Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.21.23-Approved-SKHHP-EB-Minutes SKHHP Executive Meeting April 21, 2023 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Nancy Backus called the meeting to order at 1:05 PM. Meeting Recessed at 1:11 PM due to technical issues. Meeting called back to order at 1:17 PM. a. ROLL CALL/ESTABLISHMENT OF QUORUM 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; Brian Davis, City of Federal Way; Merina Hanson, City of Kent; Sean P. Kelly, City of Maple Valley; Eric Zimmerman, City of Normandy Park; Ryan McIrvin, City of Renton; Sunaree Marshall, King County; Cynthia Delostrinos Johnson, City of Tukwila. Staff members present: Claire Goodwin, SKHHP; Dorsol Plants, SKHHP; Ryan Disch- Guzman, SKHHP Advisory Board; Daphne Hernandez, City of Covington; Merina Hanson, City of Kent; Matt Torpey, City of Maple Valley; Hannah Bahnmiller, City of Renton; McCaela Daffern, King County. II. PUBLIC COMMENT No member of the public requested time to address the Executive Board. III. APPROVAL OF MARCH 17, 2023 MINUTES Traci Buxton moved to approve the March 17, 2023, minutes as presented, seconded by Cynthia Delostrinos Johnson. Motion passed (10-0) IV. OLD BUSINESS a. 2024 DRAFT WORK PLAN & REVIEW Claire Goodwin began by providing a brief overview of the development process for the 2024 Work Plan & Budget. SKHHP’s Interlocal Agreement states that on or before June 1st of each year a recommended work plan and budget will be prepared and reviewed by the Executive Board, then passed to partner city councils for adoption. The Executive and Advisory Board both completed surveys in February, which were used to develop the materials for the March Executive Board Workshop. Feedback from the workshop and the April Advisory Board meeting was incorporated into the draft being presented today. Feedback from the meeting today would be captured and an updated draft will be sent out by April 25th. Each Executive Board member has been asked to present and work with their City Council’s to capture any thoughts or feedback by May 9, 2023. SKHHP is on track to present a final draft for adoption by the Executive Board at the May 2023 meeting. SKHHP staff will work through the rest of May and June to present the work plan for adoption at each SKHHP partner jurisdiction. This is a slight change from last year’s process, and is based on the King County Council’s schedule and requirements. The change will allow for the County to present SKHHP and ARCH’s annual work plan and budget concurrently. Most of the items in the draft are carried over from previous years. The current draft is an effort to hone down and focus the work onto the elements that must be done to complete SKHHP’s mission. This brought the work plan to four key goals which include actions and indicators. The Work Plan was also reorganized to include priority level symbology and order the goals by priority. 1. Fund the Expansion and Preservation of Affordable Housing 2. Develop Policies to Expand and Preserve Affordable Housing 3. Serve as Advocate for South King County 4. Manage Operations and Administration Some of the new items included on the Work Plan include Action 12: Build relationships with developers to learn from their perspective the ways to encourage housing development, especially affordable housing. Also, Action 24: Advance work on the SKHHP Foundation efforts to establish logistics, administration, and pursue federal nonprofit status. The work plan also includes items which SKHHP previously worked on but had not documented in the work plan. These include Action 2, 6, 16, 21, 22, and 23 as examples. Items that were removed from the Work Plan were not as high a priority as other items based on the Executive and Advisory Board surveys. This does not mean that the items aren’t important to the SKHHP mission, but given staff capacity and the current priorities of the Boards, they did not rise to the level of remaining on the work plan. Examples of items not carried over from previous work plans include the development of a plan to build the capacity of SKHHP and providing annual updates to non-SKHHP South King County Cities and relevant stakeholder groups. Eric Zimmerman asked about the removal of building relationships with the state and federal legislators through organizing work sessions and providing progress updates. Citing concerns that the cities and state legislators aren’t as in sync as they could be and wondering if there are ways for SKHHP and cities to better connect with state legislators. The support of local delegations may be essential for SKHHP to be able to fulfill its mission. Claire Goodwin responded that the challenge is that each SKHHP member jurisdiction is in a different place and trying to find alignment was challenging. Removing it from the Work Plan does not mean SKHHP staff would not coordinate with the state delegation. Claire reminded the Executive Board of the conversation at the February Executive Board meeting where the Board advised that SKHP staff should not advocate for specific bills since alignment across jurisdictions may not be attainable. The draft 2024 Work Plan was reviewed with the Executive Board. (Attachment B) Colleen Brandt-Schluter asked about not including the collection of the Housing Capital Fund appropriations as an action item. Claire Goodwin said she would add it to the Work Plan. Traci Buxton stated that she loved the organization and the inclusion of indicators to track outcomes at the end of the year. She asked how SKHHP staff felt about the work plan and if the goals are achievable or if the Executive Board should reduce the action items. Claire Goodwin responded that the current draft includes current staff capacity, and had built-in priorities to provide guidance. Traci Buxton made the recommendation to match the SKHHP objectives and goals. Currently, there are three objectives and the goals seem to be an answer to the objectives. A second recommendation was to add a new number one that spells out that SKHHP must respond to the Interlocal Agreement and actions to keep the organization going. Then the remaining goals better align with the three objectives. The goals and objectives could be generated as a long list then each year some of the items