- Good afternoon, everyone. Wow, that is loud. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our weekly celebration
- of service for Rotary. My name is Tracy Yovanovich, and I'm pleased to serve as your president and honored
- as well. Please silence your electronic devices. And I think for our where in the world, if this works,
- let's see.
- There we go. OK, so as you all know, I'm sharing Rotary Clubs around the world. And this one was particularly
- interesting to me. I do a game every day to keep my mind fresh called Worldle, not wordle, worldle.
- And you have to figure out what the country is. And it's it's actually kind of hard, but it helps you
- learn more about country. And Kiributi is one that just makes me crazy because it's one of these little
- islands. And trying to find that on Google Maps is virtually impossible. So when I saw this
- They had Rotary. I was like, well, I'm going to share with everyone this one. It is part of District
- 9920, which is a district larger than the entire geographic United States in size, right? Because it
- stretches so far across the Pacific Ocean. But it's very sparsely populated. So there's 53 clubs in
- the area. And Kiribiti was founded in 2019. And it has 10 members.
- Now, small but mighty, because if you look, and I put it in bold, they have done about a $2 million
- worth of work working on immunizing children on the 21 inhabited islands. I feel like we're going backwards
- here, I'm just going to say, in the U.S., but that's okay. And the Gilbert Islands is part of every
- child has a future.
- Even though they're 10 members, they work closely and really get a lot accomplished. So I thought that
- was absolutely fascinating. So if you're ever in Kiributi, please take a flag and make sure you go to
- one of their meetings. And on that, we were going to do a reflection and Judy and I were communicating
- over email. And I think we're going to just, I'm gonna just do a quick update given the topic that we
- have today on housing.
- I was sharing with Wendy that there's a book I read called Abundance. Ezra Klein and Derek Thomas wrote
- it. It's a fascinating book. I highly recommend it. It talks about how you can grow the economy through
- reducing bureaucratic tape, shall we say. And that's just one small message of it. That's the one I
- want to focus on. And the reason I want to focus on that, when I was in Denver about a month ago, we
- took Luca for his internship. And I lived in Denver back in 87, and they had
- traffic issues galore, the downtown was looking a little shoddy. Fast forward to a month ago, they've
- got train systems in place on multiple train systems in place. They've got ADUs, the alternative dwelling
- units in place on multiple locations. They're gentrifying the neighborhoods. It's unbelievable. I could
- not believe it. And
- Somehow they have managed to figure out how to cut through the bureaucratic red tape. And I share that
- because as progressive as we think we are here in Bloomington, we have a lot of no's. We say a lot of
- no's and we weaponize zoning and we go to the meetings and we weaponize zoning some more. And we want
- change. We all say we want to see affordable housing. We want to see people in houses, but we don't want
- change and I'm sorry but you got to have change in order to do that. So I encourage us all there's a
- couple locations specifically one on Sayre and College Mall Road you guys all know where doctors drive
- they think they used to call it back in the day there's a house there that they've added an ADU and
- it looks beautiful it looks just fine. Then there's another one that I just saw in the works
- I almost drove off the road on High Street and Woodstock, literally on the corner. They're putting a
- house in there, just a small little house. And so it can be done. I'm sure they had to go through quite
- a bit of red tape. But I also hear us all talking about, I can't stand the apartments out in Kmart.
- I can't stand the apartments. But guess what? It looks better than the Kmart building did.
- The infrastructure, the infrastructure is a problem. There are things to come through it.
- But I share this because we need to be open-minded. And we like Bloomington the way it is. That's one
- of the reasons we all come back. But change is inevitable. And if we want people to be housed, we've
- got to open our minds. So with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Change, Winston Schindel, to introduce
- our guests. Where are you, Daddy? Come on up. He left.
- Well, it's my pleasure to introduce our guests today and to welcome all of them to a club that really
- believes service above self. So, if when I call your name, if you would raise your hand or stand up
- and let us recognize you. Stacy Marotta, guest of Liz Erwin. Steve Bishop, guest of
- Liz Erwin. Becky Non, guest of Brad Meyer. Do you? Well, listen, I got to tell you about this one. I
- went to this guest and I said, I'm sorry, can you help me with your last name? I got the first one.
- And she said, I don't think you could pronounce it. And I said, OK, is it all right if I just call you
- by your first name? And she said, yes. So let me introduce Vuja. Rita Cruz, guest of Tyler Nichols.
- And of course, Tony Huang, guest of Jim Bright. Welcome all.
