435 Hamilton Street

Allentown, Pa. 18101

Allentown

Minutes - Final

City Council

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

5:45 PM

Council Chambers

Roll Call

7 -

Present:

Candida Affa, Cynthia Mota, Daryl Hendricks, Ed Zucal, Ce-Ce Gerlach, Joshua

Siegel, and Natalie Santos

Testimony Topics: Housing, Community Center

Housing/Community Center

4 PM

Just to recap a bit from the last meeting we had. Council identified several priorities or

categories for community investment and took public testimony at that meeting. Those

broad categories included city infrastructure, economic opportunities, a multi-purpose

community center, homelessness, public safety, housing and non-emergency public

safety issues. And just to be sure, we are looking at the 18 million in funds as noted in a

memo from the Mayor. The intent will be to assign dollar values to council’s priorities

which would provide a framework for disbursement of funds.

Tonight, our intent is to look at housing and a community center. The purpose of the

meeting is to take testimony. The speakers are requested to speak to community needs

using evidence and data; and policies to deal with those needs. This is not an

opportunity to request funding, nor is it an opportunity to allow council to give a shout

out for particular items they prefer or a way to walk back from any procedure in the

future. This is simply an attempt to understand needs out there based on evidence and

model policy options

Our agreed upon goal has been to create a more holistic framework for making

decisions related to using ARPA funds within the context of innumerable city needs.

This is a one shot deal; there is little limit to the usage of the funds; we want to maximize

the benefits and make sure we act within a monetary, ability and capacity framework to

exert a significant impact going forward.

We will begin with testimony for the following individuals on community needs, capacity

and model programs. Time allotting, Councilpersons will be allotted time to ask one

question only relating to the goals of the meeting. Additional questions can be put in

writing, and we will get the answers and post them on the agenda.

Alan Jennings

Dawn Godshall/Dan Bosket

Brian McShane

Phyllis Chamberlain

Suggested: 15 minute presentation/questions

Alan Jennings

Dawn Godshall/Dan Bosket

Brian McShane

Phyllis Chamberlain

Ms. Cynthia Mota welcomed everyone to City Council and the Special

Meeting. She summarized on the last meeting that they had by identifying

several priorities or categories for community investment and took public

testimony at the meeting. The broad categories included city infrastructure,

economic opportunities, a multi-purpose community center, homelessness,

pubic safety, housing and nonemergency public safety issues. They are

looking at $18 million in funds as noted in a memo from the mayor. The

intent would be to assign dollar values to Council priorities which will

provide a framework for the disbursement. The intent will be to look at

housing and a Community Center. The purpose of this meeting will take

testimony. The speakers are requested to speak to the community needs

using evidence and data and policies to deal with those needs. This is not

an opportunity to request funding nor it is an opportunity to allow Council to

give a shoutout for particular items they prefer or are a way to walk back

from in any procedure in the future. This is simple and an attempt to

understand the needs out there based on evidence and model policy

options. She stated that their agreed upon goal has been to create a more

holistic framework for making decisions related to using the ARPA funds

with the context of innumerable city needs. This is a one shot deal. In other

works, this will be a one-time deal. There is a little limit for the usage of the

funds. We want to maximize the benefits and make sure we act within the

monetary ability and capacity framework to assert a significant impact

going forward. They will begin with testimony for the following individuals

on community needs, capacity and model programs. Time allotting, a

councilperson will be given the time to ask one question only relating to the

goals of the meeting. Additional questions can be put in writing. They will

get the answers and post them on the agenda. At this time, we would like

to allocate 15 minutes to each person.

Mr. Alan Jennings stated that he is in the highlands of a volcano in

Panama. He stated that he appreciates the opportunity and thanked

Council for letting him be a part of this event. He stated that they all know

him. He lives at 2128 Pennsylvania Street in Allentown. He has lived in the

city since 1980. His kids all went to Allentown Schools including Allen High

School. He stated that he wanted to be clear on Allentown's housing stock

is the biggest problem Allentown city government can and should try to

tackle. Second, homelessness is a function and a consequence of a

robust economy. The communities that have the worst housing problems

are not the depressed communities, there are communities that have

hyperactive marketplaces. Denver, Washington, LA, San Francisco, and

Portland. It is a result of people when there is a robust economy housing

prices always rise. Real Estate prices always rise because developing

new housing takes time to do that. It is always a matter of the supply trying

to catch up to demand. As prices go up, poor people generally don't get

the kind of raises that they need. Whether it is from government assistance

or their jobs. The ability of low income people to keep up with the

marketplace is just a pipedream. We can't pretend that it is somehow the

problem is going to solve itself. Third, we are not going to solve the

homelessness problem. We cannot force people to get services. We

cannot force people to go into a shelter. There used to be a time when

people were in these types of situations would go into a state hospital or

some kind of a system program. We can't make people do that. We can't

just give people a place to go. It is not the way to solve the problem. As

stewards of taxpayer money, we have to use our resources to help those

who want to help themselves. We cannot help people that don't want to

help themselves. Our shelters for single people must move people along.

