Housing, Community Development & Public Health Committee - Regular Meeting

I call to order the Toledo City Council Housing and Community Development Committee of Thursday, April 23 at 03:30PM. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the accessibility study. Clerk, please call the roll.

Jones? Gaddis? Here. Kramer? Here. Martinez? McPherson? Meldon? Williams? Here. Three present?

Thank you. And, I'm gonna turn the floor over to Chief Ross and her team.

Good afternoon, members of the Housing and Community Development Committee. My name is, Roslyn Clemens. I am the chief of the, of housing and neighborhood sustainability for the city of Toledo. We're here today. I'm joined by the deputy director Kalina Ali and our nonprofit partner, Ability Center.

We're very, pleased to present the first, accessible housing study, for the city of Toledo that we partnered with the Ability Center to, to get done. If you can recall in September 2021, this council adopted the city's first comprehensive housing strategy. And one of the, key elements of that strategy was to develop policies and programs to foster more housing accessibility in the city. And in order to do that, the first thing we decided to do and we knew that we needed to do was to get some analysis of the existing conditions that are barriers to accessibility for our housing. So we partnered with the Ability Center and they procured the services of a consultant, Mathematica.

And they're here today to present, this wonderful report which you will see just really, affirms a lot of what we thought were the challenges. But I think it's it's even not that. That. To we'll deputy, because she's she she was the worker bee behind this to to shepherd do this, and I like her to say a few words and then on the approach to this and how we went about doing this. I always like to put a plug in for how we are strategically using our federal dollars and this study was funded with home admin fund.

Funds were not just eating up all the admin funds or staff. We're strategically using the funding

to really inform our decisions and inform our work. So part of the 10% admin that we are allowed to pull off of home dollars we use to foster and develop and get this study done. So, Colleen, I'll I'll take it away with you. Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon, counsel. I'm deputy director Colleen Ali, Department of Housing and Community Development, and thank you for allowing me to be here to talk about this. This was, something different for me, at least, anyway. But as chief Clemons mentioned, you know, it was part of our ten year strategic plan. We talked about all the different things that we're going to do, and there was no timeline on some of them.

You probably thought, once again, here's a a study that was developed and was put on a shelf. It was not. We we went back through it. We were looking at it. We look at it continuously, and we trying to find areas that we could attack.

We can't attack them all in year one, but as we're marching through these ten years, we're looking at each of the different areas that we could, address and how we can address. I mean, one of the things kinda bubbled up was the issue of accessibility. It was definitely outlined in that study, and it also was some conversations that we were having in the community with various partners, in particular, the Ability Center, with Katie Hunt Thomas here, and conversations with her and some of her staff, including Sally Fish, who is now with the city here, about what's really going on out there. There's such a need, for accessible housing, and it's always been very anecdotal. We know there are individuals that have various, you know, needs.

They have various type of disabilities, and we use accessibility so broadly. Even myself personally kinda use it in a very restrictive manner, but this really opened our eyes and broadened what it is and what the demand is and how much housing kinda already exists out there. And so this was very important that we take this undertaking and to invest the time and the resources for a study such as this. And so at this point, I would like to introduce Katie Katherine Hunt Thomas with the Ability Center so that she can talk about from their perspective and introduce Mathematica. Thank you.

Katie's just fine. Thank you. It's

great to be here today. My name is Katie Hunt Thomas, and I'm disability rights attorney and director of advocacy for the Ability Center of Greater Toledo. This issue is so important to us, and to the people we represent here in Toledo, so it's wonderful to hear director Clemens and, help Kalina Ali talk about how important it's been for them as well. You're gonna hear from Mathematica on the details of the housing needs study, but before we hear the details, I'm just gonna give a little bit of context. So we approached the city of Toledo Toledo as they were developing their comprehensive housing plan, because we currently have little data on the lack of accessible housing in our community.

During my eleven years at the Ability Center, every single disability housing work group I've been in has discussed nothing but the lack of accessible housing. Over the years, our advocacy team has been successful in increasing the amount of accessible housing. We've influenced the design of OFAA's allocation plan, policed housing that doesn't meet existing standards, encouraged developers to create more accessibility and other sort of small wins. But despite the wins, the stories that I hear from people with disabilities, disability service agencies, and disability housing navigators have not changed. So I continue to hear, you know, I've looked but I don't think there really is any accessible housing or I haven't been able to find accessible housing from the people who called the Ability Center and from the people I work with at the Ability Center.

Because of our societal history of segregation and discrimination against those with disabilities, our housing stock is simply not designed with people with disabilities in mind. So whether someone wants to rent an apartment or own their own home, most housing stock lacks the design features necessary to allow people with disabilities to live on their own. Without housing that's designed to be accessible, many people with disabilities are at risk of becoming isolated in their homes. They can't come and go because they have steps at their entrance or are trapped inside. Or being institutionalized when institutions are the only places that are accessible, then sometimes folks are forced to move into institutions.

But what we've found over the years is there's very little data on this issue. Despite the stories that we hear, no one's actually tracking how much accessible housing we have and how much we need. So when the city of Toledo was looking for feedback on their comprehensive housing plan, we were able to work with director Clemens and Kolina Ali to sponsor this study to figure out exactly how much accessible housing we have and how much we need here in Toledo. The results of the study, fresh off the presses, we got the final draft, I think, last week, have been eye opening even for me. But then they've also confirmed what those of us in the housing, arena have heard over and over again.

Like I said, Mathematica is going to be going into the full presentation and details, but I did wanna highlight just a few key points. So first, Mathematica has estimated that approximately a third of households in Toledo contain at least one person with a disability. So that's about a third of our community, needs some sort of accessibility features in their home. Second, households containing persons with disabilities are about evenly split, between renters and homeowners, with about 17,572 renter households reporting a disability and eighteen thousand and ninety three homeowner households reporting a disability. This makes sense here in Toledo, at least traditionally we've had homes that are a little bit less expensive.

