Regional Affordability Committee Meeting Transcript – 05/15/2017 Title: ATXN 24/7 Recording Channel: 6 - ATXN Recorded On: 5/15/2017 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 5/15/2017 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== [3:11:01 PM] >> Garza: All right. Good afternoon. My name is Delia Garza. I am the chair of the regional affordability committee. We are at city hall and the time is 3:10. We have a quorum so I'm calling this meeting to order. The first item is approve the minutes of the regional affordability committee meeting of March 20th. Can I entertain a motion to approve the minutes? Is there a second? All those in favor of approving the minutes say aye? That's a 7-7 -- seven yays, so that passes. The next is citizens communication. Are there any speakers? I should say it is a pretty short agenda and I think we should be out of here within, say, 45 minutes. It's mostly a bunch of housekeeping matters. The staff briefing number 3 unfortunately our staff is not ready to give that to us today, so that's part of the reason why it's a little more abbreviated. So we're going to move from 3:00 to 4:00, which is discussion and possible action on the election of a chair and vice-chair. Unfortunately many of you aware that trustee Saldana is no longer trustee Saldana, so we will need someone to fill that spot. So in addition to somebody nominating, if anybody would like a different hey, feel free to come -- a different chair, feel free to nominate. So I'll open up a nomination for chair and vice-chair, or however anyone would like to do that. >> [Inaudible - no mic]. >> Garza: Is anyone interested in nominating themselves for chair or vice-chair? I would be happy to continue serving in this capacity just in case anyone is wondering. [3:13:03 PM] >> I'll make a motion for you to continue as chair and to nominate Charles Chadwell of Round Rock as vice-chair. >> Garza: All right. All those in favor raise your hand? Commissioner Shea made the motion for myself and vice-chair Chadwell. And that passes unanimously. The second is on local and interlocal efforts to improve affordability in central Texas. This is part of the discussion we had in our last meeting that had fair concerns from the community that what exactly all the government entities were doing in regards to that. And we talked about going out and trying to get a list together of the different ways. There are so many different ways that we as entities can address affordability. So this is just -- I know we have these meetings kind of separate. They're not monthly, but just as partially a reminder to please go back to your entities or whatever staff liaison and ask so we can start building that inventory. Today we have a presentation from Rebecca giello who is from the housing department and talk about efforts from the city right now. And again this is just a small portion and I hope as it always is, a lively discussion about how we can -- continue and try to make Austin more affordable for those that are struggling the most to stay in Austin. So if there are no questions right now, I'll hand it over to miss giello. [3:15:08 PM] >> It is always just a real pleasure to get in front of and visit with a group that represents so many disciplines and sectors also of the community. And one thing that I would love to do is take an opportunity to tell but a few initiatives following some real specific information that I have and then continuing to be open to hearing your feedback about some pathways forward that will be important. Around I think also to have some opportunity to expand a regional influence in the work that the city of Austin is doing. So wear with me as I kind of walk you through a real specific things I'd like for you to know about some of the specific opportunities we have to partner with aid. Although I can't go into detail, I want to it let you know some things are underway. And there are a few things that the Austin city council has recently taken action on that I think just really opens up more of a regional conversation as well. So some of you are aware that the city manager has recently been directed to do two different things. There has been a very focused effort to work with the Austin independent school district to ascertain whether some partnerships may exist and very specific procurement activities that are underway through aid. The city of Austin was very fortunate to work with an interdisciplinary team with the city of Austin to put in a very specific proposal related to that. And we are awaiting information from aisd to know whether we are going to be successful in partnering with very specific areas. In that work I want to say any time we get what I kind of call a big homework assignment it always offers an opportunity to take a look at how we work differently and who we pull together as just a real cull anyone nation of talent to address some of the policy directives and administrative directors. [3:17:17 PM] And -- administrative directives. And that has been very successful in the particular work that we have done with aid. And what I mean by that is neighborhood housing and community development has had the opportunity to work with our economic development folks as well as our finance folks, individuals that we don't even get to work on disciplinary teams with all the time just because we're often times just siloed in the work that we're trying to get done. So we have created what I would consider a very talented and high-performing team internally and we believe that there is opportunities to really mirror that across the agencies with capital metro as well as aid, the state of Texas. So I think we're talking internally about how do we replicate that what we've done on an interdepartmental level across the breath of agencies represented here at this table. So again, our staff met with aid around mid March to discuss the proposal and we continue to await that