Travis County Commissioners Court
December 6, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 2
Number 2 is a public hearing to receive public comments regarding the program year 2010 consolidated annual performance evaluation report for the community development block grant provided by h.u.d.
>> move the public hearing be open.
>> second.
>> all in favor?
that carries unanimously.
miss moffett.
>> christy moffett, Travis County health and human services.
today we're here for a public hearing.
it's the only public hearing for the 15-day public comment period related to the annual report for the community development block grant funds that are available through the u.s.
department of housing and urban development.
this report covers the time frame beginning October 1st of 2010 through September 30th of 2011.
we have a power point presentation over on the table in english and in spanish and I will very briefly go through the presentation for you today.
so during the reporting period, Austin habitat for humanity closed on 31 lots.
the first 27 lots were closed in October and the last four lots were closed in July of this year.
by the end of the reporting period, the first house for the project was 90% complete.
and we spent about 99% of the funds that were available for that project.
also, lava lane was a road improvement in precinct 4.
it was completed in June of 2011.
and it benefited 1297 people and approximately $334,000 was spent on the project.
additionally with our social services expansion project which focuses in precincts 1 and 4, social work service that serves people in the unincorporated areas, 175 people benefited from the service which exceeded our annual goal of 120.
29 different organizations received outreach to inform them about the services that were available and additional assistance through the youth and family assessment center program and besting all source funds were accessed for those families as well.
in terms of planning and administration accomplishments, in February of 2011 we hired two vacant cdbg planner positions, finished the three-year consolidated plan and the py 2011 action plan.
we were active in homelessness and planning housing efforts and we spent about 90% -- or 95% of the funds available.
additionally we achieved timeliness compliance in August of 2011.
we also renewed our urban county status for the next three years with the village of webberville electing to join the urban county and so we will be providing them the opportunity to apply for projects next year.
in the pipeline we have the home buyer assistance program as well as the home rehab program that we intend to implement during this program year by March.
and then also the youth and family assessment fund expansion, we will be recommending to reprogram those funds for another type of project.
this year also ended our five-year consolidated planning period, so just as a note we wanted to give you a summary of the accomplishments within the five year -- the first five years of the cdbg program.
we completed 12 projects, spent over $3 million and benefited over 3550 people.
so as I said previously, we have a 15-day public comment period that began December 1 and will end on December 15 at 5:00 p.m.
anyone who is not able to attend today to provide a comment here at the public hearing may also provide one in writing.
you can either email that comment to cdbg at co.travis.tx.u.s.
or mail them to the cdbg program at p.o.
box 1748, Austin, Texas, 78767.
or you can call me at 854-3460 if you need assistance writing the comments.
so other than that?
>> court members, comments or questions?
that $3 million is all federal money.
>> yes, sir.
>> how do we calculate the number of people benefited.
>> the number of people benefited is a combination of the census data that was available for the different projects, the different street projects, as well as the actual numbers of people that benefited from the social work project.
so it's the combination of those two things.
>> the court is happy with that methodology.
>> yes, it is.
>> judge.
>> yes, sir.
>> thank you.
on the houses, the single-family dwelling houses, that an example of the area that has been designated, we know we had the wall raising ceremony, we had several ceremonies in the area.
of the 31 lots --
>> one is completed.
>> and one is near completion.
>> uh-huh.
>> I guess what I need to find out is do we have a target date since they have been closed, those lots have been closed on, as far as when they can predict when these single-family affordable houses will be ready for occupancy?
is there a time line that this year so many houses, is there something that I can look at to project the completion of the -- of that particular subdivision buildout?
>> so in their contract, in their subrecipient agreement, Austin habitat for humanity has five years from closing to be able to complete the housing.
I can provide you that project schedule.
in addition, Austin habitat has a schedule that they've provided us to be able to meet that.
>> I would appreciate that because, as you know, folks have been calling about it and I see a lot of things have been closed, lots are closed up and everything as far as contractual situation for the affordability of these particular homes.
so if I can get that information, it really would help me out looking at the long-range projection of closure on that particular subdivision.
>> and just so you know, just in terms of time frame, we're looking at 2015 and also 2016.
>> 2015 and 2016.
>> it can be done earlier if a family selects the lots and habitat is able to complete the construction, but that's around the time frame that we're looking at.
>> okay, well, that sounds good.
if you would get me that information, I would appreciate it.
and thank you all for your good work.
>> this is a public hearing on the 2010 consolidated annual performance evaluation report that we have prepared for h.u.d.
pursuant to h.u.d.
regulations, right?
>> yes.
>> mr. Reeferseed.
>> thank you sir.
I wanted to express I'm such a lucky person.
I have the joy of knowing miss moffett and talking about these various issues, but I also heard from what she said that perhaps now would be a time to just throw my hat in the ring as -- and just to accelerate getting in on the program.
and I think I've shared a lot of information with you.
I happen to have a house that's still in disrepair and so I think the category is home rehabilitation, just to throw vaguely and we can go from there at a different time, but I thought what you said it would be good to do what I'm doing now.
and thanks for the work that you are doing.
it's great.
>> thank you, mr. Reeferseed.
if you would like to give comments on item number 2, please come forward.
>> move the public hearing be closed.
>> second.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
miss moffett this will be on the court's agenda as an action item --
>> on the 21st.
>> 21st of December.
moving right along.
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