So, you know, division between renters and homeowners is a lot more even than maybe it would be in a in a very large city. But I think it challenges stereotypes about people with disabilities being very low income and only renting subsidized housing. Finally, Mathematica estimates that the city of Toledo needs an additional 7,845 accessible affordable units and somewhere around 15,000 additional accessible market rate units to meet the current need. So, again, when we have done advocacy in this space or when we look at current regulations, usually accessible housing crew accessible housing regs create, you know, a a handful of accessible units in each apartment building or really, really encourage developers to change one thing about a particular housing unit. And the way we've been approaching this, I think, has been woefully inadequate to the need just even speaking for myself.

Director Clements has already, presented some ideas of how of ways that we can try to solve, some of this crisis, and I really appreciate the city of Toledo's support in working on this issue. You guys funded this study. You recognize it as a priority and a need, and now we have data that we can use to create some real solutions. I think that this is something that helps put Toledo on the map. I we we've we've been searching for data, and all we really have is nationwide data, so we are really one of the first cities to do a comprehensive study in this way.

Finally, in my experience, disability advocacy accessible housing tends to be pushed into a corner or labeled as housing for a special population. One of the things I'm hoping we get from this report is that it demonstrates that it's not population. A third of the population of Toledo has a a person with a disability in their household. So I hope this report also shows that accessible housing is not a special population issue, but a community issue. I mean, if we wanna truly serve the citizens of Toledo, we do need to create more accessible housing. So with that, I'm gonna turn this over to Sarah Croak from Mathematica to get into the details of the report.

Alright. Thank you, and thanks for the opportunity to be here. You already know I'm Sarah Croak. I'm from Mathematica. And along with my colleagues, Katie Hancock and Noemi Sportiche, we conduct this study as you've heard for the city of Toledo and for the Ability Center.

So I'm here to tell you about what we've learned and potential solutions to the gaps that we identified in our study. Alright. So unfortunately, I can see that the graphics didn't quite translate. What this is intended to be is, that there are three houses, and one of them is a different color to represent that a third of households Toledo include someone with a disability, and this is part of why this study really matters. Households with disabilities are more vulnerable to unstable housing, and focusing on Toledo, this study helps to think about how can we support stability and the ability to live in the community for those households and the people in them.

As Katie mentioned before this study, there was really very little documented about the extent of gaps between what those households need. Again, the the one house of where there is at least one household member with someone with a disability and the available accessible housing in Toledo. So the goals of this study were to document those gaps between the need for accessible housing and what's available and to consider different types of disabilities as well. And in turn, to try to help support the city in prioritizing its efforts and investments to address those gaps. So next, I'll give a bit more of a preview of the findings.

Katie has helpfully given you some of the headlines so far. But our study identified three important overarching gaps between what people need and what's available in terms of accessible housing. So first, there just isn't enough enough accessible housing available to meet the needs of people with disabilities in Toledo. The second overarching gap is that separate from that supply of accessible homes, the search process itself makes it very difficult to find accessible housing. And the third overarching gap is that there are other barriers to meeting residents' needs for accessible housing, like lack of funding and limited understanding of legal protections.

So next, I'm going to give an overview of what I'll cover in the rest of my time today. I will talk about our approach to completing this study, what we learned, so it's those gaps that we identified, and linking those gaps to potential solutions that could help to address them. So now I'll shift into the approach here. We drew on multiple sources of information to conduct this study. We analyzed statistics from household demographics data.

So that was information on household characteristics. For example, if someone has a disability, household income, and household size. We also looked at data on the availability of accessible homes where those data exist. To better understand the community's experiences with accessible housing, we talked with them. We talked with people with to people with disabilities and their family members or service providers, and we also talked with organizations that play a critical role in the development, financing, and management of accessible housing in Toledo.

And we think of that as the supply side of accessible housing. So we did that through a large community meeting, a smaller focus group, individual interviews, and we looked across all of those sources of information to better measure the issues and gaps and shed light on additional issues and gaps that don't show up in quantitative data. Also, to to, inform potential solutions, We reviewed programs existing already in Toledo and other studies and evidence related to accessible housing. And next, I'll thought sorry, I'm tripping over my words here. I'll explain how we thought about needs for accessible housing.

Alright. So this is another slide where unfortunately the graphics didn't come through, but they are representing different types of disabilities that I'll talk us through in just a moment. We have used the term accessible housing several times now. We consider that to be housing that has the features people with disabilities need to enter and move freely in their homes. And we focused on four groups of people with disabilities based on what we can best capture using available data from The US census.

So when you are hearing those statistics about how many households have a household member with a disability, that's where those data are from. So these four groups of people, it's people with physical disabilities who report a condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities. The second group here is people with cognitive disabilities who report cognitive difficulties such as learning, remembering, concentrating, or making decisions due to a physical, mental, or emotional condition. The third group is people with visual disabilities who report being blind or having serious difficulty seeing even with corrective lenses. And the fourth group is people with hearing disabilities, people who report being deaf or having serious difficulty hearing.

It's important to note that across those four groups, which actually are not completely distinct, there are is a lot of overlap. Somebody may belong to more than one of those groups. Across those four groups, accessible housing needs can look very different. So people with physical disabilities may need grab rails. They may need ramps.

Somebody with a visual disability may need bright lighting. Even within one group, the accessibility features that people need can vary substantially across individuals. So for example, an adult who has difficulty sitting down without assistance and somebody who uses a wheelchair, they both have physical disabilities. They both might benefit from grab bars in the bathroom, but it's the person in the wheelchair who would need the lowered counters and widened doorways. So I'm just giving these examples to show how complex it is to define what makes something accessible.

And there's even one more nuance I wanna share, which is that accessibility needs can also vary by the combination of somebody's disability and where they live. So for instance, if we think of that person in a wheelchair, if they're living in a large multifamily building, they really need an a reliable elevator, not just an elevator, but a reliable elevator elevator for their home to be accessible. Whereas somebody in a wheelchair living in a single family home with a zero step entry, they do not need access to that elevator. They don't need that specific feature for their home to be accessible. Alright.

So now I'm going to just shift us into a little bit of how community members informed our approach. Sorry. We're just one slide back. Thank you. Thank you for helping me with this. So community members who we spoke with emphasized that the whole home should be accessible. The quote here is, it's not just ramps. It's bathrooms, kitchen, everything. Also, not only do people have varying accessible housing needs, like we talked about on the previous slide, but one person's needs are likely to change over time. The quote here is, as our child is growing, his needs are changing, and it's going to be a continuous process of modifying our home.

