Agenda Topic

Key Topics Covered

Recording Time

Roll Call

•  Chair McCoy welcomed everyone to the virtual May PHAC meeting.

•  Commissioner and PHB Staff introductions.

00:00:00 – 00:04:41

Public Testimony

•  No public testimony.

00:04:43- - 00:05:57

Director’s update: Budget Discussion

Shannon Callahan gave updates on the following housing-related items:

•  Acknowledged the two new PHAC members: Julia Delgado and Dike Dame.

•  PHB is in a complete tele-work environment.

•  Submitted budge this year for the Housing Bureau.

•  Mayor’s Office budget to be released on Thursday; press conference at 9:30 am. The Mayor will talk about the impending opportunities and cuts that will need to be taken by all of the various bureaus.

•  $75 Million loss in General funds is expected as a City, the Bureau will be taking a small portion of the cuts.

•  Concerns that Rental Registration Fees are not occurring as expected.

•  Providing direct service to the community is a priority.

•  Reallocated funds within PHB’s existing 19-20 budget of approximately $1 million dollars that was slated for four different program areas to get emergency household assistance out into the community. $800 thousand went out through PHB’s Short-Term Rent Assistance Partners, and $200 thousand went out through 2-1-1- Info as a gift card program.

•  Explanation of the Inclusionary Market Analysis.

•  Update on additional CARES Act Funding coming to the City.

•  Treasury is not an agency the Bureau is used to working with, and guidance isn’t always clear. City Council work session in May; each Bureau is being asked to provide some ideas/concepts for use of those funds.

•  In response to Commissioner Weit’s questions, Matthew Tschabold explained that the CARES Act Funds cannot be used to supplant anything that PHB had intended – it must be new or related to COVID-19.

•  Enacting Furloughs for non-represented staff: 10-days to be taken by October.

•  Layoffs for PHB not expected at the moment, two positive factors in terms of staffing right now: PHB’s General Fund is so small and not impacted by it as much, and PHB has several vacant positions.

•  Conversation around The Work Share Program.

00:05:58 – 00:29:29

Crisis Response and Recovery

Matthew Tschabold gave a general high-level overview of the internal planning work the Bureau has done and how they intend to respond and support its partners in the community.

•  Forming four work groups, convened and led by the Bureau and its partners in the community, tasked with developing a recommended framework for City policy/regulatory adjustments, and program/services:

◦  Renter Stabilization and Recovery Work Group

◦  Homeowner Stabilization and Recovery Work Group

◦  Affordable Housing Development Stabilization and Recovery Work Group

◦  Affordable Housing Operational Stabilization and Recovery Work Group

•  Moving towards identifying the external stakeholders and community partners to pull the groups together to begin meeting in the weeks to come.

•  Asking that each of the work groups identify their frameworks within three time-horizons: crisis response, immediately post-crisis, and recovery and stabilization after crisis.

•  The work group process will be to assess the need locally and what is being done at other levels of government and private industry, to identify what interventions are possible with an emphasis on the interventions that are available through the City of Portland, and finally an assessment of the feasibility – both political and financial.

•  PHB will be including the advisory bodies in this process.

•  Commissioner Linn offered up the Partners for Affordable Home Ownership to co-convene on the second group. Commissioner Velez volunteered to participate on the Recovery Work Group.

•  Matthew Tschabold agreed that the Racially Equitable Framework would help identify and prioritize gaps – specifically folks left out of the CARES Package.

•  Deeper clarification of Affordable Housing Development Stabilization and Recovery.

•  Conversation around duration of the Work Groups – limited duration, but no real timeline.

•  Commissioner Kondor offered her help on the Affordable Housing Development Stabilization and Recovery Work Group.

00:29:30 - 00:50:20

Development Discussion

Molly Rogers spoke about the development discussions happening.

•  Important to continue to have discussions and gather data across multiple stakeholders to understand the impact to PHB’s projects. It is critical to keep PHB’s pipeline going as much as possible. There is a pandemic in the middle of a housing crisis.

•  In an effort to keep PHB’s affordable housing pipeline a priority, the bureau has been working with the Bureau of Development Services in keeping its affordable housing projects a priority for permitting.

•  PHB is continuing to close projects in this tele-work environment. The bureau has closed three projects since moving to working remotely.

•  The Portland Housing Investment Committee has continued to meet every other week.

•  Tracking the construction industry as much as possible to get a better assessment of what those companies are facing in terms of subcontractors, supply chain, and other types of protective gear that they need to keep the work going.

•  Some partners are experiencing financing impacts. There’s some reduction in Low Income Housing Tax Credit Pricing.

•  Keeping tabs on the 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credit Rate – was 3.12% in April and hearing those will drop farther down to 3.089% in May. This means a gap for those projects will go up.

•  Hearing that there are concerns about liquidity and that there will be fewer funds to lend out in the future.

•  Commissioners shared the various issues they are experiencing in terms of potential effects of COVID, and other factors that PHB should be aware of.

•  Commissioners shared their recommendations for how PHB can be responsive around filling the gaps.

00:50:21 – 01:27:27

Open Discussion

•  Chair McCoy invited the Commission to participate in their Inaugural Mayoral Debate this Thursday via Zoom – Jessica Conner will send out the information.

•  Commissioner Dame flagged a future topic: Inventory of available funds by Urban Renewal District.

•  Conversation around collection rates and residents.

01:27:28 - 01:36:26

State of Housing Report Presentation

•  Bimal RajBhandary highlighted the key important findings on the State of Housing Report. Slides can be found here.

•  This report is an annual publication that provides stakeholders and policymakers with a comprehensive real-time look at the state of Portland’s housing market by market, housing type, affordability to Portlander’s based on their income, composition, race, and ethnicity.

•  The full report can be found at: Portland.Gov/PHB/State-of-Housing-Report

•  Commissioner Weit is hopeful that the bureau will be able to communicate this information in a way that is palatable and as many different places as possible.

•  Chair McCoy agreed that the presentation was great, but a hard pill to swallow for some of the lower income and underrepresented populations.

•  Chair McCoy and Commissioner Weit agreed that the report findings could help create change and help move the bureau’s agenda forward.

•  Director Callahan welcomed suggestions on where the bureau should make this presentation.

01:36:37 – 02:00:12

Good of the Order

•  Chair McCoy adjourned the meeting.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 2, 2020

02:00:13 – 02:00:36