WEBVTT 00:00:18.562 --> 00:00:24.535 - Briefly read our mission statement. The Coalition of Low-Income and Homeless Citizens are a grassroots 00:00:24.535 --> 00:00:30.334 - self-help organization dedicated to challenging the root causes of poverty. Recognizing a real lack 00:00:30.334 --> 00:00:36.190 - of power, control, and public voice among low-income and homeless people are primary goals to create 00:00:36.190 --> 00:00:42.163 - political will amongst ourselves and our community. Through advocacy, technical assistance, and public 00:00:42.163 --> 00:00:48.542 - voice, we plan to expand our options and choices to take control of our lives and mobilize for social change. 00:00:49.410 --> 00:00:55.538 - And the specific reason we call this press conference is to announce a proposal for the city's use of 00:00:55.538 --> 00:01:01.606 - $1.2 million COA from the fall. And George is going to briefly outline a proposal to use it as state 00:01:01.606 --> 00:01:08.034 - capital for a housing trust fund. George Gale is going to briefly outline a proposal and explain a housing 00:01:08.034 --> 00:01:14.162 - trust fund and show you how it's going to describe the urgency of using this money for housing. Yeah, 00:01:14.162 --> 00:01:16.926 - basically we're proposing that the city place 00:01:17.218 --> 00:01:23.576 - the entire $1.2 million windfall into a housing trust fund. We want it to be seed money to get the fund 00:01:23.576 --> 00:01:30.300 - started. The housing trust fund will primarily be a loan fund for nonprofit and for-profit housing developers 00:01:30.300 --> 00:01:36.413 - to create low-income housing here in Bloomington, Monroe County. Specifically, the fund will create 00:01:36.413 --> 00:01:42.954 - permanently affordable housing. Currently, a lot of the city's tax dollars are spent on low-income housing 00:01:42.954 --> 00:01:46.622 - that will stay low-income for a period of five to 10 years. 00:01:47.106 --> 00:01:54.284 - Because the money will be a loan fund, the money will be recycled and used over and over. We strongly 00:01:54.284 --> 00:02:01.392 - feel that the co-op windfall should be invested and not spent on a one-time investment. We feel that 00:02:01.392 --> 00:02:08.641 - this would be the most fiscally responsible way to use the money in the housings without question, the 00:02:08.641 --> 00:02:16.030 - most pressing need in our community. Shelter Incorporated, Helen Renari, just this week, stated that 33% 00:02:16.866 --> 00:02:24.907 - their intake is up 33% over last year at this time. And I think the big question is we're here to say 00:02:24.907 --> 00:02:33.421 - it's stressed. And it's stressing not just for what I call low-cost housing. And with the federal cutbacks, 00:02:33.421 --> 00:02:41.304 - the Section 8 need to change the public's mind about it being priority housing. And that we see the 00:02:41.304 --> 00:02:45.246 - commitment for housing is going to be right here. 00:02:45.666 --> 00:02:52.480 - buying on us right here. And this trust fund is one way, if not a very good way, to seal that commitment 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:59.294 - as a community. We'd like instead of just speaking to you, maybe open it up for questions, because we're 00:02:59.294 --> 00:03:06.109 - not sure how much people know about the trust fund. Currently, there's been lots of talk about a housing 00:03:06.109 --> 00:03:12.728 - trust fund. But I think a lot of people are talking about different types of funds. And we want to be 00:03:12.728 --> 00:03:15.454 - able to clarify what we're talking about. 00:03:15.618 --> 00:03:22.187 - How is the trust fund going to work so that it doesn't just disappear? Yeah, it'll be a loan fund. And 00:03:22.187 --> 00:03:28.883 - money will need to be paid back into the fund every three to five years. An example would be, say, Catch 00:03:28.883 --> 00:03:35.260 - Citizens Acting Together for Cooperative Housing borrowed $200,000 to build, let's say, five or six 00:03:35.260 --> 00:03:41.829 - units of low-income housing. As they pay the money back into the fund, Monroe County Housing Solutions 00:03:41.829 --> 00:03:43.678 - could borrow that same money 00:03:44.098 --> 00:03:50.137 - to develop, to add