It is not responsible use of money to say sure, you can come in tonight,

tomorrow night or whatever condition you are in or whatever issues you

have and not deal with them, ignore them. That is not responsible

stewardship and behavioral health. Drug and alcohol addiction and mental

illness are huge problems and both hospitals have acknowledged that and

yet there is not a lot being done by any of those hospitals or anybody else

for that matter to deal with these issues. He stated that they all know what

types of services that are needed. He stated that they can't make people

deal with their issues. If we don't, we kick them out of the shelter. We can

put more resources into new shelters, the services that people need, but

we can't resolve the problems of homelessness. Think about community

development implications on the programs that we do provide. He stated

that he does not think it is a good idea to put a homeless shelter in the

middle of a neighborhood of any kind that is going to diminish the quality of

life of those people and probably want them to move out of the

neighborhood. It is important when they do expand the shelter services for

people that we do it in a way that there is a community development issue,

not just a human services problem. The condition of the city's housing

stock is an embarrassment to all of us who cares about this city and work

so hard to make it better. Too much of the housing stock is obsolete. We

have rows of houses that don't have fire walls between them. Those

houses are dangerous, a public health threat in that kind of housing

condition. Nobody wants to live next to somebody who is willing to live in

that housing. These houses are so bad, so rundown that no one wants to

live there, except somebody that nobody don't want to live next to. That is

not a commentary on race, on class, it is a commentary on irresponsible

behavior. Nobody wants to live next to somebody that is revving up dirt

bikes, putting trash out on the wrong night, letting their kids run around

uncared for late at night, making loud music, selling drugs out their

backdoor. He stated that his friends on the left needs to understand how a

market economy works. We talk about gentrification. We don't have

gentrification. We have landlords praying on the housing stock and the

people that desperately need that housing. Gentrification is good if it

means that people with money move into the neighborhood. You can't have

a functioning community without a functioning marketplace. You can't have

a functioning marketplace if everybody is poor. We need to attract people

with resource who wants to live in the city and wants to own their own home

and can afford their own home, including getting a mortgage. We want

them back in our community. A critical thing you need to understand too is

that New York and New Jersey affordable housing program is called

Pennsylvania. As long as it is a massive differential on the housing cost

between the people on the other side of the Delaware River and our side of

the Delaware River, we are going to have an affordable housing problem.

We can't build a wall between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That problem

is driving up housing costs. It has been for decades now.

Recommendations: the city needs to fund an aggressive effort to create a

hostile environment for irresponsible people. He can guarantee that

everyone in this city he does not care their color, their age, their ethnicity,

their class background, people want to have a quiet decent place to live.

They want a neighborhood that is conducive to their kids being raised in a

safe environment. It is only the wealthy liberals that don't have to do deal

with these issues that will get in the way of that. Regular people want a

community, a neighborhood that has a quality of life that they can live in.

They had a program and that was done through voter referendum years

ago. His friend, the former Mayor Ed Pawlowski did not use the resources

that came out of that program to fund the program as it should have. We

need to reestablish with all the aggressiveness that we can the Apartment

Inspection Program. We need to sanction landlords when they are

irresponsible with their properties. We need to get the police to use the

Disruptive Conduct Provision to remove people that are causing problems

in the neighborhood. Whether it is in the Muhlenberg College

Neighborhood or it is in downtown. We need to create a homeownership

zone that surrounds the Central Business District. The housing stock is in

bad shape, but their are people that want to live in that neighborhood, but

they want to live in a decent home. His proposal is that they have an effort

to reach out to people that live in two or three unit homes, many were

formally single family occupied owner occupied and facilitate their buying of

properties so they can become owner occupants. First of all, they want to

live there because they are. They are capable of buying a home and we

can put together and we have a bank that he can guarantee that he can get

more that are willing to do this financing, but we need to incentivize it as

much as we can. Provide funding for a façade improvement to

incentivize somebody and give them instant equity in their property. That is

a creative approach that would increase the rate of homeownership in

downtown. We have to invest in housing rehab. We have to invest a lot in

housing rehab and use it to incentivize buy in. When renters become

homebuyers they then can use the tenants in the building to help them with

the cost of paying their mortgage. The problem is that we are not going to

have enough money. Even the $18 million if we took all it and put it into

housing rehab, we are not going to solve the problem. We can make a

major dent and he can argue that a nickel of the money should go into

housing rehab along with a youth center. It is critically important that we

also take down the homes that are in such bad disrepair. Some of the half

streets and the corner streets, the housing is so obsolete its got to be taken

down. In doing so we will de-densify the neighborhood and create more

spaces with things like parking, off street parking, and open spaces. In

Philadelphia, they often give a lot next to another homeowner that lot in

exchange for that homeowner agreeing to maintain the lot, taking good

care of it and helping to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood.