would be added to the work plan depending on which priorities the Board wanted to pursue that year. Sunaree Marshall stated that the action items under Goal 1 seemed like a long list. It may be possible to make some of those actions sub-bullets under “manage the existing housing capital fund” and the other set is “grow or develop the housing capital fund”. It will be easier for the reader to absorb by collecting the action list into categories. Sunaree Marshall asked if any housing capital fund projects will be completed by the end of 2024. Colleen Brandt-Schluter and Dorsol Plants did not believe so. Sunaree continued that while we can monitor projects during construction, the indicators are reflective of long-term planning. We may not have a metric yet for units constructed. Claire Goodwin clarified her intent was to track the number of units funded not necessarily upon completion. The term “funded” may be better replaced by the word “build” to reflect that clarity. Brian Davis complimented SKHHP Staff on the format and structure of the work plan, it was easy to read with a lot of accountability built-in. Brian Davis asked about the input process acknowledging he was unable to attend the in-person workshop. The survey felt restrictive and did not allow new brain storming. Brian Davis questioned homelessness being in the name of SKHHP, but the Work Plan continues to be focused solely on the housing side of the homeless crisis. If SKHHP will continue to point solely to housing, homelessness should be removed from the organization’s title. Brian Davis added that SKHHP should ensure that the indicators are elements that SKHHP have control over and suggested removing the indicator about the number of preservation policies advancing in member Councils. Claire Goodwin responded that the brain storming elements were included at the end of the survey and those answers were reviewed at the workshop. Most of those items were able to be included in the work plan. Addressing homelessness was included on 3 survey results and a lengthy conversation took place at the workshop. There is currently a regional organization responsible for the non-housing work on homelessness, the King County Regional Homeless Authority (KCRHA). Additionally, the Interlocal Agreement focuses SKHHP’s work on the affordable housing solutions tied to solving the homelessness crisis. Nancy Backus added as someone who serves in a role for SKHHP and KCRHA that there may be a time in the future where the conversation is appropriate. KCRHA is seeking to sign a subregional agreement with the South King County cities. When the time comes, SKHHP could serve as the conduit for the connection with the South King County cities. By focusing on the housing piece now, SKHHP will be better prepared to support homeless work in the future. Eric Zimmerman spoke in support of Brain Davis’ position and that at the local level there is growing conversation about inefficiency of engaging solely at the municipal level. The current conversation on homelessness feels limiting and there is a lack of ways to engage in what Normandy Park considers a humanitarian crisis. Nancy Backus responded that there are concerns, but some of those concerns are bigger than what SKHHP could address. There is a need for multiple forums, but SKHHP may not be the appropriate forum. There will be conversations moving forward about an appropriate forum or place to hold those discussions. Nancy Backus offered to organize a separate discussion on the topic outside of SKHHP. Several members stated they would like to be part of the convening. Claire Goodwin reviewed the proposed budget for 2024. While there are no new expenditures proposed, there is a 5% increase in expenses impacted by inflation. Two new expense categories were added for clarity, making “travel” a standalone category, and renaming “misc.” to “Other professional services/Misc”. SKHHP member contributions are determined by population tier and there is a 15% increase in member contributions each year through 2026 as adopted by the Board in July of 2021. Additionally, SKHHP will continue to spend down cost savings from the first two years to balance additional contribution increases. The draft 2024 Budget was reviewed with the Executive Board. (Attachment B) Brian Davis commented that SKHHP was fortunate to have Auburn serve as the host, donating office space and support for SKHHP staff. b. 2023 STATE LEGISLATIVE REVIEW Dorsol Plants provided a brief update on the closing week of the 2023 State Legislative Session. The presentation format had been modified from previous presentations to divide legislative bills into those that had passed and those with remaining activity. HB1337 was not a bill previously brought before the Executive Board, but it has passed along with HB1110. Work is currently underway to understand the interaction between HB1337 and HB1110. HB1695 was tied to the SKHHP legislative priorities and passed through the legislature. HB1052, HB1149, and SB5202 were legislative bills tied to SKHHP priorities which did not pass this year. HB1628 which is tied to the SKHHP legislative priorities, had recent activity, and has received a push to pass through the legislature this year. Nancy Backus updated the group that she learned at an earlier meeting that HB1628 was not moving forward. The current proposed budget from the House and the Senate seek to invest $400 Million into the Housing Trust Fund. This session’s budget included a focus on creating and supporting home ownership opportunities. The final day of the legislative session is Monday, April 23, 2023. V. UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS Claire Goodwin informed the Executive Board that a survey would be going out seeking information to plan for the upcoming hybrid/in-person Executive Board meetings. Claire Goodwin acknowledged Joy Scott for her service and support to the SKHHP Executive Board. Claire Goodwin informed the Board that SKHHP would be convening a developers roundtable at the next South King County Joint Planners and Developers meeting to better understand barriers and ways to support development in our region on Wednesday April 26, 2023. 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 Program Coordinator-SKHHP