to the land trust or something similar. So the money's, it's basically a revolving 00:03:50.137 --> 00:03:56.177 - loan fund. How are you going to ensure that that money gets paid back? That'll be, we won't, one that 00:03:56.177 --> 00:04:02.275 - we should say is the Department of Redevelopment will administer the fund and the city council and the 00:04:02.275 --> 00:04:08.196 - mayor will appoint a board, a set of board of directors who will oversee the fund. And it'll be the 00:04:08.196 --> 00:04:09.854 - board of the directors that 00:04:10.210 --> 00:04:16.627 - the Council and the Department of Redevelopment will be responsible for being sure the money is repaid. 00:04:16.627 --> 00:04:23.106 - And in addition to acting as a revolving loan fund, the money is going to help leverage additional funds 00:04:23.106 --> 00:04:29.524 - from outside sources and bring capital into the community. Most housing trust funds on average leverage 00:04:29.524 --> 00:04:36.126 - $5.00, generate $5.00, bring $5.00 into their community for development. For example, the state of Maine's 00:04:36.126 --> 00:04:38.718 - housing trust fund mortgage in 1992 alone 00:04:38.914 --> 00:04:44.943 - with a seed capital of $4.2 million, leverage of $98 million. Essentially, when you are, especially 00:04:44.943 --> 00:04:51.033 - a nonprofit housing developer, it's really hard to get people to invest in your project if you don't 00:04:51.033 --> 00:04:57.243 - have site control. And once you have acquired the land or a large sum of money from something like the 00:04:57.243 --> 00:05:03.513 - Housing Trust Fund, other funding institutions are going to be more interested in funding your project. 00:05:03.513 --> 00:05:08.638 - Whether that could be federal programs such as Home and CDBG, local funding sources, 00:05:08.738 --> 00:05:15.693 - bankers, investors, and also the state Housing Finance Authority. So what Adam is saying is it will 00:05:15.693 --> 00:05:22.857 - bring lots of money to this community that would not be here. It is very possible that within 20 years 00:05:22.857 --> 00:05:29.812 - that the Housing Trust Fund, with its $1.2 million seed capital, will bring in $28.8 million in the 00:05:29.812 --> 00:05:36.350 - fact that the $1.2 million would be used over four times over a 20-year period, and then with 00:05:37.058 --> 00:05:43.087 - The leveraging of $5 to every trust fund dollar would come out to about $28.8 million. And Mary Brooks 00:05:43.087 --> 00:05:49.115 - from the Housing Trust Fund Project in California has found that this is coming in half. It means they 00:05:49.115 --> 00:05:55.027 - want some money. And we should probably also clearly indicate that this is only seed capital for the 00:05:55.027 --> 00:05:59.358 - trust fund. That was critical to the formation of any housing trust fund. 00:05:59.522 --> 00:06:06.074 - that receive dedicated revenue sources that will continue pouring money into the fund. And that although 00:06:06.074 --> 00:06:12.501 - the money is held in trust and it is recycled, 1.2 million dollars isn't going to live. Even if we did 00:06:12.501 --> 00:06:18.741 - generate the 20 million dollars over a 20-year period, it's not really going to address the kind of 00:06:18.741 --> 00:06:25.043 - substantive needs that exist in this community. What do you feel are the advantages of your proposal 00:06:25.043 --> 00:06:25.854 - over others? 00:06:26.626 --> 00:06:34.287 - what is going to be your selling point for it? Well, I think, absolutely. Well, it's fiscal. I understand 00:06:34.287 --> 00:06:41.658 - there is a definite need for a low end, or at least reasonably priced housing. Yeah, exactly. I mean, 00:06:41.658 --> 00:06:49.030 - it's outrageous what they charge. I understand the need for that. How bad is the, it seems to be well 00:06:49.030 --> 00:06:53.438 - hidden in this community. How bad is the homeless situation? 