Finally, they need to have an aggressive approach to the whole problem. It

would make a lot of sense for the Community Development Department to

have a full-time advocate and organizer working on housing issues.

Monitoring property transactions for example. He stated that they

discovered a conspiracy to commit fraud in the real estate market in

downtown Allentown that ripped off over 200 mostly Latino families a while

back. The reason they could do that is because their was a city staff, Nick

Butterfield whose job was to birddog all the transactions. In doing that, we

could identify who are the problem owners were and go after them and be

more aggressive and make things more difficult for them to profit for their

poor landlord behavior. They also need to work with the District

Magistrates because some of them are not understanding the importance

of evicting irresponsible people or making sure that landlords are

responsible landlords. We also need that person to push for public policy

changes at the state and federal level, including more funding. On that

issue, we cannot get enough money to solve this problem. We need to

find more resources to do better. The NIZ is a tax increment financing

district. It was designed to put money into the system and generate new

tax revenue for the city. It has gotten to the point that it has paid its

obligations to the state and has expanded the city's tax base. He would

argue that a portion of that expanded tax base should come off the top and

go straight into housing resources to address the issues that he is talking

about today. If you $5 million in new taxes, take a million right off the top

and put it into housing and maintain that commitment as long as you

possibly can. We are all in this together and he thinks people forget that. It

is a nasty world that we live in these days. Too many people forget that this

is a small world and we need each other. We are all in this together.

Inaction will kill the central business district. Inaction will attract more bad

asses to the city. Inaction will reduce property values. Inaction will chose

the schools of resources. Inaction will load up the jail. Inaction will chase

still more people out of the city. Inaction will destroy our city.

Ms. Cynthia Mota thanked Mr. Jennings and asked if there were any

questions from the dais.

Ms. Candida Affa stated that it is interesting the part about ANIZDA. She

never thought about we should be possibly be getting some money from

them. That never entered her mind. Do they have so many years that they

pay back so much. Are you saying there is money to help us?

Mr. Alan Jennings stated that when he heard about the NIZ, he called the

mayor at the time and said mayor, put me on that board. We got to find a

way to make sure those resources get shared throughout the city and they

walk across the street and read about the rest of the neighborhood and not

just the central business district. They put me on there and he tried this and

tried that and he got so frustrated that he could not take it anymore and

bailed out. He kept looking for ways to skim funding from the NIZ. The way

to do it is to take advantage of the added revenue that is the city's. It is not

NIZ money anymore. It is city revenue that the city has the right to spend

whatever way it chooses and it needs to choose housing rehab as the

primary objective of the use of that money. He stated that he understands

that we have to pay the bills and we have to pay our workers. We got to

commit ourselves to sustained ongoing funding to address this issue

otherwise we are going to remain in the trouble we are in now and he will

argue, it will get much worse.

Ms. Candida Affa stated that she knows the legislation in the beginning

was to develop businesses. ANIZDA was created for that reason. She was

not aware that once it is paid that we could take some money from that.

Mr. Alan Jennings stated absolutely.

Mr. Ed Zucal thanked Mr. Jennings for an outstanding presentation. He

stated that $18 million wouldn't even put a dent in it nor would $118 million.

Let's say for an example we give $4 million for housing. There is absolutely

no way we can guarantee a program to continue with the funding at that

runs out, correct.

Mr. Alan Jennings stated that you never know what we will do politically.

Who thought we would elect Donald Trump. Maybe we will get lucky and

get someone that will recognize the importance of housing. This is a

problem that is confronting higher and higher people every day and those

are the people that are most likely to vote. There is an opportunity out there

to educate people and move on it. He stated that he does think Mr. Zucal

is right. The problem is bigger than the resources we have available.

Having said that his suggestion is if you go over and look at the 200 Block

of 10th and 11th Streets, the organization in which he used to work

rehabbed almost every property on those two blocks with the intent being to

attract more investment between those blocks and the NIZ. As a starting

point for redeveloping that corridor around the Central Business District. In

so doing, attract people that are willing to pay the price of a home in

Allentown. Maintain the home. Send their kids to our schools and elevate

the city for everybody.

Ms. CeCe Gerlach asked for a point of clarification stating that it is one

question for a Councilperson per speaker and not the entire meeting.

Mr. Michael Hanlon stated correct.

