City Council - Regular Meeting

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Good morning and welcome to the April 6, 2026 uh workshop of the Orlando City Council. Today we're going to be focused on housing as we are most of the time. Housing is a critical topic and remains uh something that the city of Orlando is committed to ensuring that every person regardless of economic status um has access to safe, highquality and affordable housing. We are committed to working with our regional partners on solutions to homelessness, more affordable housing um with a services first approach and we're committed to in investing in our community. So uh everybody remember CO the only good thing that came out of CO was the American Rescue Plan or ARPA and city of Orlando received $58 million through ARPA and we did an interesting thing. We used it to fund some essential government services and we were able to use the revenue replacement category to then use the $58 million we' used for that to invest in Accelerate Orlando. So we took the entirety of the $58 million in essence from ARPA to use for homeless initiatives and affordable housing initiatives. And today we're going to have a report on that and other activities of the housing department. So I want to call on our director Orin J. Henry. What's the J for Hen or

John? John. Yeah. Orin John Henry. Yes, sir. Thank you. Okay. Uh well, good morning uh mayor and commissioners and uh I just want to mention all of our partners here with the other agencies that we work closely with and uh the guests here today. Uh I'm uh here to introduce uh Jessica Fry who's our uh housing initiatives manager who will go over the report with all of you and then we're available for questions. So Jessica, welcome Jessica. Thank you.

Okay.

Well, good morning. Thank you Orin and thank you mayor and commissioners. Today I want to update you on the progress of the Accelerate Orlando program. So when this funding source was provided, it was during a turbulent time in the city, but not just the city, the world. There was a global pandemic and things were very unpredictable. As the mayor already mentioned, we were able to tap into this once in a generation funding source and gave us the opportunity to accelerate Orlando's priorities. Once the funtime one-time funding source was established, Mayor Dyer outlined the parameters of what projects should look to achieve. Deliver long-term impact to support those hit hardest by the pandemic, foster an equitable and resilient recovery, produce measurable results, and then consider the ongoing operational and funding impacts beyond the initial investment. So with guidance provided, priorities were established which include homelessness, affordable housing, food security, broadband access, economic opportunity, and community violence intervention. Issues notably exacerbated by the pandemic. The housing and community development department in consultation with the mayor's office focused on identifying projects regarding homelessness and housing, but not to just add more beds and build additional units to really start to look over the homeless care system as it functions and start aligning our goals with the system in order to better support outcomes. So, this is how it was broken down. The largest percentage of the funding was allocated to affordable housing and homelessness which will be the focus of my presentation today.

Fear not, we do have staff here representing the other investments should you have any questions after this presentation. I do want to mention the last line item. The affordable housing and homelessness projects are complicated. They require diligent legal analysis, ongoing project management, compliance, and then ongoing monitoring. Additionally, the city uh brought on a owner's representative to help during construction. AECOM as our owner's rep has been instrumental in assisting in getting our partners set up for success from permitting to construction to invoice reimbursement. This line item also provides some small reserves for projects in case something happens. Unfortunately, given the instability in construction over the last five years, it was wise to reserve some funding and contingency funding so that we can get our targeted projects over the finish line. So on this slide, we want to highlight our investments. As a result of Accelerate Orlando, we are leveraging over $200 million in investments to our community. And just to note, this does not include the ongoing investments that our homeless care and affordable housing providers will have be putting into the community as they manage these projects over the next coming decades. So, here are the locations of the AO projects. I do want to note because it might be a little confusing that the red box highlights the area of the city-owned lots that are scattered throughout the Paramore and Holden Heights neighborhood. As of right now, that particular project's on hold. But next, we will discuss the other projects highlighted on this map. So, we're going to start with our housing projects.