Alright. Now using that approach that we just walked through, I'd like to discuss what we learned. So I'll talk about the gaps that we identified and the proposed solutions to those gaps. The first gap here is understanding the unmet need for accessible housing. So this really is the most important gap that we identified in our analyses that you have heard a preview of already, that there's not enough accessible, affordable, or market rate housing to meet the needs of Toledo's residents with disabilities.

And that really underscores the importance of trying to increase the supply of accessible homes. I'll share some more details on the next slide here. So for instance, these available data suggest that there are about 11,000 households with a disability that could qualify for affordable housing, and there are 3,000 affordable and accessible units that serve those same households. So you can see difference there. And on the next slide, actually, maybe you're seeing it now, you can see that there is a shortage of about 8,000 affordable and accessible homes.

That is consistent with feedback we heard from the community and that you may have heard before, such as this quote from a community member with a disability that reads, I've been on the waiting list for years for one place. It's hard. I would like to not live where I live now anymore, but there is nowhere to go. And on the next slide, I'll show how we found something similar for market rate housing. We were not able to estimate these numbers as precisely for the city of Toledo specifically, but a rough estimate based on the housing here and national rates of accessible housing suggests that the gap is even larger than what I just showed you for affordable housing when we think about market rate housing.

So if we just look at one of those groups of people with disabilities, and that would be people with physical disabilities, we estimate a shortage of 14,000 homes in the city of Toledo. So given this gap, let's turn to some potential solutions. So this situation requires two sets of complementary strategies. The first is to support the modification of existing homes to the extent possible, and the second is to increase supply of new accessible homes. That first strategy addresses the acute need here.

It's in the shorter term by helping to update the existing housing stock. And the second strategy is to try to help ensure that over time, the housing market improves and can better serve the needs of residents. Alright. So focusing on the first of those, many homeowners seeking to modify their homes noted that they experienced the city's regulatory requirements for modifications as burdensome to navigate. So to simplify this process and reduce the cost, we suggest considering recommendations such as a single point of contact for accessibility related questions or permits to simplify and bring down the cost of retrofitting an existing home to make it accessible.

Another recommendation here is to create a program that reduces the cost of retrofitting for accessibility or to help connect homeowners with such programs. Alright. We can move to the next slide here. And when designing these programs, it's important to keep in mind, Katie alluded to this, but the overwhelming majority of households where at least one member has a disability, they live in single family homes. So that's important to how we can help them with these modifications.

Another factor here on the next slide, thank you, is that the majority of renters with disabilities do have extremely low incomes. That suggests prioritizing efforts such as home modification grants that provide direct financial assistance for renters with disabilities to make modifications to the interior of their units. So might be those grab bars in the bathroom that we talked about earlier or adding brighter lights. Another option could be accessibility retrofit programs that used community based or nonprofit programs that offer materials, labor, or technical assistance advice for home modifications. And another option is tax credits or rebates that incentivize landlords to invest in accessibility improvements.

And when designing those types of incentives, keep in mind that renter households move more frequently than homeowner households, so it really is important to include landlords in that process of modifying for accessibility, which may take, you know, a duration of time that could extend it may not fit within when somebody is in their particular unit. Alright. Next slide. So now for the longer term strategies that aim to increase the supply accessible homes. One of the strategies that's best supported by research evidence is to change the city's zoning code to make it easier to build more housing as well as creating incentives for developers that increase the share of accessible homes that they build as part of that process.

So we can go to the next slide here. So to increase the number of accessible units in all types of housing, so this includes both affordable and market rate housing, You could consider using inclusionary zoning incentives, such as density bonuses or expedited permitting for multifamily projects that include a higher number or share of accessible homes. Another suggestion here is to relax zoning requirements or reform the city's code to allow accessible housing features to be built on a wider range of properties. One example that we heard about in those conversations that I mentioned earlier is that current setback requirements make it so that you can't add ramps to certain buildings. So modifying setback requirements could allow for more buildings to have that possibility of a ramp that could make them accessible for people with physical disabilities.

Modifying or aligning processes, zoning rules, and other requirements to allow for greater density and bringing down the cost of new development in general are another strategy that we'll talk about more on the next slide. When I get to the next slide, sorry. Alright. So these are all about making it easier, to build new accessible homes just to remind us of the larger goal here, and bringing down the cost of all new housing development, whether it's for purchase or for rent, as that would help to bring down the cost of accessible housing for residents looking to move into new homes. One of the most promising strategies, that I mentioned previewed on the earlier slide is to relax zoning requirements to allow for greater density.

Though those reforms must allow for large enough density increases to be impactful. So for instance, converting single family residential areas to allow for two to four family buildings, that may only have a modest impact on development and affordability, while in contrast, greater density may have a greater impact. Other potentially impactful strategies include removing minimum lot sizes, removing parking minimums, reducing setbacks like I mentioned on the previous slide, simplifying aligning, and streamlining requirements to make it easier, faster, and less expensive to build housing of various types. Similarly, removing requirements such as project labor agreements regarding union labor and wages may help to reduce the cost of development because requiring union labor may drive up the cost of development and unintentionally limit the supply of labor available to make accessible housing. So there may be other avenues for that through economic policies that are intended to affect labor directly.

We can move to the next slide. So that was all about market rate housing, and we also saw that there's a great need for more affordable, accessible housing. So potential strategies here are to work with the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority on a strategy to actively increase the number of affordable and accessible subsidies. Another strategy would be to consider working with the Ohio Housing Finance Agency and other state representatives to modify LITEC accessibility requirements to increase the stock of accessible units in multifamily housing and to introduce standards for the process through which new accessible units are planned. Another strategy is to consider allocating tax credits to developers who are aiming to create affordable, accessible single family homes that meet universal design standards, making them accessible to people with all types of disabilities.