information and look forward to bringing you all more information once we have it about the potential of success on that submission. The other thing we're doing and, again, as councilmember Garza had indicated, I'm not at a point where I can provide all the information to this group, but I would think this is an excellent forum to bring to you all once we introduce it to the Austin city council is the work that we've done in our planning provision to pull together a fairly comprehensive list with our real estate division of about 25 parcels that the city of Austin owns to take a look at feasibility in developing those tracks for affordable housing and in other community interests. And may some of you remember this is a resolution that we were directed to take a look at, and to look at some metrics to determine really what parcels floated to the highest and best use for particular purposes. [3:19:32 PM] And some of the things that we were to take a look at is distance from high frequency and real transit stops. Our opportunity mapping metrics, job proximity index, job activity corridor, park deficiencies, certainly assigned public elementary schools and other city priorities. Inclusive of lot sizes, floodplain, distance to nearby amenities. I'm happy to say that we are very close to releasing our report to the Austin city council. We believe that we have several different tracts that may not have come up in conversations along the way that really doing a drill down analysis with the office of real estate services is something that we will release information comprehensively as well as really release what is financially feasible now. And in terms of all of the other legal feasibilities and financial feasibilities what we would recommend as being our top three priorities. So we have just that last little piece do with our finance department and our real estate department. The other thing we're highly cognizant of is all of the master planning for facilities that's being done so we want to be sure our conversations align with that work. And we'll be ready to release that information but given the opportunity to visit with you all, I want to make you aware of some opportunities that I would love to -- should this body want to have more conversation about, I would love to bring back more pointed conversation about it. The city of Austin, because we are a recipient of hud funds, we are responsible for about every three to five years, taking a look at housing implications related to our policies. And the fair housing assessment now -- it used to be called the fair housing impediment study, is actually that. [3:21:34 PM] It's an assessment and it's often done throughout the community. So this work has sectors and segments that involve aid, it involves often times Travis county, the city, and it's really taking a look at impediments to fair housing in a community. So as you can imagine, often times the third-party consultant, because that's what we would typically want, is we would want a consultant to come in and I kind of call it grading our own homework, often times a community passes policies and it's an interesting perspective to get that third-party brokered look at whether there's impediments or not. They will flag, for example, equity concerns that often times are related to education where the city of Austin and aid have a potential to partner, but it isn't necessarily something that would fall squarely on the plate of the city. So because we are a participating jurisdiction and that means we get hud funding and the entitle meant grants and some of your communities do, we are responsible for ensuring that the study is done. And right now we are looking at a regional assessment to fair housing that would embrace far more than just the city of Austin. To do that we actually have to ask hud for permission and we believe obviously hud would grant that permission. They're actually really encouraging participating jurisdictions to be more collaborative with other agencies within their community that can impact fair housing. And that can be an excellent opportunity to work with you all and we would absolutely want to embrace you in that work. We anticipate bringing in interlocal agreement to council in the next coming few months and what that will require is going out and working with the other entities to ensure that the boards, for example, the commissioners' court, is interested in partnering with that work. [3:23:40 PM] And so to ensure that you are aware of that conversation before we go in front of your bodies will be very important for us and this is a forum that we would like to engage you with more so in that. The other thing is our website on affordability accomplishments. This is something that's actually being spearheaded so I want to be very careful to stay in my wheelhouse and particular expertise in this issue. But one of the things the city auditor is doing is looking at the various things that impact fair housing in Austin. Obviously the fair housing community development office is engaged in that work so what's happening is just a breadth of programs and initiatives are being compiled so that there can be an inventory that resides online. A as you can imagine if you are in need of affordable or being I am -- of affordable housing or being impacted by affordability issues to have one place to go and recognize all of the resources and just really information because sometimes it's not resources, but it's initiatives underway to address it, is a very helpful thing. And I think that should this particular body want to take a look at what can be done collaboratively across agencies, I think that work offers potentially a scaled example of what could be done across different agencies. And then the next and really important thing I would want you all to know is -- >> Garza: Ms. Giello, can we get a question real quick? >> [Inaudible - no mic]. >> Absolutely. I would