Members Present:  

Staff Present: Sarah Gicale  Mary Lou Jacobs

Guests: Ed Duffy, Community Development Program Manager

Re:  Call Meeting to Order /Introductions

Bill Goodwin called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm and introduced guest, Ed Duffy.  He explained that the Human Services Advisory Commission was looking at affordable housing in the city with the ultimate goal of developing recommendations to the Mayor and Council.  After reading a recent article in the Gazette concerning the “buyout option”, commissioners would like to better understand that part of the law. 

Re:  Presentation on City’s Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit Program

Ed Duffy began his discussion by first defining the Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit (MPDU).  He explained that an MPDU is affordable for households earning less than 60% of the median household income in Rockville.  This means that a family of four can have an income of $52,200 to qualify.  He said that eligibility is determined for the first year of ownership only.  After that, even though their income may increase, they continue to be eligible for MPDU ownership.  MPDU’s include both sale housing and rental housing and can be found mainly at the King Farm and Fallsgrove although there are a few at Rose Hill and Congressional South.  The original ordinance defining MPDU’s stipulated that any development exceeding fifty units must devote 15% to moderately priced housing units.

To apply for an MPDU an applicant must provide two years of income tax returns.  While there is no minimum amount of income necessary, Ed’s office won’t usually accept the application if the applicant makes less than $20,000.  In that instance, the applicant can use housing choice vouchers (Section 8).  If the MPDU happens to be a condominium, the applicant must agree to pay any condo fee associated with the unit. 

Rockville began its program by covenanting houses for ten years, like the County.  It later changed to thirty years.  Rockville Housing Enterprises helps verify the housing eligibility information.  Once accepted, applicants go on a waiting list.  Actually there are two lists, one for sale housing and one for rental housing.  Applications are not accepted for people who don’t live or work in Rockville.  Once approved, you receive a certificate.  Rockville does honor County certificates as well.  If an MPDU owner wants to sell, they must come to the City to establish the price.  RHE has the right of first refusal.  The City can also try and sell the unit to someone on the MPDU waiting list.  The City does not get involved in the actual selling or financing.

In response to Bill Goodwin’s initial question, Ed discussed the concept of buying out of the program.  A developer can do this if he can show more MPDU’s will be produced as a result.  The City has received some offers for $15,000 to $16,000 per unit.  However the developer has been unable to show that this would produce more MPDU’s.  The lowest amount the City would accept is about $95,000.  At a worksession with the Mayor and Council last year, it was decided unanimously that the City would not allow developers to buy out of the program.  However, there still is a buyout clause in the City’s law.

Ed said that the program attracts families primarily.  The City has difficulty selling one-bedroom condos.  One weakness of the program is that developers frequently try to use smaller sized units to meet their quota.  MPDU’s must be scattered although this is not true of the King Farm.  Also, if the City makes money on a buyout, the money must be put into a housing fund.  Currently the City’s housing fund has $250,000 in it.  These funds will probably go to Rockville Housing Enterprises.

Mary Lou Jacobs asked if Rockville could be considered “built out”.  Ed responded that there are two country club properties in the city that could conceivably be developed.  What remains is redevelopment, for example, the Town Center and the residential building occurring along Rockville Pike.  Chestnut Lodge is also under development with 20,000 square foot lots.  Currently there is a waiting list of approximately 350 people.  He said there would not be any more MPDU’s produced this year.

Bill asked Ed if in his opinion Rockville had been more successful than the County at providing affordable housing because of buyouts (the County had lost ten out of five hundred).  Ed said he thought that was true.  He said that developers can make the law work and still want to build.  Some new sites are the Bank of America site and the old Grant site. 

Agnes Saenz asked how many of the 350 people on the current list would get a house.  Ed said there are very few houses: ten at Fallsgrove and none at the King Farm.  As for condos, there are 150 planned in Town Center out of 1,000 dwelling units.  Allison Bunge asked how often MPDU’s turn over.  Ed said none has sold yet.  Bill asked if there was any change Ed would like to see in the ordinance.  Ed said he would like to see a more equitable percentage of bedroom types.  Mary Lou asked if the Mayor and Council had considered this.  Ed said they had not.  Allison asked if you are allowed to rent an MPDU after five years under the County’s program.  Ed said no; and the City allows you to rent an MPDU only in the event of an emergency.  In summing up, Ed said he considers the MPDU program and similar ideas to be essential.  The high cost of housing is driving out employers so that such programs make a significant contribution to the area.