Ms. Dawn Godshall thanked Council for inviting her here today to talk about

youth centers. The package that she has given all of them is in a particular

order. First, is her business card because Council called Dan Bosket to

see if she would come up to speak. They did a cost analysis of other

recreation and youth centers that are older and newer to give Council an

idea of the cost of youth centers. All of these costs includes prevailing

wages. They looked at a sports center in Horsham, PA that was build in

2007. It was 60,000 square feet, with two offices, a snack stand, men and

women's bathroom, four basketball courts, two turf fields and minimum

stands and the total cost of that was $7.2 million. A community center in

Virginia in 2018 which was 82,000 square feet. You can see the

amenities in that: bathrooms, turf fields, basketball courts, snack stands,

music rooms, community rooms. The total cost of that one was

approximately $24.6 million. Lehigh Carbon Community College Rec

Center, she is not sure when it was built, but it has been in the past five to

six years. It is 54,000 square feet. The office area, rec area, fitness rooms

was a little bit over $4 million at $82 per square foot. It is kind of a bare

bones design. Not such fit out. Mostly a gym and a cardio area. Valley

Wellness Aquatics Center is 54,000 square feet and the total cost is about

$12.4 million. It has many similarities to the facilities that we are proposing

in size and fit out, but it has a pool. On the back of the form, this is CACLV

proposed youth center. She has been here before Council before to talk

about the various amenities that we want to put in our youth center. The

bottom-line by most calculations these amenities brings us to between

45,000 - 55,000 square feet and at an average about $200 per square foot

at 55,000 square feet adding in about a 10 percent contingency. It brings

our total cost to a little bit over $12 million. The mayor talked about two

other things in the area that needed funding that he said was shovel ready.

She stated that they are not shovel ready for lack of trying. They have been

trying to acquire Cleveland School or McKinley School. She stated that

they waited very patiently for the school district to do a feasibility study

which has been completed for several months now. They just went to a

board meeting a couple of weeks ago in which they had engineers present

that the fact that both schools are uninhabitable. She stated that they don't

want the schools, the buildings, they want the land. With the knowledge that

they are uninhabitable initially they were going to try to keep one of the

spaces to rebuild if they needed another facility down the road for another

another school, but they determined that it is not possible. The buildings

are both uninhabitable, but because of McKinley has a sinkhole underneath

which they requested to have one of the engineers go and look at the

property. A sinkhole doesn't necessarily make a property not useable. You

just have to build it contingencies to deal with that. They so far have

declined the request to have our engineer to just go look at it. They are not

looking to touch anything or do anything. They just want to build a cost in

should they look at the McKinley School. She stated that Council has seen

the sheet many times before. That is just in there so that they will just been

reminded of the things that we want in our particular youth center, sports

facilities for soccer and football, for basketball and volleyball, classrooms

for homework mentoring. They plan on doing a very strict if you don't have

your homework done, you cannot use the facilities. She stated that they will

be in close contact with the school district to find out how do we find out

from teachers and how do we keep in touch with what homework was given

on that particular night to try to build that in. They would also like to make

sure that every child who uses our facility before they can use it, they have

to sign up for a one hour anti-bullying course so that everyone coming into

the building knows that there is a particular behavior that is expected of

them. They want a recording studio for students to create and record their

own music. Trade Workshops to introduce them to a variety of vocational

trades, theatre space, studio space for dance. That includes many genres.

Ballet, jazz, hip-hop, a technology space for video and multi-media

projects, a student lounge with games and snacks, and a community space

for satellite offices for other nonprofits and agencies who would like to

utilize the space. The next sheet that you will see in your packet are current

spaces in or near the Community Action Development Corporation of

Allentown Neighborhood Partnership Program target area. These are the

things that children and youth are able to utilize in the city of Allentown. The

ones in red are places we are already working with. They get $650,000 a

year as part of the MPP Neighborhood Partnership Program to be able to

spend on projects for youth. Right now, because they don't have a building.

They are renting building. They are parsing out our funding to be able to do

our projects, but we have to use other spaces. This is one of the reasons

they would like to have it all in one place where youth in the city of Allentown

are able to come to a one stop shop where they can have fun, do their

homework, and be safe. She stated that a Youth Center saved her life.

She was an orphan by the time she was 12 years old and just bounces

around to many, many, many foster homes. It was a local youth center that

allow her to do her homework, play basketball, and do archery. She was

safe, she had fun and it change the trajectory of her life. It is important that

they understand that as all of these parents are coming into City Council

and going to the Allentown School Board meetings. We are trying to get

across that many of them have to work two or three full-time jobs in order to

make ends meet in order to meet the rents that are out of control in our city.

In doing so, who is home with the kids. That is not always a good choice.

