January 23, 2024 Board Meeting Minutes

THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES
501 Alonzo Watson Drive
South Bend IN 46601
January 23rd, 2024 @ 9 a.m.

Click here for the January 2024 Board Meeting Link.
Meeting ID: 861 258 2297
Passcode: W8Pk16

CALL TO ORDER:
Commissioner Calvin called the meeting to order 9:00 a.m.
ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Calvin, Commissioner Luecke, Commissioner Chamblee, Commissioner Daniel, Commissioner McNally.
HASB STAFF:
Marsha Parham-Green; Executive Director, Deborah Mobley; Director of PH, Lori Wallace; Director of HCV, Andy Delancy; CFO, Katherine Bailey; Family Self Sufficiency Coordinator, Pamela Rogers, Administrative Assistant to Executive Director/Board Secretary
OTHERS:
Attorney J. Harris
PUBLIC:
- Dave Sinclair Marmain Apartments
- Caleb Bauer City South Bend
- Jordan Smith South Bend Tribune
- Michael Serposs Business Owner
- Erik Glavich City of South Bend
OLD BUSINESS:
Commissioner Luecke moved to approval of Minutes from the November 2023, board of commission meetings, Commissioner Daniel second the motion. The vote was as follows.
- Commissioner Luecke AYE
- Commissioner Chamblee AYE
- Commissioner Daniel AYE
- Commissioner McNally AYE
- Commissioner Calvin AYE
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Caleb Bauer stated that he wanted to congratulate Marsha Parham-Green on joining the South Bend Housing Authority, we look forward to working closely with you. The city continues to be here as a supportive partner to assist the HASB as we work through the vacancy work and the Monroe Circle and Rabbi Shulman block. Thanks to all the staff for the work you do every day.
NEW BUSINESS:
Michael Serposs stated he was one of the owners of the Marmain Apartments and to bring everyone up to speed in 2022 we entered into a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the HASB where we would reserve twenty percent of our units for voucher residents, and since then, we have amended it to forty percent. We spent since acquiring it about four million dollars trying to renovate the old building. Over the last year and a half, we have had a predominantly successful start to this relationship. So, the topic at hand today is we are looking to re-finance our expensive construction loan which unfortunately is a floating rate loan and now the interest rate is around ten percent. With a Fannie Mae affordable Joan, it's a product for this type of partnership. One of the requirements of the lender is that the MOU is officially recorded at the county and that was never done. So, 1 has asked your board and departments to simply sign this recording memorandum that simply records what's already agreed to pertaining to the property. My team and attorney have sent it to your office if you want to review it today. We are trying to refinance before the end of the month, but I am here to answer any questions you may have and try to make sure we are on the same page with what needs to get done.

Mrs. Parham-Green said it is her understanding that there is another agreement. We did receive the agreement and the agreement was sent to her attention about two weeks ago, however, she was provided with an estoppel agreement that was signed subsequent to the two MOUs, and if Mr. Serposs could explain what that agreement does and the purpose of it.

Mr. Serposs said the estoppel agreement was required by the existing lender. They refinanced with them March 2023 and at that point, the building wasn't stabilized and have ninety-five percent occupancy. We were wrapping up construction and were unable to secure more permanent debt, so that lender required an estoppel agreement which basically says we certify that this agreement is true and in place and nothing can be said contrary to that. The lenders required it because there was no land use or restriction agreement recorded at the county. Fannie Mae is an active lender and is a little bit more procedurally driven and they require an actual document to be recorded memorializing our agreement. A benefit that this has is if we were to sell the property or lose the property to our lender, a new owner could make the argument that since this existent agreement is not recorded, they would not have to abide by it. By no means of our understanding, and this is the reason why we want to get this formally recorded and there are no gray areas around that.

Commissioner McNalley asked Mrs. Parham-Green if she have a copy of the original signed agreement.

Mrs. Parham-Green said she did have a copy of the two MOUs and was provided with a copy of the estoppel agreements. The reason why she didn't put it on the agenda, in talking with Mr. Harris, the first two agreements was never brought to the board and was never solidified through a resolution of the board, and she wasn't understanding the financial ties that the Housing Authority would potentially have to Marmain. She wanted to work through that before she affixed her signature or presented it to the board. She along with Attorney Harris can be available following the meeting so that she can understand it more and then can present it to the board. She understands the urgency, however her concern was that it was the two MOUs, and the es1oppel was never brought to the board.

Mr. Serposs said he could be there in South Bend tomorrow he was stuck at the airport. He was happy to hop on a Zoom after the meeting and discuss the details in depth. If for some reason we cannot come to terms with this and get it recorded I don't think we would qualify for the affordable program anymore and I would have to start over with a conventional loan and this is a situation we are trying to avoid.

Mrs. Parham-Green wanted to add, to insure so we understand and not trying to lose any affordable housing in South Bend, that there are voucher holders in the property, and we don't want to displace those families and put them in a situation where the rent is not affordable based on our payment standards. But it is her responsibility to protect the interest of the Housing Authority.

Commissioner Calvin said we will follow the direction of our Executive Director. Thank you for coming.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT -
FAMILY SELF-SUFFICIENCY (FSS):
Katherine reported on FSS for the month of October stating there are 65 participants enrolled in the FSS program. 55 in the HCV program, 10 in Public Housing and 37 Participants with escrow accounts, with $92,241.00 for the total amount in escrow.

