EYE ON GOVERNMENT: City of Mesa Housing & Community Development Board

First: Let's take a look and see what the official statements are from the city in general about Advisory Board and Committees:

Mesa residents are invited to participate in the process of City of Mesa government.

> One of the most effective ways to provide input is through service on one of the City's citizen advisory boards and committees.

> Through this service, civic-minded citizens become involved in their local government and make recommendations to the Mesa City Council.

> The City, in turn, benefits from the knowledge, experience and expertise of citizens. 

 

Second: Let's take a look and see what the city says the Housing & Community Development is:

The Housing and Community Development Advisory Board is composed of eleven (11) members who are residents of Mesa and who volunteer their services. 

> The Mayor, with the approval of the City Council, appoints the members of the Board. 

> Board members are appointed for 3-year terms and cannot serve more than two complete consecutive terms. 

> Previous board members may be re-appointed after a lapse of three years from end of previous term.

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Official Information

Government » Advisory Boards & Committees

Housing & Community Development Advisory Board

First Thursday of each month (on an as-needed basis)
6:00 PM
City Council Chambers - Lower Level
57 E. First Street, Mesa, AZ 

The next Housing and Community Development Advisory Board meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept 2, 2021 at 6:00 pm.

1 OK. Please take a look and see if there is AN AGENDA provided. as of August 31, 2021 - that is two days in advance for the next scheduled Board meeting - after a gap of three months after May 2021 when something important happened THE AMERICAN JOBS PLAN

 

2. From what we can see on the official page for Meetings & Agendas, it appears there was no need to schedule any Community Housing & Development Board meetings for the past three months ------ NO MEETINGS TOOK PLACE in either June, July or August:

The last one was in May

 

Meeting Date	Document Title	Meeting Type	Document Type
5/6/2021	May 6, 2021 Agenda	Regular	Agendas
5/6/2021	May 6, 2021 Results	Regular	Results

 

( Source: http://apps.mesaaz.gov/MeetingArchive/Meetings?Body=HCDAB )

 

WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF THE HCD BOARD

There are six Community Representatives - 1 has been vacant (no appointment)

1 Manufactured Housing Rep

1 Financial Rep

1 Singe-Family Housing Development Rep

1 Non-Profit Provider Rep

1 Special Needs Provider Rep

Board Members

Role:	Board Member:	Date Appointed:	Term Expires:
Chair - Community Rep	Johanna Richards	07/03/18	06/30/21
Vice-Chair - Community Rep	Mara Benson	07/01/19	06/30/22
Manufactured Housing Rep	Susan Brenton	08/16/18	06/30/21
Financial Rep	Derek Brosemann	07/01/19	06/30/22
Single-Family Housing Development Rep	Chad Cluff	07/01/19	06/30/22
Non-Profit Provider Rep	Kevin Humphrey	05/07/20	06/30/23
Community Rep	Nicolle Karantinos	11/12/20	06/30/23
Special Needs Provider Rep	Monique Kennedy	07/02/19	06/30/21
Community Rep	Mark Powell	07/01/19	06/30/22
Community Rep	Shelley Reimann	07/01/20	06/30/23
Community Rep	Vacant

Staff Liaison  
Jessica Morales, Program Assistant
480-644-3024

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INSERT RELATED CONTENT

Incentivize the removal of exclusionary zoning and harmful land use policies. For decades, exclusionary zoning laws – like minimum lot sizes, mandatory parking requirements, and prohibitions on multifamily housing – have inflated housing and construction costs and locked families out of areas with more opportunities. President Biden’s plan seeks to help jurisdictions reduce barriers to producing affordable housing and expand housing choices for people with low or moderate incomes. The American Jobs Plan will create a $5 billion incentive program that awards flexible and attractive funding to jurisdictions that take concrete steps to reduce barriers to affordable housing production.