Kids are doing whatever want. Most kids get in trouble between the hours

of 3:00 and 6:00 PM. A youth center allows them to have a place to go and

to be safe. She stated that these are the places that are available right

now. She had the mayor call her at least two to three times saying do you

really need a youth center. She stated that her answer to him has remained

the same, yes, we do. He talked about there is a pool at the Boys and Girls

Club. There is not much else. They don't have the things that we are

proposing in a one big state of the art facility that she thinks kids would be

excited to come forth for years to come. They have had these proposals

for a year and a half. As part of CACLVs procurement policy, we got at

least three proposals. One from MKSD, another from Breland &

Farmer (sp) and the last from Spillman Farmer Architects. MKSD for

instance where involved in ArtsQuest and the Da Vinci Center. They put

together proposals for us on what their thoughts were about a youth center

in the city. They are a little bit different. They are all very valuable in

expressing what they plan if we choose them. MKSD is a Woman Owned

Business. They have all put together some nice proposals that do not take

that long to read. He started reading them to remind herself last night of

what they were all about. She stated that it took her a half an hour to read

through one of them. She encouraged them to look through them. They are

very important than just giving the hope and idea of what we are proposing

for the future of Allentown. Kids absolutely need this. It saved her life and

she is looking forward to saving the lives of many youth who needs a safe

place to go after hours and after school.

Ms. Cynthia Mota asked if there were any questions from the dais.

Mr. Ed Zucal asked Ms. Godshall asked once the money is given to you,

part of ARPA's requirements that you are able to fund it after it runs out.

What is your answer in order to do that?

Ms. Dawn Godshall stated that we have several investors that already

promised a million dollars into this project. They have a fundraiser for a

youth center. Most capital campaigns require that you at least have 50

percent of the funds before you then involve others. We will be ready when

that happens. She stated that she knows that it is not about money. They

will be looking to go to City Council for that.

Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated that she appreciates her sharing your

experience with a youth center saving your life. She went to the Boys and

Girls Club as a kid and had that same experience. She also knows that not

every youth center is as awesome as the Boys and Girls Club she went to.

She is not saying the Boys and Girls Club here is or isn't. Just knowing that

they are all different on what they can offer. The Boys and Girls Club she

went to which is not in Allentown. It was in Maryland. It was like the youth

center she spoke of that had a wood shop and everything. Some people

suggested that we divvy out the money amongst multiple youth centers.

The Boys and Girls Club, the Eastside Youth Center, even though you have

to pay to get in there. Also, the Salvation Army versus investing money in

one youth center. How would you respond to that? Why do you feel that it

is more value investing in one versus spreading it out to multiple.

Ms. Dawn Godshall stated that what we are proposing is an amazing place

that kids will have more options to go and do lots of different things. They

can become entrepreneurs, and create a make music. It is not just sports.

A lot of youth centers are places to play basketball. Why that is important, it

helps you get stuff out of your system. We are proposes helping kids to

have careers and have hope and an exciting feeling on what the rest of

their lives can look like. You can go to school and get all the classes that

you can possibly find to fill your head and benefits you. She stated that she

did well in school and loved school. She stated everyone is not like her.

When you are teaching kids how to do things. How to create, how to use

their art sell later in life to benefit them and make them more well-rounded

people. There are not any facilities right now in the city of Allentown that

are giving them all of that in addition to making sure they understand the

importance of education. Education is the way out of poverty. When you

educate children you are helping them get out of their circumstances and

helping them to dream and to grow. That is what makes us different.

Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach thanked Ms. Godshall and asked for a copy of the

packet.

Ms. Cynthia Mota stated that they will save it for her.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks asked if Council would decide to go with this and will

allow her to be certainly a part of it. Staffing and maintaining it in the future.

Is it something that she will be able to do with your committee?

Ms. Dawn Godshall stated absolutely. They are building another $350,000

a year for staffing and operational costs.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated that he likes the idea of all the components that

are in this. He stated that to him that is more important than a basketball

court or just sports. He stated that she hit the nail on the head about

education. There is nothing more important to our youth than to get them

out of poverty on a trek of a functioning and successful career in life.

Ms. Candida Affa stated that Ms. Godshall basically answered the question

that Mr. Hendricks asked. She stated that her question is that she

assumes that part of the staff if monitoring all these children to keep them

safe. She is more concerned about the staff and the monitoring. How

much monitoring do you have to keep an eye on the children. She stated

that her explanation about homework. There is a lounge there with games

and snacks. She thinks it is a wonderful thing. She is just wondering how

it is monitored and keep the children safe in one facility. It is hard with the

other ones that we have. Children like to go where kids are. If you have

this center, this is where they want to be.