- Do we have anyone online as a guest? Winston, we are all Rotarians online today. OK, thank you very
- much. Booya, don't worry. It took him two years of my marriage for him to learn to pronounce Yvonnevich,
- so. Yeah, much less spell it. That's right. All right. There we go. So for birthdays and anniversaries,
- Tyler Nichols and Scott Walters had birthdays on Sunday, the 26th. Amy Kendall, I know you're in here,
- you have birthday coming up on Friday. And I have a birthday on Saturday, one year to Medicare, that's
- all I'm saying. For anniversaries, it's a big deal, let me tell you. Yeah, but I still have a 20-year-old
- who's gonna be taking Obamacare for a little bit longer, so we weren't thinking about healthcare, I'll
- just say. Anniversaries, Mr. Baker, who is back. Stand up, Mike, where are you?
- 24 years. Connie Chicalis, six years. And where's Connie? And Patrick Smith, seven years. Patrick? All
- our anniversary guys are here. That's awesome. All right. And so for announcements, Hoosier Hills, we
- still have 11 slots. I know it's on a weekday, but we need to get those 11 slots. I think everyone's
- aware of the hardship and the funding cuts that Hoosier Hills has gone through, so we need to help and
- step up. Please, please, please, Michelle's got a sign up sheet.
- I think it's the 10 to 12 shift, the 12 to 2 shift that needs help. So if you could help us out, that
- would be fabulous. We also have this Friday, my sister's closet is doing a ribbon cutting out at the
- college mall location. It's right across from Blondie's Cookies, and that is from 11 to 1. The ribbon
- cutting itself will be at 1130, and so we'd love to have as many rotarians there as we possibly can.
- And then lastly,
- Please sign up for Q3. We still have a couple for August 11th. And then lastly, please send prayers.
- Natalie is in town. Her father's health is declining. So I know she'd appreciate your good thoughts
- and warm prayers. All right. And on that, I believe we have happy dollars. Mr. Mike, where are you?
- Do we have any happy people in the audience? Lynn's very happy here.
- Are you getting to my person? All right. Oh my God. I am very happy. I recently returned from a stunning
- trip to the country of Croatia where my partner Peter is a 100% Croatian and it was his first visit
- and we were both in
- I am exceedingly happy after months and months and months the very last part of our project which needed
- an engineer for HVAC and
- Electrical has been hired and not only was he hired, he reduced his fee to us by ridiculous amount when
- he heard about our project. So I am so happy and so grateful. Anybody online? All right. Any other happy
- dollars out there?
- I might as well be more happy. The Chicago Cubs have the fifth best record in Major League Baseball.
- But they're second in the National League Central, but we are very hopeful, as any Cub fan would be.
- I just stole one of Lynn's dollars.
- to tell you that there's a really good play going on at Eclipse Productions. Gani did a great job talking
- about it, Doubt. It's a very thoughty play, and I encourage you to go. You can get a ticket. There you
- go. And I owe you. All right. Thank you, everyone. And those dollars. Oh, we have Dave Meyer. And these
- dollars go to Teacher's Warehouse, by the way. Well, I have a
- funny thing to be happy about, but I'm happy that Cindy and I are out of Assembly Hall because on Saturday we spent
- from 1 p.m. until 11 p.m., no, midnight, helping as extras in the filming of the Little Five movie that's
- being done. And so we saw the sausage being made of filming a Hollywood movie. And I hope every,
- oh yeah, we were, we made a news clip in Indianapolis Local News where I was sitting there reading my book
- And he was looking ahead. There was a lot of downtime in there. But anyway, it was a really fun experience,
- and I'm sure the movie will be great. It's targeted to come out in, I think, a year, this fall after next.
- That's awesome. Well, thank you for sharing, and hopefully everybody has seen the crews around setting
- up town. It's exciting to be a part of a community that has so much rich history and so much
- rich possibilities. On that, I think, Mike Wade, if you would come up and introduce our speaker, please.
- Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to introduce Wendy Goodlett, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity,
- Monroe County. Wendy began her association with Habitat for Humanity in 2007 as a volunteer. My own
- son Travis volunteered, and when I asked him this week what did he get as a volunteer in high school
- with Habitat for Humanity, he said he learned an incredible amount.
- about carpentry, caulking, blow-in insulation, bathroom tile, and many more skills that he applied in
- finishing the house that he currently lives in. That's one of the unsung benefits of being a volunteer
- for Habitat for Humanity, the skills that you learn. Wendy has two daughters, which have just
- left Bloomington for Chicago to begin careers.