love for this to be more of a conversation. >> What you would love to see is an investment, an asset map of kind of what lies between 183, which is becoming the new I-35. It's becoming the new east-west boundary. [3:25:41 PM] 290, 71, and then 95 to access housing, stock affordability, stock huge. How many rooftops are there, how many commercial rooftops are there as well. Because sometimes we have people who will make affordable housing proposals and they're told because we have too much low income housing here, we don't want new facilities, which might provide better stock and better opportunities. And what I'd like to really see is do we know everything that's out there and what's available to those families. And that area I also perceive to be a transportation desert lies outside -- most of it lies outside the cap metro service area. So our interest is in precinct 1 certainly, to understand who's responsibility it is to help cap metro do their title 6 assessment, whose responsibility is it to tell them what's being built out there, what's being permitted out there, what has the delta been over the last five to 10 years. How do we do that as a city and a county and a metropolitan transit authority working together. And then what are sustainability factors that we should be looking at out there? What type of childcare is available, what type of zero to five programs, what type of after school programs and recreation programs? Because we don't have enough programs for all of the kids who are low to moderate income kids are being pushed out in that direction. So how do we look at that area and how do we identify the asset map of what's on the ground versus what needs to be out there for us to get successful outcomes. [3:27:44 PM] >> Garza: I'll just jump in here for a second. That is absolutely necessary and a great idea, but that might go beyond the scope of what the affordability inventory was, which was to determine measures that have been taken to try to address affordability. And that could range from Travis county has a 20% homestead exemption. There are arguments that that helps affordability. I'm sure I don't know half of the programs that Travis county does, but this was more of a -- this came from a concern that happened at our council that there wasn't a one-stop shop for what is the city doing for affordability because it is such a big topic. So I just wanted to provide that context for -- >> I understand. Maybe there are things we need to partner with as well from the county, but the idea is how do we work together and identify what you all are doing out there, what we're doing out there and how we can work together and co-locate things where it's practical and where it makes -- where it will take a difference. But the main thing is to begin the conversation about what is out there. And what needs to be out there. >> Garza: Absolutely. And that was the mission behind the creation of this committee was that exact -- that is our goal and our mission is to so we're not duplicating efforts. That's why Ms. Giello was talking about the partnership with aisd right now and how we're trying to Tom together as the different entities to -- I'll put it out there. This is what we're all doing and see where we can join forces, so to speak. >> I am -- I want to just follow up by saying I'm intrigued actually that there may be opportunities, not everything that you said could be potentially a part of an interlocal agreement scope of work related to fair housing. [3:29:53 PM] Asset mapping can be a fairly -- it's a very finite scope of work that we would need around that and we would have to see if there was some synergy around a fair housing initiative around that and scope it appropriately, but this conversation is making me realize there's some exploratory work that we can do on the front end with the right parties of each agency that wants to be involved in that interlocal and see where there's a need that the governing entity is having to see if it's an appropriate place in the fair housing scope. Those studies are very broad. We know that the city proper will have the bumming of that and -- bulk of that. And we want to have the right conversations across the city to know who would be interesting in doing that, what would the body of work look like, and most importantly, what would the financial contribution of each of the entities be to deliver something helpful to each of those. So it's actually a broad exploration that we're doing right now to see if some work that you just said could potentially be a scope of work. >> Kitchen: Yes. And I wanted to add in, we had a meeting on Friday with our equity office and with Dr. Mueller and others from UT about the component of our resolution that was a follow-up from the housing blueprint on the atlas, which I think -- which was also a follow-up to some conversations we had around here about the geographic mapping and and equity mapping and atlas or whatever you want to call it. So I know there are some efforts going on in that department too that involves -- that really makes sense to be a regional effort that maybe perhaps an Ila will be of interest in. [3:32:01 PM] And that has to do with actually creating a centralized resource that people can use that is a mapping exercise. We were talking specifically about the housing components of it in Friday's meeting, but there's more than housing involved obviously in terms of the things that you would want to map. So I don't know if -- were you aware of that meeting on Friday? >> Yes. Erica is our segue into that. >> Was she there? >> She was either there or knew a lot of details and brought it home. [Laughter]. I would think she was there. >> Kitchen: I was there for part of it. I just wanted to make sure that that connection was made. >> Yes, ma'am. And it is something that I don't want it to get too far away from me because I think those are some new initiatives. I think what's