00:06:54.562 --> 00:07:01.726 - Do they want to answer that? I'll address it. It's bad enough that right now I've got two sets of family 00:07:01.726 --> 00:07:08.754 - living in my trailer with me because they can't afford the rent. And the homeless shelter, I will say, 00:07:08.754 --> 00:07:15.577 - they have helped. They help a lot of people. But they get out, you know, you get so much people in, 00:07:15.577 --> 00:07:21.854 - you know, to the homeless shelter, then they get a place to live. And the reality hits that 00:07:22.178 --> 00:07:29.945 - that income, that rent is too much, the utilities are too much for them. And they come back to be homeless 00:07:29.945 --> 00:07:37.422 - again. In this area, this year alone, I myself have took in at least 11 families this year. And that's 00:07:37.422 --> 00:07:44.899 - because I, and I don't, they don't pay me nothing. I let them come in so that they can help save their 00:07:44.899 --> 00:07:52.158 - money to be able to have a place to live. This one family that's staying with me has four children. 00:07:53.058 --> 00:07:59.062 - She can't find a place that'll accept her and her children because she's got four children and she's 00:07:59.062 --> 00:08:05.185 - a single parent. She can't afford the rent. She's working a minimum wage job. It's bad. It's real bad. 00:08:05.185 --> 00:08:11.130 - I see people sitting in a park and sleeping in it. I live by Cascades Park and I see people play at 00:08:11.130 --> 00:08:17.135 - the park. They have their children playing at the park late at night and then I'll come by later and 00:08:17.135 --> 00:08:22.366 - see their children sleeping in the back of their car and they're sleeping in their car. 00:08:22.594 --> 00:08:31.956 - because they have no home. Currently Shelter Inc. has about a dozen families, all of whom have emergency 00:08:31.956 --> 00:08:40.872 - needs on a waiting list. These are people we are not yet helping. We also have seen on a scale with 00:08:40.872 --> 00:08:48.094 - the Blemerton Housing Authority that there is about an average of, there's about 00:08:49.090 --> 00:08:57.780 - from what I've heard from 1992 to 1994, we had an average of, we started out with 400 and we came up 00:08:57.780 --> 00:09:06.384 - with 4,000 people that were homeless. 2,000 of that average is on a waiting list at the Bloomington 00:09:06.384 --> 00:09:15.934 - Housing Authority. They had to cut their certification signups because they didn't have any place to put them. 00:09:16.258 --> 00:09:22.986 - the other two percent the other two percent of the of that two thousand are either have been relocated 00:09:22.986 --> 00:09:30.041 - because of present housing that was tore down because of because of developing like uh... like condominiums 00:09:30.041 --> 00:09:36.638 - and so forth and they were relocated because they were good tenants the other ten percent of that of 00:09:36.638 --> 00:09:43.497 - that uh... we're are homeless now living on our streets of Monroe county and they desperately need homes 00:09:43.497 --> 00:09:46.110 - do you have any designs as far as uh... 00:09:47.042 --> 00:09:55.575 - What do you want the housing to be for low-end? Are there any designs what I'm trying to get at as far 00:09:55.575 --> 00:10:04.274 - as self-sufficiency as much as possible? Because a hard core fact of life that I've learned is you can't 00:10:04.274 --> 00:10:12.890 - depend on, you especially can't depend on the government for anything. As far as, are you going to have 00:10:12.890 --> 00:10:14.878 - like a community garden 00:10:15.266 --> 00:10:21.367 - something like that where you can grow your own food. Is it going to be that sort of thing or? The housing 00:10:21.367 --> 00:10:27.069 - will be scattered all over the community. We're not, we definitely are not advocating for a housing 00:10:27.069 --> 00:10:33.227 - project of any sort. It would be basically a loan pool for, for nonprofit and for-profit housing developers 00:10:33.227 --> 00:10:39.442 - to develop housing anywhere throughout the community. And, and definitely we would, I think in our proposal, 00:10:39.442 --> 00:10:43.262 - scattered site is one of the priorities. And would it be up to the 00:10:44.354 --> 00:10:50.694 - that you mentioned earlier to keep, to make sure that this housing remains affordable? Yeah, I think 00:10:50.694 --> 00:10:57.222 - that would be a condition, assuming the monies that remain commonly affordable. One of the things we've 00:10:57.222 --> 00:11:03.561 - talked about this funding is, as the federal government bails out of the Section 8, the vouchers and 00:11:03.561 --> 00:11:09.838 - the certificates, that that money could be pooled to save and protect the housing complexes that we 00:11:09.838 --> 00:11:13.918 - have here, which already have anywhere from 150 to 350 families. 