Travis County Commissioners Court
November 25, 2008
Housing Finance Corporation
Let's call to order the Travis County Housing Finance Corporation.
1.
consider and take appropriate action on request to approve payments to Travis County for accounting and administrative services.
>> good afternoon, I'm harvey Davis, manager of the corporation.
I do want to point out one error on my backup.
I put 930-2009 for the ending fund balance, it should be 9/30/2008 I apologize.
I'm asking you to approve paying for the housing finance corporation to pay Travis County $56,837.14.
this is based on a contract for services because we're county employees and the corporations have -- have to pay the county for the services of the county employees.
and the -- the determination, like in all of the past years, is based on allocating the fee based on the ending fund balance at 9/30 each year.
and the amount that is due Travis County is $130,144 and the housing financings corporation is the $56,837.14.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion in.
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
item no.
2 is to consider and take appropriate action on request to approve payment to professional services industries, inc.
for the state jail visitor center project.
>> and this is for the amount of $842, paid to psi, inc., it was the entity that -- that is doing the soil testing that was necessary at the site.
we paid a -- another invoice.
this is the final invoice, we paid another one to this -- to this entity.
this has been recommended and reviewed by facilities management that they recommend that it is appropriate to pay --
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
3.
consider and take appropriate action to approve resolution approving the transfer of the bent oaks apartments to rre bent oaks, llc, and an agreement and assumption agreement related thereto.
>> and I'm here with our attorney, cliff blunt.
>> [indiscernible] co, a large property, national multi-family apartment owners is selling bent oaks apartment to resource real estate and they have to get the permission of the -- of the corporation to -- to agree to the transfer.
the -- I think at closing they planned to pay off the bonds.
the -- the affordable eligibility period ends June 7th, 2009, so it's -- this one is about at the end of its cycle.
bent oaks is -- is near mopac and far west, it's a very nice apartment.
we have recently done some compliance audit.
those issues have been resolved.
so I do not see a compliance issue.
resource, real estate does -- is also a fairly large multi-family apartment owner.
has experience in -- in tax credits and bond financed apartment projects, so I think they -- in our opinion it is an appropriate buyer of the apartments.
again, the affordability period is only for a short time.
we do have a -- we do have an assumption fee that's $5,500.
they have agreed to -- to pay that fee and out of that fee will -- will also come the fee of -- of our attorney for the work that he has to do in -- in approving this transaction.
so -- so for those reasons, I do recommend that the board approve this transfer.
>> so move.
>> second.
>> any discussion?
>> anything to add?
>> no.
>> mr. Blunt?
>> I just -- the buyer is signing an assumption agreement and they are having their counsel deliver an opinion that it is enforceable against them and the regulatory agreement restrictions are enforceable against them.
everything required under our regulatory agreement is being met for this transfer.
>> all in favor?
that carries by unanimous vote.
4.
consider and take appropriate action on request to prepare a grant application for funding from the Texas department of housing and community affairs for a 2009/2010 tenant based rental assistance program.
>> this would be a new -- a new venture for the housing finance corporation and would represent -- we are -- we are optimistic, a -- a really good collaboration with health and human services.
tenant based rental assistance is a -- is one of the h.u.d.'s home programs. Home buyer down payment assistance is also a home program.
tenant based rental assistants pay rent and security deposits for low income citizens.
their requirement is below 80% of the median family income.
as a practical matter it would be much lower than that.
and as -- as the tenant or the recipient has to participate and -- in a self sufficiency program to receive the assistance.
the -- the citizen can receive the assistance up to two years.
this -- and we -- and if you will recall, when we had the -- had the work session, we talked a little bit about tenant based rental assistance was something we wanted to look into.
the funds from the state have -- has gone unused for several cycles, nobody in central Texas has applied for these funds.
>> do we know why?
>> > well, I could speculate?
do we know why?
can we speculate why?
let me try that question.
>> I can speculate, I don't know why, no.
>> okay.
I think one reason why is it's a lot of work.
the -- the amount that you receive from the grant is 4% administrative fee, which is much less than the amount of work that you had to put in to properly administer one of these grants.
because you have to -- you have to provide the family self sufficiency program for the tenant and that's -- that's a lot of work.
plus just for filling the grant app, the grant requirements and paying rent and mentoring, so it is -- it has taken on a big responsibility.
but we have -- what we are wanting to do -- and we are coming to you sort of at the front end, we want to -- we want to continue the work, investigate whether it makes sense for -- for the Travis County housing finance corporation to appear my for these funds and then to -- in effect hire health and human services to assist in really the major part of -- of administering the funds, which is -- which is the self sufficiency program and interacting with the people that would be using the funds and what makes it really nice is that health and human services has a family self sufficiency program and this will augment it and it will enable them to serve families that may be are -- make a little bit too much income to qualify for the family self sufficiency income but they would qualify for this tenant based rental assistance and you could also serve more families.
the grant would assist up to 20 families.
so we are asking your permission to continue this investigation and if we feel like it makes sense, to go ahead and prepare a grant application and then come back to you.