so important is to look for initiatives where this becomes a space that's very intuitive for us to bring the information back, which segues beautifully into the next point on what we're doing with the Austin strategic blueprint. So for those of you who aren't following that as closely as certainly we are this is really the first ever Austin 10-year strategic plan that will guide policy and test in how we guide policy investment and housing policy in order to achieve some very specific goals laid out in the plan and some very specific numeric goals. And in that the interdepartmental team has been formed and will be cultivated in order to get to an implementation plan. Part of the first work we have to do is design an implementation plan that addresses many of the deliverables which we believe will have interagency implication. So we'll spend quite a bit of time in designing the implementation plan so that it is truly a very vivid and specific opportunity to determine when to come to groups like the joint committee. [3:34:06 PM] And this group is so important because it has the transportation expertise and inlet to it. So I think that it's going behoove us to keep your department informed should you continue as chair, and that sounds like that will be an appropriate role to utilize so that we can really speak to opportunities where we can interact with you all on the implementation plan of some of the work that we'll be doing there. So I would like to talk to you about when that would be helpful. >> This may or may not be kind of on your horizon, but the county is in the process of guesting comments back on our proposed pid policy with regard to affordable housing. In their proposal they borrowed heavily from the city. We urged them not to reinvent the wheel, take a look at what the city had done, and so they're proposing a requirement that 10% of the bonds that the pid, public improvement district, and essentially allows developers to get money upfront in order to pay for streets and sewer and water and other kinds of amenities, additional amenities. And they're proposing that either 10% of that bond be spent on affordable housing on-site in the pid unless it's deemed that the pid is in an area that would not meet the fair housing requirements because there's too much affordable housing or something to that effect near it. So it's either spent on-site or the money is paid into a fund in lieu of. So either way we think will be a great benefit for the community that will either produce real affordable housing on the ground in the course of the construction, the development of the pid itself, or it will go into a fund that the county can work on and there may well be opportunities for collaboration, sort of pooling of resources and getting a bigger bang forked the buck with that and we anticipate we'll be passing that very soon. [3:36:17 PM] >> Commissioner Shea, I couldn't agree me. And I've had conversations with Christy Moffat, your incredible talent at the housing policy area, that we interface quite a bit with, and there is an alignment in sentiment that we really need to be sure that we're bringing forward our voice around pids, sitting side by side with our county friends even when we bring the housing recommendations to the city council. And what is so important in the conversations I've had with Christy is that there is a great opportunity for county to begin to build the capacity with their agencies, their housing authority, and to continue to do what they're doing a great job of and building a fund that can interface both in the county as well as in the city proper. And that is an opportunity also for the city of Austin. So that is actually a whole other area that once they get the pid policy to a point they're ready to present it and we get our pid policy to a point where we're ready to present it, I think there's some alignment that's going to be there. Greg canally is working very closely with their -- the version of Greg canally over at the county. You would know her name. Yes, ma'am. So there's already a lot of synergy there. Where I think it's such an incredibly important thing to know is that the county can play in both arenas, so a fee-in-lieu or by a pid can interface in the city of Austin as well as in the county. Our funds cannot so easily flow into the county so we believe the Austin blueprint is an opportunity to highlight across the community and potentially regionally where we want housing so that the county can can influence those housing goals when they spend the funds within the city proper. [3:38:27 PM] So the conversations we're having around our pid policy, which we will be bringing to the Austin city council from the housing perspective, is to not be so prescribed in our policy related to housing, but to have a component in there where it is informed by the county's pid policy so that we could help the county in not just creating the housing goals that are in the county or etj, sometimes limited purpose, but also to help the county build the capacity, build the financial capacity and just the funding so that y'all have the opportunities to stride -- to really straddle both sides of the fence. So that's the work that we would like to see on our pid policy before we bring it to council and we're very much interested in finding a way where when we bring a recommendation related to a pid to our city council that it has been include, really quite frankly, by the county. And that we're creating a space for you all to build your capacity if and when that makes sense. >> I remember many meetings back, I think Mandy Dealy did a presentation on a compilation they've been doing among housing advocates about the currenting housing stock, and particularly the developments that had gotten I think tax credits and had gotten democratics from the city of Austin and how well -- gotten density bonuses from the city of Austin and how well were those promised