Establish an energy efficiency and resilience retrofit program for multifamily housing. Most HUD-assisted housing was built decades ago and is less energy efficient and resilient than modern technologies and practices allow. As most of these properties lack the resources to update to higher standards, the American Jobs Plan would provide $500 million in grants and low-interest loans to help renovate tens of thousands of multifamily homes, making them more energy and water efficient and more resilient to extreme weather events. Research suggests these investments could save utility costs and create healthier indoor environments for residents.

 

Revitalize the physical assets that build community connectedness and spark innovation. Across the country, too many low-income communities and communities of color have suffered from years of disinvestment. The American Jobs Plan proposes investing $10 billion to support community-led redevelopment projects that create innovative shared amenities, spark new economic activity, provide services, build community wealth, and strengthen social cohesion.  The proposed Community Revitalization Fund would support a wide range of transformational places to work and gather, including but not limited to: upgrading access to natural areas, restoring vacant buildings to provide low-cost space for services and community entrepreneurs, and removing toxic waste and building new parks, greenways, and community gardens.

Produce and preserve more than one million housing units. Affordable housing development often requires multiple public subsidies to become financially feasible. The Biden-Harris Administration is proposing a historic $35 billion investment in HUD’s HOME Investment Partnership program and a $45 billion investment in the Housing Trust Fund to address housing needs in communities across the country. Together with an expansion of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and an innovative new tax credit through the Neighborhood Homes investment Act, these funds will produce and preserve more than one million affordable, sustainable places to live for low-, very-low, and extremely-low income families. The American Jobs Plan would also restore project-based rental assistance for privately-owned rental housing with an initial $2 billion investment, extending housing opportunities to even more communities.

• Address longstanding public housing capital needs. Nearly two million people across the country live in public housing—families with children, older Americans, and people with disabilities. Like roads, schools, and power grids, public housing is critical infrastructure that directly impacts the health and viability of our communities. Yet nearly half of the nearly 1 million units of public housing are over 50 years old and many contain lead paint, mold, and other health hazards. The American Jobs Plan calls for a transformative investment of $40 billion to rehabilitate and preserve public housing, addressing residents’ critical health and safety concerns. This is not just a safety issue but a racial justice issue, as approximately three in four public housing residents are people of color

 

26 May 2021

FACT SHEET: The American Jobs Plan Will Provide HUD with New Resources to Strengthen Communities, Expand Access to Affordable Housing, and Create Jobs

PRESS RELEASE The American Jobs Plan Will Provide the Department of Housing and Urban Development with New Resources to Strengthen Communities, Expand Access to Affordable Housing, and Create Jobs

 

 

Mesa has a Housing Master Plan

Based on this collection of information, the following ‘Guiding Principles’ have been approved for the Housing Master Plan: 
• Expand housing throughout Mesa for persons of all incomes and needs.
• Ensure the current inventory of housing is healthy, maintained and safe.
• Prioritize federal funding housing strategies that include reducing homelessness and promoting homeownership. 
• Seek partnerships to leverage housing development

 

 

 

 

Housing Master Plan Update: Goals & Strategies 
Guiding Principle:  Expand Housing throughout Mesa for Persons of All Incomes and Needs

 

> MAINTAIN AND EXPAND INFRASTRUCTURE: 

Consider housing types and locations when planning citywide infrastructure needs and resources.  

Connections to parks and green space

Sustainable development strategies and opportunities

 

> IDENTIFY EXISTING HOUSING INVENTORY:  Complete a comprehensive survey to document existing locations citywide of the types of housing available today in Mesa.  

 

 

 

> USE DATA TO BALANCE TYPE/LOCATION HOUSING:  Use housing inventory as one indicator when considering infill projects, or to consider ‘balance’ of type/location of new housing needs citywide.

 

> CONNECT HOUSING TO EXISTING/PLANNED RESOURCES:  Make this information a mapped tool where other overlays can be added for more insights, such as socioeconomic, demographics, city council districts, economic opportunity zones, existing zoning, quarter sections eligible for federal funding, existing parks, streets, transit, existing infrastructure, etc. 

