2008-10-09 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 On bullet 4, Mr. Norris suggested adding “such as participation in land trust.” Dr. Brown suggested taking out “high” in bullet 6. Mr. Norris recommended adding Emmet Street corridor. Council Allocation of 2009 Resources Mr. Tolbert listed the suggested allocation of the $1.4 million in FY 09 funds: $500,0000 – potential debt financing on housing bond; $150,000 annual contribution to Thomas Jefferson Community Workforce Housing Fund; $100,000 – support for master planning for public housing redevelopment (match for BAMA grant); $50,000 partial share of City housing planner position (with addition of CDBG funds); and $600,000 to be made available via a City RFP for homeowner and rental rehabilitation, special needs housing, and individual housing assistance to supplement existing services. Mr. Tolbert said that the idea was to float a housing bond to generate a substantial number of new units, but the complication is the City cannot float bonds for projects we do not own, with the exception of using the Housing Authority as a pass through. He said bonds could be used for site acquisition and an extended ground lease could be done. Responding to a question from Dr. Brown about the amount of money in the CIP for affordable housing in future years, Mr. O’Connell said $1 million a year. Mr. Huja suggested adding “construction of new affordable housing under the $600,000 expenditure. It was pointed out that the recommended cost allocation for the CRHA master plan is one third City, one third CRHA, and one third private. Dr. Brown asked for more information on other types of bonds mentioned by Mr. Armstrong, and Mr. Peter Loach of Piedmont Housing Alliance, said that there is the option of the City committing to help with debt services if a non-profit agency issues bonds. Mr. Norris asked the Housing Committee to look at the bond issues more. Dr. Brown asked what the difference would be in the City’s commitment to bonds and a dedicated source of funds which Council rejected, except for more immediate results. He said he would only be interested in helping with bonds if Albemarle County participated. Mr. Craig Brown, City Attorney, noted that future Councils cannot be bound to contribute to such debt service. Mr. Norris said the Committee can be tasked with looking further at bonds. Mr. Huja expressed concern with bonds in the current economic situation. Mr. Taliaferro said he would be more inclined to support bonds if Albemarle County did. Dr. Brown said the next few years will be difficult budget wise. He said everything in the CIP may have to be scaled back. He said for $600,000 we should only take great projects. He said we may have less money next year. Mr. Taliaferro said we have a high per capita on what we are spending on this, and he does not think we are shirking our responsibility. Mr. Norris suggested focusing on a couple of projects.