Palm Gardens, once the blighted Ambassador Hotel, now with the help of Accelerate Orlando and one-stop Housing, the hotel has been converted into 150 units. 149 of those are affordable with one unit dedicated to an on-site property manager. 15 of the units are dedicated to 30% of area median income and permanent supportive housing. Palm Gardens provides on-site security. Each unit includes a new kitchen with full stove and refrigerator and cabinets, inclusive utilities, and ongoing support from OneTop's nonprofit, OneTop Cares. So, we have some action shots. The property was in great disrepair, but still functioning as a hotel. Unfortunately, as we all know all too well in Central Florida, hotels like this are often the only housing option for folks. So, so with that in mind and recognizing that some of the inhabitants were just there by circumstance, staff and the one-stop housing team figured out an option to split the project up into two phases in hopes to retain some of the existing residents. This also helped to keep eyes on the site during construction of phase one. Once phase one was completed, the residents were able to move into the newly renovated units. As you can see in the progression of these images, this was a massive undertaking. The units were completely gutted and upgraded. Here are the final results of that work. We did want to highlight in addition Kushman and Wakefield and Onetop Cares surprised some of the residents with moveinready fully furnished apartments. There were two grand openings, one for

each phase. We had many partners that were a part of this journey. Onetop Housing, OneTop Cares, Orange County Public Schools, Senovas Bank, and Kushman and Wakefield. They all came together to bring stability to 150 households. Phase one grand opening was May of May 30th of 2024. Phase two was in May of 2025. And although the goal was to provide housing and stability for residents, that is not the only benefit to the community as a result of this investment. With fully operational, maintain and secure site, crime at this location has gone down significantly. So since the conversion incidents went from 400 to under 100, all crime went down from 46 to 9 and drug violations went down to zero. You guys,

thank you Kathy D. All right, the next project, the future affordable housing development called Residents at Blossom Trail. This project started as a site acquisition that includes four properties located east of Orange Blossom Trail, south of West Jefferson Street, and north of Pulk Street. This site is near an existing city investment known as Heroes Commons. When this site became available for sale, staff was concerned about the potential future development of this site based on previous uses and zoning of the property. It was determined by staff that maybe city intervention was a good idea. Three out of four of the properties were purchased in July of 2022. The fourth property was purchased in June of 2024. This last parcel kind of helped square up the development site to make it a little bit easier to develop. The site was already under remediation for groundwater petroleum contamination, which is common for sites that were previously autocentric uses. The city's decisive efforts to accelerate cleaning this site up for redevelopment included hiring a consultant to finish the cleanup and remove the debris on the site. You can see on the screen the action shots of that work. So, while prep was occurring, in September of 2024, staff put out a solicitation for redevelopment of the site into affordable housing, something that would embody what the OBT Next plan envisioned for the Orange Blossom Trail. Responses were due back in October of 2024, and recommendations from the selection advisory committee came to city council in January of 2025. New York was awarded that development. The project proposes 140 units, of which 10 of them are dedicated to permanent supportive housing at 30% of area median

income. The image on the screen shows the proposed example renderings of what the site could look like after development. The property's disposition agreement with New Rock for the site went to city council December of 2025. The developer is currently in their due diligence period and also working with staff to submit their land development approvals. The developer is also looking into various funding options to support the construction financing of the project. Want to provide context to the site. So the first image is from 2012. As you can see, there was no movement vacant sitting there with no investment. Over the years, it remained that way until our intervention. 2025 is what the site looks like right now pending the redevelopment. It's cleared and ready for redevelopment. You can see in the 2025 aerial some of the homes that make us up Heroes Commons. Heroes Commons was finished in 2018 by the Orlando Regional Realtors Foundation to provide home ownership to six veterans and their families. We anticipate final finalizing the site prep by the fall following with financing and land development approvals within the next year. This map shows the site's location and proximity to local amenities. To the north of the site is the packing district redevelopment. To the west is Camping World Stadium. To the northeast is Creative Village, which includes UCF Downtown and Valencia College downtown. Also in the northeast is OCPS's Academic Center for Excellence K through8 school. The next housing project we're going to update you on is the Orange Center Boulevard redevelopment.

As you're aware, phase one is currently on hold. Our existing restrictive covenant on the property will require that 12 of the units once developed shall be dedicated to those at or below 80% of area median income. What I want to talk about is phase two. This is a property located at the corner of South Tampa Avenue and Orange Center Boulevard. We are working with Lyft Orlando to provide a residential senior development which will be known as Villas of Clear Lake. The development will include at least 10% of the units to those at or below 30% of AMI and dedicated to permanent supportive housing. Additionally, they have committed to providing another 10% of those units to 50% of a area median income. The remainder will be dedicated to those at or below 80% of area median income. Lyft provided the proposal and we have an agreement with them for the disposition of the property which was approved by city council in November of 2025. They are currently in their due diligence period and we anticipate they will have their financing and land development approvals finalized over the next year or so. The next AO investment allocation is our housing repair. This funding is an extension of our housing rehabilitation program which assists homeowners with needed repairs to help them safely stay in their home and preserve their current housing stock. To date, we have provided 23 new roofs. For some residents, a new roof may mean the difference as to whether they can obtain homeowners homeowners insurance. and having homeowners insurance that may allow them to qualify for additional funds from the city for more extensive home rehabilitation. So moving into um next we will be