00:11:14.498 --> 00:11:24.117 - I mean, you're talking about some 2,000 units here. This is Shelter Incorporated? No, this is, I'm talking 00:11:24.117 --> 00:11:33.917 - about all your private-based complexes like Henderson, Oatdale, Country View, there's Havy Square. Federally 00:11:33.917 --> 00:11:40.030 - subsidized. Federally subsidized. They're all being cut, and it is, 00:11:40.418 --> 00:11:47.091 - They have made a commitment to go out of the business of Section 8, but we have got families sitting 00:11:47.091 --> 00:11:53.697 - there. We've got elderly and disabled. One of the things that's been so hard is that everybody that 00:11:53.697 --> 00:12:00.767 - general public thinks, well, there's income housing for people that are below the poverty line of $13,800. 00:12:00.767 --> 00:12:07.373 - It's not so. You have to map. Before, you had to be a priority. You could be disabled or elderly or 00:12:07.373 --> 00:12:09.950 - paying more than $50 per city to rent. 00:12:10.178 --> 00:12:17.244 - You have to be a priority in several ways. And that's going to get tighter. And what we're finding, 00:12:17.244 --> 00:12:24.311 - like Summit Point, they've got 23 apartments that will accept certificates. They're deciding to not 00:12:24.311 --> 00:12:31.518 - do it anymore. At least this is what we found out yesterday. And starting next year, that they may go 00:12:31.518 --> 00:12:38.585 - flat market rate. Well, as those cutbacks federally are going to affect, all these places that just 00:12:38.585 --> 00:12:39.998 - have been scattered 00:12:40.386 --> 00:12:47.861 - 23, 25% at Section 8, and we're going to be losing them. So they're going to scale down or eliminate 00:12:47.861 --> 00:12:55.781 - Section 8 funding without making any concessions for those who are already on the funding? Right, exactly. 00:12:55.781 --> 00:13:03.774 - It is a government that has really made a decision that homelessness is a lifestyle and a residue of merit. 00:13:04.866 --> 00:13:11.558 - That's the stigma. How are you going to overcome that stigma? That's your battle right there. I mean, 00:13:11.558 --> 00:13:18.316 - the stigma is that you are where you're at because you want to be there. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm 00:13:18.316 --> 00:13:24.877 - not homeless. I'm fortunate. I work, but I pay 70% of my income just to have a roof over my head. I 00:13:24.877 --> 00:13:31.438 - don't even know if I'm going to get to go back to college. I came to Bloomington because I thought, 00:13:31.438 --> 00:13:33.406 - I heard it was a great place. 00:13:33.602 --> 00:13:39.757 - You know, great school. You know, I thought this is a really neat place. I can learn a lot. You know, 00:13:39.757 --> 00:13:45.791 - I'm socially active. Well, I'm just trying to keep a lip over my head, and it's ridiculous. And I'm 00:13:45.791 --> 00:13:52.247 - a hard worker, you know? And there's a lot of people, they're out there, they're paying, you know, they're 00:13:52.247 --> 00:13:58.462 - paying over 75% some of them. I mean, they're just, they're not making it, you know? And the most they 00:13:58.462 --> 00:14:00.574 - can get is maybe some food stamps. 00:14:00.802 --> 00:14:06.651 - you know, they can't afford to have the car insurance, they can't afford to have the gas to get to the 00:14:06.651 --> 00:14:12.386 - job. So... Over 90% of the people, like, in intakes and surveys at Shelter Incorporated actually are 00:14:12.386 --> 00:14:18.064 - employed and working, they have been full-time, they have been in excess of four hours a week, so I 00:14:18.064 --> 00:14:24.254 - think it can be demonstrated, it's like sufficiently demonstrated clearly in this community that there isn't 00:14:24.418 --> 00:14:29.971 - It isn't a question of like lazy or just a question of extraordinary. But as an organization, how do 00:14:29.971 --> 00:14:35.743 - you plan to counter that? And is this proposal a part of that? Are you trying to