- And she not only participates in Habitat for Humanity, but also provides Habitat for Humanity's best
- friends to new dogs. Without further ado, here's Wendy Goodlett. Well, thank you so much for that warm
- introduction. And thank you all for having me here today. This is a great opportunity.
- Tracy, your remarks could not have hit the nail on the head, as we say in construction, better than
- they were. And the timing couldn't be better. Normally, I would never be brave enough to stand up here
- and talk about legislation, let alone federal legislation. But we have some exciting things to discuss
- and what I'm calling unicorn legislation. It's pretty unique.
- Even materialized and it did become law earlier this month. Alright, so we're going to talk a little
- bit about habitat in particular our relation with this legislation. We do focus on homeownership. The
- legislation covered a range of housing options and we certainly support that, but I'm going to really
- focus on the homeownership piece of it today.
- So I'm going to give you a little context about Habitat's work. And one of the things that you may not
- know is that we spend a lot of time and effort on advocacy at the local level, state level, the federal
- level. We have a huge team of federal employees that work on advocacy and also the international level. So
- The reason we focus on homeownership is that it remains one of the most important pathways to economic
- stability, wealth building, and community participation. It's getting harder to achieve homeownership
- and sustain it. Starter homes are in record short supply. Competition for those homes drives up prices,
- leaving low to moderate income households unable to purchase a home.
- There's also restricted access to mortgage capital. My banking friend in the room may not want to hear
- that, but there's also just really stringent lending requirements, challenges with down payment. Part
- of that is generational wealth, the lack of generational wealth among low income homeowners to help
- with that first down payment and limited availability of affordable financing products.
- Existing homeowners are also in a challenging situation. They're facing increasing pressure from rising
- insurance premiums. My insurance agent in the room is probably not happy to hear me say that. Combined
- challenges demonstrate that affordability concerns extend beyond purchasing a home and include sustaining
- ownership over time.
- The urgency of these challenges underscores the need for policy actions that ensure homeownership remains
- achievable and sustainable for families across diverse communities. All right, so Habitat for Humanity
- plays a significant role, as I said, in advancing affordable homeownership through
- and developing and revitalizing neighborhoods. And we are doing that right here in Monroe County. We
- are building out our third habitat neighborhood in Monroe County. And I hope that we get to do another
- in the near future. So this workplaces our organization in a unique position to observe. Did I do anything?
- Okay. Are we good on audio? Okay.
- All right. So we're in a unique position to observe the practical challenges that families encounter
- while pursuing safe and affordable housing. In Monroe County, Habitat's experience extends beyond housing
- production. It includes helping families understand the responsibilities of a mortgage. For any of you
- who have signed a mortgage before, you know those documents can be a little bit overwhelming.
- We teach money management classes to homeowners. We have a six-month money management program to help
- ensure their long-term success. And we strengthen our community through the partnerships that we build,
- the education that we provide to the community, and the volunteer engagement of people coming out, building
- with us, raising funds for us, participating in Women Build. I've seen a couple of women builders in here.
- So because affiliates work directly with households, local governments, lenders, and community stakeholders,
- Habitat's policy recommendations are grounded in real-world experience rather than theoretical assumptions.
- Habitat's mission centers on helping people attain strength, stability, and independence through housing,
- making its perspective especially valuable when evaluating federal, state, and local housing policy
- opportunities.
- Alright, at the center of Habitat's housing policy platform is a commitment to fair and inclusive
- opportunity. Effective housing policies should reduce barriers that disproportionately affect specific
- populations and limit access to affordable homeownership. Policymakers must consider how regulations,
- financing systems, land use practices, zoning,
- and housing programs affect individuals with different economic backgrounds, geographic locations, and
- life circumstances. A fair housing approach seeks to remove obstacles that unnecessarily prevent families
- from pursuing homeownership while also ensuring that policy solutions do not unintentionally create
- unequal outcomes. Inclusive policymaking requires active engagement. That's why I'm here speaking to
- you today.
- with impacted communities so that residents have meaningful opportunities to contribute their perspectives
- and experiences. By incorporating community voices, decision makers can better understand local conditions,
- identify unintended consequences, and develop more responsive solutions. And I will say that
- our representatives in Congress are really good at listening. And we take a trip to DC once a year to
- participate in Habitat on the Hill.
- and those conversations are always very robust. They're well educated on housing and the problems of
- housing and are really interested in solving that problem locally. Preventing unequal harms is equally
- important as housing policies that benefit some groups while burdening others can deepen disparities.