units actually coming to fruition, being made available. And I don't know where that stands, but if that can somehow be part of what we're looking at in our inventory, I think that's really important. It's not acceptable I think by anybody that the city is either doing a density bonus or the developers have gotten some kind of a tax credit in exchange for offering affordable, but they may not be keeping up that commitment. [3:40:32 PM] And that was the impression I had gotten from the housing advocates. I think we should know that and we should have a better means of tracking. >> And we're happy to also have that conversation with you all. We've been working with -- it's important what you're talking about is flat out specifically butt putt there on the table and it has to do with are we responsible, are we accountable, are we holding ourselves to ensure the compliance of the policies that the council for us -- that the council is putting forward. So we've been working actually with the policy group of housing works Austin to really kind of expose how we're doing that. Our department has had the opportunity to bring on additional talent. Talent that was actually-- his name is chase clements, I'm happy to have him visit with you too. He was recently at audit and finance. And putting the right compliance procedures in place, having the data system where even you can go online and see where all of our inventory is, whether it's a nine percent tax credit, a four percent tax credit, something that the city has directly financed or a partnership that we've created, is that -- bringing that data to the public through a portal that people can see and touch and feel is the first part of it. And then ensuring that there is a monitoring plan that coincides with that is something that we're actually wanting to talk about. We were able to talk about that a little bit with our audit and finance and then we have a number of stakeholders that are closely assisting us in our conversation with ensuring that it's resourced appropriately. As a matter of fact, the conversation related do the blueprint, we had Stuart Hersh that brought that very specific issue. Do we have the data infrastructure that is going to basically be wrapped around the expectation to deliver at the policy level that we're seeing. [3:42:36 PM] And that -- I'm going to be very bold and say that's a conversation that we are having on multiple fronts. And we have to be sure that when policy is put forward certainly by our council that we have the infrastructure and we have the data. We have the resources, we have the talent and the systems in place to deliver it. I would say that the city of Austin has work to do on that and we have a plan to be sure and report back to council where we're at on it. But just as many things the infrastructure, the technology infrastructure has not kept pace with the policy expectation. And we have to be very transparent and, quite frankly, comfortable talking about that and talking about the solutions that we're exploring to be sure that it is. When we left the last meeting with Austin housing works I will tell you that Mandy said she -- and I won't quote her specifically, she's not here, but she did say she feels safer and more confident than she has felt around that data and part of it is we're opening it up and sharing it. We do have a system of record. It is an inventory of everything single thing that we fund or is passed by an incentive program, but where and how we can make that a alive for public viewing becomes our opportunity to bring it to a more credible platform. And we have some work to do on that through technology. But rest assured we're out there, we're monitoring it. It needs to be resourced at a very specific level and we will be talking to council about. >> Garza: Do you know when that auditor's work is not finished, is that right? >> I don't believe so. Because what's underway is our department needed to do our scan of all of our information online and report it back, which we've done and that I think they're compiling it into an online presence that will be far broader than just what we've provided. [3:44:43 PM] >> I just had this idea while we were all talking. >> Garza: I was thinking of reporting back of each entity on this list. Because the conversation has been so helpful and because it was specifically for housing if we could assign certain maybe Round Rock and central health at the next meeting we'll have someone to give a presentation on what they -- what they feel they've done to address affordability and that's how we can start building that list. Is that something that -- >> Yes. We already made a note of that. >> It was on. There you go. >> I just made a note while we were here to contact central health staff to do a briefing. However it's a little bit challenging in that the whole mission of central health is in fact serving those who are in most need of health care. So our entire mission is affordability. Having said that, I'm sure there are some particular outcomes and performance measures that we are carve out in terms of presentation to show specific steps that we have taken and are that ongoing in affordability, whether it's with map or with other segments of our underserved community. >> Kitchen: What might be helpful is if y'all -- if there are areas that you see an intersection that maybe - - >> Yeah. >> Kitchen: Because that would help us from our different perspectives think about -- might generate some ideas in terms of areas where there might be some connection. >> Of course. And we're in close communication with the city, the county, aid. There's the portal that central health and the city and the county have -- I guess that was over a year ago that that was unveiled. [3:46:46 PM] I'll look for areas of intersection, particularly of course around population health, which is an area in which reinventing and transforming health care that we and