Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 28
28, consider and take appropriate action on items related to the analysis of 'em pedestrianments to fair housing.
a, update on request for services, rfs, for the analysis of impediments, and b, overview of the scope of services to be included in the rfs for the analysis of impediments.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, sherri fleming, county executive for health and human services and veterans services.
and staff requested this agenda item just to have you be aware of our progressing work in this area.
once we became a h.u.d.
entitlement, which was the initiation of our cdbg program, we are required at some point by h.u.d.
to create what is called an analysis of impediments to fair housing choice.
we have been able to use a document that was created by the city of Austin in 2005 to reach compliance in this area; however, with the expectation that at some point during our program we would complete our own analysis.
and so now that we are five years into our cdbg program, staff has prepared and has worked with both legal and purchasing to develop an appropriate rfs to begin the process of retaining a consultant, to complete this required h.u.d.
document.
so because this is our first one, staff wanted to call it to your attention and to provide you just some basic information about what we expect this document to reveal.
the study expects to identify a variety of policies, practices and actions as they relate to residents who may be members of a protected class and how those policies or practices impact their ability to access housing in our community.
so as you could possibly imagine, this will be a report that will identify things about our community that we probably already know.
transportation challenges, utility costs, the -- the shrinking availability of land and places to locate affordable housing.
so, again, staff thought it was important that we call this item to your attention.
I believe purchasing is poised and ready to issue this rfs.
the resources for this study have already been budgeted both in the cdbg grant and then a little general fund in the health and human servicesce budget, and so we thought it important for you to -- to be involved in -- as this process progresses and so if there are any questions that you might have, I'm prepared-on I hope I'm prepared to answer them today.
>> questions?
>> only that, boy, do we need this.
a family of four living in 100% of fpl is making it on $22,000 a year and the average rent within a 10-mile radius of Austin is $1,031 a month.
>> so once the --
>> so
>> [inaudible] the affordable housing in.
>> as you can imagine, once we have the report in hand, staff will have to work with you to look at those items that we have the ability to impact and create a plan to do so within the resources that the county has at its disposal.
so this is a process that will continue over time and we will period you canly update you as we are progressing through it, but, again, because it's our first foray into this arena we thought it important that we update you.
>> so when this study is done, what are we supposed to use it for?
>> to look at those impediments, if you will, to our residents having an opportunity to access affordable housing and what we can do with our policies or prosecutors to improve upon that situation for our residents.
-- policies or practices to improve upon that situation for our residents.
so we'll look at everything from taxing issues, it will look at utility costs, transportation, land use to the extent that we have some say so about that especially in the unincorporated areas particularly.
so anything that you could imagine that impacts -- that impacts affordability as it relates to housing choice.
>> and h.u.d.
would expect us to use h.u.d.
dollars to address the issues.
>> yes.
I would also go so far as to say that h.u.d.
would expect that you would use this as a guide in policy decisions that you might make even with general fund dollars.
as a guide.
>> I guess in other words how we address those impediments.
>> yes, ma'am.
>> okay.
so what are we expected to do today?
>> I think if you would, the action today would be approve and authorize staff to issue a rfs to move forward in the analysis of impediments.
>> so moved.
>> second.
>> you said money is available.
how much?
>> > thousand dollars is what has been budgeted.
25,000 in cdbg grant and 25,000 in general fund dollars.
>> and we have reason to believe that's sufficient?
>> we sure hope so, judge.
>> and this impediment to fair housing study, my understanding is within the scope we're also looking at what essentially amounts to an opportunity mapping through the county, so with this information in hand this will also place us more competitively for things like what mr. Mccourse was speaking to like pulling down money to address our homelessness issues?
>> we hope so as well.
certainly it will become part of our h.u.d.
document for our community.
there are h.u.d.
programs that we have not accessed thus far, the home program, for example.
so we hope having these documents in hand will position us to move forward into some different funding sources.
>> and to a greater degree of collaboration are these issues.
>> yes, ma'am.
>> as we see -- this goes to not just folks in poverty but a full third of our population is housing cost burdened.
spending more than third of their income on housing.
>> that is correct.
>> and I wonder how utility costs measure up to that, to the rent costs?
>> it certainly is a huge consideration.
we encountered a little bit of that as we were looking for property to purchase for our habitat project, you may recall.
>> move that we authorize issuance of the r.f.p.
>> second.
>> r.f.s., rather.
seconded by Commissioner Huber.
discussion on the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
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