attempt to set a public 00:14:35.743 --> 00:14:41.296 - agenda? Yeah, we see this as a critical way of returning control of housing in this community and to 00:14:41.296 --> 00:14:43.550 - the people that live here. Tom, did you? 00:14:43.842 --> 00:14:50.305 - Yes, I'd just like to point out that The Times recently published an article, a study out of Washington 00:14:50.305 --> 00:14:56.892 - DC that demonstrated Bloomington was among the states least affordable in terms of rent. It is the number 00:14:56.892 --> 00:15:03.355 - one highest rent area in the state. And that article came out about three weeks ago or so independently 00:15:03.355 --> 00:15:09.694 - of Bloomington researchers. It was out of Washington DC. What we're saying is we've got people paying 00:15:10.274 --> 00:15:17.038 - two and three weeks worth of income for a monthly rent. And that's the nitty gritty. We're not proposing 00:15:17.038 --> 00:15:24.059 - that the city is gonna step in and solve the housing problem. We think this is one way that we can seriously 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:30.823 - address the community's housing needs. We think currently the way the city spends tax dollars on housing 00:15:30.823 --> 00:15:37.393 - is very inefficient. We're proposing more inefficient use of city funds. Currently, we give large tax 00:15:37.393 --> 00:15:39.326 - abatements, grants, and loans 00:15:39.810 --> 00:15:45.683 - for-profit housing developers to build low-income housing that only stays low-income or low-cost for 00:15:45.683 --> 00:15:51.847 - five to 10 years. And that is very short-sighted. We have, like Tom said, one of the most serious housing 00:15:51.847 --> 00:15:57.779 - crisis in Indiana and in the Midwest. And if we're gonna spend public dollars on it, we need to do it 00:15:57.779 --> 00:16:03.768 - efficiently. And I think without question, this is the most efficient way we can do that. What happens 00:16:03.768 --> 00:16:09.758 - after that five to 10 years? After 10 years goes back on the market, low-income people are priced out. 00:16:10.242 --> 00:16:16.126 - housing and we do that. That is the Allen Building received tax abatements to keep low-income a few 00:16:16.126 --> 00:16:22.069 - low-income units in there for 10 years. We've just we've done that historically here and it is a tax 00:16:22.069 --> 00:16:28.071 - abatement is it's basically foregoing tax dollars that would come into the community and we have this 00:16:28.071 --> 00:16:34.249 - 1.2 million dollar windfall and I think I think you'd be hard pressed to find a way that would be better 00:16:34.249 --> 00:16:37.662 - to invest it regardless of whether it was housing because 00:16:37.794 --> 00:16:44.601 - from the fact that it's a loan fund and it will never disappear. And because of its leveraging factor, 00:16:44.601 --> 00:16:51.540 - which is well documented, it brings $5 to every $1 into the community. Have you talked to city officials 00:16:51.540 --> 00:16:58.215 - yet? We have. We've spoken with council members and have developed the proposal that you all have is 00:16:58.215 --> 00:17:05.021 - being presented to them individually. Are you going to speak to the council, to the mayor? Yeah, we're 00:17:05.021 --> 00:17:07.070 - going to speak with the mayor. 00:17:07.426 --> 00:17:16.810 - hopefully Monday. We've also spoken at length with the redevelopment department. Tell me about your 00:17:16.810 --> 00:17:26.194 - housing and homeless congress. Well, could we maybe make sure there are any further questions about 00:17:26.194 --> 00:17:35.390 - the trust fund? Well, I also read in the paper that there were several options for this windfall. 