>> so the grant would be for how much money?
>> the grant would be for 300,000: that's what we would ask for.
>> for 20 families.
>> for 20 families.
the -- I didn't say anything, but are you thinking what I'm thinking?
>> well, I -- I can't read your mind, judge.
>> [laughter] you are probably thinking do these numbers work out?
we have worked outlet the numbers.
I don't have them at my fingertips.
but that does work out for --
>> 15,000.
>> 15,000 a piece.
>> well, I'm trying to --
>> that's rent for two years.
>> oh, it is?
>> uh-huh.
>> so divide 15,000 by 24, I think you get -- I think you get to a number that's in the ballpark for what --
>> the average rents in this area are about $800 for a one bedroom.
>> yeah.
>> so we pay the rent or pay part of it?
whatever the money would allow.
>> yes.
>> okay.
we do self sufficiency in house or do we contract that out?
>> sherri flemming, executive manager for health and human services.
we would do it in house.
it is much like the program that we are doing that is -- that is designed after the community model for the best single source program with the basic needs coalition whereby we work with families for three months of case management and they have the opportunity to have their rent paid for those three months while we are helping them to work a plan to be more self sufficient.
so this would be essentially an expansion of that because the families would have an opportunity to be a part of the program for up to 24 months as harvey said.
so -- so what we're talking about is case management.
we're talking about working with the family who make a plan on how they will be able to sustain the housing that they secured because part of the process is for them to identify housing that -- that we could pay for but also a -- an appropriate rent so that they would be able to continue to pay that rent once they were out of the program.
so it would be looking at their financial situation, helping them select an appropriate housing situation, but then also helping with budgeting and a variety of other services, securing child care, maybe they need access to other programs that might help to stretch their income, like food stamps or tanf or whatnot.
so it's comprehensively looking at the family's financial status and trying to help them move towards self sufficiency.
>> my final question is I guess, we need to make sure that we understand what the -- what the grant compliance requirements are.
and the -- determine what the auditor's role would be and make sure that we run past the grant person in the auditor's office what their requirements would be for us if we get this grant.
but if nobody else applies for it, assuming we can comply, leaves me with the impression that we have a pretty good chance to get it.
>> we have talked with the auditor and the information that -- that I've gotten from talking with them is that they would treat the housing finance corporation like they do with the down payment assistance grant.
it's the same thing.
all of the money would -- would come to the housing finance corporation, and the housing finance corporation would be making all of the payments.
so --
>>
>> [indiscernible] additional workload is what I'm hearing.
>> we're going to make it work.
I think we can, yes.
I mean, it will be additional work and, you know, there's not really -- there's $12,000 if we get a $300,000 grant, $12,000 to -- to somehow divide between the two, which is certainly a lot less than what is needed to put it in.
but I think we feel like that these -- these funds should be used.
I mean, this is really -- you're talking about affordable housing needs and this is rental assistance for the very low income people that -- and so it's -- you know, it's --
>> targeting people at 80% mfi?
is that what I have heard?
>> the h.u.d.
requirement is 80% mfi.
but with working with hhs and there their family self sufficiency program, is that right, it was 60 percent, that's right.
60 percent.
>> that would be the state.
but I think in working through their program as a practical matter, the tenants are going to be much lower than 60.
I think we're looking at families largely in the 30% range.
which is, you know --
>> very --
>> where the real need is.
>> they are the most difficult to find appropriate housing for.
because even if they are just random numbers, $610 a month, it's hard to find an apartment for $610 a month, very, very difficult to find an apartment.
>> if I may respond --
>> I'm sorry, just to add all of these would be apartments outside of the city of Austin, so it might be a little bit more affordable.
>> if I may respond to the workload question, judge.
>> I was looking for an enthusiastic yes, by the way.
>> it is an enthusiastic yes, we can.
the persons that we will be serving with these dollars will be coming to us anyway.
your staff who work with residents for rental assistance and a variety of other emergency assistance programs have a toolbox of programs that they can access for folks.
so a person will come in, they would -- their eligibility would be determined for a variety of different programs, some would qualify for this particular program, some would qualify for other programs that we have.
these would be clients that we would be working with normally.
so we would just actually have another funding source to -- to be able to provide access to.
>> but what do you -- what do you really admit that taking on programs that cost you more money than what you can actually operate, you know, there are a number of programs that that's what we do.
now maybe philosophically people say that's what you are supposed to do as government.
but at some point in time somebody has got to say how do you make these programs really worthwhile to be involved with?
your speculative response, harvey is probably right on.
why do you think nobody does it?
because you are moving back yards when you get in it.
I mean -- backwards.
I mean it costs you so much more.