Ms. Dawn Godshall stated that everyone in the building would have to have

their clearances (child abuse and fingerprint). In addition to that, the sheet

that you see where they have current spaces for the NPP target area. The

programming that they are doing right now have these individuals in place

and are offering this programming to the youth in our area right now. We

are just renting spaces to do it. Those people that are doing it right now

are also are interested. They would be in charge of their programs. They

would be structured so that children will have to sign up to be in certain

programs. You can only have so much adult to children at a time. She

stated that they will rotate that. If they are going to be meeting on Monday,

Wednesday and Friday, they will sign up and when it is filled they will have

to wait for the next spot. They would want everyone to utilize the different

programming that is going on in the building. The idea is to find out what

interests the kids. When they get closer to this, they will put out a brochure

that would go home to parents. Parents actually would have to come to the

center and sign these children up for these activities. We want them to

know what the kids are doing. We want to build into this that was an

afterthought that she heard from many parents. Parents would love to while

they are waiting for their kids to take an English as a second language

class, a budgeting class. We want them to be comfortable while they are

waiting for the youth as well.

Ms. Candida Affa stated that there are paid staff, but also volunteers.

Ms. Dawn Godshall stated absolutely. Everyone whether volunteer or paid

have to have clearances.

Mr. Brian McShane, Corporation for Supportive Housing, thanked Council

especially Ms. Gerlach for the invitation to testify, and Michael for

shepherding him through the process and a special thank you to Sister

Mary Scalia Prestone for recommending them for this opportunity. He

stated that they are a national nonprofit that offers capital expertise

information and innovation that allows our partners to use supportive

housing to achieve stability, strength, and success for the most vulnerable

members of society. We are typically talking about folks that are

experiencing homelessness, but we are also talking about populations that

are going to feed into homelessness systems, individuals are turning from

incarceration, individuals that are involved in the child welfare system, older

adults, young adults maybe aging out of Foster Care and other folks that

are impacted by systems across the community. They do this through four

lines of business. They do training and education at a systems level, but

also at an agency level, policy reform, consulting and technical assistance,

they are a CFI lender, focus primarily on predevelopment lending solely for

supportive housing and projects. They have been a national champion for

supportive housing for over 30 years, demonstrating the potential to

improve lives of individuals. They helped create more than 385,000 homes

for people in desperate need of them. CSH is funding expertise and

advocacy has provided over $1 billion in direct loans and grants for

supportive housing across the country. He stated that he has been doing it

for 30 years. It is a national nonprofit. They also organized their work

locally. He is part of the team called the metro team. They focus their work

in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He stated that he is based

out of Philadelphia. He is the teams lead for Pennsylvania and New Jersey

for the work that they are doing. He wants to give an overview of what he

talking about on Supportive Housing. Basically, they are talking about

affordable housing with supportive providers that are actively engaging

tenants in flexible, voluntary and comprehensive services and work with

property and housing management that supports stability and ensure that

housing remains a positive community asset for the long-term. One of the

things that they tend to say is that Supportive Housing is for individuals that

if they did not have the intensive support that they need, might not be able

to sustain their housing and if they did not have the affordable housing they

need it might not connect to the support that they need.

It is an innovating and proven solution for some of the communities’

toughest problems. Supporting housing is the scaffolding for delivery of a

more effective and responsive public service. It strengthens communities

instead of relying on institutions and crisis response. When you think about

funding Supportive Housing, it usually falls into two general buckets:

Housing related cost. The capital to develop housing, the operating

sources to maintain it as affordable housing, and supportive services. He

went over a quick overview of the different provisions that has the potential

to strengthen and fund supportive housing across Pennsylvania and also in

Allentown. The HOME ARP funds are probably the funds that are most

closely associated with, especially anything related to alleviating

homelessness. That is also the program within ARP that they are mostly

excited about in terms of its impact and ability to strengthen development

supportive housing. Some of the uses, include developing the units,

housing navigation services, support services, acquisition, conversion to

Permanent Supportive Housing. It is acquiring and converting units to

Permanent Supportive Housing that already exists. Tenant based rental

assistance. Data and evaluation infrastructure and tenants’ rights

infrastructure. The emergency housing vouchers have the potential to do

many of these things as well. There is also an added utilization for security

deposits and utilities assistance that could help. They are seeing a lot of

communities gravitate towards recently about using Emergency Housing

Vouchers to promote moving on initiatives which are structured to help

move individuals that no longer need intensive support out of existing

Supportive Housing beds and create flow for those waiting for those

supportive housing beds that already exists in the community. The state,

local, and fiscal recovery funds and the Coronavirus Capital Projects offer

more of the same opportunities that we actually talked about. We see that

a lot of the funding are built to play nice together and can be braided

together for specific opportunities. They can also be used to create flexible

subsidy pools and capitalize operating reserves. The second bucket of

the actual services that goes along with supportive housing. They see a

couple different provisions here including increase percentages for

federally reimbursement for Medicare Home and Community based

services program. Housing support permissible with funds for the health

resources services administration. SAMSER Funding for behavior and

housing support services and the CDC public health workforce funds that

can strengthen and supports infrastructure. One of the things that they are

excited here is the ability to create a means to employ those with lived

experience, expertise to provide peer support for health-related needs.