- Evaluating policy choices through the lens of fairness and inclusion helps ensure that efforts to increase
- housing supply, improve access and strengthen resilience
- create broad and lasting benefits for families and communities. So I want to talk about the three federal
- action areas that Habitat for Humanity focuses on. You can see them up there. Increasing housing supply,
- broadening homeownership access, and improving homeownership resilience. So our framework is organized
- around these three areas. Increasing supply is needed to help moderate home prices as well as rental rates.
- If more people have access to home ownership, then the rental market will need to lower prices to remain
- competitive. We must incentivize investment in affordable housing development. It's very straightforward.
- The single greatest data point to support the need for broadening access is that the average age of
- a first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. Improving resilience includes building better homes to reduce
- energy costs as those costs are going up.
- and to protect against climate impacts and disasters. Together, these three priorities represent
- a comprehensive approach that recognizes homeownership challenges at multiple stages of the housing
- journey. Framing policy discussions around supply, access, and resilience provide a clear structure
- for evaluating legislative proposals and identifying practical solutions capable of improving housing
- outcomes across communities.
- So this is the unicorn legislation that I mentioned at the beginning of the presentation. The naming
- convention is a combination of what came out of the Senate and out of the House. So they each had a
- different name. They combined it into one big name, the 21st Century Road to Housing Act. Don't want
- to leave anybody out. So this act represents a comprehensive bipartisan effort to address housing
- affordability and availability challenges across the United States.
- I think it's really important to let you know how the votes fell out, because it is so overwhelmingly
- bipartisan. The Senate passed by a vote of 85 to 5 on June 22, and the House approved by a vote of 358
- to 32 the next day. The bill subsequently became law on July 11, so earlier this month, without the
- president's signature. This bipartisan support suggests
- recognition of housing affordability as a significant national concern requiring coordinated action.
- The legislation contains more than 50 provisions designed to expand housing supply, reduce regulatory
- barriers, modernize federal housing programs, and improve coordination among housing-related systems.
- Rather than focusing on a single challenge, the Act takes a broad approach that addresses multiple dimensions
- of housing affordability.
- By combining incentives, regulatory reforms, program improvements, and implementation support, the Act
- seeks to create conditions that encourage housing production while improving effectiveness across existing
- federal programs. So, why does it matter to Habitat? And why should you care locally?
- The Act aligns closely with our mission and program activities because it addresses many of the structural
- barriers encountered by affiliates in our partner communities. By expanding available tools, the hammers,
- and resources, the legislation creates opportunities for affiliates to increase the number of families
- served while strengthening local housing ecosystems. Several provisions target obstacles that can delay
- development, increase project costs,
- or limit access to affordable home ownership activities. Opportunities. These include regulatory complexity,
- zoning challenges, funding limitations, and inefficiencies within federal housing programs. I think
- that was a pretty self-reflective thing to include to recognize that the programs could be more efficient
- and effective than they are existing federal programs.
- The Act's significance extends beyond federal policy because its ultimate impact depends on how we implement
- available opportunities at the local level. So Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County will use this as
- a platform for community-level action that can support affordable and sustainable homeownership goals.
- So first and foremost, we must make it easier to build. It is very much a supply problem. A major focus
- of the legislation is increasing the supply of affordable housing through a combination of local planning
- support, funding flexibility, and innovation incentives, which
- Can you hear us online? Yes. Yes, we can hear you online now. Thank you, Joy. Yeah, OK. That's all right.
- So we've only used CDBG for infrastructure funding in the past. It's going to be great if we can actually
- use it for home construction. Obviously, we do infrastructure at the beginning of a project, and then
- it might be years before we can use it again.
- I'm excited about the carrot versus stick tactic of the Innovation Fund, which is designed to reward
- measurable increases. So local communities are going to have to show how that has increased in housing
- supply, encouraging communities to pursue solutions that generate tangible results. I'm all about a good KPI.
- Collectively, these provisions address four key levers, which is the diagram on the left, for housing
- production, zoning, funding, local capacity, and incentives. By strengthening each of these
- areas, policymakers seek to reduce bottlenecks that restrict development and make it easier for communities
- to produce additional affordable housing units.
- So I would love to say that this is an actual diagram that we utilize in our work, but I had AI generate
- it, and I think it did a pretty good job with my very limited prompts that they gave, so I must not
- have been the first person to give that prompt. Reducing delays and uncertainty is another important
- objective of this legislation.
