good evening everyone we'll be beginning shortly all right here we are today is April 9th 2025 and this is the monthly meeting of the affordable housing trust fund and this meeting is now called to order
i'm going to take a roll call we have participants in person as well as on Zoom uh Joe Graalisi is absent on vacation clarensillo myself vice chair I am present annayia Oke present online
awesome leila Petri present lori Manzo's absence with an illness deborah Frank she just arrived dean Harris Matthew Woler present everyone is
present minus two and a quorum is established do we have an approval of the minutes from the last meeting dean motions do we have a second awesome our minutes have been approved and will be posted shortly uh Anna if
you're ready to go can we have a check-in on the current balance of our finances sure I am can you hear me yes we can hear you all right thanks a lot well first of all good evening everyone the current balance for the affordable housing trust committee is
680,18067 this was uh given to me by the uh affordable the Suta Newton from the River City uh city of Rivera audits audit office thank you Anniole for the update uh and
to segue off of that um so Annio's updated us that the current balance is $680,18067 sorry about the noise um the next agenda item is related to that financial update it is the free cash allocations that the city council
recently approved currently our ordinance has the free cash allocation to the affordable housing trust fund at 10% and the chief financial officer just submitted and had approved by the city council an amendment to 5% so a bit of a
decrease but this is due to um increase necessity and proliferation of additional trust funds in the city that require funding at this time and so I know Joe Graalisi spoke with some of the budgeting officers here in the city and
the estimate for what we will receive in the future under this new percentage is about 220,000 so keep that in mind as we discuss funding projects and um bigger projects down the line it's a little less than what we've usually gotten but
there are a lot of important projects going along in the city that also need the money so just keep that in mind and uh does anyone have any questions about the free cash allocations anyone on Zoom no we get what we get right uh next
agenda item is our subcommittee report out so if our subcommittee on fundraising has an update for us Anna if you care to share first sure absolutely so we met uh March 19 uh Joe Graalisi
Laura Petria uh and Ila or sorry Laura Lori and Ila myself we met uh March 19th and basically we discussed this uh idea of approaching uh possible uh fundraising uh
uh institutions in the area that might be able to support some of our affordable housing efforts and what we essentially did was we started to target uh banks in the area we had a list of about 40 or so and I'll make this
available after the meeting and we basically filtered this list of 40 banks to one as the first criteria being obviously we wanted to find banks that sponsored or that provided charitable opportunities for uh specifically
targeted affordable housing and when we did that we then whittle down to uh well what's in scope in terms of have they provided these sorts of assistance for u uh communities in the area and after having done that we narrowed our list
down to about seven potential banks uh now the the challenge however leading forward is that most of these fundraising uh fundraising offers or uh applications require uh that the
organization be a 501c3 so this would entail us actually having to partner or look for partners uh in this regard uh because we are a government agent uh we are feature of the city and not necessarily a 501c3 organization so we
wouldn't necessarily um be we wouldn't be eligible for these as it stands now so what we decided to do however was to reach out or start a process of reaching out uh to some 501c3 or at least
nonprofits in the area uh some of which I since we haven't actually made these formal uh uh requests i won't put I won't put it out now but the idea is the next the next steps are to find partner organizations that allow us to do it uh
uh that would be interested in working with us and filling out or applying for some of these opportunities the last thing I will note is that uh a lot of these another criteria to consider is that the application window for some of these uh these funding opportunities uh
differ some uh the some start as early as um May 19th and others are rolling so as we try to find partners we want to be kind of aware of these rolling windows so that we not only find partners but we
able to apply within the appropriate amount of time to do so uh so that's where we are now we'll we'll I'll take any questions or if Laya or Lori want I know Lori is not on and Joe's not there so if Ila would like to add more or if
there's any questions uh please uh I'm available to answer any thank you Annayia and Leila interrupt me if you have anything to add but uh I know the 501c3 issue has come up before uh when city boards and commissions are
looking to fund raise and sort of uh gather money outside of their city status as a board and commission so that's something uh we can definitely speak to the financial department about too uh if other cities and towns have outsourced some of their board and
commission members to create 501c3s or nonprofit arms that are separate that would of course require really big commitments by members of the boards and commissions so it may not be feasible but um the idea of kind of attacking the fundraising challenge from like a
trifold approach of nonprofit city agency and the bank sounds really promising so I'm really excited to see how the subcommittee continues um to deliver in that way did anyone have questions for Anna dean does