discussing the projects that support experiencing home the those projects that support those experiencing homelessness. The city has established an action plan to reduce the presence of unsheltered persons by 50%. To ensure no woman or child spends the night on the streets in Orlando, and that we provide an inclusive and equitable public space management. So, the first project we will discuss that will support those experiencing homelessness is the Christian Service Center. The agreement for this project was approved December of 2023. The CRA and Accelerate Orlando provided $6.1 million to CSSE to become the city's first comprehensive day center. Using best practices seen around the country, CSC and their partner agencies are using the city's investment to modernize their site to holistically support the various complex needs of the residents experiencing homelessness. Their 20-year commitment ensures ongoing critical and complete assistance to clientele starting in the fresh start building and moving around the campus to meet all the needs of a family or individual. From showers to laundry to medical evaluation and pharmacy services to housing and job placement, CSC has provided assistance to our community members for decades. This investment helps them accelerate their plans to be that robust front door. The first stop for those experiencing crisis on their path to civility and uh self-sufficiency. We are also supporting the project through our community development block grant program and we anticipate the entire project to be completed by October of this year. The expectations behind these new renovated walls is that they anticipate

serving 350 unique individuals per day and about 3,000 individuals per year. There are not enough slides to show you all the action shots from the this renovation. It's quite robust. You can get out there. I'd encourage you to. All right. So, we'll go. All right. Next, we're going to talk about the 407 Connect program operated by the Christian Service Center. Two former charter buses were converted into 21 sleeping pods. Each bus cost about $175,000 and are accessible to those uh with disabilities. They have a bathroom and they provide uh outlets for charging. Currently, both buses are in operation assisting approximately 27 people. The CRA provided three years of operating costs for these buses. This includes case management and housing assistance with approximately a third of those funds allocated towards moving costs, rental assistance, and reunification. To date, this program has resulted in 44 people being housed. It is our hope that this mobile option may appeal to some of our other Central Florida neighbors to help those experiencing homelessness in their community. Next, we're going to talk about the Pathways Dropin Center, which is located on 131330th Street in Orange County, just down the street from the city. Their mission is to support those experiencing homelessness that have been diagnosed with a mental illness. This expansion is to provide a safe and appropriate space to serve up to a 100 clients. In addition, this investment helps diversify where day services are offered and the county provides this project with ongoing operational funding. The agreement went to council in August of 2024 and then from there, Pathways began their work on their construction plan set and getting their contractor on

board. The project is currently under construction and the groundbreaking was held on January 22nd of this year. You can see the progression. They currently demolish the old building in the images. And then as a result, Yeah. And then as a result of this expansion, they will be able to serve additional persons per day and have an annual goal to assist around 200 unduplicated persons. Also, they will conduct outreach into the city, specifically downtown. Next, we'll talk about the Salvation Army. In partnership with Orange County and Advent Health, the city is working with the Salvation Army to rehabilitate the existing men's shelter in order to preserve the critical operations this facility provides to the community. In addition, we have set aside funds to assist with client placement during construction to avoid disruptions of this service. We are moving towards working on an agreement and anticipate coming out later this summer for your consideration. Next is the homeless services network. HSN is our lead agency in our continuum of care. The agreement was approved in August of 2023 with a brief extension in 2025. We provided funding to improve their overall business processes and update HSN's business model. We also wanted them to contract with a development consultant and to hire a development director who could better support HSN's ongoing fiscal needs and to increase strategies to increase funding to the entire homeless response system. This was also to assist in upgrades to their office along with IT and other cyber security expansions. A portion of these funds, about $166,000,

