Housing, Urban Development and Zoning - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Good morning. We'll call today's Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee meeting to order. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you. With that, I'll accept the motion to approve the minutes from Tuesday, September 29th, 2026. It was moved by Alderman Aldridge and seconded by Alderman Browning that we approve the minutes from Tuesday, September 29th, 2026. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you. With that, we've successfully approved the minutes from Tuesday, September 29, 2026. Alderman Aldridge, you are recognized on Board Bill A.

I'll accept the motion to adopt Amendment Number 1.

Second. It was moved by Alderman Browning and seconded by Vice Chair Sanjaya that we adopt Amendment Number 1 to Board Bill 80. All in favor?

Can I ask a question? Oh, go ahead. I just was curious about the fees or charges. Do you have an idea of how much that will be?

1 on an annual basis, Homer G. I think we should go ahead, since we have the question now, to just go ahead and read. Madam Clerk, can you read Amendment No. 1, and then we can let Autumn and Audrey speak to it?

I don't miss my son and brownie do you have any questions on amendment number one.

I make a motion to we already had the motion of discussing. So we can come from autumn and calm.

All right. Now we have before us Board Bill 80 as amended. Alderman Aldridge, if you want to move forward with your speakers. Aye.

Jason, can you raise your right hand for me and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Thank you for being here. State your full name and your title and then you can proceed.

Okay. Alderman Aldridge, did you want us to kind of go through questions per speaker? Okay. Sure. And then you want to go to questions? Okay.

We could go ahead and get him sworn in just in case because some people might have questions if he can turn his camera on.

And can you raise your right hands and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Okay. We, if you don't have any opening, you don't have any general context, we can just know that you're ready and willing to answer questions from colleagues. Absolutely.

You know, I always want to hear from the public first, so if anybody has any pressing questions they want to ask prior to hearing from the public, please let me know. Alderman Tyers, you know you don't have to raise your hand to speak. You're our colleague, so if you wanted to speak, you're welcome to speak, but we did want to hear from the public first before we have our context. Okay.

You're our colleague, so absolutely. You know, you have a seat here like all of us. So Madam Clerk, if we can hear from the public online and in the room, I'm going to swear as many of us in at the same time so that We won't have to do everyone individually. You can just call by name. So everyone that's in the room, the public, that would like to speak, and everyone online that would like to speak, if you can turn your camera on so that we can see you and see you raise your right hand. Do we have any online, Madam Clerk?

Can everyone raise your right hand and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? All right.

Alderman Browning said he has a question that he would like to ask.

Ms. Gilliam, did you have anything else you wanted to say? I want to make sure you finished. Okay. Thank you. And thank you, Madam Clerk. I know we do usually stick to time, but in reference to these residents who live in Homer G., I want to extend the grace and time to them. Okay.

And anyone who has entered the room that wants to speak, please make sure that you sign the paper so we can get you up to speak as well. You swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

You swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Thank you, Representative. Vice Chair Sange has asked one question.

Thank you, Representative Collins. First, I just want to thank you for being here and being present. I don't know, I think you were on your way still, but many of the residents in our testimony just sorry i wanted to thank you first and foremost for being here and being present i think you were still making your way here but prior to you coming up in your presence many of the residents spoke up and said that they saw you and that you've been there on an ongoing consistent basis and so i just want to ask you obviously as elected officials sometimes we can do on behalf of residents to get access

And do you feel that the legislation has the necessary guardrails to perhaps prevent some of the instances that have happened with the current management?

Ms. Jones, can you raise your right hand? I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Raise your right hand and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Unsafe sidewalks. Hold on. Let's wait just in case, Chris. All right. Make sure. Tony, are we good? Okay. Let's hold, Chris, because I want to make sure our colleagues can hear testimony. All right.

Hey, Anthony. Nice to see you. Can you raise your right hand and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Ms. Williams, maybe raise the mic up a little bit. Can you hear me now?

Mr. Baroudi, can you raise your right hand and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Raise your right hand, swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Well, we all know that all the woman tithes doesn't have to be considered a speaker, just for clarity. We are all colleagues up here. We all have the freedom to show up at any committee hearing at any time and speak, not even from the dais where she's choosing to speak. We can come back here. We can speak. So just for clarity for the media, for everyone to know. And nobody needed permission as an alderman to speak at a public hearing. Nobody needed an invitation as an alderman to speak at a public hearing. And with that, if we are finished with all other public comments, because I want to make

So if you're on Zoom, do you see three dots at the top? Three dots at the top of the screen. There we go. Thank you, Jesus. We just saw you, Ms. Allen. Come back on. Ms. Allen, I really ain't going to let you go now, Ms. Allen. You know we want to hear from you. Amen. You swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Thank you. Now, that was the final speech.

