HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO Minutes of Commission Meeting Thursday, January 22, 2009
440 Turk Street San Francisco, California
A Regular meeting of the Housing Authority Commission of the City and County of San Francisco met at 440 Turk Street, San Francisco, California, on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 4:00 p.m. Vice President Gans called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL PRESENT:
Neola Gans, Vice President Jane Hsu, Commissioner Matthew Schwartz, Commissioner George R. Brown, Commissioner
NOT PRESENT:
Rev. Amos Brown, President Dwayne Jones, Commissioner Millard Larkin, Commissioner
A quorum was present. ALSO PRESENT: 2.
Mr. Henry A. Alvarez III, Executive Director Mr. Roger Crawford, Assistant General Counsel
APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Schwartz moved to approve the agenda. Commissioner Hsu seconded the motion. This request was passed unanimously.
3.
GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS Henry Alvarez, Executive Director, combined the General Communication and the Report of the Secretary by presenting a quarterly update on work progress. Barbara Smith, Administrator of Modernization and Housing Development presented the Commissioners with a short presentation outlining the progress and improvements that have been made to the SFHA developments. Mr. Alvarez also informed the Commissioners of a letter
Commission Meeting Minutes January 22, 2009 Page 2 detailing HUD’s approval to move twelve million dollars of monies that have been restricted in Florida back to San Francisco. He also presented the Commissioners with some Certificates of Appreciation that SFHA received as a result of our employees’ participation in the Heart of the City campaign. Commissioner Brown wanted to know an update on the Sunnydale Recycling Program. He wanted clarification on how the program was working with the resident. Mr. Alvarez informed the Commissioners that the intention was to bring two large compactors onto the site and hopefully get resident participation in the program. He also informed the Commissioners that this was a pilot program and that we are working to get our residents familiar with recycling. Anthony Ihejeto, Director of Public Housing informed the Commissioners that there will be training for the residents and that SFHA and Sunset Scavenger have engaged the residents during the process. 4.
COMMITTEE REPORTS There were no Committee Reports.
5.
REPORT OF GENERAL COUNSEL Roger Crawford informed the Commission that there was a Closed Session to discuss real property transactions.
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TENANT REPRESENTATIVE REPORT Mr. William Vitale was unable to attend this meeting so Denise Kimble, Program Specialist, reported on City Wide Council/Senior Disabled. She informed the Commissioners that Mr. Vitale wanted to mention a few items including laundry funds, transitions in City Wide Council and custodians responses to residents’ requests. Kimberly Hill-Brown, President of the Tenants Association, informed the Commissioners of several items including a draft MOU, holiday safety and training, tenant association office space, and notification to residents about staff transitions.
7.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS There were no public Comments by the following:
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was no unfinished business.
9.
NEW BUSINESS
Commission Meeting Minutes January 22, 2009 Page 3 A) CONSENT AGENDA NOTE: All matters listed hereunder constitute a Consent Agenda, are considered to be routine by the San Francisco Housing Authority Board and will be acted upon by a single vote of the Authority Board. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the Authority Board so request, in which event the matter shall be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered as a separate item. 1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR MEETING OF DECEMBER 11, 2008 2) APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR MEETING OF JANUARY 08, 2009
Commissioner Schwartz moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Commissioner Brown seconded the request. The Consent Agenda was approved unanimously. B) ACTION ITEMS 1) RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY (SF-HSA) TO ADMINISTER SPECIAL PURPOSE FUNDING FOR THE FAMILY UNIFICATION PROGRAM Tony Ucciferri, Administrator of Section 8, informed the Commissioners that The San Francisco Housing Authority will be submitting an application for Special Purpose Vouchers intended for families participating in the Family Unification Program with the local Human Services Agency (SF-HSA). These are families who have either been separated due to a number of parenting issues or in danger of displacement due to overcrowding conditions that will result in the separation of parent and child. These vouchers would enable the families who are at risk to search out a suitable unit for the family to remain intact or to facilitate the reunification of the separated family. There is no budgetary impact to the San Francisco Housing Authority to execute this MOU. The Section 8 Administrative Plan will be modified to include the Family Unification Program as a Special Purpose Funding grant and the wait list admission and selection procedure modified to permit the addition of eligible families to the Section 8 Wait List for consideration under the FUP. Commissioner Brown requested clarification on what families this program deals with. Mr. Ucciferri informed the Commissioners that this program works with families that have applied, are on the Section 8 waitlists and/or are currently in public housing. These are families where child protective services has taken the children out of the home because of household size. It allows you to get a special service voucher.
