September 27, 2022 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
September 27th, 2022 @ 9 a.m.

CALL TO ORDER:
Commissioner Calvin called the meeting to order 9:00 a.m.
ROLL CALL:
Commissioner Virginia Calvin, Commissioner Stephen Luecke, Commissioner Roland Chamblee; Commissioner McNally
HASB STAFF:
Dr. Catherine Lamberg, Ms. Lori Wallace, Director of HCV; Mrs. Deborah Mobley, Director of Public Housing; Mr. Chris Truex, Director of IT; Mr. Andy Delaney, CFO; Ms. Pamela Rogers, Administrative Assistant to Executive Director/Board Secretary
OTHERS:
Attorney J. Harris Jr
OLD BUSINESS:
Commissioner Luecke moved to approval of Minutes from the August 23rd, 2022, board of commission meetings. Commissioner McNally second the motion. The vote was as following
- Commissioner Luecke AYE
- Commissioner Chamblee AYE
- Commissioner McNally AYE
- Commissioner Calvin AYE
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
None
NEW BUSINESS:
Resolution No. 22-4400

RESOLUTION NO. 22-4400
A RESOLUTION BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONES OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF THE ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

WHEREAS, the Housing Authority of the City of South Bend (HASB) has prepared its Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget: and

WHEREAS, the HASB finds the proposed total expenditures necessary for an efficient and economical operation, the provision of resident services, and the continuation of modernization and development activities; and

WHEREAS, the projected total revenue provides sufficient funds to support the HASB' s activities as follows:

- 2023 Total Budget Sources $23,664,974
- 2023 Total Budget Uses $23,244,997
- 2023 Net Surplus $419,976 (before depreciation)

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the City of South Bend:

- Section 1. The Fiscal Year 2023 Budget in the amount of $23,664,974 is hereby approved: and
- Section 2. The Executive Director or his Designee is hereby authorized and shall take such measures as may be necessary to place the FY 2023 Budget into effect.

Commissioner Luecke motion to accept resolution 22-4400, Commissioner McNally seconded the motion. The vote went as following

- Commissioner Luecke AYE
- Commissioner Chamblee AYE
- Commissioner McNally AYE
- Commissioner Calvin AYE

Commissioner Luecke wanted to thank the staff for an excellent presentation of the budget. A much better financial than prior years and gives us the confidence that we are carrying out our business properly and using the money properly.

Dr. Lamberg said we are pleased to have a balanced budget and know that we are moving in the right direction anticipate continuing moving in the right direction.

RESOLUTION NO. 22-4401
A RESOLUTION BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONES OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF THE REVISED FAMILY SELF SUFFICIENCY PLAN AS REQUIRED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

WHEREAS, Section 554 of the National Affordable Housing Act mandated public housing authorities implement a Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) required each PHA to operationalize its FSS Program via an Action Plan that was submitted to HUD for approval; and

WHEREAS, the Housing Authority of the City of South Bend (HASB) has prepared its Revised Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Action Plan in accordance with HUD guidance: and

WHEREAS, the HASB Board of Commissioners must approve the updated FSS Action Plan prior to the Plan's submission to HUD.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the City of South Bend that the Revised FSS Action Plan, in compliance with HUD requirements, is hereby approved: and

The Executive Director or his Designee is hereby authorized and shall take such measures as may be necessary to place the FY 2023 Revised FSS Action Plan into effect and submit to HUD for final approval.

Commissioner Chamblee motion to accept resolution 22-440 I, Commissioner Luecke seconded the motion. Commissioner Calvin asked for discussion

Commissioner Luecke stated that in the meeting yesterday naturally the changes are being required by HUD, but it takes away some of our ability to assist some of our residents because we can no longer mandates the participation in certain activities. Hopefully we will be able to get good compliance even though it is voluntary, if not hopefully HUD will loosen up on it a little bit and allow local Housing Authorities to work this program that it is best for the residence.

Dr. Lamberg said she agreed that it was a little concerning losing our ability to mandate certain training such as financial literacy, however our FSS coordinator Katherine does an excellent job and when working with program participants that are serious about increasing their economic status she is very persuasive. She has classes on a regular basis so we are hopeful that our participants will continue to see the value in that type of training.

Commissioner Calvin said we have seen much success in that program, two years ago it was almost nonexistence. I'm not presenting it negatively; it just was not being participating in. how many are enrolled now?

Dr. Lamberg said around 53 I believe. Once we came in and cleaned up the records, we had around 20, and Katherine has worked diligently to increase the number.

Commissioner Luecke asked once someone enroll are they in the program until they graduate or leave public housing?

Dr. Lamberg said the program is a five-year agreement, and you establish goals, and Katherine meet with each participant monthly and offer classes and assistance geared toward their goals.

The vote was as follows:

- Commissioner Luecke AYE
- Commissioner Chamblee AYE
- Commissioner McNally AYE
- Commissioner Calvin AYE

RESOLUTION NO. 22-4402
A RESOLUTION BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROVING THE RECIEPT OF VASH VOUCHERS TRANSFERRED FROM IHCDA TO THE HASB

WHEREAS, HUD PIH Notice 2022-25 allows for the Voluntary Reallocation or Recapture of HUD-VASH voucher; and,

WHEREAS, the Housing Authority of South Bend, in partnership with the Veterans Administration and the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority have agreed to the transfer of VASH Vouchers supporting veterans affordable housing in South Bend; and,

WHEREAS, the Housing Authority of the City of South Bend (HASB) has proven itself capable of administering the VASH program,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the City of South Bend that the Executive Director is authorized to request of HUD the transfer of 90 VASH Vouchers transferred from the IHCDA to the HASB to better service area Veterans.