was used to support the development of our region's youth plan to end homelessness. This investment will leverage $1.6 million in additional HUD funding over the next 10 years to further the plan's goals. I did want to note that it says the project is in process, but they did uh fully expend this funding. All right. So, last but certainly not least, now I present you the new proposed corner for Paramore and AIE. This is a state-of-the-art building curated to internally support families and women while externally complementing the neighborhood. While we have not brought the funding agreement for your consideration, the city has long publicly committed 10 million towards the modernization. Our 10 million commitment was a catalyst for other funding, including three million from the federal government thanks to Congressman Frost, 15 million from Orange County's community development block grant disaster recovery funds, along with 3.25 million from their CDBG funds, then many other private and philanthropic commitments, also leveraging for new market tax credits. In addition, the city provided the land for the facility as part of a land swap with the coalition in 2023 in exchange for their property on West Central Boulevard. The new development will provide better accommodations for all types of families in various stages of recovery. Here are some of the renderings in the site plan showcasing the plan for the new facility. As of now, they received their land development approvals and are in permitting. We are hoping to have an agreement to bring for your consideration later this year.

And so, in summary, as Orlando continues to grow, Accelerate Orlando has infused our community with needed investment to tap tackle some of the city's toughest challenges. Of course, we cannot do this alone. Each partnership, every dollar, every successful placement provided service helps stabilize and support our citizens and our community at large. This concludes my presentation and I along with city staff members are available for questions. I thank you for your time.

Thank you, Jessica. That was a great update and good use of the ARPA funding. Questions or comments? Commissioner Ortiz and Commissioner Sheen. Thank you, Jessica. Great presentation. I just got a quick question. Back when uh when we were dealing with the Palm Gardens and residents at Blossom Trail, what was the AMI? Do we do the AMI for the whole city of Orlando? We do we do it just um for the location where this is I mean how we calculate the AMI and then what was the AMI for these two buildings at the time? So there the MSA is what determines the AMI. So it's not by neighborhood, it's by our three communities, you know, KMI, Samford, and Orlando.

Okay. The AMIs are established based off of what they're providing. And a lot of times with the subsidy that's provided, all of the units that I've talked about today are all under 80% of area median income, which is Are you asking what the the average medium income is? Uh I don't have that off the top of my head. I think it's about uh 60 $70,000 area for 80% AMI. Oh jeez. Does that change it changes on a yearly basis too? Oh, has it gone up to 80? Yeah. Um

yeah, I was going to say area median income's around 100,000 for a family of four. So 80% uh I think uh uh because we look at this like for the homeowner program uh it's around 84,000 for a family of four like 84,300 and then um and and then you know we have 50% and 30% you know some of the different uh breakdowns that we have like for permanent supportive housing we look at 30%. Okay. That changes on a yearly basis or Yeah. In fact, uh usually in April uh we'll get an update. So, we'll see uh this past year with price increases and such. Okay.

How that might jump up. That's it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Commissioner Sheen.

Yeah, I wanted to add to that. So, if it's $100,000, so 30% it means they're getting 30 they have to make $30,000 and that's the lowest percentage. So anybody below that is are they falling through the cracks? Yes. I mean that's that's something that I you know we keep talking about AMI AMI and there's no such thing as an average median income. You know this is the problem is that we're not addressing the actual needs of people and there are a lot of people who are making much less than the than this AMA formula. Nobody's talking about it. And so I would really like to see us when we do presentations to talk about this because I think a lot of people think that these needs are being addressed when they are not. And you know I mean and as you know HUD is transitioning to these you know to this mixed income rate uh like Reese Terrace they're going to be wiping that out soon and oh we're going to do mixed rate. Well you know guess what we're already mixed we already have a mixed income. Everybody around it can afford to live there. The people in research need to have affordable housing and yet they want to figure out how to make a buck off of poor people. So this is what frustrates me is that we keep building housing for people who don't need it as much as the most needy. That's my concern. Now not nothing y'all aren't doing anything wrong. It's that the process isn't addressing the real need. and and and I think it would be good instead of just throwing out AMA, we need to put what that AMI is so people go, gee, you know what, that's awfully high. And you know, my kid, my own kids aren't even making that much money. So, I think that's part of this whole affordability crisis that we need to also um you know, say that out loud, you know, um because I think by by using these um you know, I always say get initial to death, but by using the initials, we're not they can they can say, "Oh, we're addressing the problem." When they're not, you know, in in terms and and again, nothing that you all y'all are working with in the parameters. My my problem is is that the

parameters are not set to help the poor people. That's that then, you know, that's just um my major concern. Commissioner, I'm not following what you're trying to say there. Okay. It's at or below that amount. It's at or below, but I still think the percentages need to be higher to help those most in need because it what if you look the most in need would be below be below whatever that mark is. They're not. it would be at or below the 30% of area median income. And so with the permanent support of housing part part of it where we're putting that in there, they are persons coming out of homelessness. So they're going to be well probably well below that 30%.

