City Council - Regular Meeting

Eight months. We now know that we've got to be stronger in our security. And we have to have a better base. But that also means we have to have resident services in place. So that the residents have safe harbor somewhere to go where they can explain and we know what's going on. We are not bricks and mortar. We are a community. And we wanted to be a safe community. Some of you have seen Downs Manor. Some of you know that Downs Manor once was not a community. I believe it is now a community, not only in the units of Downs Manor, the 100, but also the 60 that are on Trumbull and Tuxedo, Hamilton, 2nd and 3rd. Those neighbors are now taking care of their neighbors and taking care of the community. So we'll take any questions. I do want to bring back. Yep. If you go for Gabrielle, we're talking about Gabrielle. So if you go to this page here, this yellow, this one, so you come down almost to the bottom, and you can see page back is on line 29, and it's $3.1 million for the air conditioning. No, then doors comes up further. Doors is $3.138 also. So both of them are receiving $3 million. Windows is getting almost $3 million, $2.29. Cabinets and casework within the units is $2.3. Got it? Okay. And then on the same, you'll see much less money, because this is $21 million and Highland Manages is $2 million. And I say just, but I should, because that's a lot of them. It's me. The air conditioner and the HVAC design is contributed 400%.

Yeah. You say no displacement.

Yes.

Sure. You say that, and you did say that if they're not comfortable when the people come in to do the work.

Mm-hmm.

You said they have hospitality suits.

Yes.

So my question is, because we did have some incidents at another complex. They volunteered to leave while the renovations was done on their apartments. And some of them were not allowed to come back.

Oh, wow. Yeah. So let me take it down. For a real story so and what we did it downs manner and island. And we hear those up we we think about and furnish them in everything and we said to the residents, because they had to be out of their units when they found out some plumbing issues for five days that's why it took long. Those residents moved into one of these units for five days, and that's what they had to do at the owner's expense. The owner moved everything for them. It was like a stay vacation in a new unit for five days, and then they would be able to go back, and all of their belongings were put somewhere. If they chose not to stay in that unit, and it was tough at the beginning because they were like, I don't want to live where somebody else has lived. I don't want to do that. They had the option. to work with us to find secondary housing, but they received a document that said they'll come back. So they knew that if they chose to live with their aunt or cousin or whatever, or even a hotel, they would be able to come back. They were not to be displaced in any shape or form. Our goal though is to be able, as Mr. Fox would say, I would like to do the kitchen Well, you're in the community room during the day, and then you come back and your kitchen is done.

Yeah.

I would like you to sleep in your unit every night. It depends on what they find in the bowels of the human. If they can't have a toilet every night, they can't stay in that unit, so we have to find a unit. But no one, everyone will remain and have the right to remain and have the right to come back. And they will have a document that says that.

Okay, so you said you're going to start this in September. Will there be any new vouchers or paperwork that the residents have to fill out for this project?

So recertification and things to that extent, no. It's going to be the same property owner. It's the same. It's not like, again, Downs Manor. It went from being Highland Park Housing Commission to being Highland Park Community, and we had to fill out a lease and all of that. No, it's the same owner. It's their same income level, and they will be following the same process.

Go right ahead, Mr. Shockley.

So, yeah, I have the same sentiments as Councilor Horton. She was just too nice of a person to say the complex's name, but I'm not. Manchester Place. They had displaced a great deal of people. And they have forced people to write new leases. They have increased their rent. They came here. They stood before us just like you, asked for our approval, promised they wouldn't displace anybody. And then as soon as they got that approval, they did the very opposite of that. I need you and Van Fox to give us your word that that's not going to happen here.

So I give you my word. I give you my identity. And I did do. The 160 families that I worked with at the Highland Park housing.

Didn't they do the same thing with the scattered sites? Yeah. None of them ever came back.

Yeah, you know, they even, in the Manchester place, the people who had two bedrooms, they forced them into one bedroom and still increased the rent.

And forced some of these people outside of Highland Park.

Perfect. Perfect. All I can do is, I mean, we work in the industry, right? And we know the owner of Manchester Place. And I'm guessing that you have told him your disdain.

I have went down to the office personally to share my disdain. They were not happy with my person.

I will promise you this. I will talk to them to let them know that their actions are affecting the industry.