So next, we're going to cover that second overarching gap that I mentioned at the outset, and that gap was that the search process itself makes it hard to find accessible housing. Home buyers who we talked to described discouraging multi year searches for accessible homes, especially single family homes, which they described as being more costly than comparable homes that did not have accessibility features. The quote here is that when you try to use any housing app and you put in accessibility needs, sorry I'm not reading exactly on my and you put accessibility needs in there, you land so frequently with nothing. It's disappointing and disheartening. Renters also mentioned numerous difficulties in finding accessible housing for rent.

So on the next slide, the point here is that there's no easy place for people to find information on accessible homes. This is true for market rate housing. That is housing that's for sale or rentals or in affordable housing. Existing accessible housing resources have limited listings and information on accessibility, and large platforms like Zillow, for example, they include little or information on accessibility. What we heard during those conversations with the community are that pictures of for sale homes often misrepresent the layout and size of the home, and realtors and landlords also seem to have little knowledge of accessibility features, so they're not in a position to bridge that gap.

It's hard to find the information, and the people who you'd often rely on to help you are not able to do that. Alright. And one more detail here, sorry, to add, is that community members, describing that search without being able to find information online meant that if they were looking to purchase a home, they'd have to go in person. They couldn't figure out enough information online, which can be really difficult and fatiguing for somebody with a disability. Alright.

Now we can move to the next slide. So to address this overarching gap number two, you can consider solutions that make it easier for residents to find and retain their homes, such as the following. The first idea here is developing or building on an existing accessible housing registry. Registry. Residents could use it to more easily find housing that meets their needs.

A registry could include both affordable and market rate rental housing as well as homes for purchase so that residents can find housing that meets their current needs. As you heard, people with disabilities in Toledo are looking for all of those different types of housing. As part of this process, could consider working with LMH to clarify not only the number of affordable and accessible homes it manages, but also the number of affordable units that are not yet accessible but could be modified to meet physical accessibility needs. Program registries can also help to identify funding sources that could support household's ability to modify their properties to make them accessible, whether those are direct subsidies to renters and homeowners or incentives to landlords. Given the challenges with limited knowledge among realtors and landlords as well as the unreliable online information about accessibility details, another potential solution is to encourage or require realtors, landlords, and property managers to provide virtual tours of homes for rent or sale.

Virtual visits could reduce that burden of searching for an accessible home, and that would allow the residents of Toledo who need those features to search for ones that meet their preferences and needs. Additionally, it may be helpful to start or update an internal registry of landlords and property managers who are willing to accommodate home modifications. Alright. On the next slide, we will turn to addressing gap number three, which was other barriers to meeting people's needs for accessible housing. So these are cross cutting recommendations to expanding the supply of accessible housing.

The strategies on this slide relate to legal protections for renter households because we heard the issues described here, of landlords not being responsive or even of signing a lease for a unit and then discovering that it is not the unit that had been presented to them. So we think that because of these reported barriers, it could be helpful to expand efforts to connect renters to resources that inform them of their rights and provide recourse if needed. We can move to the next slide. Sorry, just one moment. Okay.

Another strategy could be to facilitate increased coordination and partnerships between the organizations that provide support for people with disabilities and also support outreach and education between housing partners. Housing developers and community organization representatives said that those partnerships enable organizations to reply, to rely on others' expertise, and to share resources. So for example, that could involve sharing information about accessible design or another example where cross sector coordination could especially benefit households is for households with lower incomes that have household members with cognitive disabilities, they may particularly benefit from wraparound support to help them making sure that they're living safely in their homes. Another strategy is to help landlords, property managers, and realtors understand the importance of accessibility features. So this could involve outreach and educational campaigns to help local landlords, property managers, and realtors understand what are accessibility features.

That could help with the accuracy of listings and improve the experience of searching for an accessible home. As part of that outreach, you could consider emphasizing that there are legal requirements. You could emphasize the importance of accessibility throughout the whole home, the different types of features that people with different types of disabilities need, and also note different incentives such as tax incentives that can help to reduce modification costs. Another strategy is to align future rules with accessibility needs. So for example, making sure that any requirements or incentives designed to increase the supply of accessible homes separate or recognize that the needs of people with different types of disabilities can vary like we talked about earlier.

People with vision and hearing disabilities, as you can see on this slide, make up a sizable portion of Toledo households in which at least one member has a disability. However, when we received that feedback from community members, we heard from people with visual and hearing disabilities who described what accessibility features would be helpful but said that very few of those features were tracked. We were able to confirm this in the statewide housing registry, the Ohio housing locator that has some information on accessibility features, but not on the types of features that somebody with a visual or hearing disability would need. So that just is an example of an important gap in information. Another important consideration is to make sure that other situations are accounted for.

Community members described emergency situations such as power outages or elevator outages that make their otherwise accessible housing temporarily inaccessible, potentially in an urgent situation. Because of this, you could consider adding incentives for buildings to include generators or other backup power sources that help people with disabilities living in multifamily housing exit their homes safely during emergencies. So that brings me to the end of this presentation. Thank you very much for listening. I wanted to field any questions or also ask those at the table if there's anything you'd like

to add clarify about what I've shared. I would like to open it up for questions at this time, and then at the end, we'll highlight what we think are some low hanging fruit that we can move forward with with implementing some of these recommendations. Okay. I think that's great. This was really informative. Thank you. It it is really hard to find the numbers that so to have this,

this is really gonna help us push. I think it was 2021. We all signed a, resolution wanting to be the most disability friendly city in the nation, and that's a big goal. That's a big lift. So having this under our belt will help us get there. With that, president Williams.

Thanks. Thank you so much for being here. Very telling, it's a very telling, study. I actually visited New York not too long ago from a partner that we now have here in the city of Toledo, and, they had a a full building. I think it was maybe 300 units and a 100 of them were accessible. Yes. Yes, ma'am. Just a quick question. I know, LMH is a housing authority. Are there other property owners that, now that own a lot of property that we are intending to wanna work with?

Or is that the only one that we really wanna work with right now?