- Streamlining environmental review processes is intended to accelerate project approvals while maintaining
- necessary safeguards. We are all about protecting the environment, but sometimes that process just drags
- out for months and months and really slows our ability to build. Promoting the use of pre-reviewed housing
- designs in an effort for communities to accelerate the approval process, that's happening locally with
- the Hopewell project, if you've been following that.
- Faster approvals and greater predictability can significantly reduce project costs. There are a lot
- of soft carrying costs that developers have that the longer a project takes to get approval, the more
- expensive it becomes. And those pre-development costs directly impact how much that house sells for.
- So Habitat's in a unique situation where we can absorb that because we have donors that are helping
- fund, but other builders and developers cannot do that. It's why they're not building affordable housing.
- It also opens the door for more local developers for that very reason to build market rate missing middle
- housing. Again, we recognize that we are missing everything from affordable apartments up to, you know,
- the standard beyond starter home, right? The family homes that people can move into to free up those
- starter homes. Streamlining procedure does not eliminate oversight.
- Rather, it seeks to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens that slow construction without improving
- outcomes. I think that's a really key piece of it. For Habitat affiliates, nonprofit developers, and
- local governments, these reforms may support more timely project delivery and greater housing production
- capacity. Next, I want to provide a high-level overview of programs for repair and resilience. This
- is something we've been doing resilience for a while.
- here locally, but repair is something we're just getting into, as well as the home program, which we
- currently rely on pretty heavily for funding. So sustaining homeownership requires more than helping
- families purchase homes. It also depends on maintaining safe, stable, and resilient housing over time.
- Section 202 of the legislation establishes a HUD pilot program focused on whole home repair efforts.
- eligible assistance includes grants and forgivable loans that can support needed repairs, modifications,
- and improvements. This is something that's been happening in the rural areas with USDA loans and grants,
- but not something we've been able to utilize here locally. These investments help households address
- maintenance issues before they become major financial burdens or safety risks. The legislation also
- includes provisions related to disaster recovery.
- So Habitat has come to understand firsthand the challenges of climate disasters as we had two tornadoes
- destroyed by a tornado in May of 2025. So that's the remains of our warehouse. It also authorizes and
- reforms Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery programs.
- for a three year period with an emphasis on better serving low and moderate income households following
- major disasters. Those tend to be the people who are either uninsured or underinsured. And it's a really
- difficult process to access funds, to be able to rebuild, repurchase items for an apartment after you've
- lost it. Together, these initiatives recognize that resilience encompasses both preparedness and recovery.
- So the home,
- Investment partnerships program remains one of the federal government's most important affordable housing
- tools. This is something that Habitat advocates for every year on the Hill. We're optimistic about the
- reauthorization and reform of the home program to improve effectiveness. The legislation expands eligibility
- requirements and provides greater flexibility for supporting housing related infrastructure investments.
- It also streamlines environmental review requirements for certain small scale housing projects. I think
- that's a very reasonable expectations, including infill development activities and property acquisition
- intended for affordable housing. So as it stands right now, if we were to purchase an infill lot and
- wanted to do construction on that for an affordable house, we still have to go through the environmental
- review process at a level that it's just not really
- scalable for other people doing work in that area. For us, these reforms should reduce administrative
- burdens and accelerate project implementation. They also may enhance the value and usability of home
- funding. So innovation is something I don't think we talk about enough, but it's the key to increasing
- our housing supply.
- The way that we've been building homes forever is great, but there are better ways to do it, and I think
- we need to explore those. So I want to quickly mention some portions of the legislation that address
- these opportunities. Emerging construction approaches offer potential opportunities to increase housing
- supply while controlling costs and reducing project timelines. Title III of the legislation introduces
- new standards related to manufactured housing,
- and addresses barriers encountered by modular housing developers. The legislation also authorizes HUD
- to examine the feasibility of a standardized code framework for modular homes and to evaluate the cost
- effectiveness of offsite construction techniques. These are all things that Habitat affiliates across
- the country are trying in order to, again, bring down those costs, ensure reliable construction, and
- build more quickly.
- Manufactured housing, modular construction, and other off-site production methods can provide alternatives
- to traditional site-built housing, particularly in markets experiencing labor shortages. It's really
- hard for us to find licensed contractors here. Land constraints, another problem here, or affordability
- challenges. By encouraging innovation and examining opportunities for standardization, policymakers
- seek to reduce uncertainty and promote broader adoption of efficient construction approaches.
- These strategies may support greater housing availability, especially when combined with other reforms
- that address land use permitting and financing. I think I might have gone too far.
