Housing & Redevelopment Authority - Regular Meeting

Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting on this Thursday, August 13th. The first item of business today is to approve the agenda. Is there a motion to approve? It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. opposed the agenda is set item 2a is to approve the minutes from our previous meeting which was held on july 28th sir a motion to it's been moved in second any corrections or comments on the minutes seeing and hearing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye opposed the minutes have passed items three item 3a is our claims register for the period ending july 31st 2026 is there a motion to approve It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Our claims register is passed. We have three items of new business before us. I'll take a motion to bring 4A before us.

So moved. Second.

Been moved and seconded. Item 4A, this is an amendment to an agreement with 2116 Nicollet LLP for the 2116 Nicollet project. We're extending the term to December 31st of 2083. There is no change to the NTE. It's been moved and seconded, and Abby Lucin will present on this one. Welcome.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Commissioners. This item is exactly as described. Due to other funder requirements, the 2116 Nicollet project requires an even longer loan and affordability term than the 50 years the project originally committed to. We tend to wholeheartedly support longer affordability periods, and this project is no exception. Staff recommend approval of this action, which will gain three additional years of affordability. That includes 43 deeply affordable units, 11 of which are reserved for people exiting homelessness.

I am available should you have any questions on this one.

Thank you. We love to see it. Questions or comments from my colleagues? All right. Hearing and seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? That item passes. I'll take a motion to bring 4B before us. It's been moved and seconded. 4B is to terminate and forgive AHIF agreements. There's two agreements here. With Alliance Housing for the Scattered Site 8 portfolio in Minneapolis. It's been moved and seconded. And Abby Lewson will be back to present on this one.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Commissioners. I'm Abby Lussen with Housing and Economic Development. This requested action will allow restructuring of two existing AHIF grants on its scattered site portfolio owned by Alliance Housing and will allow for an affordable rental to affordable homeownership conversion. The properties covered by the HRA's two AHIF grants include seven duplex units and one large home wherein each bedroom is separately rented. All properties have need for capital investment. Restructuring will allow conversion to homeownership of most of the duplex properties in the portfolio. Within each property, one unit will have a homeownership restriction limiting buyers to 80% of AMI, and the other unit will be unrestricted for the homeowner to rent out. Alliance has developed this proposal in partnership with the City of Lakes Community Land Trust. CLCLT will renovate the properties before sale, ensuring buyers will be purchasing quality homes. CLCLT will have their typical long-term relationship with the homeowners of these properties, ensuring ongoing affordability. There are three properties not included in this restructure. In CLCLT's assessment, these properties are not suitable for inclusion in their land trust model. We, along with Alliance Housing and the other project funders, including City of Minneapolis and Minnesota Housing, have been working on this restructuring proposal for about a year. Minneapolis staff and Minnesota Housing staff are recommending debt restructuring concurrently with this one. This action, if approved, would serve multiple goals, stabilize Alliance Housing overall portfolio, create affordable homeownership opportunities, and support neighborhoods by finding sustainable and effective homeownership models for duplex properties.

I welcome your questions. Thank you. That is incredible. Thank you. Questions? Commissioner Fernando.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a new, we've added, okay, so I just want to make sure I'm reading this correctly. The forgiving portion we have done, and that makes a lot of sense. So Alliance's portfolio is decreasing, and then City of Lakes is, and that's the conversion to home ownership, just to make sure I'm like, this is fascinating.

Yes, that is correct.

Wow. So, Madam Chair, this is in addition to – I just commend your creativity. I guess that's all I'll say. I commend your creativity. This is really smart governance while achieving our outcomes and being realistic about – people's situation. And so the way in which this organization has approached housing cost burden on the individual level, it is clear that we are also doing so for our housing providers. And to do that with Alliance makes a lot of sense. The partnership with the land trust and then for home ownership in this portion of the county, this portion of the city, is really, really commendable. And if there are any ways that we can inspire other jurisdictions to see what might be within their creativity and authority to advance outcomes in a way that, you know, honors the original intent of our policies and the conditions that our residents and providers, right? These are workforces who have dedicated their lives to this and Yeah, I just want to express gratitude for the amount of creativity that I'm reading in this sheet. Thank you, Madam Chair.

No, it's fascinating. Other comments or questions for my colleagues? I'll share in that. Thanks. This is innovative. And, you know, the more that we're able to close the homeownership gap in this county, the better. And I'm really interested in, like, these rental to homeownership conversions because we're talking about duplexes here. And so there's opportunity for, you know, the purchase of a duplex and maybe you have a large family and then everybody just has a place to live. Like, this is really, really great and really ties into just what we're doing around homeownership opportunities that are affordable for folks who need that. In addition to, like I always talk about the spectrum of housing, and at the very end is the ability to purchase your first home. And that's where we all aspire to get to and where some folks have a harder time than others. So items like this really, really help move that needle. So glad to see it. Thank you. All right. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. That item passes. The final item on our agenda today is item 4C. I'll take a motion to bring that before us. It's been moved and seconded. Item 4C is to negotiate amendments to agreements with Next Stage. Negotiate agreements to provide small business recovery funding. That's been moved and seconded. Patricia Fitzgerald, present on this. Welcome.

Patricia Fitzgerald, Housing and Economic Development. The action before you expands the uses of funds established to advance the ongoing recovery and continued success of small businesses in the aftermath of federal immigration enforcement actions. Specifically, the item makes up to a million dollars, one million, available in the form of low barrier financing that can be used for a variety of small business needs. The action also allocates approximately $500,000 for financial, legal, and marketing assistance for small businesses. If approved, these agreements will provide much needed capacity for financial and legal consulting to meet critical small business needs, including some assistance for businesses dealing with the tales of federal COVID era funds. The resources for marketing will also help boost revenue and strengthen businesses by driving customer traffic to local business districts. I'd also like to note that the specific action to increase funding for small business loans will also be subject to a concurrent companion action to be considered by the county board in the coming weeks. And I'm happy to address any questions you may have.

Thank you. Questions? Commissioner Green.

Thank you. Not a question, but rather a statement. I was out there in the wild and ran into somebody at an event who pulled me aside, and I had no idea that they were connected to this work at all, and I know what they do professionally. And they pulled me aside, and they were just like, you've got to tell those Elevate Hennepin people that they are superstars and they're doing great work. And I just sat there and said, yes, yes, yes. So thank you.

I love it when I hear that. Other questions or comments? I just wanted to add, listen, our small businesses in Hennepin County are the drivers of the largest county in the state. So by default, they're the economic drivers of the state. And so the way in which we approach small business recovery, small business support is absolutely critical. I'm so thankful that we do this. I'm so thankful that we can keep our small businesses growing, keep money in communities, keep money circulating throughout our neighborhoods, through our small businesses. And from what I'm just reading in the background, this is incredible. And it's a great way to kind of shift and keep this recovery work going. So thank you for bringing this before us. With that, we'll proceed to the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? That item passes. That's the final item of business for us today. I'll declare as adjourned.