After Ed left there was additional discussion of the MPDU program.  Eric Wang said that he is in agreement with the buyout option.  He said that it provides people with more options.  He would feel embarrassed living in an MPDU because of its smaller size as compared with the homes around it.  Charlotte Zuckman said that she is concerned that because of the way the city is getting built out, there won’t be sufficient space to provide lower income housing.  Also, there is not much motivation for the owner to move on.  An MPDU owner can be affluent and stay in the same place for up to thirty years.  Tom Lawrey said he didn’t feel that was likely.  He said the number of buyouts is insignificant.  From a practical point of view they aren’t worth worrying about.  Allison said she had purchased a two bedroom MPDU because no one else wanted it; everyone had passed over it.  She agrees that there needs to be more large units available.  Bill said that when the Mayor and Council decide they want to talk about the issue again, Commission members would be knowledgeable on the topic.

Re:  Approve September 9 Meeting Minutes

Bill said that on page one the phrase “unemployment rate in Maryland” should be changed to “unemployment rate in Montgomery County”.  Tom moved that the minutes be approved with this change.  Deborah Hopson seconded the motion.  The motion was approved unanimously.

Re:  Follow-up Discussion on Workforce Development Presentation

Charlotte said that she thought Montgomery Works sounded like a wonderful program but she wondered how it really works in the trenches.  Many providers are not present at the site each day so getting a job in one day doesn’t seem possible.  She said that during her tour of the site Maggie Leedy had told her group that forty percent of all applicants were college graduates.  Charlotte commented that it didn’t look that way from her observation.  Tom said that on his visit he had told Maggie that Manna might have an opening.  He did receive a call back.  He thinks this new system is an upgrade over ten to fifteen years ago.  He also said that visiting the site was valuable.  David L’Heureux said he thought it was an impressive operation although there was not a lot of activity at the time of his visit.  Ann said she had a personal experience last spring with Montgomery Works.  She found they did not have many professional jobs available.  Agnes said she had been impressed with the operation of the place.  She sees it as positive that there is space for every partner, and an applicant can make an appointment to see whomever he or she needs to see. 

Bill commented that, based on the zip code breakdown the Commission was sent, Montgomery Works serves a significant number of Rockville residents each year.  Eric said that even employed people could benefit from their services.  Charlotte said it was unfortunate that their evening hours had been cut.  Bill reminded Commission members that Eric Seleznow had made the statement, during his presentation to the Commission, that Montgomery Works would like to link with Rockville in some way.  Mary Lou and Charlotte pointed out that when you look for a job on their computer system, you find a description of the job but not the job itself.  You then have to follow up and talk with someone.  So, even if there were a computer in Rockville with these job listings, the applicant would still need to go to Wheaton for follow-up.  This doesn’t seem useful.  Mary Lou added that during her visit to the site, she had asked Maggie what it was that Eric had in mind.  Maggie didn’t know.  Mary Lou said that perhaps the job search function could be put in established computers in Lincoln Park or the new library.  Bill said that Mary Lou had offered to send Eric a grant application.  Maybe that should be done to see what the response was.  Agnes said that having computers available in Rockville with job information would be valuable.  Ann said that, in terms of resources, she though it would be better to have a manual in several languages to help people look for jobs on the Internet.

Re:  Follow-up Discussion on Committee Report on Immigrant Needs

Agnes said that the subcommittee on Immigrant Needs was not able to hold a second meeting.  After the City’s training session for boards and commissions she spoke with two members of the Human Rights Commission who indicated they would like to attend the Immigrant Needs Subcommittee meetings.  Maybe they would consider doing a welcome/orientation at Twinbrook together.  Also, Judy DeLuca, who represents Montgomery County at the Caregivers’ meetings, called Agnes with the names of two County employees who might be interested.

