Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.17.23-Approved-SKHHP-EB-MinutesPage 3 of 7 SKHHP Executive Meeting March 17, 2023 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Nancy Backus called the meeting to order at 1:04 PM. a. ROLL CALL/ESTABLISHMENT OF QUORUM Executive Board members present: Executive Board members present: Nancy Backus, City of Auburn; Colleen Brandt-Schluter, City of Burien; Kristina Soltys, City of Covington; Traci Buxton, City of Des Moines; Sarah Bridgeford, City of Federal Way; Dana Ralph, City of Kent; Sean P. Kelly, City of Maple Valley; Eric Zimmerman, City of Normandy Park; Hannah Bahnmiller, City of Renton; Sunaree Marshall, King County; Cynthia Delostrinos Johnson, City of Tukwila. II. PUBLIC COMMENT No member of the public requested time to address the Executive Board III. APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 17, 2023 MINUTES Kristina Soltys moved to approve the January 20, 2023, minutes as presented, seconded by Sean P Kelly. Motion passed unanimously (10-0) IV. NEW BUSINESS a. 2024 SKHHP WORK PLAN DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP The SKHHP Executive Board and Staff undertook an interactive process to get preliminary feedback to guide the drafting of a 2024 Work Plan & Budget for future review. The process began last month with the completion of surveys provided to the SKHHP Executive and Advisory Boards at their monthly meetings. Claire Goodwin introduced the workshop with the goal to work collaboratively to get direction for the development of the 2024 Work Plan & Budget required to be completed by June 1st, 2023, as directed by the SKHHP Interlocal Agreement (ILA). The mission of SKHHP is to work together and share resources to create a coordinated, comprehensive, and equitable approach to increasing housing stability, reducing homelessness, and producing/preserving quality affordable housing in South King County. The SKHHP ILA goes into further detail and establishes that SKHHP member jurisdictions share a common goal to ensure the availability of housing that meets the needs of all income levels in South King County. sound base of housing policies and programs, and to cooperatively develop policies and strategies to address housing stability, foster efforts to preserve/provide affordable housing, and to support the implementation of the goals in the Growth Management Act (GMA), countywide planning policies, and other local requirements. member jurisdictions agree that the most effective and expeditious way Page 4 of 7 to address affordable housing needs in South King County is through cooperative action and pooling public and private resources not to duplicate efforts of non-profit corporations and other entities already providing affordable housing related services. a cooperative work plan with a primary focus on the production and preservation of affordable housing is needed because the lack of access to affordable housing is one of the workplan activities will be consistent with the purpose described in this agreement. The purpose as described in the ILA is as follows: local and regional planning for the provision of housing affordable to residents that work and/or live in South King County. The parties agree to act cooperatively to formulate affordable housing policies that address housing stability and to foster efforts to preserve and provide affordable housing by combining public funding with private-sector resources. Claire Goodwin discussed the importance of affordable housing in South King County. Examples given were the importance of accommodating members of the community including grocery store workers, restaurants workers, baristas, seniors on fixed-incomes, young adults, adult children living at home, future generations who want to stay in the community they are from, and vulnerable populations who may be transitioning out of homelessness. A first-year teacher makes roughly $60,000 a year and would need housing below 80% AMI. The current deficit of affordable housing also disproportionally impacts communities of color. Close to 45% of South King County's BIPOC renter households are cost-burdened, while over 30% of white renter households are in the same area. Cost- burdened households are those that spend more than 30% of their income on housing- related expenses including utilizes. Gregg Colburn presented at a previous Executive Board meeting on how the lack of access to affordable housing is a key contributor to shortage. By 2044, King County needs approximately 309,000 units of housing with 63% being able to serve residents at 80% AMI and below. This demand will put a significant strain on the existing housing in South King County, and only increase the demand for more. King County needs 124,000 new units of 0-30% AMI housing units by 2044. This is like adding an entire City of Kent in that income bracket alone. As a start to the process, Claire Goodwin directed SKHHP Executive Board members to partner with their respective Staff Work Group member to answer the question, participants shared included: helping to shift the conversation to include not just new housing development but the preservation of current stock, collaboration across the region to pool funds for projects, being together is more powerful than being one, helps increase local authority around housing planning, and the quickness that SKHHP has been able to support projects through the pooled funding. Both the SKHHP Executive and Advisory Board completed a survey at their last monthly meetings to gauge the current interests and priorities of each member. The survey was developed directly from the 2023 SKHHP Work Plan & Budget. Each Executive Board Member was provided the aggregate survey results from the Executive and Advisory Board, along with their individual results which were not shared with other members. Eleven survey Page 5 of 7 responses were received by the Executive Board and eight survey responses out of a potential of twelve were received by the Advisory Board. The results from question one on the SKHHP Executive Board survey (What are the top five items across any category (critical, important, or desirable) that should remain on the 2024 work plan?) had three items receiving 6 votes out of the top five items across any category. Which were: Developing a long-term funding strategy for the Housing Capital Fund, work with private investors/lenders to maximize investment into affordable housing, and to develop a subregional housing preservation strategy. Additionally, two items on the survey received 5 votes a piece: building the capacity of SKHHP and developing a program to help member cities administer affordable housing incentive programs. Items with 4 votes each were: to work collaboratively with public funders at the state and local levels and convene city and county land use planners. The results from question one on the SKHHP Advisory Board survey (What are the top five items across any category (critical, important, or desirable) that should remain on the 2024 work plan?) had two items receive 7 votes a piece: develop