Well, one of the things that we would like to do, council president, is to, start immediately to address one of the first strategies that is recommended, which is to support the modification of existing homes and buildings. Mhmm. What you will see as part of our CDBG proposal the the next month would be a small set aside that we, are standing up for retrofit both at the homeownership level and at the multi family level. We also want to, we start talking with Lucas County and some philanthropic actors. We want to leverage those dollars and put together a fund that would be seed money to start this retrofit.

So yes, LMH is not the only only landlord. And one of the things we learned in this study was, the fair housing requirement that if you are a renter and your landlord cannot afford to do the modifications, if you can fund the modifications yourself or through a partner like the city, the landlord cannot stop you from making those those those, those modifications. So this is this is the the low hanging fruit that we intend to, pursue, working in partnership with the Ability Center and other partners to to start this process. I think it's, what we're hoping to do is cobble together maybe a million dollars from all of these sources to launch this. It's not a lot of money, but I think it's, it can have a significant impact and can help us leverage more dollars, to do this work.

So you'll be seeing you'll be seeing and we've got some meetings set up. You'll be seeing formulation of this this framework and this strategy with these partners to launch this hopefully by the fall. The other thing I would like to say is that the the city is at a very good place in terms of the zoning rewrite and the ability to, redo our zoning code to accommodate the development of new housing that will be more accessible friendly. You know, we are about to pick a consultant to do the zoning code rewrite, and and one of the fundamental things we want to address in that zoning code rewrite is how do we adjust the code to do more to do more accessible housing. And and related to the ability to impact on on the supply, one of the things we are also gonna do is go beyond what is the minimum requirement of OFA to provide, I think what it is, four accessible units.

We we if I'm gonna if I'm gonna subsidize a project at a tune of one to 2,000,000, you're gonna give me more accessible units. Whether they're for the physical accessible or the folks who are hearing with audio. So the the the data is going to inform how we fund projects, how we ask for accessible units, and also on the housing preservation and modification piece. We wanna jump on that right away and and launch this assistant because it is it is critical. We our housing is old and this and I think the the the inability for folks to navigate this modification issue is critical.

Also as part of that framework, the issue of navigating. How do I find housing that is accessible? How do I get on a waiting list? How do I assess my needs if I'm cognitive? If I have cognitive disabilities, where does that technical assistance come to help me put together the kind of specs that I need to put together to get, accessibility retrofits and modifications. So the partnership that we are envisioning will provide that navigation as well as provide this, this, this seed money support to help us to move forward with with, addressing this need.

Okay. So we do have landlords that are identified outside of just Ella Mason. Right? Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. I think you made it. I couldn't imagine that many housing, accessible housing units. I know when I've spoken to developers here in the city, they're comfortable Detroit went up to 10%. You know? And they're like, yeah, that as bigger cities are pushing the envelope, I think that gives us the this coupled with this will give us the ability to push for even more, accessible. For sure. Councilwoman Kramer, you were next. Thank you.

And thank you so much for the presentation. I really appreciate it. I have very firsthand knowledge of this. Last year, my dad, had to start using a wheelchair and they have a 100 year old home in Sausalito and it is not accessible in any way, no bathroom on the 1st Floor. So we actually started going through the process, to retrofit their home so they could stay in their home because we did you know, I did some research and I was like, he's getting older and, you know, there's a lot of research that shows if older people who are disabled, you know, end up having to move, it's not great for their health and their mental well-being.

So we did a lot. We it was a lot of effort and we ended up there was a lot of hoops and hurdles through the city, you know, that it was daunting for my parents and I was trying to help them and my mom would come down here and it was so that was something that, you know, I've talked about a lot with folks on the last six months about trying to make things easier. So I love the idea of a single point of contact for those accessibility related issues that homeowners are facing because yes, our housing stock is old and it's very challenging as some of our residents are older and they face some mobility issues. My parents were very lucky, they were able to buy a home, off of River Road that is all on one floor, they are currently renovating one of the bathrooms. So they ended up moving, my dad's doing okay but I experienced that very firsthand.

And so listening to this, I'm like, yes, we need to do all we can to help our residents to stay in their homes and make it easier for them because you know, I was like, we're educated people, like why can't we figure this out? It's challenging and I think especially if you're not used to navigating government systems, it can be very daunting. So I appreciate this study. I did have a question. In the research that you did, has there been any accessibility designations of realtors or property managers or anything like that?

Does any other cities have kind of that, you know, this realtor has an accessibility designation that, you know, they are aware of what someone might need?

That's a great question. We did look at what some other cities do. That is not something that I recall seeing, but that's something that we can check on and get back to you.

Yeah. Just curious because I thought, you know, if folks knew like, oh, I can go to this specific property manager or realtor and they will understand those unique needs, that might be, you know, something that's good.

Yeah, we'll look into that. And in terms of your experience, it really is consistent with what we heard from community members. So you're not alone and that's why this is important.

Yeah and I did hear that a lot, you know, and I hear it still from different residents who, you know, are are they wanna stay in their homes, but it's challenging. So, yeah, whatever we can do. So thank you very much for your work on this.

Thank you. Councilman Serratu.

Thank you, madam chair. Speaking of realtors, I'm just curious, have there been any formal discussions with the Northwest Ohio Realtors Association regarding accessible homes.

One of those interviews that I mentioned was with the realtor association in terms of like a formal discussion. So we were trying to learn about what are some of the barriers and challenges and how do you handle this. And that's we were just, you know, asking about experiences there.

Okay. Well, first of all, I appreciate the presentation today. Secondly, we have a problem that's only gonna get bigger. Today people are living longer because of all these magic pills that we take, but we also are seeing more and more people with physical challenges that need help. So the need is only gonna get better.

So what I'm suggesting is that the Ability Center, because you're so well equipped, you know, on that subject, that there be seminars or programs for the realtors of Northwest Ohio. Because I think they're one of the keys to getting to educate people, and you wanna start with that industry because why? Because they're they're showing houses every day, and they're showing a lot of older houses. And our housing stock in Toledo in general is much much older. I also think, the Toledo Home Remodelers Association would be another group to talk to because, you know, these are licensed contractors that deal with this all the time.

And, you know, they need to be educated in terms of the needs out there. And I I think that maybe a lot of realtors and maybe a lot of contractors don't realize that this is only gonna get grow this problem's gonna grow. You know? And I think that we just really need to have a a good educational system out there, you know, much like we've done in the past with realtors on many other subjects, zoning requirements. And I agree.