That was broader applicability throughout the country and what these funds

can be used for in relations to supportive housing. They have not done

analysis at a hyperlocal level, but at the state level he showed a slide for

their reference to track all the different federal funding that they are seeing

a historic investment in housing that they think can be leverage against one

another to really increase impact and address homelessness and systems

that feed into it. They go back to the funding that they received through the

CARES Act. They are looking at the American Rescue Place Act as well

as the FY21 federal budget as potential ways of just mapping this out and

layering on the different federal sources of funding and layering on the

different federal sources of funding. They continue to map out where the

allowed uses in housing. It is similar to the slide previously. They want to

map it out as well. They really show the potential where multiple sources

could be layered for the same purpose and get more bang for your buck at

the local level. That is the same with services. Once of the things that they

want to point out to folks especially how to braid the housing funding

through HUD with some of the mental health, behavioral health and

substance abuse funding that is coming through. Every community that we

work in was already reeling from the opioid epidemic as an example. He

has not yet met a community that has done better over the course of the

pandemic. It exacerbated that challenge like it did with a number of other

things. It is one good example of seeing where there is funding at a time to

build an infrastructure to bridge services that might be sustained in the

future and really think about targeting subpopulations and really addressing

specific issues with this opportunity. One thing they want to emphasize is

to be mindful of the different timeframes associated with all these different

funding sources so that there could be a mindfulness when some funds

need to be obligated by or expended by especially when there are

considerations around leveraging and layering these funds. He talked

about two programs within ARPA. He is aware that there is already

proposed plans for state, local and fiscal recovery funds. He does think

potentially within the infrastructure plans and public health infrastructure,

there could be some room for some of the uses as it applies to Supportive

Housing. They talk about plan and redevelopment. SOLFRF can pay up

to the total cost of Supportive Housing project design and administration.

That means planning supportive housing involving tenants in the planning

process, housing unit locations, physical design coordination, building

project partners and building community support, and other aspects of the

predevelopment process. One option you are seeing is being more and

more popular as communities consider how to use SLFRF and HOME

funds, especially is capitalizing an operating reserve which can help

sustain the affordability of projects long-term. Capital expenditure is where

a software can pay up to a total capital cost of developing new supportive

housing or converting existing housing to supportive housing and then the

support services SLFRF for supportive services and technology that

facilitates the delivery of supportive services. Sometimes it is used to pay

for some of the unreimbursed services, especially for providers that were

just getting things done during the pandemic and was as worried about

their bottom-line. He emphasized the programs like this within ARP that

are really designed to play well with others. The Treasury deemed projects

eligible for funding under the National Housing Trust Fund or the HOME

Investment partnership HOME to be eligible for SLFRF. What they are

seeing is eligibility/flexibility and the possibility for some of these funds to

go to projects that might be able to serve folks that aren’t meeting a chronic

homeless definition or definitions that HUD has previously tied to funding.

It is an opportunity to serve some underserved populations. When we look

at HOME ARP, it is where we are most excited for the potential to address

homelessness and supportive housing needs in communities. We see the

potential to supplement nine percent LIHTC projects and finance more

applicants during the current cycle. Financing projects that did not receive

awards during the previous cycles and pair them with SLFRF again to

finance acquisition and construction, pair with four percent LIHTC and

tax-exempt bonds for the cost of construction for permanent financing.

Really filling some of that gap with financing that makes the four percent not

competitive, buy down the debt on existing, affordable housing units to

reduce the projects overall costs and convert a portion of those units with

that savings to supportive housing. This idea of capitalizing and operating

reserve that will allow for future drawdown on operating funds like a voucher

of subsidy that keeps the unit affordable. For support services, the homes

have the potential to go from childcare to outpatient health to what we tend

to think about case management and housing related services. There is a

time limit. There is a real argument that time limits for considering the

support services aspect of home as a way to try to build capacity for

something that you plan to sustain in the future. One example is

communities that we considering expanding the HOME and Community

Based Services under Medicaid. There is some capacity building that we

need to do. It might be training for helping your providers learn how to build

to that service. It might just be bringing up the team until they are fully

billable. Those kinds of things you can help build the early infrastructure for

something you intend to sustain. They are encouraging folks to think of in

terms of priorities and opportunities. He doubts that it alluded anyone in

this room for the historic housing funding opportunity in our communities

and in our country. It is offering a generational opportunity to try to address

problems around housing insecurity. They are seeing many of the

provisions as a tremendous opportunity to respond to the challenges of

homelessness. While this can be done by a focusing on those who

experience homelessness or housing insecurity. They see an opportunity

to invest in systemic responses to challenges that contributes to homeless.