- Just one. That's all right. Okay. Title 10 includes provisions aimed at preserving homeownership
- opportunities for individual families by limiting specific purchases of newly constructed single-family
- homes by large institutional investors. I know you've probably all heard that there are
- There are out of town, out of state investors coming in and purchasing homes that could easily be turned
- into affordable single family or duplex housing. The restriction applies to investors that directly
- or indirectly own at least 350 single family homes. This measure is a way to reduce competitive pressures
- that can make it more difficult for families to purchase homes in certain markets, ours included.
- This provision aligns with the broader access theme emphasized throughout the legislation and habitats
- policy priorities. Expanding homeownership opportunities requires addressing both supply side constraints
- and market conditions that influence housing affordability and accessibility for households seeking
- stable housing and long-term economic opportunity. So,
- This is where the rubber meets the road, right? We need to make sure that it gets implemented in our
- community. So successful implementation will determine whether the legislation achieves its intended
- impact. There's still a significant amount of work to be done at the federal level before we will see
- the effects locally. We will be closely monitoring HUD guidance, grant announcements, implementation
- timelines, and regulatory updates related to the act. Habitat will continue to engage locally on zoning reform.
- If you ever want to come spend an evening with us, we will on a regular basis be at city meetings. So
- come join us. Permitting improvements in planning initiatives. We are working to identify projects involving
- repair and housing development that align with newly available funding tools and program resources.
- So trying to figure out where that all fits together to maximize our opportunity. Habitat, as you know,
- is a trusted housing developer, builder, and leader in Bloomington.
- We know our efforts to influence change are compounded when we involve local stakeholders and leaders
- like you. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act provides new tools that align closely with Habitat's
- mission and policy platform, but long-term success will depend on leadership, inclusive policymaking,
- collaboration, and sustained commitment. By leveraging these opportunities effectively, we can help
- more families obtain and sustain
- safe, stable, and affordable homes. So I wanted you to see some of the beautiful faces that motivate
- those of us that work at Habitat to keep doing the hard work, to keep fighting the battles that we can
- to provide more opportunities for people, because policy without a focus on people is pointless. So
- these are the reasons I get up and go to work every day.
- These are families, it's a mixture of families who are currently in our program. We're building their
- houses. There are some that we've completed their homes and they're just waiting to close. And then
- Valerie down here in the corner closed on her house last week. So lots of reasons to celebrate the work
- that Habitat is doing in our community. I'm ready for questions.
- Wendy, I'm going to open up with a question and just ask you, can you tell a little bit more about the
- three areas that you have, how many houses you're going to have to finish the third one and any thoughts
- about where the fourth one might go? Maybe you all can help me with the fourth location. That would
- be spectacular. So our three neighborhoods, one is the first was Cedar Chase, which is out west, southwest
- of Walmart. So out in the county.
- trail view, which is just off of 11th and near Opportunity House. And that was completed a few years
- ago. And then we began building out Osage Place, which is adjacent to RCA Park. And if you know where
- the power line trail is going in, it will connect
- RCA Park to Switchyard Park. So just south of that power line trail is Osage Place. We are finishing
- construction on the houses in phase one. So those will be wrapped up this fall. That is 30 homes. And
- we have begun construction in phase two on homes that there will be 39 of those total. I think in the
- next four years, we will need to have purchased, if we're going to do another neighborhood, we will
- need to have purchased something within the next
- year and a half, probably, so that we can get through that lengthy planning process and prepare to do
- infrastructure work and get ready so that in four years we're ready to build the next house. Thank you,
- Wendy, for your presentation. You mentioned unequal harms in your presentation, and as a preface to
- that, many of us disagree with some of the diversity, equity, and inclusion
- changes, which were intended, I think, to re-level the playing field, or marginalized folks were at
- the benefit of the larger population. So I'm a little bit confused, and maybe you can help me out with
- that. But it has to do with inclusive policy making, which seems to be the opposite to me. But at any
- rate, unequal harms meant that some groups benefit at the expense of other groups, and you're trying
- to avoid that.
- It seems the population that you're helping are many of the more marginalized cultural and racial groups.
- So how do you, at the expense of others, which is the majority population, how does that equal out in
- your mind and through legislation? Yeah, I'm not sure that I think of it as unequal being the larger
- population, being unequal to the larger population.
- because there are just so many factors that go into that, right? If you look at the data points of,
- so for example, homeowners have 400% greater net wealth than renters. It's a fact, it's a data point.