others are moving into. When you look at population health and you look at social determinants of health, that's of course when you have to look at the confluence of housing and health and what unhealthy housing or lack of housing means to health and some of these other areas. >> Kitchen: It might be interesting too. I think that there's connections with the community paramedic program. >> There is, yes. >> Kitchen: I don't know if there's connections with our host program, but that might be interesting, you know, which is our homeless outreach street teams. >> I think there is, but I will have to look. I know there is with community paramedic. >> Kitchen: If there is with host that might be interesting to have a conversation about too. >> You know, the whole idea behind the asset map in my mind is identifying what is where, who is serves and under what conditions. When I moved here a little over 30 years ago, 78702 was ground zero for the greatest number of tuberculosis cases, HIV cases. Since it has gentrified H that is 78724 and 78725. Now, 78702 didn't change because we had resources there. It changed because the population changed there. And now that we have -- people have moved out, we've moved them to a transit desert. Think about all the -- >> Right. >> Think about the opportunities and the bus lines that run there. When you say it takes four hours from a bus to get you from colony park to the doctor, that is obscene. And we can do more about it. And as we put the -- as we put our process together I'd be interested in seeing when we talk about density bonuses, has that been effective because it's not a mandatory program, it's a voluntary program. [3:48:54 PM] And I don't think it has produced even half of what it was sold to produce. Are there alternatives that are better for us? We need to start talking about the venue tax and the implications if it does not reach across the whole county. How is it that we work together to solve problems that we are aware of? >> So I can tell you and staff can present this, but I know we have been specifically looking for an opportunity in colony park and in that area, and as a matter of fact we're doing a tour of del valle in a week or so. >> We've been working together and central health has been extremely generous and hard working in this area. >> But anyway, we can have some very specific examples whether it's on host or paramedics or areas that we're looking at such as colony park. We've also looked at and I know have underway contracts for expansion for some of our contracting with those type of emergency health care facilities because we did not have enough of those in the areas that we need. So there's certainly a lot going on that we can have staff do a concise report on. >> Even just -- just putting the framework together, just step one. It's such a large problem. Didn't happen in a day. >> Right. >> Won't be resolved in a day. But we can put a model together to begin to investigate. >> And I know, and it was probably over a year ago that staff did some significant mapping and there's a whole set of maps, so we can look at that also. Central health has its own Zones that it's been divided -- that we've divided into to map and look at our demographics. So it was demographic mapping. As I said, it may have been 18 months ago, but still there was some significant demographic mapping that staff did of our Zones that central health uses. [3:51:00 PM] >> I just think that a lot of times when people move to an affordable area they don't think about the transportation implications. And if I have a great car now it might not be great in five years from now. And if I can't get a bus from where I am -- >> It's not just that. It's the lack of transportation then feeds into the lack of ability to get to clinics if you are -- have moved into an area that is a desert in so many ways, a clinic desert, a food desert, a transportation desert. But the transportation piece is what would enable you to get to the clinic, to get to healthy food, to get to the job training. So that is an enormous piece as we all know. And that whole affordability equation I think people need to understand that it's not just housing, it's housing which can be your utilities or is -- includes your utilities, whether you're a renter or you pay a mortgage, plus your transportation costs. >> Kitchen: Go ahead. You go first. >> I was going to ask, so you want from each of us a comment or whatever we can put together as far as our area of affordability? >> Do you have like a staff liaison for the trustees that could present a presentation on it? And I feel like the school districts are kind of in the same -- in a similar position as central health in that it's hard for you guys to -- >> We have an administrator that helps, but she's -- >> Garza: I meant more like the initiatives that you take because your mission is public education and it's hard to cut back in any way on that any more than it's already cut back. >> That's a good point. I was going to say since we just went through our bond and you know our three propositions failed, but we did work over the last year, nine months serge on demographics, traffic, some of that. [3:53:01 PM] Maybe I can glean some of that and have somebody put it together or have somebody present it, or I'll do it. I think that would be a starting point. >> Garza: I think it would be great to see the information that was presented for -- if there was a way to understand, you know, what Round Rock was asking for. And maybe measures you will have to take going forward to be able to -- >> Certainly one of the big factors, and the reason I was asking that is people looked at it and said, what would you say -- our average price is $290,000 for a house. People who turned out and voted overwhelm minkly voted against it were 500 and above houses. Even though it was 10% of our voter turnout they really said whoa, we don't like it. That tells us