So, Alderman Otter, do you want to go into now questions from our colleagues after we hear from Alderman Matias? Yes. Audelmatias is requesting to be sworn in. Just again, I want people to not be misled by things that are happening. Some of these things become performative, and that's not the case. We are all colleagues down here. We work down here. And she has no barrier, no restriction on who she can talk to, when she can talk to, when she can question, when she can come to a committee, when she can speak on the floor, when she can speak on the hearing. So per her request, we will swear her

All right Alderman Aldridge I know you have some statements and then we have some we'll go into questions from our colleagues.

Thank you. Thank you. You go point. You can please proceed.

Thank you Alderman Aldridge, members of the committee and others from the public that have testified today. This is obviously an issue that's very important to many people in our city and in particular to the residents of Homer G. Phillips. I've had the pleasure of being there and hearing from many of the residents and seeing firsthand some of their concerns with respect to the wear and tear, the broken windows, the safety concerns with regard to the lighting and the fence, and certainly heard their concerns around heating and cooling and water damage to various units. And so I guess my questi

So, I guess maybe be a little bit more direct though, you know, the rent that's being collected, you all were the recipients of that, correct? The rent that the tenants were paying, you all would have been the recipients of that rent.

And have you turned over, I know that you said that this is part of an investment fund and things of that nature, but have you turned over those financials to the comptroller's office for an audit? Because I think one of the concerns that people have is what happened to the rent? Why has the building deteriorated to the point that it is now when people are paying their rent? Mm-hmm.

Okay. Thank you for the additional information. Do we still have the representative from CIG? Yes, we do. I can't see the room for some reason. You can go ahead when you're ready, Alderman. So can you just, we've heard a lot in the last two or so hours. How are you going to address the concerns of the residents of the hospital that they are going to have adequate living conditions, that they're not going to have holes in their roof, that they're not going to have HVAC that isn't working, that they're not going to have plumbing or other water damage related issues in their units. There have bee

So just talking a little bit more about the vacancy, what is the current vacancy rate?

Yeah, I mean, what would be your target? That's good to hear that occupancy has gone up. Obviously, that helps with the bottom line when you're talking about maintenance and other costs. But also, depending upon tenant screening processes and other issues, you could be looking at other concerns that can impact the amount of money that you're bringing into the building to support the tenants and residents there as well. So what would be your ideal occupancy rate and what is your plan to get the building occupied to that target number?

So my question though, so what is your target occupancy rate and what is your, we've already talked about what improvements you're going to be making to the facility. Is it your intent that, you know, once those capital improvements are made, then you won't have an issue or once the capital improvements and safety that you won't have to deal with, you know, tenant recruitment in order to reach that occupancy limit you know I guess or occupancy goal what is your ultimate occupancy goal and what is the plan to get there um so the answer is yes I think it's a cycle that you know it's a broken win

do hope as well that we've had, you know, the conversations that, you know, have been referenced in terms of, uh, the, the financials. And, um, you know, I know that the comptroller's office and, you know, the sponsor of this bill have had some conversations around using that $50,000 rent payment in terms of establishing a fund for, um, you know, an emergency fund, if you will, to help with, you know, any types of situations that might arise with the building. I think that, you know, that's something that I certainly would be supportive of since the land is owned by the city and we have this,

I want to give my colleagues the opportunity to ask questions as well. But one of the other concerns that was brought up, I think Mr. Palm mentioned this in his speech, the historic integrity of the building and making sure that any future capital improvements that are made with the property are in line with the historic character of the building. I think he mentioned window units. Can you speak more to what your intention is upfront as well?

Okay. All right. That's all the questions I have for now, Madam Chair. I'll allow my other colleagues the opportunity to inquire.