Okay. But I think that's what you were trying to um clear clarify, right? Well, this is the thing. Okay. So like we'll just use Palm Garden as an example. So you got 15 units at 30%, you've got 120 at 60 and 15 at 80. So that that's my point, mayor, is that you know that

we need more at 30. That that's that's my point. Um and you know I mean I'm not trying to fuss at y'all. You're having to deal with the parameters are given. I just wish that the parameters were fairer to poor people. That's all I'm saying. And I think, you know, and we we keep getting we keep getting behind in terms of the amount of housing that we and I think this is why because we're dealing in these um you know, we're dealing in uh abstractions that aren't really that people can't understand the real problem, you know, and and we're putting a lot of money into it, but I think like like a lot of folks are need nodding as as I'm looking up and down today, you know, we need to be higher at the lower at the lower percentages. So, um, and and not to fuss at y'all, again, this is just how how it's set up, but I think it needs to be set up to where it benefits more people. And I just want to thank you for your advocacy, um, you know, and I think that we need to do a better job of communicating what we do and how we do it and, um, and what we've done and also work to humanize this population. I think you all have done some really good jobs in talking about, um, some of the folks who have been who have been housed. Um, and we need to keep telling those stories. Uh y'all did a really good job on Palm Gardens talking about the the people who were who who needed that housing desperately. Um but you know, as as we saw from the the horrible fight that happened in my district um between the rich and the poor, which was awful, by the way, um and dehumanized the homeless population and made them out onto criminals and this and that. We need to tell these stories more often to where people cannot dehumanize people who need help because unfortunately in this country, that's happening a lot right now. And we need to do a better job of humanizing. Not that it's y'all's complete responsibility. It kind of is all of our responsibility, but I'd like to see more um you know done so where you know the stop you know stop shelters people don't have as much um to to we should be fighting that for on behalf of our most vulnerable population. So anyway, it's

not all your responsibility. I think that comes with communications with with all of us at the city. if we're really truly going to be committed to providing these services, we've got to tell the stories of the people that we are trying to help. But but you all are doing an excellent job. I'm not criticizing what you're doing. I'm just saying that we need to help you more and that we need to tell the story about how, you know, we need to help more people at the lowest lowest end of the of the income spectrum. Thank you, mayor. Okay, Commissioner Keane and Burns and Rose. Thank you, Mayor. uh on Palm Gardens and I'm I'm new to this so I'm just trying to understand. These are mostly these are all studios, right? Correct. So what's what's the occupancy? One or two persons or can they have a can they have a child?

It's typically one to two persons. Um there may be a small family with a baby if that's um but that's not the typical makeup. It's one to two people.

Okay. Because when I looked at the the metrics or how much we're spending per unit, it seemed like that was the best use of dollars. it was only a little over 107,000 per unit as opposed to some of the others which were north of 300,000 per unit. So to me that that seems like one of the best uh conversions that there is. Hopefully there's some more of those out there that we could potentially get in the future. Um and then at um at Orange Center Boulevard, again being new, why are these town homes on hold? That is a very long story right now. Yeah.

The guy that used to sit sit right where you sat questioned why we worked with a particular developer that we did and perhaps he was right. Okay. Gotcha. All right. Thank you. That's the bridge version. Yeah.

Commissioner pandmic the wild times.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, May. and Jessica, great job. Thank you for the presentation. But I I want to go back to something that um Commissioner Sheen mentioned. Uh and I agree 100%. Um and I think we as the city when we when we are uh supporting these developments, we need to push for more a higher percentage at the lower AMI. And I I give you an example in my in my district right now. There's a um a senior development that's coming up almost finished. I was I'm 100% supportive of it. Uh and we start looking at the 30% versus the 60% AMI. I think it's 92 units. Unfortunately, only 14 of those units are at 30%. Right now, 30% may be about $640 a month for that they would have to pay for rent. The other units are at 60%. Which then moves their rent up to about a little over $1,000. All right. And so my my and I've talked to Max um uh Congressman Frost's office about this because one of the issues we have with the AMI, if we're looking at seniors, there's no senior AMI.