We have to change our zoning codes to be more user friendly for people because that's how we're gonna increase our our housing stock. But I I just think that maybe approaching them and they have meetings on a regular basis and just starting the discussion with them and also to get their input. Maybe they have some ideas that you haven't thought of that we can do because we just really need to address this issue. And people cannot a lot of people cannot afford new construction. And if you look at the new construction, it it is typically very accessible, especially the the bathrooms and that.

But most people can't afford, you know, to spend 300,000 or $400,000 for a villa or a condo. It just isn't there, but remodeling opportunities might be there. We might have some assistance from various sources. But I I just think we really need to educate the community of of people that are dealing with this all the time, and they can really help us out, you know, so for what it's worth. But I appreciate everything you're doing, and the Ability Center's done a good job of of educating us.

Much like you've by the way, much like you've done, having accessible transportation, I think Tarda really has, done a great job in expanding their fleet and making sure that people with physical challenges can get on their transportation system and get around town and and so forth because it's very important. You know? So thank you. Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you. And I just had two questions. With the

Just I just wanted to say, and thank you so much for your comments. I think that your comments are right on point. And we do have trainings and interaction with the Realtors Association and have over the years. But I don't we haven't presented this report to them yet. So definitely, that's a good a good suggestion.

And and I will add, I am more than happy to join you in that effort. I know a lot of realtors. I have family members that are in real estate. I know some contractors, so I'm happy to do that because, again, I think they need to be educated about the need out there and and what we can do together to make this you know, everybody wins when you have people in quality housing and you have people in quality neighborhoods. Everybody prospers and wins, and that's what people want. So I'm I'm happy to help you in that area. Thank you.

One moment, president. When we just something internally. When we go and provide the RFP for the zoning law, is this something we would add into the RFP to make sure that everything fits the standards found in the study?

Yes, part of the selection criteria is the methodology to make sure that as you are proposing changes to the zoning code, you are incorporating equity needs of the disabled. So that's part of what we, when we conduct our interviews we'll be looking to see what is that methodology, what are you proposing, how would you approach this, what are your ideas of how you would incorporate incorporate these needs in this zoning rewrite that you're going to embark on.

Okay and then one more. As we talk about the commerce process for the building permits and looking at streamlining that, Do you foresee something similar like the small business where it's like we encompass around a homeowner, a renter, a landlord and we get them through the process or do you see like more of a neighborhood navigator kind of a, like how would you think we

My could do vision for this and I would like the input of the Ability Center and some other stakeholders. We've got some meeting schedules to start to brainstorm around this. My vision would be a single point of contact. An individual that understands this work, that understands the modification needs. It's not just grab bars and ramps.

There are other sensory things and cognitive things that they would have to know about. So this person would sort of be our point person that would work with the realtors to establish registries for what is available. That would work with potential homeowners and tenants to assess their property needs and to come up with specifications around those modifications. This person would understand the building permit process and how to get a ramp approved and the drawings that you would need, etcetera. So I see this as a single point of contact where you come and help navigate this issue.

Can you find somebody that can do all of this? I don't know. But that's the work that we hope to do together to to put this to address this issue.

Thank you. President Williams?

I don't know if maybe Mary got the one with the pictures on it, but can we get this sent to us in the raw form so we don't, we can see the full thing and send it out, if that's okay. Thank you. That's all I'm chair, thank you.

Okay, thank you. Okay, I'm now gonna turn it over to the audience. I only have one person that signed in. Glenn, if you'd like to come and talk. And then after that, I'm happy to open it up to anyone else that may not have signed up.

Hi. I'm Glenn Rine. 372 Carskadden Avenue, Toledo, Ohio. I'm also gonna go a little bit off track for a minute, but I'll be circling around back. I'm the chair of the Northwest Ohio Passenger Rail Association, and I'm here today to give some remarks on how community development and housing go hand in hand.

I was hoping to hear a presentation about what was happening with the Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit rail corridor this weekend when I was down at Ohio Rail Summit. But what it turned into be what it turned it into was a 15 sales pitch, for their, Cleveland to the Columbus to the Cincinnati Detroit connection. And what got me wondering was in the past three years, I've noticed that what I've heard from a lot of people in this area that Northwest Ohio is considered the redheaded stepchild when it comes to appropriations in the state. This economic resource hoarding hits us in many ways, and I gave Councilman Kramer some data points for you to to look at too. First, it shows up in our GDP.

If you're comparing the data that our area their area has done better than ours even when we experience a significant drop in 2024. It shows in our 2024 income when our median income was 3535.6% lower than the state's median. And then it shows up in our ability to diversify our economy so that we are resilient enough to stand with significant unemployment. You can see that as how it affected our unemployment being 1% or higher, that's noted in the red, as compared to 0.5% to 0.9% higher. We've done worse than Columbus.

And so, anyway, the mayor's remarks in the state of the city address about withholding the state withholding funds to our area to the tune of $218,000,000 over the last ten years eighteen years along with commissioner Lisa Sobeki's 2023 op ed in the Blade saying that we were the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state, but we were forty fourth in appropriation is showing up in our ability to keep up with the city's infrastructure and debt, and this includes housing. This is why I'm here today to ask you to get behind and concentrate on two areas, pausing the widening of I 475 and promotion of a regional public banking system. First, with the pausing of the widening of all I 475, This council along with the county commissioners need to get behind this effort that insists that ODOT pause construction on this widening. This self inflicted wound will be detrimental to our economy by the potential loss of 1,200 apartment residents, and that's a conservative estimate. It is likely to be more considering the hole that these ladies just brought up to show how deep we are already in.

From hurting our tax base, from the revenue that the rental properties produce to the individual and the revenue they give to the local economy when we will have to make them relocate maybe sometimes outside of Toledo to find new housing? It makes no sense. It's like if we were tied to a stake in burning and we're asking to put one more log on the fire. The it is important it is important to develop with your colleagues to develop a regional public banking system in order to get these funds away from the state by going regionally, and that's working with Lucas County, Wood County, City Of Rossford, City Of Oregon to develop that infrastructure bank. Then you've got a second source other than taxes to be able to build this stuff and to give them the money that they need.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Okay. Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak about the accessibility study? Any other topic? Okay, well with that I find this meeting adjourned.