Bill said that the subcommittee’s report had touched on many issues including whether the Human Services Advisory Commission was looking to be an activist commission, as, for example in planning and staffing welcome nights.  Agnes said that she sees that as the next step—making a recommendation as to which of the ideas identified by the subcommittee might be worthwhile and appropriate for the Commission to undertake.  Bill asked if that was what the Commission wanted to do; in other words, what is our role?  Ann said the subcommittee did a lot of brainstorming.  She thinks there are many recommendations that will grow out of their discussion.  They are not necessarily for the Human Services Advisory Commission to carry out.  David said that there is a sufficient need among immigrants to consider locating a place where people can get information.  He would like to see this function combined with the concept of a volunteer coordinator at City Hall.  Perhaps staff with specific language skills could be assigned on certain days.

Agnes said that she agrees that the role of the Commission is advisory but she thinks it can be activist at times; she sees the Commission as the catalyst to make things happen.

Re:  Debriefing on Recent Site Visits

• Hope Housing:  Charlotte said that she had attended this site visit.  Her main concern was the City code with respect to bedrooms in the basement.  She felt that was an issue.  Darrell Butler said that the house met the Housing Opportunities Commission’s inspection codes for each room including those bedrooms located in the basement, but not the City of Rockville’s code for window size.  As a result Community Ministries of Rockville was planning to make the necessary changes for window size which would cost $2,000- $4,000.  Apparently, the larger size enables the fire department to gain entry in emergencies.  Agnes commented that because of the need for housing, the agency thought it was better to use available housing.  She said they could use ten more homes.  Darrell mentioned a resident of Hope Housing who had just taken his first vacation in twenty years.  He said this speaks to the need for having stable, affordable housing.

Mary Lou said that, in support of Charlotte’s earlier comment, there was one basement room that was not finished.  Charlotte said a sump pump had backed up into another room.

• Elderly Ministries:  Charlotte said that the site visit team had visited with Sylvia George at Community Ministries of Rockville.  As a result, they didn’t actually “see” anything.  Her only issue was Mary Lou’s issue as to the number of people to be served.  Mary Lou said that she had been under the impression that people were stabilized in the program for a long period of time.  She learned from the site visit that the program is experiencing considerable turnover.  Another issue raised by Sylvia George, the Program Coordinator, was the increased number of hours of home health care that were needed.  It was also more challenging to manage the program’s budget than Mary Lou had realized.  During the past year both the number of hours and the number of people had been going down.  Agnes commented that the program has ups and downs all the time.  She does not consider that a problem.  Mary Lou said that, for example, $1,600 was left unspent at the end of last year.  Agnes said that there are also months when the program goes over budget.
  
  
• Stepping Stones:  Ann said that she had been a part of this site visit team.  Her main concern is that this shelter will only have their director, Tina McKendree, for another two years.  She is the driving force behind the program’s recent success and is very good at fundraising.  Ann is concerned about who would become director if she were to leave.  Mary Lou said that Stepping Stones is a program that has gone through a transition.  One of the things Tina has done is to rebuild the board.  They are clear about their role in resource development and policy.  Ann added that Tina has also encouraged staff to move up in the organization.

Re:  Plan Agenda for Next Meeting

Bill said that the Commission has covered about nine of the ten areas they had planned to cover as a result of the worksession with the Mayor and Council.  One exception is easing integration and access to services for people with disabilities.  He suggested that the group focus on this issue next.  There was discussion as to who might be a suitable speaker on this issue.  Ann suggested Betsy Leucking from the County’s Department of Aging and Disabilities Services.  Mary Lou asked if there was anyone with knowledge of issues related specifically to Rockville.  David responded that no agency operates group homes in Rockville only.  Mary Lou asked about the Families Together Program at St. Raphael’s Church.  David said that there is now a national capital area chapter of the founding organization of that program with an office on Shady Grove and Key West roads.  Ann offered to invite Betsy to the next meeting. Bill suggested that she be asked to discuss the needs and any available services.

Bill said that other agenda items for the next meeting would be reports from both subcommittees and a site visit report on Latino Outreach.  David suggested that members do some preliminary planning for a social get together.  Since the next regular meeting of the Commission would fall on Veterans Day, Bill asked if members still wanted to meet that day.  After a vote, it was decided to eliminate a November meeting and meet on the regular meeting day in December.

Re:  Adjourn

David L’Heureux moved to adjourn the meeting.  Deborah seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 9:40 PM.

The next regular meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be held Tuesday, December 9, 2003, from 7:30 - 9:30 PM, at 32 Courthouse Square.