These funds are honestly not sufficient to end homelessness in any

community as we know it. However, CSH is encouraging folks to consider

identifying priorities that can be addresses significantly with this funding

opportunity. You might not eat the whole pie, but you might take a huge

chunk out of it if you really focus on targeted population. The one we are

thinking about the best way to do this is really considering joint priorities

across systems. The one example that he listed are those suffering from

opioid addiction, behavior health, child welfare, older adults. All these

systems have an affordable housing problem. By partnering with them and

leveraging resources that these systems are also experiencing and saying

there is a significant impact in saying that we had them on a subpopulation

of the homeless. CHS will also stress the importance of considering the

impact that housing programs have to address the needs of individuals and

communities of color who has historically been disproportionately impacted

by these systems that are talked about today and have borne

disproportionate consequences throughout the pandemic. Not all

supportive housing programs are created equal. Our motto, our industry

when not being mindful of this has been guilty of exacerbating some of the

problems they would like to solve. They need to be mindful of the potential

of the impact here. CSH’s encouraging what they are doing here today.

He knows a certain amount of hearings are mandatory, but as much as

possible community participation and feedback in the decision-making

with something with this magnitude they are highly encouraging. He

thanked them for the opportunity and would be happy to field any questions.

He believes they should be getting the slides. He stated that he also sent

one pagers they did specifically they did on HOME ARP and state, local,

fiscal recovery funds (SLFRF).

Ms. Cynthia Mota thanked Mr. McShane for his presentation and asked if

there were any questions from the dais.

Mr. Ed Zucal asked if CSH is a business.

Mr. Brian McShane stated that it is a nonprofit organization dedicated to

supportive housing.

Mr. Ed Zucal asked if he used the ARPA Funds that are given to you by

local municipalities to use your program, correct.

Mr. Brian McShane stated no, they have not received any ARPA Funds.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated ARPA Funds from municipalities toward the housing.

That is what you used to help.

Mr. Brian McShane stated that CSH is an intermediary. They don’t actually

provide any housing. They provide technical assistance.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated that is what he meant.

Mr. Brian McShane stated that there is a possibility that some communities

may determine that they need training that they offer. The reason that they

created the materials is just the vested interested in seeing the stock of

supportive housing increase. Whether they are involved in the process or

not, they will be happy to help, but that is not really what they are after here.

If they look at the graph with the investment in housing since the 1980s, it is

on a steep decline steadily. They are seeing a blimp in the opposite

direction for the first time and just really want to highlight the potential for

that to happen. They will be happy to continue the conversation about

specifics, but primarily they want to advocate for more supportive housing

whether CSH has anything to do with it or not.

Ms. Cynthia Mota asked if there were any other questions from the dais

and thanked Mr. McShane.

Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated that a lot of folks in Allentown continuously

advocate and she is one of them for a year-round homeless shelter. She

stated that Allentown does not have one and is the third largest city in the

state of Pennsylvania. She has seen a lot of other cities when they do

these investments in supportive housing and they really target subgroups

they already kind of have somewhat of an infrastructure that comes from

homeless services. They don’t have a place for tonight if someone is

homeless. The city does not have a place for them to go 100 percent of the

time. She would be interested to hear his thoughts on that statement.

Mr. Brian McShane stated that supportive housing isn’t the only housing

model within a continuum of housing that needs to be part of a community

solution to end homelessness. It is a really good point. You can’t

supportive housing your way out of homelessness. Neither can you shelter

your way out of homelessness. Transitional housing, rapid rehousing are

all parts of the response to the homeless community faces. There are

aspects of ARP that can certainly support what you may be need in terms

of temporary shelter. They would recommend part of that consideration is

your backdoor. Giving someone that sort of emergency crisis shelter bed

is very necessary. Most homelessness can be resolved within the first 90

days experienced. However, for folks that have experienced challenges

like behavioral health, developmental disabilities, older adults with extreme

medical problems and many others. They may not be able to leave the

shelter unless there is an affordable and supportive way for them to do so.

What they have seen some folks considering is a mixed-use building where

some of it is shelter and some of it is a way for folks to transition for

temporary crisis beds, but they are certainly ways that you can kind of

consider some of the HOME funds and ARP funding to look into your

needs in that regards.

Ms. Cynthia Mota thanked Mr. McShane.

Housing Material

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