- If we are making legislation that prevents people from getting into those homeownership situations,
- that is unequal to that population, which is the marginalized population. So I think it just depends
- on, you know, it has to be objective, not subjective.
- And I think a lot of times when people are talking about unequal, they are talking about something that's
- very subjective. So our focus definitely is on ensuring that those marginalized communities, as we always
- have done, have the same access, the same opportunities. And if you want to look long-term back in the
- past, there have been so many things that we have done that have unevened that playing field. And we
- need to fix it. You're welcome.
- Two questions. I read a book recently. There is no place for us. And one of the things I talked about
- was that getting HUD money to build more affordable apartments, but they only had to do that for 13
- years. Do you know if that has been addressed at all in this legislation? I don't, because that's a
- rental issue. The HUD money that we receive, it does come with a time limit.
- If you want to talk about lasting affordability, there is a time limit on those funds. So we are required
- to sell to a homeowner that meets the HUD requirements for income. But what we do at Habitat is we want
- to make sure that that does last farther into the future. So we write a first refusal for every mortgage.
- And that extends for the life of the mortgage. If you're still in your home, still paying back your mortgage,
- and you need to move out of state for some reason, we want an opportunity to buy it back so that we
- can sell it affordably to the next homeowner. So I don't know specifically about that. Some of it's
- rental, some of it is homeownership. It's been typically 15 years has been the affordability period.
- Second question is, oh, I was talking to someone recently listening with kind of in horror. They were
- talking about a developer who was, uh,
- going to build modular homes, but it also had bought a lot of mobile home parks and was going to be
- removing all of them that looked old, which also meant affordable. And that kind of fitted with the
- New York Times article talking about developers, just like buying homes, buying mobile home parks and
- pushing people out. Yeah. One of, I know several Habitat affiliates are doing this. We've looked into
- it too. Could we replace those
- dangerous living conditions for people who are in a mobile home. A mobile home in a tornado is not going
- to survive. And so we want to get people out of those types of living situations. Could we temporarily
- displace them to replace the mobile homes with a manufactured or modular home? We don't have a good
- way of doing that locally, but there are other affiliates who are doing it successfully. So there's
- always going to be somebody who takes advantage of opportunities to the
- to the detriment of people who are living in those places. Um, but from an affiliate, from a habitat
- standpoint, you know, we're trying to really just create better, more affordable and more sustainable
- because mobile homes deteriorate extensively over time. Um, and we want to get people out of those dangerous
- situations. Thank you so much for your comments. As always, I appreciate what you do, what you all do
- as a service and how you say,
- the important things that you say. My question for you is the city recently did an audit of their housing
- internal processes. Do you think the county, is there any wisdom for the county to do the same? Some
- of us have talked about that and I would love to get your perspective. Yeah, I think there's definitely
- an opportunity. I will say that the city processes from habitats perspective are much more cumbersome
- than what we deal with at the county.
- partly because we don't have to get the health department involved for septic, right? We're not building
- on septic systems. We're providing sewer connections. But also you have a great building department
- and we really like working with the building department. So we would be happy to come in and talk about
- the challenges that we face for us with the county. The biggest challenge is not being able to build
- in the county because the density is just not there to make it affordable. You know, a half an acre because
- and we can get into the, you know, politics of all of that. But when we went through the CDO, there
- just wasn't an allowance for that density that we need for it to make sense, even on the periphery of
- the city, to be able to build in the county. So when you talk about land, I think I didn't answer that
- question. I don't know where the next
- we're the next building that will happen. But right now we would have to be in the city of Bloomington.
- And there are just not a lot of opportunities within the city of Bloomington. So Trent, we would love
- to come talk to you about what we think the county could do to help us. Yeah, thank you. Speaking of
- opportunities in the city, are you going to be using any of the lots in Hopewell? I was really hoping
- nobody would ask that question.
- There are a lot of answers, a lot of questions that still need to be answered at Hopewell. We don't
- know what the cost of infrastructure is going to be. That will definitely determine whether or not we
- can build affordably there. I'm never going to pass up an opportunity to build in an area that I think
- is right for building housing.
- But right now, there are just too many unanswered questions. I'm also not sure I want to be the first
- one in. So stay tuned. I mentioned four years before we run out of land at Osage Place. We have been
- buying infill lots so that we can fill a gap if there is a gap of time where we can't build
- in a neighborhood. But I have a lot of hope.
- For Hopewell, it's just been a really large uphill battle. And I think it's been a great example of
- the challenges within the system as Trent mentioned of working in the city. I have a question that's
- more general housing related. I heard that in New York City, they're looking at some of the empty commercial
- spaces that offices no longer use anymore.