Thank you. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. Councilwoman Jones had asked for an update on the home ownership fair.

I'm so sorry. Okay. Well, what's this mulligan that?

It's it's and staff had just put together

I'm sorry on the thing it wasn't out there. Would love to hear it. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Is there a I have to put us back on the record. I can't just mulligan.

I'm I'm sorry. Okay.

She's in the back. This meeting is back on. Okay. Welcome, welcome.

Good evening council. My name is Nastasha Pittman, clerk specialist for the Department of Housing and Community Development. Thank you for having me here tonight. I have my co chair partner Ronald Wells junior revitalization fellow.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you counsel for having us. We're happy to to give this update for you. It's pretty big. So, yeah, we'll we'll go into we'll just go into it. I'll kick it off to Natasha.

So before I go into to the twenty twenty six homeownership fair update, I would like to say the purpose. The city's total third only third annual homeownership fair is focused on expanding access ownership home ownership, connecting residents with trusted resources, and strengthening our neighborhoods through informed buyers. With that through strong community and partner support, We've secured $40,175 in committed sponsorships and ad support, demonstrating strong investment from our community partners. This includes platinum and gold sponsors such as the Northwest Ohio realtors, Lucas County commissioners, and the John Henry Eldridge junior foundation, and major financial institutions like Fifth Third and PNC Bank. Look at in total we have 15 sponsors across all levels and 11 confirmed vendors, all providing direct resources to our attendees.

Through robust marketing and outreach, our marketing and outreach strategy is intentionally broad and inclusive. Between radio partnerships with the juice one zero seven point three and De La Luce radio. Our billboards are up now through now through June 7, social media campaigns through Facebook and Instagram, and radio interviews and commercials. Our print is through La Prenza Sojourner's Truth and digital advertising through vibe.co for our piloting ads through streaming services. We also have our four WTOL interviews series that's coming up as well in May.

Next slide. For our community engagement and early impact through social media, we're already seeing strong engagement. 250 completed survey registrations. We have nearly 500 individuals marked as going or interested on the Facebook event. These numbers show both awareness and genuine interest from residents preparing to take the next steps towards home ownership there. And with that I would slide that over to

Perfect, thank you, thank you Nostalgia. So I'll just go over the pre event survey we ask every register, every participant to fill out a survey and this helps us not only to get data for for the fair itself, but I was just kind of like look at the the state of where people are in their home buying journey. So we have one specific question that asks you know people are you are you just curious, are you have you been looking around, would you like to be in a home within six months. 51% of individuals would like to be in a home within six months. And so if you have any doubt or if there are any doubters out there, people want to live here, people want to be here, people want to be a homeowner here and as we continue to see the data and the registrants roll in, I imagine that number will probably stay around there.

We also wanted to know where are people on on the scale of action, right, because it's you know one thing to come into the fair and and get the information, but we also want to think about how we move people along along the process wherever they may be. So we ask people have you gotten your credit check 62% have done that, that's a good thing. 30% have started saving, but still about a third have taken no action, right. And so we're thinking about you know how can we meet people where they are wherever they may be and move them along. There still is a pre approval gap 94% don't have lender pre approval and again that's not necessarily surprising to us just kind of knowing from the data where most people are in that beginning journey, know working on your budgeting, working on your financial wellness.

But it is something that we're keeping an eye on for one, you need that for our for our grand prize and and then to I think trying to close that gap, know, to us, you know, that's that signifies folks that are that are closer to the end of that journey, right. And so, know, for for us to see that those those numbers dip down, we're gonna work on that and and of course have access to to lenders at the fair. We also wanted to know what are our our top barriers. So 36% say poor credit and then the next biggest thing is lack of knowledge and we've seen that in our feedback surveys right. Know just people just don't you know it seems like there there's a lot and even when you go to the fair there there is but again it's you know for me it's about meeting people where they are no matter where you are on the journey.

So a couple of demographic data which I don't think we incorporated last year against just you know interesting to see kind of who's who's engaging with us in the city thinking about their home ownership journey. Eighty six percent women, which I think is you know quite interesting. I'm not sure what to how to interpret that right now, but you see people 35 to 44, we're 37%. These are the top top numbers of registrants and and that's folks like me. I'm 35 years old and quite honestly, I'm in this space of wanting to be a homeowner myself.

I wanted to to to live here and I'm in the right place to learn how to do that, but I'm planning this this fair from from that perspective as well. Neighborhoods, as as we have talked and continue to talk about our our nurse areas, we wanted to incorporate some indication of kind of where people would be interested in living and 65% of registrants so far would be interested in living in the nursing area which I think is good. And of course there's a large variety, there's other section and you know people are pointing to neighborhoods all over the place. I think people will go to where the opportunity is but we thought that was an important question to think about as well. So big part of the fair obviously is our excuse me, are the are the workshops, the education, we'll have credit counseling, budgeting.

This year we wanted to orient our classes and based on kind of where people are on their home buying journey again just thinking about folks and you know trying to put ourselves in their shoes and so down payment assistance, LMH who's a partner, they have a housing choice voucher program. Some of you may or may not know that if you're on a housing choice voucher, they have a program to move you along into into a mortgage. So I just want to make sure that people are aware of that. We also heard that folks want some maintenance. Know you move into a new home, you got to take care of it, alright.

And that's the beginning to some good code compliance, Just knowing what to do in there and so we do have you know an offering up there just as from our feedback survey last year, a lot of folks said they want some home maintenance. We'll have fair housing there of course the realtors, home inspections, home insurance that you know for those people that may be a little bit further along in their journey. And then I'll kick it back to Stasha for our prizes.

And then for our lovely prizes for giveaway, grand prize winner can win $10,000 for down payment assistance. Also with that, we want them to know the information of the city's home ownership assistance program now offering up to $12,500 citywide and up to $20.00 in our nursing areas. So, we're trying to spread that in there as well. Our first runner-up can get up the a 50 inch TV. Second runner-up, the security camera system.