so it has to be a 501c3 a nonprofit um it can't be an LLC yeah well well the organ not Yeah for most of the organizations we're looking at and I can speak with you offline about this because I don't want to put the big banks on blast but most of the banks
that we are uh seeking assistance from and that offered really the the pretty large help a pretty generous amount in terms of the charity they require your or the organization to be a 501c3 it's specifically mentioned in the
documentation yeah just one more question have we spent any I'm thinking about like the possibility to partner with 5013C's where we're jointly applying for these grants as as a strategy to get access there are there are a few that that I
mentioned earlier that I didn't want to kind of there are a few ideas uh one in mind that uh I think would would be a good fit for this uh but because we haven't actually made the formal request I kind of want to keep their names a little bit close to the chest but you're
right um Matt there is that's definitely something that is the next step for us to consider uh but ideally you know there is kind of a procedure of like well we would write to them and then uh you know if they feel comfortable we would announce who they are but for now
that's absolutely something is a next step for us to consider is to find these partnerships that sounds great and totally understand the need to keep the names in the dark until we formally approach them so thank you Annio and Ila you're good with the
subcommittee report out deb Deb wants to add yeah you are i'm sorry Deborah could you speak yeah okay that'll do it that'll do it okay um so I'm wondering if we've considered um reaching out to the local realtor
associations who all have their own foundations to partner with and all of them um grant have grants available for housing and things like that so that might be a good partner whether it's Massachusetts Association of Realtors Greater Boston Association of Realtors
Southshore I mean I greater Boston would be this area but that might be worth looking into absolutely i didn't consider that but I will add that to the list well I I um this initial approach is not exclusive meaning all you know uh
absolutely would consider other opportunities to reach out to folks that would provide charitable assistance banks are not the only one uh that one so definitely I'll uh definitely include that thank you for your uh the uh letting us know about this additional
opportunity i'm going to write this down thank you Deb and we've noted that in the minutes as well so we definitely will not forget uh moving on to the next subcommittee the home ownership subcommittee if Matt could take the lead on that report uh yep so we we met on
April 1st um and yeah no no major updates as far as no no big decisions made or kind of new rocks turned over we really spent most of the time uh giving updates on ongoing programs and progress on the new initiatives that we're
already doing research on um three three big topics of conversation were the down payment assistance program RDU conversions and the condo conversion program on the down payment assistance front um yeah we we spent time thinking
about you know how can we uh just put a better process in place for fielding applications i think we definitely uh learned a lot along the way doing this for the first time um and just the reality of we we had a little bit more help from the city on processing applications up front and on the go
forward we're going to have to be self-sufficient so probably going to be getting more members of this subcommittee involved in fielding those applications so Joe's not not doing it all by himself um and Joe's kind of leading the charge on putting those like templates and and processes together
right now um on the RDU conversion program we're we're kind of in a holding pattern just in figuring out the possibility of actually executing on that uh Tom is kind of taking the charge on figuring out the possibility of of doing it and really we're waiting for um
the city council to pass their RDU ordinance uh before we we know exactly what the rules of the game are going to be on that one um and then regarding condo conversions I think we're at this point done doing our you know property level kind of market research and
diligence um I had sent a PDF around to the group ahead of the meeting that details some of the findings we uh did a did a pretty deep dive on to write on 18 properties across the city uh some of them active listings most of them honestly were stuff that already sold
just because it's really hard finding listings that that fit right now um and I think for the most part we confirmed you know what what we already know um but just to put some harder numbers behind it we we baked up on those uh 18
underwrites to an average project cost of $1.2 million so um and you know that's that's everything acquisition price uh closing costs rehab costs carry costs like everything end to end to run
a condo conversion project um obviously not something we have the funds to do today but um was still a good exercise i think we we learned a lot about the rever market and are going to be pretty well equipped when it comes time to either kick that program off or uh
kicking this program off in the grant for form um more importantly just boiling down to like the brass tax of uh what what would it really cost to put an effective incentive uh through the grant program to uh incentivize investors and
developers to sell one unit on you know a two three four unit condo conversion as deed restricted affordable and again kind of confirming what we already knew here but um across the 18 properties we looked at we came out to a weighted
average delta of just about $108,000 um so somewhere around that maybe slightly above it would would kind of be the the cost per grant if if we wanted to run a program like this uh the assumptions that went into that uh as