- Is that anything that exists here in Bloomington and is it something that could be utilized? It's been
- discussed. It is also part of this legislation providing pilot programs for turning those industrial
- or commercial spaces that are empty into housing. I think generally people are using it for rentals,
- but I know it's been discussed locally. So I think there's definitely opportunity there because we do
- have so many commercial spaces that are empty.
- There is a question online when we have a chance. Let me go ahead and ask a question. This is also a
- general question. It's about qualification, how you qualify applicants to receive housing under the
- under the program. I've been delighted as an aside, I've been delighted that I am aware of at least
- two refugee families that have gotten
- approved to be habitat, householders, owners. And anyway, I think we would all benefit from knowing
- a little bit about how you judge fitness for applicants. Thank you for asking that question. So all
- of the applicants have to meet three criteria. They have to have a need for housing. So the place that
- they're living might be substandard, overcrowded, unaffordable. Substandard is anything from, you know,
- floors falling in in a mobile home to unsafe electrical insulation that's not performing HVAC systems,
- things like that. A lot of times, the families that come to us can tick all three of those boxes. You
- would be amazed at the living conditions that are also unaffordable for people. They also have to have
- an ability to pay. So every Habitat House we build, the homeowners close on an affordable mortgage with us.
- We base that on their income, not what it costs us to build the house, not what it appraises for.
- Right now, our houses are appraising two, we build two-bedroom to five-bedroom. They're appraising for
- $235,000 and up. So that's indicative of the supply shortage that we talked about.
- And then the third thing is they have to have a willingness to partner with us. So it's really important
- to us that they volunteer their time helping other families. They're getting those money management
- classes that I talked about. They're getting homeownership classes, how to do indoor maintenance, outdoor
- maintenance, avoid predatory lending, things like that. So they are in classes for a solid year, twice a month.
- And then after that time, we have classes just to kind of keep them engaged. But they're also working
- on the construction site. They're volunteering at ReStore. So every adult in the household that's not
- a dependent has to contribute at least 250 hours of sweat equity. So when you think about having a job
- or two, children, it's a big lift and people have to be really committed to successfully get through
- our program. The income level that we're serving is 35% to 80% of the area median income.
- Want to get that question online? Sure. Wendy, this question is from Jeff Richardson. He asks, is there
- any concern about the possibility of the new jail being located on the Thompson site that is close to
- usage? I'm not sure I'm pronouncing it. Homes that you referenced earlier. Yes, we do have concern.
- The families there have concern, mostly from a standpoint of feeling marginalized if the jail were to
- be placed there. We've moved them to a place that they see as a place of opportunity. They have great
- amenities nearby. And the homeowners that I've spoken to just express concern about, again, being the
- people that are being marginalized in our community. So there is some concern. There will be a decent distance
- I based on what we have hit as we've done infrastructure work, I think it'll be really challenging to
- build something there from a geotechnical perspective. But yes, there is some concern. Thank you.
- Thank you. Thank you, Wendy. In honor of your wonderful presentation, we'll be doing $100 quarter donation
- to see jam. So appreciate that. I have one quick announcement somebody left a
- Validated parking ticket up front. OK. We won't call out names. I'll give it to you. I'd like to thank
- all our volunteers today. Our greeter, Lynn Schwartzberg. Guest introductions, Winston Schindel. Speaker
- introduction, Mike Wade. Zoom host, Joy Harder, back fresh from Alaska. Good to see you. Reporter, Glenda
- Murray. Camera and mic operator, Michael. What's wrong? Oh, OK. Not my best view. I'm just going to say.
- photographer. Did anybody take pictures today? Did we get that? Ah, thank you, Dave Meyer. All right.
- And then Jill, our executive assistant, and then our wonderful, very active today, Tyler Martin Nichols.
- Our next meeting will be here in the Georgian Room on 8-4. Steve will be running the meeting as Vlad
- and I are going to Denver to see Luca.
- And then Melanie Cooper Pennington is going to be presenting. She has done the statue for Alfred Kinsey
- and Ryan White here in the Union, if you have not seen them. I'm so disappointed I'm not going to be
- here for that because our kids are actually great friends and I've not met her yet. Now, if you could
- put the slides up and if you're able, please stand for the four-way test. Of the things we think,
- say or do, first, is it the truth? Second, is it fair to all concerned?
- Third, will it build goodwill and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned?
- And fifth, is it fun?