Commission Meeting Minutes January 22, 2009 Page 4 Commissioner Gans wanted to know how many vouchers we are applying for and Mr. Ucciferri informed her that we are applying for one hundred vouchers. Commissioner Schwartz motioned to approve this Resolution. Commissioner Brown seconded the motion. The Resolution was passed unanimously. 2) RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO EXECUTE A GROUND LEASE AGREEMENT, AND OTHER RELATED ANCILLARY CITY DOCUMENTS WITH THE DEVELOPER, ROSA PARKS II, L.P. AND THE CITY, AS APPLICABLE TO DEVELOP UP TO 100 UNITS OF SENIOR AND DISABLED HOUSING AT THE ROSA PARKS (CAL 1-17) SUBDIVIDED LOT To avoid the appearance of conflict of interest Commissioner Schwartz recused himself before this item was presented. Commissioner Brown wanted to know if the Item would be able to be voted on since there were only three Commissioners present. Mr. Alvarez informed the Commissioners that a quorum was perfected when the meeting started and Commissioner Schwartz’ vote can be considered a recused vote. Barbara T. Smith, Administrator of Housing Development & Modernization went on to present this Resolution. She informed the Commissioners that following a solicitation process, on November 10, 2005, the Authority Commission adopted Resolution Number 5238 authorizing the Executive Director to negotiate an Exclusive Negotiating Rights Agreement ("ENRA") with Citizens Housing Corporation (the "CHC") for construction of up to 100 affordable apartments for senior and disabled households. The Commission subsequently approved the Term Sheet and Option to Lease Agreement and authorized the Executive Director to negotiate a Ground Lease and other related documents. To assist in financing the Rosa Parks II development with low income housing tax credits, CHC has requested that its interest in the ENRA, the Option Agreement and the Rosa Parks II parcel be assigned to Rosa Parks II, L.P., a California limited partnership, with Stevenson Housing Corporation, an affiliate of CHC, as its general partner (the “Developer”). The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved the disposition of this property so that the Authority can move forward with execution of the Lease. The Ground Lease has been reviewed and approved by the Authority Assistant General Counsel, CHC, and Mayor’s Office of Housing staff. No substantive changes are expected as the City Attorney completes their review this week. The twenty-eight existing parking spaces will be replaced on the Turk Street side of the building where they are currently located and twelve additional permanent parking spaces will be created on the Golden Gate side of the property for residents during construction and the
Commission Meeting Minutes January 22, 2009 Page 5 Authority after construction. Additional temporary parking will be created on the Golden Gate side of the property during construction. Mrs. Smith informed the Commissioners that if SFHA decided to terminate the lease, we would have to return any rents received. Upon execution of this Lease, the Developer will pay the balance of the Rent to the Authority in the amount of Two Million Nine Hundred Fifty-Nine Thousand Dollars ($2,959,000). This will bring the total payments received to Four Million Nine Hundred Fifty-Nine Thousand Dollars ($4,959,000). The proceeds of this disposition will allow the Authority to meet its immediate financial needs. Commissioner Brown wanted to know how long it would take before we receive the monies described in the memo. Mrs. Smith informed him that two to three weeks was an accurate estimate. Commissioner Brown moved to approve this Resolution. Commissioner Hsu seconded the motion. This Resolution was passed unanimously. 11.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA Public Comments were heard from the following: Demetria Page, Valencia Gardens Tenant Association
12.
COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS AND REPORT Commissioner Schwartz commended staff on the progress of the improvements that have been made to our developments. He also went on to discuss that he was absent from the last Commission Meeting because he was in Washington DC meeting with several congressional leaders on the American Recovery Reinvestment Act. He informed the Commission that if the bill is passed, public housing with receive a total of five billion dollars in additional funding which could help us do further improvements.
13.
CLOSED SESSION A Closed Session was scheduled with the Executive Director and Agency Counsel under Government Code Section 54956.8 to update the Commission on real property Negotiations. The Commission went into Closed Session at 5:00 p.m.
14.
RECONVENING OF COMMISSION MEETING The Commission reconvened from Closed Session at 5:47 pm. Mr. Crawford stated that Vice President Gans, Commissioner Brown, Commissioner Hsu, and Commissioner Schwartz were present. No decisions were made.
16.
ADJOURNMENT
Commission Meeting Minutes January 22, 2009 Page 6 There being no further business to come before the Commission, Commissioner Schwartz moved to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Brown seconded the motion. Vice President Gans adjourned the Commission Meeting of January 22, 2009, at 5:48 p.m. Henry A. Alvarez III, Secretary/ Executive Director
Neola Gans, Vice President