Mm-hmm.

so that they know that my expectation is that they are good stewards. Because I have been in the lowest income in my career. I've worked with people that have lived in public housing for the last 40 years. My goal is to improve affordable housing and communities.

And I work with MHT because that's his goal.

And we have not displaced anyone. in any way, shape, or form. In fact, when we were just talking about, just to digress for a minute, we were talking about a high rise. So Gabrielle is a high rise. Where things might change at Gabrielle is as we go through, if we find that there's a wheelchair person on the 10th floor, we might encourage them to come to one through five because it's easier for them to be in one through five than up to 10 in case there's an emergency. And we've just been starting to look at this and say, you know, we need to be more engaged with how they live as well as where they live. So I promise you, there will be no displacement.

And I also just want to mention, we're under a lot of oversight of the housing agencies too, like HUD and MSHDA. Even with notifying residents, we have to submit the actual letters that we a distribute to the residents at the site to HUD to show that we are complying with the requirements of the process and Um, we're not just doing what we want to and saying what we want to to you guys and not following through, um, on the other end. So there's a lot of oversight. There's a lot of compliance measures that are in place and we have always kept good relations with HUD and Mishnah, um, because we follow those.

I have one last question. Um, I used to work at the old VA house and on certain floors we had evacuation.

We just have what's required by fire and emergency responders. But it's a good idea for me to present to Dan to see, because it's a senior building, what else we can accommodate in our budget for evacuation. Because it's important. We're working with another building in a location where 13 stories high and an elevator is down. And so it's frightening. And it's bad for the fire department and the EMTs as well it is for the students. Okay.

Okay, Ms. Madica, Ms. Martin, thank you so much for being patient. You want to go ahead?

I'm going after you.

What other reasons did someone end up not in the apartment besides that? Is there any other reasons?

So there's no reason that anybody should be displaced, okay? So before we even started this rehab, right, we should look collectively to make sure that everybody is a good leaseholder and manages their lease, and that they're not in repayment agreement for not paying their rent or something so forth to help them secure and stay in. But there's no reason that anybody would not continue. If somebody all of a sudden becomes a millionaire, right? They win the lottery.

Only 30%.

They can be over income by all programs. And that's another story. But if a family has all of a sudden higher income, we'd have to address that. But in addressing that, we have to have a relocation plan and have to help them in their relocation. Buying them adequate housing, helping them move, so on and so forth. But it would not be a displacement. It would be a matter of them coming forward and saying, my son is living with me and he just got a $60,000 job and he wants to stay. Well, okay, right there and then we're great, but now we've got to look at your income. Other than that, no.

We're not recertifying as part of the rehab. Recertification is going to continue how it's always continued each year.

So that kind of answered my next question already. It was my question. What if I'm at the point that it's time for my recertification or my lease is up?

We still do that process.

Yeah, as normal.

We still do the process. Yeah, yeah, yeah, as normal. And everybody will know. We're not going to change the timeline of your research. So if we start this in September and your research is in September, you're going to have to do your research in September. And nine times out of 10, there will be no negative impact. Now, I will tell you, one woman at Downs Manor was over income.

And she had to make a choice.

But she was 72 years old and still working. So she decided to retire. And she's as happy as a lark. So she's staying. She's happy. But she had to make a choice. She had to make that decision. We couldn't make it for her. But if she had to move,

You did say you were having community meetings, correct? If we can make sure that that get really explained, especially in that building. Absolutely. Those circumstances which they would have to leave.

Yes.

Okay. Ms. Martin, thank you so much for being patient.

Thank you, Mr. President. My first question is who's T. Van Fox, Brian Gallagher, Jeffrey Graham, and Andrew Mason?

So T-Man Fox is the owner of MHC Housing. And I and Arianna are here representing him. And he owns these buildings. He owns Gabrielle and he owns Highland Park. And he is a partial owner to the Highland Park Housing. The next one is Brian Gallagher. So he is our COO at MHC Housing. And the next one is Jeffrey Graham. Jeffrey Graham must be our attorney. Oh no, Jeffrey Graham here is the architect. And then Andrew Massaman is the attorney.

Okay.

So in the work that we're doing, there will, you know, there'll be an architect and architectural designs. There'll also be environmental works that's done to make sure that we hit every widget.