a message. And we have lots of apartments, we have lots of -- I'm not exactly sure the percentages. I don't know right off the top of my head, but I'm sure they're there and I'm sure we have an idea of how many live in apartments and how many are subsidized. I'll see if I can bring some of that information. >> Garza: Did you have something, Ann? >> Kitchen: I just had a thought that at some point might be useful to do. It might be interesting if we had a discussion as a group by geography. In other words, if we -- if we were to take a part of the region and actually just kind of looked at it so that we could all understand what the demographic issues were there and what the assets were and where -- what the gaps were. That would take some prework, of course, to decide which area, but it might be -- it would be an interesting exercise for us as a group to understand. Just a thought. >> Garza: Does anybody else have anything? So thank you. Thank you for that information. I'm going to move -- because it's kind of related to this, down to number 7. [3:55:01 PM] So our next meeting is July 17th. And that is actually a council break. So -- >> I'm going to be gone then too. >> I'll be gone as well. [Laughter]. >> There you government. >> I was going to ask for input on thoughts on canceling that meeting. [Laughter]. >> Am I going to be the only one at the meeting? [Laughter]. >> Yeah, yeah. You will have your agenda, won't you? >> Garza: So we're going to cancel the July 17th. So please make sure you take that off your calendar, ask your staff to take that off your calendar? >> So that was the next meeting? I assume you will look at August? >> Garza: That was my next meeting. So the next meeting would be September. I'm curious to know if we would want to do an August if the next one is in September. I would be fine just keeping the September. >> Yeah. >> Garza: And with that, we could have -- we'll count on central health and round Rock at the September meeting doing a presentation. It could include asset inventory and initiatives that have been done to address affordability. Does that sound good? >> Uh-huh. What is that date in September? >> Garza: September 18th. I think we always have them on Mondays. >> It is usually on Mondays. I was checking to see if it was on my calendar. I don't see it. >> Garza: Yes, it's a Monday. Is there a problem with that date? >> There could be for me. >> [Inaudible]. >> Right. That's right. >> Garza: Well, the 11th is a campo meeting and we have representatives from campo here. But that doesn't start until 6:00, I believe, right? [3:57:02 PM] >> I'm out the 18th too, so the 11th would be better for me. >> Garza: The 11th. We can just change as long as we notice correctly, to change dates? >> I'll double-check -- [indiscernible]. >> [Inaudible - no mic]. >> Garza: I'm okay with either the 11th or the 25th. >> [Inaudible - no mic]. >> >> Garza: So how about the 25th? >> It's fine. I'm out of town for two weeks so I will miss the 25th. >> [Inaudible - no mic]. What would you think of the 11th? >> Yes. >> Garza: The 11th, I would say that the -- why did I have -- oh, I do have -- I don't know why I still have campo on my calendar. >> Because you miss it too much. >> Garza: So you would -- the 25th is okay? We would still have six. We would still get seven, actually. So let's plan on the 25th. >> 25th, I'm putting it down. >> Garza: 25th. And we'll have a presentation from central health as well as round Rock. And the other -- item 6 is just -- we'll just have a standing item there regarding appointments for members. We don't have to address that today. We have already sent letters out to aid asking them to appoint another member and Ellen just couldn'ting here today because she had a meeting. But that's just a standing item that we don't really have to address, item 6 right now. [3:59:03 PM] And the last item is item 8, the discussion of future agenda items. I was going to glance through the strategic plan and see where we might be able to fill a briefing with something that we haven't touched on on our strategic plan. I'm open to -- if there's any other ideas for the September 25th meeting? >> We did have a presentation right -- on the eviction rate and we were trying to understand what was happening with the evictions. I think Robert Doggett from legal aid talked to us at that time about modifications that could help lessen the. Kind of unintentional harm that happens and I'll just describe it I'll just mention that many times people get an eviction notice, they move out right away and think that solves the problem. It's not clear to them unless they take care of the back payment or make whatever other arrangements they need to make with the leasing entity, that entity will pursue the eviction to its legal end and people can be struck and effectively black-listed from every getting rental housing in the region again, because of that. So I know that he had offered some proposed remedies, and I think it would be good to have him come back with specific recommendations. I also know that the new J.P. 5, judge Nicholas, is also interested in this issue and we've discussed very briefly how he might essentially draw on particular recommendations from his experiences as a J.P. To advise us on how we could either, I don't know, propose to change local ordinances or encourage apartment owners to provide very specific instructions in English and Spanish, that kind of thing, so that it's made clear to the people who are getting the eviction notices that they must take care of certain things or they'll be put on a black list for future housing. [4:01:26 PM] >> Garza: Okay. So you want to ask Mr. Doggett to come back -- >> I'll reach out to Roger Doggett and see if he's able to do that for the September 25th meeting. Sure. >> Garza: Does anybody else have any suggestions? I was going to suggest -- commissioner Travillion touched on something, I think it would