 

> IDENTIFY ATTAINABLE HOUSING STRATEGIES AND INCENTIVES:  Work with internal departments, developers and the community to identify housing strategies that are attainable for residents of all incomes in Mesa that is presented for action by the City Council.

▪ Provide specs as an incentive for accessory dwelling units. 

▪ Assess other incentives for planning and construction phases.  • CREATE HOUSING

 

 

 

> STRATEGY FOR DOWNTOWN CORRIDOR:  Create a housing guideline strategy specific to downtown Mesa, using housing stats/data and also plans for the Central Main Plan,

Transit-Oriented Design,

Parks Masterplan,

Downtown Enterprise Zone,

Downtown Vision,

ADA, and the

General Plan to identify strategies for celebrating existing diversity/culture and also ensuring ample housing types/supplies for Downtown’s long-term economic growth and business/industry needs.

 

> CONNECT BUSINESS NEEDS TO EXECUTIVE AND WORKFORCE HOUSING:  Increase efforts to attract more executive and workforce housing to align with existing and new business/industry needs

 

> CREATION OF NEW COORIDORS OR DISTRICT PLANS: Being mindful of the housing needs as new workforce and business corridors, districts and other related site plans are created and considered. 

 

 

> PARTNER WITH NON-PROFITS TO PROVIDE AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND WRAP-AROUND SERVICES:  Work with local non-profit and other agencies to identify plans and resources to build new affordable housing, bridge housing, etc. to meet citywide needs and to ensure connections to healthy community ideals, i.e. connections to transit, shopping, schools, parks, walkable areas.   Increase the number of multi-family housing development owners/operators to work with the City for Section 8 housing.   

 

 

> NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT:  Continue to use federal funds and cross-departmental efforts to pursue data-driven approaches to strengthen and enhance challenged neighborhoods. Continue to strengthen neighborhood leadership and to encourage neighborhood engagement and to build a sense of community, connection, pride and safety.

 

 

 

 

> REHAB AGING HOUSING STOCK:  Increase federal funding allocations to the City’s rehabilitation program to continue addressing needs of aging housing stock. Identify priorities to purchase and rehab i.e. duplexes, fourplexes for resale to eligible families and to strengthen neighborhoods.

 > INVENTORY AND PLAN FOR MANUFACTURED HOUSING CITYWIDE:  Identify all mobile home, manufactured housing communities in Mesa as well as their age and conditions. 

Create a community-based strategy to identify priories, risk factors and to utilize federal funding, assistance from non-profits and support from industry to provide a combination of strategies, including codification of some requirements, to support safe and healthy living conditions for existing homes and to identify standards for future manufactured housing proposed in Mesa. Consider ‘tiny home’ development strategies for replacement of deteriorated housing.  

Guiding Principle: Prioritize Federal Funding Housing Strategies that Include Reducing Homelessness and Promoting Homeownership
 • OPTIMIZE AND LEVERAGE HUD FUNDING:

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The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 – Direct Aid To Education, Healthcare And Other Sectors May Indirectly Benefit State And Local Governments

January 14, 2021 https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-consolidated-appropriations-act-8660575/

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”) supplements the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 (the “CARES Act”) by providing approximately $900 billion in additional federal aid to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Act excludes state and local governments from direct financial relief, a major sticking point in the final weeks of negotiation.  Nevertheless, the Act’s targeted aid to particular sectors, including K-12 and higher education, healthcare, transportation and housing, should provide some aid to state and local governments, albeit indirectly, as highlighted below

Housing

• The Act extends the CDC’s residential eviction moratorium until January 31, 2021 and provides $25 billion in additional emergency rental assistance.
• The Act also establishes a 4% floor rate for calculating the low income housing tax credit (LIHTC), a federal subsidy used in financing the acquisition, construction and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing for low- and moderate-income tenants.

 

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