All right? So seniors on a fixed income, you can't really compare their AMI with someone who's, you know, 40 years old in the in the middle of their career. So I think with us understanding those limitations, we as a uh as a council need to be more aggressive in uh and encouraging more units at that lower AMI because I think if we don't, we have developers that will, you know, give us 15 units or 14 units when we need the majority of those, especially when we're talking about seniors at that lower AMI. Uh, and so I think that's one of the things, you know, we can only do so much at this level, but when we're putting money in these projects, I think we can influence that. And I think we have to influence what we can while we advocate at the higher levels to to get some change. So, I'm really pushing for AMI for seniors. I don't know if that's even possible, but we have to look at uh look at things like that. So, uh, not back to the uh to the pre, I had a couple of questions. Um, I think we've made some great investments. I think when we look back at those investments, um, 5 years ago, some of the environment has changed. And so my one of my questions is, are we looking at these investments or these commitments that we've made that have not moved uh, to reassess is that what we need? And I and I think I'm speaking more specifically of the investment into uh the Salvation Army men shelter uh cuz we have uh roughly I think $4 million committed to that project and as I understand there's no movement there and my question is are we going back to assess you know what we decided 5 years ago we wanted to give this money for this with the the uh landscape changing are we going back to assess. Well, you know what? Especially

when nothing has moved. Now, we don't want to make a commitment. They get mid project and we pull it. We would never we would never do that, but just some some type of assessment. I'm I'm I'm very um you know, just interested because things are changing. And so, that's my one of my questions. Are we going back to reassess those commitments that have not move forward?

I'll be happy to address or unless you want to. I I'm in the Salvation Army's budget every day. Uh and you're not wrong. We appreciate you bringing up that question. So, the Salvation Army during the pandemic was a key partner in providing the tent and helping us to appropriately space people during the pandemic. And as time went on, they did they were working to secure funding for their modernization, which was a, you know, a building expansion to kind of absorb these issues that we're facing today, right? Pandemics, things like that, more daytime on-site servicing and everything. And as they were working through that, they had leadership change and things just changed. And we've been on top of them the entire time. And we have been asking them to update their budgets. One thing that I think we need to recognize and understand is that the Salvation Army provides a critical service to the city. Those beds, those hundred beds, we can't lose them right now. And so, as their partner and as we assessed what their planning was, we determined, look, we need to get this facility up to speed. We need to make sure that these folks have dignity and that this building is conducive to holding people. So, that's what we're doing. And so as time goes on, they're going to reassess what they need on their campus, but our investment is to secure and and continue this investment so that we can secure those 100 beds and keep them there.

And and and so so so it's understood I support Salvation Army and you're correct. They provide a vital vital service. But I you know, when we have these limited resources, the question is how long will we will we hold off? And I'm not sure if they would be adding more shelter beds or was there an expansion or just a modernization because what when we look at what it what it is that we need, we need more. All right, we need more whether it's more more shelter beds, more housing, more um affordable housing. So, we need more. So, that that's that's my question. uh in reference to the Salvation Army. Also, uh of the 44 million that we committed um or that we state that we committed to homeless and housing, we've only um committed about 37 37 million of the 44 million leaving about 6 million. Do we have understand if my if my math is correct, do we have a plan for that additional 6 million? What's the discussions? Are we having discussions about what's the best use of that $6 million that had not been allocated?

So, right now we're just watching as these projects flush out, right? We understand Orange Center Boulevard. We understand residents at Blossom Trail. We're trying to get through as these projects shake out. something may come to fruition. But that's where we're at right now is that it's mostly encumbered and we're just kind of watching as these big projects move forward if there's any other movement that we have to do to make sure they get over the finish line.