a long-term strategy for the housing capital fund and coordinate with housing organizations and stakeholders to provide education and engagement with the community. The next tier with 5 votes: work collaboratively with public funders at the state and local levels to support affordable housing goals. Question two from the Executive Board survey results (What are the top five items across any category (critical, important, or desirable) that you are supportive of leaving off the 2024 work plan?) yielded seven votes for working with HDC, affordable housing developers, and city and county planners to reimagine the Joint Planners and Developer group. With 6 votes to leave off: providing annual updates to non-SKHHP SKC cities and support efforts to advance action identified by the five-year plan from the Regional Affordable Housing Task Force. Question two for the Advisory Board echoed the results of the Executive Board results in leaving off the annual updates to the non-SKHHP SKC cities. Question three asked what items were not seen on previous work plans that Board Members would like to see on the 2024 plan. These included: pooling 1590 funds, working with philanthropy, addressing the root cause/homeless prevention, and post-legislative session analysis. Currently, SKHHP does do homeless prevention work in South King County through the lens of increasing housing. As previously discussed at the SKHHP Executive Board, a lack of affordable housing is the largest driver of homelessness in our region. One of the SKHHP Housing Capital Fund projects has a 40% set aside for families escaping homelessness. update to ILA at each partner City Council. Additionally, the King County Regional Homeless Authority is currently the lead agency addressing homelessness and working on prevention and diversion work in King County. Claire Goodwin directed Executive Board members to split into small groups to discuss the results of both surveys, and their individual results. There was some discussion around the difference in results from the Executive and Advisory Board about the focus on educational Page 6 of 7 briefings. It was also highlighted that the Executive Board seemed to focus more on private partnerships and the Advisory Board results seemed to favor more public funding sources. program around aiding cities administrating affordable housing incentive programs. It was expressed that it was important to keep in mind that worth of work, and does not necessarily represent all future plans, but is important to reflect on current staff capacity. Claire Goodwin provided an analysis of the results of both surveys. She identified that there was alignment in thinking that the work plan is comprehensive, and that developing a long- term funding strategy for the Housing Capital Fund was high priority. There was also alignment to leave off the annual updates to the non-SKHHP cities as well. Differences she identified in the results included Coordinating with housing organizations and stakeholder groups to provide education and engagement opportunities for elected officials, stakeholders, and community members being high for the Advisory Board and low for the Executive Board. She posited that this was likely a difference in how each group views their role part of the mission of the Advisory Board as stated in the ILA is to provide public education and community outreach services. Developing a subregional housing preservation strategy was higher for the Executive Board but lower for the Advisory Board. than seeing it as a low priority for the Advisory Board. For the final activity, the Executive Board was asked to review three categories of items and select their top priorities from two of the categories. Executive Board Members paired up with their Staff Work Group member and solicited the Staff Work on their selections. They were asked to select their top two in the higher consensus category and top three in the lower consensus category. Each item lists whether it has a fiscal impact on the budget and what the staff capacity requirements might be as a percentage of time annually for SKHHP staff. For the current year, Claire estimates that meaning there is more work than there is time to complete. This could mean reducing the number of items on the 2024 work plan, doing less of an item when possible, and/or adding capacity. Higher Consensus Category Develop long-term funding strategy for the Housing Capital Fund and facilitate conversations with member jurisdictions to identify and explore dedicated sources of revenue for affordable housing at regional and local level (8 Votes) Develop subregional housing preservation strategies and facilitate implementation (6 Votes) Work with private investors and lenders to maximize leverage of public investment into affordable housing (5 Votes) Develop a program to assist member cities with administering local housing incentive programs, including density bonuses, MFTEs, impact fee waivers, and other program (3 Votes) Page 7 of 7 Develop a plan to build capacity at SKHHP Lower Consensus Category Work collaboratively with public funders at the state and local levels to promote shared affordable housing goals and equitable geographic distribution of resources (7 Votes) Work with member cities and project sponsor to start developing a pipeline of projects to be funded over the next five years. (7 Votes) Convene city and county land use planners to share best practices and increase coordination and collaboration on housing policy and planning (5 Votes) Represent SKHHP at relevant local and regional meetings and forums that help healthy, and affordable housing in South King County. (5 Votes) Monthly SKHHP Executive Board briefings on key housing and homelessness topics, especially as they relate to the goals of the work plan. (5 Votes) Build relationships with state and federal legislators through organizing work sessions and providing progress updates. (4 Votes) Items that were not included in the voting but are relevant to the development of the 2024 Work Plan were discussed for context. Those included: Items required by our ILA (annual work plan, quarterly reports) Items related to the administration of the Housing Capital Fund Projects we currently manage that aren't on the work plan New items that we would like to do based on Executive Board member conversations Items that scored low on survey, but would recommend to stay on workplan Items that both Executive Board and Advisory Board scored as supportive of removing from workplan or as low priority Administration V. UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS As of Monday, March 13, the SKHHP Housing Capital Fund Resolutions required for SKHHP to move forward with funding allocations for recommended projects, have been passed by all city councils. HDC is holding an annual event on Thursday, March 30, 2023, and is a great opportunity to network on housing-related topics. SKHHP Executive Board meetings will be held in-person once a quarter. The next in-person meeting will be June 16, 2023. VI. ADJOURN Nancy Backus adjourned the meeting at 3:00 pm