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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-02-01 MinutesNEW HANOVER COUNTY-CITY OF WILMINGTON WORKFORCE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE February 1, 2023 | REGULAR MEETING Committee Members Present: Sarah Arthur, Sharm Brantley, Liz Carbone, Tom Gale, Melanie James, Krysti Keser, Eric Knight, Katrina Knight, Katrina Redmon, Frank Smith NHC Staff Present: Tufanna Bradley, Katie Burket, Rachel LaCoe, Sarah Lipkin Sularz, Theo McClammy City of Wilmington Staff Present: Craig Harris, Chianti Johnson, Suzanne Rogers Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 3:07PM by Chairperson Sharm Brantley and a quorum was established. Agenda Approval and Minutes Mr. Tom Gale made a motion to approve the meeting agenda, seconded by Mr. Eric Knight and adopted unanimously. Mr. Gale made a motion to adopt the January 3rd draft minutes, seconded by Mr. Knight and adopted unanimously. Public Comments None Old Business Finalize Strategic Plan New Hanover County Staff confirmed that changes to the Strategic Plan discussed last week had been made and were sent to the group. Comments made during this meeting include: • Strike the second sentence in the workforce housing definition at the bottom. • Capitalize the words “area median income”. • Add a sentence that shows examples of these types of workers or descriptions of different types of income. “Workforce housing includes workers... including professions such as...” • Add “this committee defines workforce housing as”. • Remove the phrase “middle income”. • Complete sentence at bottom of the strategic plan. • Include same quantity of pages dedicated to City and County. Review Annual Report Outline County staff shared the annual report outline with the group and gave a verbal update on the Bowen report, which is still being vetted by County Staff. Discussion included permitted use of funds, how to recommend funding to elected officials, where funds would be held, and potential to request from the endowment. 2 Prioritize Recommendations County staff presented the draft recommendations the group composed at the previous meeting. The committee decided to not prioritize or rank the recommendations, and just include several recommendations. Recommendation: Dedicated LIHTC Gap Financing Fund • Attract LIHTC market investments with a dedicated funding pool. • Make the wording clearer, discuss the importance of projects having additional dedicated funding. This would be a fund for “final” financing gaps for project viability. Recommendation: Expanding Legal or Policy Protections for Housing • Using “source of income protections” as an example for this section should be changed out for a less contentious example. Idea posed to not including specific examples. Note that in NC, affordable housing is protected in the statutes. • Review at the White House’s Blueprint for Renters Bill of Rights. • Add changes to land use policies for less restrictions on housing type and development pattern to support affordable housing generation. • Add incentives / tax limits for elderly & fixed income persons. Recommendation: Maximize and Incentivize the Production and Preservation of Affordable Housing Units • Change affordable housing to something broader (workforce housing, or a diversity of housing types, etc.). Mirror the language that’s in the strategic plan. Expand these ideas as bullet points below the recommendation. Note that “incentivize” can mean financial or regulatory. Recommendation: Expand Financial Counseling Programs • Add “Workforce Retention” and “Financial Education and Counseling” Recommendation: Replacement of ARPA Funds • Show the amounts of ARPA funding, programs, and households served in the report. Show what other city/county funding went into these programs and what would be needed to sustain them in the future. Hurricane Florence recovery money will be phased out near term. Announcements None Adjourn Mr. Gale made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Knight. The meeting was adjourned at 4:42PM.