00:17:35.746 --> 00:17:42.392 - And I'm curious as to what we as individuals and community leaders can do to influence the city and 00:17:42.392 --> 00:17:49.436 - city council to move in this direction. Yes. I think, obviously, currently we're all meeting individually 00:17:49.436 --> 00:17:56.148 - with our respective representatives. And we really have to encourage everyone in the community to do 00:17:56.148 --> 00:17:59.870 - that as well and encourage the city council to do that. 00:18:00.226 --> 00:18:07.941 - like make the wise choice and invest the money. And I would encourage a July 10th is the budget meeting 00:18:07.941 --> 00:18:15.508 - with the council and it may be drying for the rest of us, but the fact is it'd be a good time to show 00:18:15.508 --> 00:18:23.371 - support for housing. It's July 10th. July 10th. Yeah. Right. Have you ever thought of using the resources 00:18:23.371 --> 00:18:28.638 - available at VCAT and putting together some sort of a documentary film 00:18:29.346 --> 00:18:36.701 - portraying just how bad the homeless situation really is in Bloomington. We are working on a film showing 00:18:36.701 --> 00:18:43.779 - how gentrification has kind of run rampant in Bloomington. It's displacing large numbers of people in 00:18:43.779 --> 00:18:50.857 - fell swoops, focusing on the Allen building, the south side of the square of Vermilha. See, it's kind 00:18:50.857 --> 00:18:56.478 - of hard when you can see there's a new municipal building that you'll be adding. 00:18:57.058 --> 00:19:03.602 - I mean, you see all the development in the Marriott Hotel, the Convention Center, and yes, we believe 00:19:03.602 --> 00:19:10.017 - that there has to be some economical development, but we think the strongest economical development 00:19:10.017 --> 00:19:16.818 - is from the base people that are here, surviving every day, and that housing is crucial to make it stable 00:19:16.818 --> 00:19:21.822 - for them to do so, to not lose your lives if you're constantly in transition. 00:19:22.274 --> 00:19:29.817 - And with the minimum wage jobs, they'll find their way out for six weeks during the winter and six weeks 00:19:29.817 --> 00:19:37.000 - during the summer. So we have a high cycle of homelessness turnover just here just because of that. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:44.328 - But we need to get our directions and say, our support, our strength in labor and in resources and in 00:19:44.328 --> 00:19:52.158 - responsibility isn't outside of us. It's in our own communities. And start addressing it from the ground up. 00:19:52.514 --> 00:19:59.799 - But that's absolutely true. One of the problems I'm sure you have to face is the fact that I see all 00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:07.083 - the time and hear about developers coming in from California, from New York. And that's fine if they 00:20:07.083 --> 00:20:14.440 - want to develop here. But what the city leaders, I think, need to do is make it specifically clear in 00:20:14.440 --> 00:20:17.758 - writing that this will benefit our community. 00:20:18.114 --> 00:20:25.436 - in some way, you're not just going to come in here and make your millions and then leave. Which is what 00:20:25.436 --> 00:20:32.829 - leads people to the situation we're in right now. Take Marriott itself. They're not using union letters. 00:20:32.829 --> 00:20:40.292 - They're not using people here. And yet they're getting tax evasions. They're getting as long as $700,000. 00:20:40.292 --> 00:20:46.910 - We've got to start directing ourselves more to addressing at least a balance between the two. 00:20:47.106 --> 00:20:55.086 - think would be a fair compromise. But I'm ready for us to have our time. Just the other night at the 00:20:55.086 --> 00:21:02.986 - council meeting, we found out that at the Allen Building, there were supposed to be four units that 00:21:02.986 --> 00:21:11.124 - were supposed to stay low income for five to 10 years. We found out Wednesday night, that that company 00:21:11.124 --> 00:21:15.390 - has the option to take the pass abatement or not take 00:21:16.994 --> 00:21:22.604 - They do not take the tax abatement. They don't have to keep those payments as low income. There's going 00:21:22.604 --> 00:21:28.214 - to be seven, I understand, that are federally funded, but they're only going to be for 10 years. What's 00:21:28.214 --> 00:21:33.662 - going to happen after 10 years? I mean, I don't think the general public understands that with these 00:21:33.662 --> 00:21:39.164 - tax abatements, sometimes there's a whole menu of options that they can do. And one of them is having 00:21:39.164 --> 00:21:44.665 - affordable housing for a certain length of time. But if we're giving you tax abatements, I think that 00:21:44.665 --> 00:21:46.014 - it should be a permanent 00:21:48.130 --> 00:21:54.565 - This trust fund, we would have the revolving part of it. We'd be able to build it. And there would be 00:21:54.565 --> 00:22:00.874 - no need for additional funding. There would be no need for additional Section 8. Because Section 8, 00:22:00.874 --> 00:22:07.308 - what it does is the people that can afford to be there, that are placed in these homes, they pay what 00:22:07.308 --> 00:22:13.869 - they can afford, 30% of their income, between 25% and 30% of their income. And then the general public, 00:22:13.869 --> 00:22:17.150 - the Section 8, picks up the difference between that 00:22:17.858 --> 00:22:25.149 - landlord is still asking. The landlord's not losing out on these Section 8 homes. They're still making 00:22:25.149 --> 00:22:32.368 - their profit. And what we're saying with this fund and building or renovating a home to rent out, all 00:22:32.368 --> 00:22:39.517 - that rent would go back into the fund. And that they would pay their 30%, their 25% to 30%, and that 00:22:39.517 --> 00:22:45.534 - would be it. They could continue living if they wind up down there at Winding Brook. 00:22:45.794 --> 00:22:53.202 - It was great. The county was so excited that we had somebody that was willing to build low-income housing. 00:22:53.202 --> 00:23:00.264 - But those homes are $65,750 with no appliances. You're 25 feet from an income. Unfortunately, in this 00:23:00.264 --> 00:23:07.187 - day and age, that could be considered low-income housing. I know. But the trick to this one is it's 00:23:07.187 --> 00:23:14.526 - a guaranteed 3% rate. And it's tied to your income. Whatever the loan is signed at at the day of closing, 00:23:15.106 --> 00:23:21.804 - The general public, again, it's like another subsidy. We're paying the interest on that. We pay the 00:23:21.804 --> 00:23:28.769 - difference between the guaranteed 3% and whatever the going rate is at the day of the sale of the home. 00:23:28.769 --> 00:23:35.802 - And then people have to go into debt to get their appliances. You have no control over really the design 00:23:35.802 --> 00:23:42.366 - of your home. And you have it tied to your income. It's tied to your income so the more you make, 00:23:43.138 --> 00:23:50.164 - The more your rent goes up, the more your mortgage goes up. You can never pay it off. Because the trick 00:23:50.164 --> 00:23:57.054 - at the end of that says if you sell this home, you have to pay us back all the interest that was paid 00:23:57.054 --> 00:24:03.810 - for you. You can never get out of it. It's putting the back of another cycle. And that's what we're 00:24:03.810 --> 00:24:06.782 - trying to eliminate is this constant cycle. 00:24:07.778 --> 00:24:14.608 - Has your proposal been submitted formally to the city council as of yet? Yes. It's individual members. 00:24:14.608 --> 00:24:21.505 - As you were developing the proposal, why did you decide that the loan fund would be better administered 00:24:21.505 --> 00:24:28.136 - to the city over an independent agency like CATCH, or maybe even CATCH itself? Well, CATCH would be 00:24:28.136 --> 00:24:35.099 - an applicant to the fund, so there would be a conflict of interest. But Mary Brooks's offer as technical 00:24:35.099 --> 00:24:36.094 - assistant, she 00:24:36.706 --> 00:24:43.611 - directs the Housing Trust Fund project, which is a project of the Senator. And she has actually flown 00:24:43.611 --> 00:24:50.583 - out here from California to talk with us, and we have been reading her literature and talking with her 00:24:50.583 --> 00:24:57.420 - extensively over the phone. She is without question the guru of housing trust, and has helped set up 00:24:57.420 --> 00:25:04.190 - over 100 across the country. She, from her experience, that that is the best way to go, to have the 00:25:04.190 --> 00:25:05.950 - city or county department 00:25:06.370 --> 00:25:13.912 - who deals with those with housing situations, administer the fund. What problems doesn't the city encounter 00:25:13.912 --> 00:25:21.174 - that private agents have read? Well, one, the city can be held politically accountable. The other, what 00:25:21.174 --> 00:25:28.157 - some people have tried is establishing a