Okay. So let it be disclosed that I live in the Gabriels. And so I've been in the Gabriels for quite some time. And there's some issues that I've noticed in the Gabriel's. One of the things I looked at the, I think it's called a performer. Can we put a number on the building? Every time I order pizza, it's hard to get pizza. I always have to come out, get my pizza, get my packages. That's a good point. I didn't even know I live in building six.

That's a very good point.

Can we put building six? Because they always go around the corner and ask me where I'm at. And I have to describe what I'm wearing. So they can find me.

Well, listen, we will make sure it happens. Appreciate that.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm very serious. No, that's a good point. I'm very serious.

So that's the first thing. If you guys can put a number on the building, because they're always asking if that's an apartment. They don't think it's a townhouse. They think it's an apartment. What's your apartment number? I'm like, that's my address. So that would help out a lot. Okay. The other things I want to ask is, one, Elevators, when they go down at Gabriel Apartments, you mentioned about, you know, if you live in a wheelchair and they should, you know, maybe move from one to five. Not a bad idea. But my question is this. One, what if they are in, they're fine now, they're mobile now, but then they are in a wheelchair next, I don't know, next month.

We have to figure it out and address it with them. We have to meet what's known as 504s. their fair housing needs. So if they find that their situation has changed, we have to work with them to help them best suit themselves in their home.

Okay. And then my, go ahead.

The elevators are a problem as the rehab will also bring forth any upgrades to the elevators.

Upgrades to the elevators. Who's responsible for that?

Mr. Fox.

Mm-hmm. Okay. To elevators. Because that's an issue when they go down.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, next thing is in the Gabriels we have, I know it said something about we've never had violation of any type of ordinance. Did I read that? Code and to- Okay, so we got graffiti going on over there. That's a problem too. Okay. Can we do something about that?

So we're working on the graffiti and the graffiti cause and we're working on lease violation. So every bit of graffiti, if it's related to a resident who lives there, it's a leasehold. So if it's a child of a leaseholder, that leaseholder could lease their unit. We're working with the city and the Highland Park Police and our security to monitor that and correct it. It's going to get worse before it gets better because it's not something.

I got that. And all of them are outside. I got that. My next question is certification. When it's a rental unit, I thought there was supposed to be some certification by the door standing. There's I don't see any certification saying that this is some type of rental space or it's up to code or anything like that. Does that happen at the office at Gabriel or how does that work? I'm talking about the townhouses at this point.

Like the code certificates of compliance with the building. Yes, that should be kept in the office.

Okay, so that's in the office. Okay.

We wouldn't want it to be evident to anybody who goes by to know anything about who's living there or that it's a rental or anything. It would all be kept confidential. We don't tell the world that you're a renter. Or who you are. Nobody knows who lives in those units, unless you tell them.

You're saying that if I have a guest come over, they don't need to know I'm a renter? Nobody needs to know you're a renter. Oh, okay.

But yes, those certifications of compliance, we do have to get those, and those are kept in the office or electronically in the office.

Okay, and then you talked about the pilot being... It's 2%, and you said it's going up to 6%.

It is 4%, and it's going up to 2%, to 6%.

Okay, and so that is an advantage, disadvantage?

That is an advantage to the city because we are going to be paying more in taxes. Paying more to the city. Yes.

Okay, got that.

We need that. Playgrounds.

The playground has really been decreasing. Can we get some, I would love to see a tire swing there. I've been dreaming about that for, I don't know, 10 years. Can we do one of those tire swings over there?

Right now we have 324,000 external sites.

Joy, what page are you on?

This one for Gabrielle, right?

Right, right, right. Yeah, so it should be here. The performer? Yep. Okay, go ahead.

Externally, we have 324 for site improvement and 350 for landscaping. So let me see if we can get playgrounds included.

Okay, so playgrounds not included.

I don't know. I'm going to ask and make sure that it's...

Because the other problem is these kids need something to do. You know, I used to do a lot of events there, but there is a manager that was hired. Her name's Angela, not Angela now, the Angela before. And she would not approve of a lot of activities that I used to have for the youth. So I would love to, I don't know, partner with TVAN or somebody like that, talk about that and get some more activities going on for the youth. Even that space that used to be a pool. Are you guys familiar with that? It's a big cement space that we're not doing anything with. It would be nice to get a blow up pool. movie screen and I got a projector and we can do movies, popcorn, have something for the kids to do.