Right. Cuz one one of the things also we have to while we're making decisions at this level, we have to also recognize and I know you all and and I know Orin is following this, the changes that are happening within HUD that will severely impact our continuum of care. I think in this community, uh, mayor, we've made some great investments in permanent supportive housing, the housing first where we've housed, you know, thousands of individuals over, you know, over over years, but we see there's some discussions about that whole system potentially unraveling. you know, we have the unfortunately we may be faced with 500 up to 500 individuals that we've had stably housed losing that that uh supportive housing funding. And so I think as we're moving forward, especially when we're looking at this $6 million or how we've allocated that we keep that keep that in mind because we've done a lot here in the city under the mayor's uh leadership and guidance, but for us to potentially lose 500 permanently housed individuals and then they go into the uh back into the homeless status I think will be a we will take a step back. Now I'm not saying that those that has been um solidified but there things are changing. We are not going to have the permanent support of housing funding that we need. So I I think with with at the council we funded things previously how you know things were. Now I think we need to step back to say okay what should we be funding now understanding the changes that are happening at the federal level or the changes that HSN you know are experienced. So we I think we have to really say what's our current role right now. All right. And not just say we've always done this so we going to keep doing this but what is our current role as the city understanding that these that these things are are changing. So th those are um uh my main

points, but I I do want to give the entire housing department kudos uh cuz you all uh do great work. I every time I meet with you all, I'm educated on on some things. But I do appreciate you listening to me and and and us having that dialogue. But I think we have to continue having those discussions to really see what can we control and how do we influence what needs to happen for our people experiencing homelessness in our community. All right, that's all. Mayor, thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Rose.

Uh, thank you, uh, Jessica Orin and the entire housing team. So, I have a couple of questions. When we do incentives for affordable housing, do we have a policy on financial literacy? And how often are we checking that? So, are we requiring tenants who live somewhere to make sure that they're getting themselves better? Because, and so, while I agree, you all don't live um where affordable housing is. It's literally in my front yard. And so I get the complaints of rent going up drastically and dramatically and people are not keeping up. I get the and I I'm going to this is going to go to my second question. So I guess I'm going to stop there. Do we have any policy in place that requires financial literacy for any affordable housing dollars that we're getting to make sure that a person who comes in 30 who moves in at 30% can grow into the 50% the 80% etc. until they're out of poverty? Okay. I'd like for us to consider one moving forward because I get the calls probably daily about not being able to afford their rent as the rent increase goes up.

Yeah. And I do want to mention that we do work with partners that we do hope that they do continue that ongoing. But you want a formalized policy is what you're asking for.

We can't live on hope. We can't we can't say that we hope that they're doing the best thing. If we're giving our dollars, we need to mandate. You need to be doing some sort of financial literacy. We as a city, we pour into a lot of these organizations. There's a lot of groups that do financial literacy. If we're going to truly get people out of poverty, it has to be something that's mandated. We can't assume that they're going to do it. The federal government has made it mandatory. If you're getting certain assistance, you got to do certain things. Whether you're looking for work or you or you're doing community service, we need to be doing the same thing as a city so that we're getting people and helping people because if we say here's a unit, right? We're getting you out of home. I mean, Commissioner Burns just mentioned that people are going to be coming out of permanent support potentially. If we're not in the space of helping them to become more financially stable, then all we're doing is giving them a hand out. We're not doing a hand up.

I do want to mention that the permanent support of housing units specifically do have ongoing case management. So, they will that's the whole idea is that we know that this works. housing first works and them being able to have that ongoing case management, but if you're talking about somebody at 60% or 80%, we don't typically monitor that. We do have monitors that do monitor the facilities and we do try to have them work with their tenants, but yeah, there there's not a formalized one that we are necessarily monitoring their ongoing, you know, financial options. Now, again, Palm Gardens has one-stop cares. We try to work with folks, especially if there's a home ownership product that we're working with folks that do have that, you know, first the initial uh certificate that they need to get like down payment assistance and stuff like that and then them being successful and that the organization that put them there is also following that along. And there's usually uh less attrition in those kinds of products for for sale products. But I understand where you're coming from is that things are getting very tight. Is there some way to better support that? Yep. Thank you.