far as what the max affordable sale price would be um we're assuming they're uh threeperson family um which is $119,100 income limit for this year um we're assuming they have no other debt
that the loan is a 6.75 interest rate which is market today but obviously can change and that they would have been using FHA 5% down financing i think the big butt on that one is it assumes no other debt like all this stuff is based on debt to income
ratios and realistically applicants for um to purchase a home like this probably have some other debt so um just something something to consider and uh frankly uh one of the ideas I had is just combing through the applications we got on the down payment assistance program cuz it's probably a similar
profile to what an end buyer would look like for this program to try and get a little bit sharper on like what a more typical debt to income ratio looks like um because most likely the grant would would have to be a little bit above that
like hard $18,000 figure um I think at this point we've answered the question of you know we we prefer this program in the form of a grant program today and I think the last question we have is thinking about is that a grant that is
like a flat dollar price grant or is it something we're going to consider on a project by project basis there's positives and negatives to both obviously if we did the flat dollar grant it's just simpler easier program to run we're not having to negotiate on
every single application and you know frankly just do like the work and diligence that comes along with that um uh there's also like the selection bias to consider so $120,000 on one unit it's a lot more compelling on smaller floor
plans lower bedroom counts and that's that's kind of what we're going to be solving for um like a larger threebed that might not be compelling for a private investor but it might be for a smaller twobed again positives and negatives um but yeah I think that's that's
probably I think the last decision to be made before we really get into the nuts and bolts of how do we actually get this program uh off the ground thank you so much for that Matt it was a lot of really helpful information and a lot of questions that uh the board of
trustees will have to consider perhaps for the next meeting or one coming up soon is uh if we do decide to go the grant route for these condo conversions to incentivize the developers uh do we go with a flat number as he said or do
we manage it on a case-byase basis and perhaps depending on the demand that we get if we open up an application like this alter it based on the demand based on the market based on what the current needs are if those are to change um so definitely something to think about does
anyone have any questions or comments for Matt all right and thank you for that i'm not a numbers person and so when you rattled off those numbers I was very grateful that someone else is a numbers person because it's really helpful to know especially in a tumultuous uh
housing market and economy at the moment uh if there are no other questions on that agenda item we will move forward to the next agenda item which is updates to the firsttime home buyer down payment assistance that Matt touched upon briefly uh Tom Skarovski chief of
planning was not able to be here in person tonight but I met with him today as well as Joe throughout the week to get a comprehensive update for everyone so the firsttime home buyer down payment assistance program which as Matt
mentioned Joe is kind of spearheading on his own with assistance from other city employees um they have received we have received 25 applications total since the assistance was uh first advertised and
first open to the public fully awarded uh applications are one there's a single one that's been fully awarded the funds have been dispersed to that person and they have signed a purchase and sale agreement on a home so we have one person that's gone through the entire
process and gotten the money uh conditionally awarded pending the purchase and the sale agreement is five folks who have gone through that process two people are likely eligible and will likely make it through to the end uh we are awaiting small pieces of
information from them such as you know tax returns paperwork or they're waiting to complete the first-time home buyer class which is a requirement uh that we have in place potentially eligible but awaiting a bunch of documentation uh is
12 people so that's a high number that could easily move through to the next stage and sum up kind of the remaining funds that we have for the program uh one applicant withdrew their application and four out of that
original 25 were not eligible uh when we finished going through all of their paperwork so again that's 25 total applications one has gone through the entire thing and gotten the money and purchased a home five uh have been conditionally awarded pending the
purchase and the sale and then quite a few people are in that in between we're waiting to get paperwork or it's on our end we're waiting to get something back uh get something to them so a good number of people we have six grants available
uh between that initial $50,000 round and the new $75,000 round that we were allocated so a total of $125,000 for this program to 12 recipients um Joe wanted me to relay that at the
meeting in May or June we are he's probably going to ask the board to authorize an additional 5,000 to the first-time home buyer program so that the funding can be rounded up to 130 instead of 125,000 and
give an even 13 awards out instead of 12 so think about that moving forward if that's something the board would be amendable to um as I said for those folks who are in the middle waiting for paperwork waiting for Joe he is in the process of following up with people who
are who have already been conditionally awarded or if they're just um awaiting further information tax returns things like that so that we can get the rest of those applications over the line and hopefully award all of the funding that we have left for the program uh despite