So what we have right now, we will let Mr. Fox know and I will tell you he will be passionate about your ideas. And so a resident counselor or a resident service coordinator, I mean, a stronger one is coming to the properties plus the ones that you have now. We will make certain that your interest and what you would like is known And we'll set up a meeting so that you can meet and share your ideas and see what is in the resident budget and what can be in this budget. Particularly, I would tell you during construction, because the children during construction really need somewhere to go.

Right, right, right.

Because it's hard to be in a unit while you're tearing down the kitchen. Right. So let me, let me work or let us work to let Mr. Fox know your interest. Okay. And then make it permanent.

And then Ariana and Joy, just so you know, this is not something that I'm this is something that I've done in the past. The first time I did it, I had about five kids in my backyard watching movies. The last time I did it, I have about 30 kids in my backyard watching movies and it kept them something to do. They felt safe. They felt busy. They really enjoyed that. And it became, instead of just being the Gabriels, it became like a Gabriel community.

Yeah. And that's what we want. That's what we are. Yes. We will let them know your interest.

Okay. Let me move on with my questions. So Playground. Long-term affordability. I heard that. It sounds like a great buzzword. What does that look like?

Right now, the property is 30%, 40%, 60% FMI, right?

So it's going to stay there?

Yes, for 20 years. It's not going to go to market.

It's not going to be a market rate property. It's going to be an affordable rate property.

We can secure it for 20 years at a time. We're coming off the 20 years and we're wanting to secure for another 20 years.

Why does it seem like certification is such a secret?

It's just the process of mine. It's not except for it's very private. Nobody needs to know.

I can't know. I couldn't get the copy. I asked everything I signed. I asked, let me get a copy of everything I signed. And they said, I couldn't, I couldn't get it. I had to sneak pictures of my own paperwork. That's crazy.

From working with the manager there. Okay. Yeah. Well that's yeah. You should be able to get a copy of that.

Of course.

And we can get you copies. It cannot be shared with somebody who's not.

I didn't want to, I just want to share with myself for sure. Yes. Okay. Yep.

Okay. I'm sorry. Forgive me.

14 months. You said this is happening 14 months. Is this happening all at the same time or is this a phase like down? Well, you already did Downs Manor. I went by there. Nice. Gabriel, then it's going to be the apartments, then it's going to be Highland Manor. Or is it 14 months all at the same time?

The same time. Highland Manor and Gabriel are going to be renovated at the same time, both starting in September. I'm not sure if they're starting with the townhomes or the high rise at Gabriel. And I can let you know what the plan is to start with either or. or if they're going to do them all at the same time. But Gabriel and Highland Man are both starting, planning to start in September. Yes. Happening at the same time. Two teams. Yep. Same time. Okay. And same timeline.

Scattered sites.

They're included. Okay. My doorbell's cracked, guys.

Somebody pushed the doorbell and it just broke, just disintegrated right there. You need a fixed doorbell.

Right. And then after this, you said that, I know the list is closed. The list will be open after all this renovation is going on? Okay. And my last question is two things. One, what do we plan to do to increase security? Because like you said, there's been issues at Gabriel. And then the other thing is, when you said something about resident services, what does that look like?

So security, I'm going to, I apologize if I go too fast. Sometimes I talk too much. Security. We're working with the city of Highland Park on security. We're working in the blue light district. We're working to get blue lights. We're increasing our on-site security. We're also adding more light structures so that there's more street lights and more building lights so there's more activity. There might even be motion lights where you can see what's happening when it's around. In the front and the back of the townhomes, particularly... So our goal is security, not in the term of security, but in the term of we want you to feel secure. We want you to know and we want to be available. And security is 24-7, even if you feel that it's not at this moment. And then resident services. Resident services is largely social workers, people who are educated in social work. Some have social work license. Some are working towards that.

Who come in

and work with the population or the community on what their needs are and what we can do to bring them.

And I'm sorry, and we partner with them. We have contracts with those organizations that send the service coordinators. They're going to be on site? Yes.

With the coordinators?

The coordinators are going to come on site, yeah. It depends on how often they're at the site, just based on the site's needs and what they schedule. what activities they schedule there. But yes, they come on site, they will coordinate events for the community. They'll bring information like for the elderly, we work with Pace a lot. I don't know if you're familiar with Pace, but they provide services for the elderly residents. They'll take them on excursions and outings during the day. They'll bring like buses. And it's informational too. They offer like information for how to find like healthcare for residents and different things like that. It's dependent on the apartment complex and the residents there and the makeup, but that's typically kind of how it works.