Giveaways, you can do five vacuums plus five kitchen starter sets. Nice sets to serve their home. And $10.50 increments home gift Home Depot gift card. So shop to your lawn mower and everything you need, appliances for that. And this event is more than just a fair, it's a strategic investment in Taleo's future homeowners, neighborhood stability, and long term economic growth. Growth.

And then we'll end with the goals and one me one thing that I will say is last year just you know story the grand prize winner 10,000 right. This woman wasn't even going go to the fair, right? And just you know you know decision, made the moment, went to the fairs like I'm gonna win this prize, won $2,010,000 dollars came through our DPA program. And so you know really just thinking about the the goals of the fair, can meeting people where they are, We know that people want to live here right? As we just heard you know here it's about accessibility, it's about knowledge and how do we move people along, give people the resources.

So every single resource for your home buying journey will be here, be in in in the room, plenty of partners, but it's also about the follow-up, right. You know people come in, one of the that we are working through from previous years is working with our vendors and you know how are we following up with with people right? With our banks, with the realtors, even with our financial opportunity centers and so that's something that we are mindful of trying to say hey, if you came to the fair you know did you ultimately get into a financial wellness class work on your credit? Ultimately did you get in a home, right? So we want to be able to track that information, work through that that follow-up strategy.

But yep, I mean this is this is the third year. I've been here six months. This is one of the first projects that I've that I've been a part of and I'm just so happy to to be a part of of this team and and really be next to some some colleagues that that care about this work and this is the social determinant, right, when it comes to housing. You all know this sitting on this committee. If there are any questions I can kick it over to director Clemens.

I just I just wanna thank my team. This is the the third year that we've had the home ownership fair. And like the accessibility study, increasing home ownership in the city is also a strategy of our ten year housing plan. And we decided June is normally home ownership month. The fair by the way is is June 13 and you'll see billboards all over the city now.

June is normally a home ownership month. So I think it was February three years ago we said well what are we going to do for home ownership month? Let's have a fair and it was all hands on deck and we worked on it for the first year. But each year we've learned something different. Each year we try to enhance it. Each year we try to make it a more meaningful experience and a more impactful experience. And as Mr. Wells just said, this year we're going to not just have 400 people to come and participate, but we also want to have a follow-up to them. How many of you actually ended up buying a home? How many of you didn't?

What were the issues? So this year we want to incorporate, that follow-up piece to sustain to sustain our efforts in in doing this in the first place. And I always like to say this, this monies are raised all from the private sector. We have sponsors that we go after. We have our vendors and I think we still have some outstanding pledges but we are up down to over $40,000 That for the prizes as well as for the event and all of the marketing.

So again we try to do this work with the resources that we have and with partners. Council member Sorrento mentioned engagement with the realtors. They have always been with us in helping us to plan this since they're one of our platinum sponsors. So again this work is to foster increase in homeownership in our city. When we did this strategy, we were almost 50% renters, 50% homeowners, which is a decline if you look at the last twenty years in the city.

This work is to stop that decline in homeowners and increase more homeowners because we know when we have more homeowners in our neighborhoods there are more stability. Not like, not that we don't like renters but we feel that there's so many advantage to home ownerships. It not only builds family and generational wealth but it also contributes to vibrant neighborhoods. So that's why we do this work. And I just want to thank this this young rising star team of mine because they've jumped on this and they've really improved on what we did last year. And just want to thank you too for the work that you do. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm I'm looking forward to it. It just keeps getting better and it's something that I hear the residents look forward to. So I think it's one of the high the biggest events we we throw as a city. Councilwoman Kramer. Yeah.

Thank you very much for that presentation. I know how much effort goes into events and planning events, so I give you guys huge kudos because this is a huge event and I know it's a lot of work and then getting sponsorships on top of that. It's it's a lot. So great job with that. I also love the pre event survey. So you kind of know who's coming and what their needs are. One thing I noticed that you said is 94% of them, and I'm hoping that's right, said they were not preapproved. So in the sessions that you have, do you have anything that kind of addresses that preapproval process? Because I know that can be really daunting to people.

So we do have lenders that will be on-site and actually a couple of our banking partners are teaching the credit counseling and financial wellness classes. So I think you know we'll be able to you know participants can address that Okay. That any barriers that they have regarding regarding pre approval. But also we know from the data that just a lot of people you know aren't at that aren't at that level yet. Right?

We know that you know some of the biggest barriers are credit you know a little bit further upstream on process. And so I think those that you know are able to you know ask that question and you know address any concerns about pre approval but you know again the data says that you know a lot of people are everywhere and you know focusing on financial wellness and credit and upstream is like really a key priority of of the need.

Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Thank you very much. And I wish we had this a long time ago when I bought my first home because I didn't know what I was doing. And so this is probably very helpful. And I hope we can find a place for you. Yes. Thank you.

Councilman Serratu.

Thank you. First of all, you for the presentation. And I know that we're gonna have a successful program, that day on June 13 because I think it's well organized. I attended last year's session at Scott High School, and I was very impressed. We had a lot of people, and I think you had a lot of resources, there that were very, very helpful. And I watched people coming up and asking questions and that. So I just really think this is a great start. And anything I think this really benefits promoting homeownership because, again, people don't have the resources. They don't know where to turn to. They just hear about the price, and they, you know, they get overwhelmed.

But I think this is a great program, and I look forward to being at the next one in June. So thank you very much for doing it, and thank you, director. Thank you, madam chair.

K. Seeing nothing further from council, is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak to the update on the housing fair? Please come on.

Welcome. Good evening everybody. I'm Ladon Jones. I want to say I was actually a volunteer for last year's homeownership fair, but I'm also a recipient of the LMHA voucher home. And so I was a section eight housing person for seven years, and out of those seven years, five years of my rent went into an account to help me purchase my home.

And after being on the program for seven years, I was able to purchase my home that I've now been in for ten years. So partnering with Section eight is really, really beneficial, and it's people like me who benefit from it.

Congratulations. Thank you. And with that, this meeting's adjourned. Thank you.