Commissioner Luecke motion to accept resolution 22-4402, Commissioner Chamblee seconded the motion. Commissioner Calvin asked for discussion

- Commissioner Luecke AYE
- Commissioner Chamblee AYE
- Commissioner McNally AYE
- Commissioner Calvin AYE
DEPARTMENT REPORTS:
RESIDENT INITIATIVE:
Dr. Lamberg stated that we partnered with Gentleman and Scholars to provide an after-school program at the three community centers we have. We wanted to give whatever assistance we could give to your youths to assist with homework and tutoring on Monday through Thursdays (harbor homes, Edison, LaSalle Landing).Commissioner Calvin asked how many children we do have enrolled)?\

Dr Lamberg said the bulk of the children is at Harbor Homes, however we do not restrict the program just to our children, we open it up to the broader community, but we haven't had much participation from outside our community. At Edison, we have a smaller number of children there so about 5-6 at Edison and we are working to increase the number of participants at LaSalle Landing.
ADMINISTRATION REPORT:
HUMAN RESOURCES & IT:
Pamela said we are preparing to go into open enrollment that will begin in October, and then a month to line up the plans with prices to go into effect in January. We will also invite Aflac and liberty mutual to advise us of supplemental insurance for those that want it. no new staff, but continue to look for additional employees where do

Dr Lamberg advised of our search for our insurance and found that no one in the state has any other broker beside HAI. But we did our due diligence to get estimates and bids for insurance, we did check but so far HAI is what out there.

Chris Truex talked about the penetration test that was performed by a third party. Over the course of two days, they testes all our systems and firewalls and found no flaws in our system. Our cybersecurity test was approved with a certificate to show our systems is secure.
FSS:
Dr Lamberg said she have a correction, under FSS we have a total of 68 participants, 52 are under the HCV and 16 is under Public Housing program. And o.ne graduated in August.
LOW-INCOME PUBLIC HOUSING (LIPH):
Mrs. Mobley said we are pulling slowing off the waiting list, we have 1176 on the wait list with 78% occupancy rate and 90% rent collection (TARs). We have 813 units with a total of 156 vacant (not including Rabi Shulman and Monroe circle). We had a total of 280 work orders which was up slightly from the month of July.

Commissioner Chamblee asked is the number of vacancies we have normal or is it a trend.

Mrs. Mobley said once things mellow out, we will focus more on our scattered sites. Currently we have been working on our developments in doing swaps for current tenants that needed to be moved.

Dr Lamberg said a little difficult to answer your questions, because we inherited a situation where there was no attention paid to vacancies at all, so we had a massive number of long-term vacancies. We get a list from HUD where we had units that was vacant for four and five years. Those vacancies are no longer on this list because we have worked on them. It's been a costly venture because the longer a unit sits the more damage it will have. But not it is basically typical with the exception of Westcott, but because of the plumbing issues it's hard to lease the units with the possibility of the leaks springing
HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER PROGRAM (HCVP):
Ms. Wallace stated on page 20 that as of August we have served 2075 households with 190 vouchers issued, 54 request for Tenancy Approval and 18 EOP. Under Housing quality inspection (HQS) we have 200 annual inspections, 58 abatements, 3 emergency special inspection and 12 QC inspections. The HCVP is in discussion with the Veterans Administration and the IHCDA to transfer the Veterans Assisted Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers to HASB and move away from these vouchers being Ports. HUD has announced its FY 2023 Fair Market Rents for the South Bend - Mishawaka, IN HUD Metro FMR Area. The HASB has updated our payment standards which will go into effect October 1, 2022, for new participants. Ms. Wallace also went over the HASB payment standards which will be effective 10/01/2022.

Commissioner Luecke asked the 72 missed inspection seems like a big number is that because the landlords are not showing up.

Ms. Wallace said that it is the landlord's responsibility to be at the inspection, however they are leaving it up to the tenant and the tenant isn't showing up.
FINANCE:
Mr. Delaney said the budget is prepared by amps therefore the compilation is done by amp. Maintenance cost is up across all the amps because of the cost of material and the number of units that HASB are working on. Utilities are higher across all programs due to more consumption and higher costs. A shortfall funding budget was added to separate out the actual maintenance cost that were performed. A shortfall funding budget was added to separate out the actual maintenance costs that were performed at AMP 3 with the funding. The HUD 0MB and proration interim rate was 95%. It increased to 104%. The administration funding proration settled for 85% at CY21 vs 79% for prior year. COCC other income includes (2) $45,000 installments of $90,000 grant from community-based organizations and is higher than budget due to insurance dividends of approximately $37,000. HCVP administrative expenses are higher due to the outsourcing of HCV inspections. AMP 1 other income is higher than budget because we received a check for $69,998 for a claim.

Commissioner McNally said it seems like our rental income in each amp is close or to better then budget, does that mean the increase in rental revenue is because of increase rent?

Dr. Lamberg noted that what Commissioner McNally said was correct in additional to the condition of the units that the tenants has to live in we had to address that which caused an increase of vacancies. But because of the sufficient improvement of management and the timely improvement of the annual recertifications, and utilization of the EIV we are collecting income that wasn't reported to us previously. We are doing a much better job managing our units and a number of tenants that is in a repayment agreement we are collecting more. Also, to assist many of our residents in referring them to resources that will assist them in paying their rent or assist them in catching up or repayment of past due monies. However, the majority of it is because of better management.

Commissioner Calvin aid the next meeting will be October 25th, 2022, at 9:00. / thanks to the staff to all they do

Commissioner Luecke moved to adjourn, and Commissioner McNally seconded.