So typically we're talking about seniors, correct?

Seniors, but also families.

Also families. Yeah. For children activities or family activities as well, yeah. Okay. There's both, yes. All right, Mr. President, I yield back.

Thank you so much. I want to make sure that Madam Procter had a chance to close this out. We're five minutes out from our next meeting.

You answered the question I was going to ask that you guys get to do live. And the last question is, is MHT a non-profit? Yes. I'm done.

Yes, ma'am, please.

Tell me the amounts of the pilots again. I'm just, I heard you say 286,000 and then an increase of 37,000. Yeah. Roughly 300,000 and piece of why it's so important. I did not hear you talk about fire suppression operating in the building. The security piece has got to really be solid because we're talking about another 20 years out and I'm just going to be flat on it. That's a thousand dollars of debt. And it costs more for us to police, fire, and ambulance service and all the services that we're providing for those facilities is way more than that. That may have been very important back in the day, but it's not affordable for the city now. You're physically in the city. You see how just like your facilities need to be upgraded, how your park needs to be upgraded, everything. And so you're talking another 20 years at $1,000 a day. So folks really understand these pilots. We need the low income housing. I don't understand how much the rent is. Because I did hear a lot of complaining after the rehabilitation about people being kicked out. Some city hall gathers complaints. It's only natural to include facilities when the rent goes up. But at the same time, the commitment to blue light, commitment to security, commitment to upgraded fire suppression. All those things are really super important because we're already getting mutual aid from other police and fire departments. Highland Park is not the same Highland Park that it was when we came here. It's changed a lot. And our ability to be able to provide services that you're expecting for the money for the pilots, we don't have. So I'm just I'm glad you're increasing the one from 4% to 6%. But, you know, we're still talking about very little money for the city to be able to provide the services, the police, the fire, the ambulance. We used to have ambulance service for free. Now we're paying half a million dollars a year. Right. So I'm just. I don't understand what the rents are. I don't know how much is being collected in those facilities. But I just want you to know that your investment in Highland Park is really going to be dependent on the services Highland Park is going to be able to provide to make sure your investments are

So to speak to that, I agree. I don't see fire suppression and there's maybe not enough safety and security on either. We'll bring it back and bring it forward. There is no rent increase going forward. We're going to work with the current rent rates. We're not planning on increasing the rent, at least not within the first two or three years. So that's the goal. No rent increase. We have worked with the mayor and brought up ideas to help with security before and help with covering police expenses and so on and so forth. That hasn't been on the table for a while. It was on the table when we brought down community forward. So we know how tightly you're strapped on your services throughout the city. And we know that we're senior buildings. We're not new senior buildings yet. We're just servicing your current residents who are aging in places. So we understand. I can talk. We can talk. We're at 7 o'clock. The conversation that we've had is going from 4 to 6 is, you know, we were prepared. It's important that we recognize that. And then the one that we're staying or has a slight increase, it's a small property. You know, that one we're only bringing in, I think, what is it, $9 million?

That's $37,000 for the Highland Manor.

The overall construction for Highland Manor.

Oh, that's $2.8 million.

So $2.8 and bringing in that, that's not a lot. But at the same point in time, that property does not need enough as much as Gabrielle. So we recognize the need of Gabrielle to minister.

Yeah, it's just something to think about. But I didn't mention the numbers. And Councilwoman asked a lot of the questions about rent increases. Those are the complaints that the city got. And it's not the city. The city's intent to subsidize these properties. The people who live in Highland Park are going to be put out. And it's going to be other people. It's going to be high rents.

And that's not our goal. That would not be Mr. Fox was to leave you with anything. This is affordable housing. And his quote would be of or invited people. And he wants it to stay that way. He wants the people of Highland Park to stay and to live here as well.

Well, that's the city's goal. The city is subsidizing these facilities. And the residents and taxpayers in the city that are paying Okay.

Thank you so much for your time. Send our regards to Mr. Fox. He'll be back for the vote, I'm certain. Yes. And thank you, members of council, for your attention to detail. We're going to call the meeting adjourned at 7 p.m. Thank you so much.

Awesome. Thank you so much, everyone.

Okay.