Okay, thank you. Before we go to another question, I just want to touch, circle back to the comptroller's office on some things that were said, because, you know, I like to, it's not going to be for you, but don't go far. I'm sure you'll have more questions, but you know how I am. I don't like to be deflected by things that are just thrown out there. I like us to be guided by facts here. And I know under the ordinance that we're operating on now, because I don't want the perception that the clerks hadn't done what they were supposed to do, Clerk Kennedy or Clerk Rogers now, that the financial,

And I want people to understand that this was a 99-year lease. A 99-year lease. Over the 99 years, that was the $50,000 payment. So, Mackenzie, can you, again, you did state with Alderman Aldridge, but I want to make sure for the record and for media and for people that are watching to fully understand where we are with this. Have they been paying you?

Okay. And I know that Alderman Tya said that she hasn't gotten that information. Has she requested that information? We want to make sure because we guide, we do talk about transparency and we do talk about holding people accountable. And if we ask for something, we want the answer. Has she been afforded the opportunity? Has you given her that information?

Okay. Okay, well, thank you. I just wanted to make sure that we clarify that for the record. Thank you. Alderwoman Schweitzer.

Thank you Madam Chairwoman and members of the committee. I appreciate the discussion we've had today and the numerous people who've come to speak with us. It's especially moving to hear from residents and I appreciate all of the testimony. I think that has been really telling about the need for just increased scrutiny and more time to spend on this. So I appreciate the time. A lot of the questions that I had, Alderman Cohn had asked as well. I would just really like to hear more about the experience of CIG and more about what they've done. I did a little bit of research here and see numerous p

And do you have on the ground management here in St. Louis? Or are you mostly based elsewhere?

Okay. Alderman Aldridge, you said Sullivan Place Apartments is in your ward. Can you speak to any changes you've noticed since they've been involved?

Thank you. I appreciate that feedback. My last question is for the comptroller's office. Thank you. I would just be interested in hearing more from them about the type of background and scrutiny that goes into these contracts and anything that we should know about what research they do and things that they've thought of when putting this together.

Okay, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

Vice Chair Saeged. Thank you. I also just wanted to echo my, I think someone who testified earlier said, I feel like I wrote an apology and I just wanted to say that I personally do take a great responsibility. One of the reasons that I tried to as best as possible, keep my messaging about policy and about people and budgets is because I think when you stray from that and make it about something else, you open up the door and the window for people to deflect and make it about anything else, which it should have been, which is a Homer G. Phillips. So I do just want to say to the residents, you

And some of the resolutions that I've read that were filed recently, it looks like those resolutions are getting that accountability. Has the comptroller had conversations around what accountability would look like for the current property manager, or is the comptroller's findings that technically the lease was honored, so there's nothing necessarily that was wrongdoing to be held accountable for?

And do you feel like the things that are within the current lease of the proposed management company, that it provides the proper safeguards and rails necessary for conversation to happen for accountability if anything is not honored? yes absolutely okay thank you thank you um and then i would just say too i would just want to give my commitment to the public that is watching you know if there's a situation where this does not happen and there's you know i know people mentioned i paid my rent i couldn't get a receipt or just other numerous issues um you know i and i know miss roslyn who i've s

Thank you. So now if you have any comments if not we'll move to Alderman Mathias.

What this sounds like is probably just an outside conversation, and I want to make sure that my colleagues, Stan Germain to Board Bill 80, as amended, get all of their questions answered as we move towards a vote here. And I know the comptroller's office has to leave, so colleagues online or colleagues, if you have any questions.

Now, this is really, there's a lot of things that we've been giving grace for.

I don't want to tie this respectfully. I do not want to put Ms. Williams in that position here. I have to respect who she is and where she is and her position and her committee. She did not come here for that. You came here and gave her.

But this is not about how I feel about somebody saying something to you. This is about board bill as amended.

Ms. Williams, you don't have to respond to that.

With that, I'll accept a motion for Board Bill 80 as amended in committee. So moved. Second. It was moved by Alderman Clark Hubbard, seconded by Vice Chair Sonnier that we move Board Bill 80 as amended with a dual pass recommendation. Out of the HUD's committee, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

We have six aye votes. All right. With that, we successfully passed our board bill 80 as amended in committee with a do pass recommendation.

Acknowledgement of any written testimony? We have one written testimony from Equal Point Properties. Any announcements other than that it is National Night Out? We already heard about the one that's going on tonight at Homer G. Phillips. Are there any others? OK. All members are present, so we don't have to excuse anyone. So I'll take a motion to adjourn. Moved. It was moved by Vice Chair Sonnier and seconded by Alderman Browning that we adjourn. All in favor, aye. Thank you, everyone. Have a blessed day.