So I like to look at that policy. So the second you mentioned you provided crime statistics for one specific development. I would like for the last five years of housing of affordable housing dollars that we've given. I'd like for us to do the same crime statistics data and I would like for us to figure out collectively with OPD how do we collectively work to bring the crime down. This data looks great for one complex but it does not look the same for all the other complexes in the community. And the data will show that we had to have to collectively come up with solutions that create safer communities, not just a dumping hole for people to come and live. But how do we provide how do we because we continue to provide great buildings. And I would implore you go to visit some of the buildings that we've put financial assistance in. They don't look like brand new buildings anymore. How do we put policies in place that preserve the dollars that we spend but preserve the communities that that these buildings are being placed in? There are people who I get calls consistently, they don't feel safe in these affordable housing complexes that we're funding. So, I would like for us to look at the last five years of pro um of projects, developments that we have funded, and I'd like for us to compare crime statistics and let's come up with um real wholehearted true solutions on crime prevention and how we create safer communities. Thank you,

Commissioner Chap. And then Commissioner Ortiz.

Thank you. Uh, I would like to uh applaud the department and appreciate this um great presentation. Um, I would also like to thank the mayor and the city council prior to my joining that you decided to use these funds for a a critical probably the most critical need in our community. Um, I'm I certainly uh appreciate the discussion on AMI. I appreciate um the financial prudence you're putting into this plan withholding back some funds and as as fast as as things are moving with inflation and cost of goods that that we are making commitments that we know we can keep. Um I hope that we are uh to Commissioner Keane's point always focusing on uh bang for our buck in terms of units cost per units. Um, so I think that needs to be clear when we're going through RFP processes that that's got to be the the top of the list in terms of how uh those things are scored. And I don't need the answer today, but I would just be curious what some of the other communities around our country use some of these funds for. Uh, because I think we certainly picked uh the area that was is is probably the most critical and most important. So, thank you,

Commissioner Ortiz and Commissioner Sheen.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I would like for our staff to at some point, maybe we need to have a workshop so you guys can explain to us. Um, not only the process, but also the other elements that are involved on on these developments that we do. when a when a developer comes here and they try to do an affordable uh housing project, it's not only the city cooperating in a sense of housing fund which we had to create funding housing funding uh for the city of of Orlando because of the lack of the Saddoski fund coming to our city and al Orange County had to do the same thing. But most people don't understand that there's a whole procedure here. It takes from Saddoski funds, CDBGs, it takes low-inccome housing tax credits, all these elements that play a role on this in order for some for a project to convey to have the uh ability of uh allow for whatever percentages are. We would love to see all these percentages to be as low as possible so people kind of but there's some u some restrictions that we have based on the funding that these developers can get from the different levels of government. So I think we need a workshop just to explain like you guys explained to me at one point you know took me by the hand and I think we need a workshop to explain each one of the levels in order for people to understand better the challenge that we confront here and but the challenge is not mainly ours. is more so in in what we are able to obtain from the federal government and the state government which right now are totally against this. I just heard that CDBGs are at risk right now. We we possibly be uh losing some of that because of the present administration we have is is looking in a different direction. Plus what's happening in Tallahassee in terms of how this Sadduski fund the sale and the ship money is being utilized, you know. So so all these different things we need to I think we need to discuss.

So for people and and our public to understand the challenges as a city see on a daily basis. That's what I have. Thank you, Commissioner Sheen. I I just have a quick followup. Um after Commissioner Burns spoke, I thought, you know, we can get a senior senior AMI. You would think based on the social security average. So if we could get that senior done off the social security average instead of the AMI, which rent increases as AMI increases. I know my mom kept complaining about her rent keep continually going up

because she because again she moved over near Hannibal Square. It was a low-income area as it gentrified the AMI went up and her rent increased. So if we could get it based on the social security averages as opposed to the AMI for seniors that would really help seniors. So boom. Yeah. Because you were talking I thought that would be a good thing for us to work with Congressman Frost on. Thank you mayor. I agree. Thank you. Thank you. great presentation and to Commissioner Chapen's point, ARPA funding had great flexibility

in it. Um, and other cities, not so much in Florida, but cities around the country, their operational budgets were impacted significantly during CO if you're weren't um if you were relying more on sales tax than on property tax, which by the way is a good reason not to be tampering with property tax. But we didn't have to supplement our operational budget. A lot of cities did have to supplement their operational budgets. And then there were some other interesting uses that were made of ARPA funding. Take a look at the inventory and you'll see that I think we were pretty wise in where we used it. So, thank you for that great report and our workshop will stand adjourned. Heat. Heat.