it, I would that we would go a little further than that. >> All right. Far be it for me to want to be the Grinch to try to limit the budget, you know, but yeah. Um, any other thoughts
on this? Okay. Well, we're not anywhere near any of these units closing. So, I think maybe what I'll do is I'll propose that we table this. Uh, I'll do some research into what like the mandated fees kind of have come out to be the last few times this has happened. I won't be able to
get information about it because it has been forever since it's happened. But I'll reach out to Malden. I'll reach out to Chelsea. I'll reach out to Everett. try to collect some information on this and see if there's a um some comparable numbers that I can present. We can come back and we can figure out, you know,
what makes sense and if we want to cap it per project or if we want to just have a pool and, you know, tap into it as needed, we'll we'll do some research on that. Does that make sense? >> Yes. >> All right. So, I'll move to table this. Do I have a second? >> Second.
>> Second. >> Okay. Any objection? >> Okay. Seeing none. Okay, thank you for that. Um, other city updates, you've got pretty much all of them. Uh, so I have nothing else for you. Um,
any additional late items that anyone wants to bring up. Okay. And public comment. Seeing none. Uh, with that, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Okay. >> Second.
>> All right. All in favor? I >> All right. Any opposed? We'll see you in a month. All right. Thank you.