I would bet you at some point in time there's going to be a request for an f.t.e.
or we got this workload, we have got this, we have got that.
I mean, I appreciate, sherri, the business that you are in, you're in the business to help, you're in the business to -- to --
>>
>> [indiscernible]
>> [multiple voices]
>> with us, let's look for a way to suck up and do it.
at some point in time somebody has got to say, you know,, I mean, I don't know that society can take on everybody to raise.
that haven't done the things that you got to do that the rest of -- or that most of us have done in our life.
that is find a way to make your own way.
I mean as opposed to being a complete drain on society.
but --
>> and I will say this, that on the home buyer -- the down payment assistance program, we are able to -- to collect our charged soft costs, the costs to administer the program.
we have a consultant and that consultant is paid out of the grant funds.
the state doesn't allow us to do that with this program even though there's, you know, it's a lot of work with being with somebody through a family self sufficiency program.
the state -- that's something that we would try to work on to allow us to collect a fee or to hire them and actually pay them a fee out of grant funds to do all of the work on the program.
>> okay.
Commissioner Daugherty, certainly you are correct in there is capacity.
you know, there are only so many people we can serve with the number of staff that we have.
but in this particular case, these funds actually allow us to -- to put a plan in place for families that -- that they don't have to come back to us or anyone else every month to try to figure out how to -- how to, you know, make their rent work or make the utilities work.
and that is the advantage to this type of assistance.
unfortunately in the basic needs arena, people spent more time -- missing work, you know, missing their kids' school performances, trying to cobble together assistance so they can maintain their housing.
in this case if they qualify we are taking care of that so they can focus on a job training program that might enhance their skills.
or they cannot miss so much time from work so they reduce their paycheck for the next month and are back seeking additional assistance.
so a program like this actually helps us to -- to move people toward an exit from the system.
much more effective than a one-time a year allocation, which is what, you know, resources dictate that we must do.
>> but, sherri, you and I both know that are you moving them away from something that they are in that they are really going to be able to get out of?
no.
the overwhelming answer to that would be no you're not.
you're just pushing it down the field.
that's not to say that you are not helping people.
they have kind of made their life.
it's sort of like, I mean, if you were to really go in and see the performance measures you would probably find that we --
>>
>> [multiple voices]
>> I'm good b to explode.
>> I know you want to chime in on this.
this is where we really differ greatly.
at some point in time the taxpayer is who continues to pick this up.
bottom line.
the taxpayer.
you can't get the needs to match up with the resources and we don't because, you know, that is -- they never add up.
then it's -- it's on the backs of the taxpayer -- because the taxpayers have to pick up the f.t.e., the programs that you have that we continue to fund.
>> well, Commissioner, you know I respectfully disagree.
>> yes.
we've had this conversation in my office many-a-time
>> [multiple voices]
>> this is an incredible commitment for a family to -- to allow government to insinuate themselves in their life for 24 months.
I would submit to you that we will have families incredibly appreciate and being committed to doing what it takes to make programs like this work.
those are the families that we will be serving, those are the families that I sit here day in and day out and respectfully disagree about.
>> I understand.
>> is it too late to withdraw my question.
>> [laughter] anything else?
move approval.
>> second!
>> any more discussion?
this is for the application.
this is to make the application.
>> yes, sir.
>> any idea of when there may be a -- a deadline.
>> deadline is April 30th.
it is a -- ongoing cycle.
in other words first come, first served.
I would hope that we would be back in -- sometime in January.
hopefully mid -- early to mid January.
>> this process allows us, the sooner we get our application in, we would evaluate and move forward.
if we get it in early, we have potential to get granted the funds early.
>>
>> [multiple voices]
>> no way to get it in before December 31st some.
>>
>> [laughter]
>> > money as far as the application to be awarded other than what's on the surface at this time.
>> in other words, well, there are other people that --
>> [indiscernible] that didn't apply --
>> [multiple voices]
>> surplus.
>> the
>> [indiscernible]
>> 300,000.
>> the limit is that?
>> so we're going for the limit.
and -- and if -- if there's funds unspent, and we're able to spend 300,000, I mean, we could go back and --
>> okay.
>> seek additional funds.
>> the -- have the opportunity to get some additional
>> [indiscernible] out of that.
that was my concern.
>> do we have reason to believe that ourself sufficiency program is a good one?
>> yes, sir.
>> okay.
because I don't know otherwise, but I --
>> that would be good --
>> you have a hard working set of case workers and social workers who do this every day, sometimes I think 24/7.
>> and working up a five year plan showing the results of that over time in performance measures is fabulous.
>> send that to me in about two years, I will let you know where I am.
>> I will be happy to, Commissioner Daugherty.
>> [laughter]
>> all in favor?
show Commissioners Gomez, Davis, eckhardt and yours truly voting in favor.
Commissioner Daugherty voting against.
>> I move we adjourn.
>> second.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:38 PM