Kathy Jordan, Globe Life Liberty National Insurance was the guest speaker for the November FSS monthly meeting. She explained the importance of life insurance for children, adults, and families. FSS held a Christmas Party during our December monthly meeting. The food was donated by Martin's Supermarket. The meal consisted of chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and cupcakes. Valerie Golden, LSW, from Oaklawn Psychiatric Hospital was the guest speaker. She shared with the group coping skills on "How to Deal with Stress". As an incentive, participants were given a $25 gift certificate for attending the meeting. FSS used forfeited escrow funds to purchase the gift certificates. Seven FSS participants received certificates for completing the Money Smart, Financial Literacy Class. Brandon Prince, Assistant Vice President, a Community Reinvestment Officer from Lake City Bank taught the class. FSS graduated a participant in November, Shenell Dean. She received $410.56.
LOW-INCOME PUBLIC HOUSING (LIPH):
Mrs. Mobley stated she has a total of 223 vacancies. During the months of November and December, we did a total of 370 work orders submitted and 1 emergency work order. Seven units were leased up off the waiting list and closed 31. There are 9 units ready to he leased.

Commissioner Daniel asked are we filing those vacancies? How many in total are on the waiting list?

Mrs. Mobley said we are in the process of filling some of them and we are in the process of doing some rehab and will get with the city and they will help us 10 continue to work with teams to lower the number of vacancies. We have as of January 2024, 912 on the waiting list.

Mrs. Parham-Green said it is important to get on top of the issues that have resulted from this cold weather. We will hopefully have a plan within the next 60 days wholistically for all of the property and look for something more immediately to reduce those 63 vacancies at the 50 I building.
HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER PROGRAM (HCVP):
Ms. Wallace stated through November and December 2023 we served 2,329 households. 2,077 under the HCV program, 83 under V ASH, 54 under FSS (included in the 2,060), 41 Emergency Housing Vouchers, 12 Foster Youth Program, no port-ins and 33 port outs (billing). At the end of December, our waiting list reflects 1,324 families. We had 106 vouchers out searching and 59 requests for tenancy approval and we ended Participation for 13 families.

We had 350 HQS inspections. 49 initial inspections, 168 annual inspections. In November we successfully completed the City Audit of Homelessness Initiative Records and completed the SEMAP Submission. In December we had File Vision Refresher Training and Received Certification for SEMAP Submission. And for January 2024, we will be doing our New Year New Perspective Seat Changes/Office Clean-Up

Commissioner Chamblee stated that there are a lot of inspections being done, can you give me your experience on how well the landlords are keeping the property. Are you getting feedback from the landlords on the quality of the property once it is inspected.

Ms. Wallace said there are some significant problems. Anytime there is a reinspection done that means there was some type of HQS deficiency found. In some situations, the deficiency is life-threatening and we will move those tenants out of the property as quickly as possible. The landlords are more receptive to the third-party contractor. The citations are decreasing but there are still properties with significant problems.

Mrs. Parham-Green said just to give an example of the diligence of the HQS efforts with inspections, pertaining to the fatal fire with the unfortunate demise of the children. We had a family in the property which we moved out in November 2023 because of significant issues. We are very proactive about keeping our families safe.
FINANCIAL REPORT:
Mr. Delaney started with Amp I to show the variance between the budget and the actual. Other tenant income is 54% of the budget, administrative salaries 62% of the budget, and office expenses are 146% of the budget. It will even out during the year. Bookkeeping expenses are 68% of the budget. Utilities expenses are over budget because we are paying for utilities in vacant units. Amp 2, other income is 27% of the budget because we are charging less maintenance per tenant across the board. Operating subsidies are 141% of the budget, gas is 60% of the budget and should even out over the year. Amp 3, other tenant income is 74% of the budget, Amp 4, office expenses is 181% of the budget because software is paid in the first quarter of the year. In COCC, the administration salary is lower than budget because there wasn't an Executive director in place. Jn FSS Grant, grant income is 15,920 for 64% of the budget. The benefit is 20% of the budget and we expect a new grant to become available in a month or two. Under HCV Administration, fraud income is lower than anticipated, office expense is higher because of the software expense in the beginning of the year.
DEVELOPMENT:
We have put up the no-trespassing signs.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:
Mrs. Parham-Green wanted to thank those for welcoming her. She wanted to make sure she was familiar with those things that had happened so that we would have a clear path forward for the agency. The most important thing to address is filling the vacancies. We were awarded the FSS grant for this fiscal year, and we are going to amp it up so we will have more families leaving the HCV and PH programs and becoming self-sufficient, and adding new families from the waiting list. We want to align our five-year plan, the one-year plan, and our administrative and occupancy plan with the goal, mission, and vision of the agency including all of the staff, commissioner and executive team with possibly some of our residents. We will continue to make the board report available on the website. We are looking to streamline the report to align it with the HUD requirement so anyone interested can identify if we are a trouble agency or well-performing agency. We will report information on a higher level.

The meeting was adjourned, and next meeting will be February 27, 2024.