be good for them to let us know that process, and obviously we can't fit maybe all of this on the September agenda, but sometimes we have to pull some of these briefings off so it's good to have a little backup, also to see where we are with discussions maybe from the city on a 2018 bond, maybe have a staff -- >> Uh-huh, good idea. >> Garza: -- Staff briefing on a 2018 bond. And since I mentioned capmetro as a future agenda item, I would encourage anybody watching or watching this later to fill out the survey on project connect. It's on their website, and it would be very important that the voices from throughout the city have input on that very important survey, project connect. >> And something else that was in our strategic plan, I know that we have discussed, is, if we could perhaps have a meeting where we have representatives from the different entities come and speak about actual land that is usable, not medians, but usable, unused or underused, that could be sites for affordable housing. Is that something that we can get on the agenda? >> Garza: I know we've talked about that before, and I don't know -- >> Uh-huh, we have. >> Garza: We'll get with staff. >> Right. >> Garza: I know staff had actually done the giant report, but it included easements and -- >> And that's not useful to us. >> Garza: If there's a way to go through that and find the usable -- I think it was hit on that the city was able to do that, but you're talking about every other -- [4:03:29 PM] >> The other entities, capmetro and some of the other entities, and then we could have representatives from each come and discuss. It would probably be a meeting unto itself. >> Garza: Yeah. >> And, yes, we would need somebody to call from the city to pull out, as opposed to the medians and whatnot. But the other entities too. I do want to echo what Ann said on the equity tool, I think it would be useful to all of us, and I've been working on this, too, on my lbj capacity and other folks at UT, if we had an equity tool and if there was something where we had a website, we had availability for all of us to use it and as a repository, I think it would be useful, instead of all of us kind of reinventing the wheel within our entity, to have a centralized -- >> Garza: Uh-huh. >> Kitchen: I was just going to say a few more words about project connect. >> Garza: Sure. >> Kitchen: You know, project connect, the planning is being done right now by capmetro and high capacity transit, and planning is being done with the idea of putting forward a system, a regional system, and the first stage will go from, you know, here's the proposed -- what the proposed map would look like, to then into the second phase, which will be studying those corridors to determine, you know, things like what kinds of mode and what kinds of -- what would be cost, and those kinds of things. So participation right now is absolutely critical on -- now is the time to weigh in on that map as a whole. Are those the corridors that would be useful for our communities? And I emphasize region because I'm talking about to the north and to the south of us. [4:05:34 PM] So I just want to encourage people to weigh in. I also wanted to point out that the capmetro board will be voting on June 26th, taking this in phase I to phase II. I mean, there's a lot more phases to the project, but that's taking it to the next phase for further development on what those corridors are. So really, now is the time. >> Uh-huh. >> Kitchen: As you know, my fellow capmetro board members, now is the time for us to hear from the community because at the end of the day, next year, late next year when we end up with a proposal, we want it to be something that the community can support, so ... >> I did have a question, Ann, on how -- how the -- capmetro was evaluating the comments. I know synovia Joseph has been very active in gathering petition signatures for people who ride a particular bus line. I think it was proposed to be changed or discontinued -- >> On dessau road. >> Yeah, on dessau road, and I just wasn't sure what that process was. Are you looking for a certain threshold or -- >> Kitchen: That's a different project than the one I just talked about. She's been working on connections 2025, which is the bus routes. When I talk about project connect, I'm talking about high capacity, you know, which could be rail or it could be something else. >> Okay. That's the first time I've gotten that distinction. I'm not on the capmetro board so I'm not paying careful attention to it. >> Kitchen: Yeah, that's fine. >> I didn't realize the two were distinct. I thought they were roughly the same. >> Kitchen: Thank you for asking that. It's pretty clear people could get those confused. I didn't want to say rail because there are other modes, but -- besides rail that could be high capacity, but basically, project connect is this, project connection 2025 is that. To answer your question, though, I'm not sure -- you know, when we adopted the connections 2025 plan, that's a -- that's -- the concept for the plan, we did not cut any routes. [4:07:38 PM] That -- those -- the changes to particular routes happens one at a time, so to speak. In other words, we come back and we have to pursue various considerations, and then actually vote before we cut a new route. And I couldn't -- I don't know any more about the particular question you had. Maybe you do. Do you know anything else? >> I just wanted to keep us on track, pun intended a little, because we're actually not posted to talk about this. >> Kitchen: Okay. Fine. >> Garza: I'll try to squeeze that in in the future, on an item, but I think we -- we can ask all those questions, if we have capmetro here at some point for a -- but I'm happy to tell you offline what I know about how the comments are being taken. >> That would be great. >> Garza: Okay. All right. If there's nothing else, we are adjourned at 4:08. Thank y'all for coming. >> Thank you.