these numbers if anyone's watching there is still time to apply all 12 pending people could not be eligible or could something could come up so folks should definitely still apply it's still something that's active with money available so any realtors bankers things
like that the program is still open the program is still funding um so if you have a mortgage pre-approval a first-time home buyer class completed you could jump right to the top of that application process and get this down payment assistance so please continue to
spread the word uh in your networks in your social media does anyone have any questions or comments about the first-time home buyer program uh some people ask me about the deadline do you have a deadline for the application the deadline is when all the
money is gone oh yeah so it is rolling uh no deadline as of right now um we have not enough applicants to close it off just yet uh once we get a couple more people conditionally approved pending that purchase of the home I would imagine we
would get the word out that you know it's rounding down um but hopefully we'll see if we approve an additional couple thousand we can round it up and award one more person if that was the case so still open no deadline all right uh the next item on
the agenda is also a city update it's um an update on the cityowned uh tax title properties and the RFPs the requests for proposals uh I again spoke to Tom um and he wanted me to share the following information with everyone uh so on
Monday the city council voted unanimously after they voted on our free cash uh distributions they also voted to convey those five tax title properties that we had submitted a request for them to convey from city custodianship to
affordable housing trust fund custodianship the only change that came as they approved this transfer to us was that the Hitchborn Street lot I don't know if you remember that one specifically but it was a very oddly shaped kind of small one uh it was
deemed to be unbuildable um for the size that would be necessary for a livable structure um and there were also two very significant easements located underground so um as far as Tom is concerned this the city the affordable
housing trust fund is not going to pursue any type of project um on that parcel and it will most likely be sold for parking or extra space or storage for someone who's abudding that property so that was the only major change when
the five lots were transferred um under our control that lot will not be included as something that we can consider for a project or market for a project and um this recommendation was supported by the city engineer who's taken a look at the site and the ward
counselor Ira Novaski who is uh the ward counselor of the location of the ward where that parcel is located was also in full support of you know scratching any ideas for that lot because it was too complex too complicated and it would suck up all the funding just to get
something that's not really big enough or meaningful enough uh to provide housing for someone who needs it um over the next few weeks Tom and Joe and the team are going to be working with the on call realtor who's been retained for these tax title properties as well as
with the trust um to get the properties on the market to get the RFPs going out so uh I would let Tom explain in more detail if there are specific questions about what those RFPs are going to look like i would imagine he's going to
communicate with the trust along with the realtor that's working on it to get all of our opinions and get a consensus on what type of things you want to call for in the RFPs and what type of goals and initiatives we want to prioritize uh
when it does come time to receive bids so I know that's something that Tom's going to be looking for our input on uh if anybody has anything currently to add to the record for Tom we can also um think ahead for when he does approach the board for what kind of things we
want to see in the RFPs any questions or comments on that all right um as far as any other city updates go an informal city update that I can share is also in addition to what Matt mentioned about the ADUs i know that Tom
has received a bit more formal guidance from the state uh upon the first roll out and the first I think it's been about two months or so since the ADU regulations went into effect under the state uh lots of cities are scrambling at the moment to get their uh code up to
code and to inform builders and developers and homeowners on what kind of path they have to take because although the state has a nice simple easy format each city has to tailor it to their specific needs and their zoning
so I know that Tom is going to be working with the council closely uh in the next few meetings to relay more specifically what the state has told us we can and cannot do and what we can and cannot uh require from home homeowners so hopefully some of those projects that
Matt outlined in his subcommittee report uh can come closer to fruition or come closer to the initial stage of planning as Tom works with the city council on more uh tangible and realistic uh images that we can have in our head for what
ADUs will look like in River now that the state has handed out a bit more specific guidance um to planning professionals uh throughout the Commonwealth so that is something to look out for and I can open it up to public
comment for the zero attendees in the room or if anyone here has any final thoughts does anybody on Zoom have anything to add no thank you Annio well in that case the next meeting
of the affordable housing trust fund will be in May the second Wednesday in May which is uh Wednesday May 14th will be the next affordable housing trust fund meeting at 6:30 and we hope to see
you there this meeting is adjourned