separate nonprofit, which we don't really want to create a 00:25:28.157 --> 00:25:35.838 - new set of bureaucracy and spend money from the fund on some new nonprofit that we essentially wouldn't need. 00:25:36.354 --> 00:25:44.913 - I've been to two big things. It's also a capacity question that redevelopment has a bit more capacity 00:25:44.913 --> 00:25:53.975 - than staff. They point out too that the Department of Redevelopment has successfully administered community 00:25:53.975 --> 00:26:02.366 - development block grant funds for many, many years. I think there's public perception about it too. 00:26:02.498 --> 00:26:10.067 - Appreciate it. Get back to the radio station. Listen to the news at noon today. You'll probably hear 00:26:10.067 --> 00:26:17.860 - something about that. Thank you. Great. Any other questions? That's a good question. Yeah, I think that 00:26:17.860 --> 00:26:25.129 - Andrea would be both. A lot of that will... Our proposal would include both. I think, of course, 00:26:25.129 --> 00:26:27.902 - as we know, this will be hashed out. 00:26:31.906 --> 00:26:38.003 - A lot of this will be really flexible, different types of ownership agreements, like cooperative housing, 00:26:38.003 --> 00:26:43.754 - non-interested agreements, and things like that. And of course, there's going to be a lot of rental 00:26:43.754 --> 00:26:49.621 - property constructed, but also trying to look at purchasing mortgages for people off of this one. One 00:26:49.621 --> 00:26:55.718 - of the biggest drawbacks from our community is we don't have anything to rehab. We have to start building 00:26:55.718 --> 00:27:01.182 - from the ground. And what we have found, there isn't that many money before the agency's ready 00:27:01.346 --> 00:27:26.718 - We should be clear that the money would be for 00:27:27.010 --> 00:27:32.892 - for-profit, non-profit housing developers. It wouldn't be for like a long-term person couldn't come 00:27:32.892 --> 00:27:38.892 - apply for the money. This money would be seed money. Housing trust fund to really work needs to have, 00:27:38.892 --> 00:27:45.069 - like Adam said, an ongoing revenue source. I hope you put that anything right because it really wouldn't 00:27:45.069 --> 00:27:51.245 - be a housing trust fund. It would just be a revolving loan fund. It needs to be more than that to really 00:27:51.245 --> 00:27:53.598 - address this community's housing needs. 00:27:53.794 --> 00:28:01.697 - Mary Brooks has said it's not a housing trust fund unless it has this ongoing dedicated revenue source. 00:28:01.697 --> 00:28:09.448 - We think this is a really opportune time for the ceiling to begin committing to this type of project. 00:28:09.448 --> 00:28:17.047 - And this would be a very important step in securing a lot of resources. We've been working on it. I 00:28:17.047 --> 00:28:21.150 - think it's important to note that the housing network 00:28:21.538 --> 00:28:29.237 - has been working on a housing trust fund extensively, and we're working. Any meetings prior to the July 00:28:29.237 --> 00:28:37.084 - 10th meeting that we can attend and possibly influence? If I were you, I'd just call some of those senior 00:28:37.084 --> 00:28:44.856 - council members. I think they'd listen to you. But I do think it's important that we need to be involved 00:28:44.856 --> 00:28:49.150 - in the process of decisions. From what I understand, this 00:28:49.378 --> 00:28:56.783 - The council will meet at Twin Lakes tomorrow. Do you know about this? Yes. And I think this will be 00:28:56.783 --> 00:29:04.410 - discussed tomorrow at Twin Lakes. So this is definitely already being discussed. No, it would actually 00:29:04.410 --> 00:29:12.185 - be a meeting. We feel this is a good time for us to really make the community aware now that we're going 00:29:12.185 --> 00:29:19.294 - through changes of not only elections, but a shift here. And I think we've reached a point that 00:29:20.066 --> 00:29:29.379 - We have to make a commitment and the community has the bypasses to maybe not be aware, but we're here 00:29:29.379 --> 00:29:38.966 - to say as a group that there is a problem and needs to be. Do we have a question? All right. Hey, thanks 00:29:38.966 --> 00:29:40.062 - for coming.