Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) Transcript – 11/1/2022 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 11/3/2022 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 11/3/2022 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [10:45:14 AM] >> Mayor Adler: Anybody else signed up to speak this morning that we missed in the regular council meeting? Okay. I'm going to go ahead and recess the Austin city council meeting here at 10:45. I'm going to convene the Austin housing finance corporation meeting here at 10:45 on November 3rd, 2022. We're in the city council chambers. We're going to hear from some speakers, and I think it's a consent agenda, so we're probably going to try to take care of the agenda before we go back to the Austin city council meeting. It should be noted in the record that there's late backup in Austin housing finance corporation items 2, 3, and 4. Would you call the speakers, please? >> We have Gus peña on ahfc items 1, 2, 3, and 4. >> Mayor Adler: Is Mr. Peña still with us? [10:46:17 AM] Okay. Next speaker. >> Tracy fine on ahfc 2. >> Hi. My name is Tracy fine. I'm the senior director of housing for national church residences. And I am also based here in Austin, Texas. I am heading up the transaction for Arbors at creekside. National church residences is a national nonprofit developer that specializes in senior affordable housing. We've done multiple projects across the country, and several here in Texas, including the central Texas area. The bond financing is critical to preserve this much-needed senior affordable housing in this community. And we really appreciate ahfc's support for this transaction. I am available for any questions you may have. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. Any other speakers, people [10:47:18 AM] signed up to speak? >> One last speaker, Sarah Watkins on ahfc 2. >> Excuse me, mayor. >> Mayor Adler: Yes. >> Harper-madison: I would like to encourage the national church residences folks to get in touch with the district 1 office. Thank you. >> Good morning. My name is Sarah Watkins. I'm an organizer with building and strengthening tenant action. And I have been supporting the residence association at what is now known as Arbors at creekside since 2017. And the residents association has been working in particular for the last month to talk with their neighbors and talk with everyone about the renovation that is upcoming and things that have been going on. I'm really happy to have [10:48:20 AM] Mrs. Cooks with me this morning. And Mrs. Cooks and 52 of her neighbors spent the entire month of October having little gatherings with their neighbors and talking a lot about their questions and their concerns, and their dreams for a renewed Arbors. And so even though there are not a lot of residents with me today, they are engaged and they are working. And there's a lot of enthusiasm. And I in particular want to take a moment to thank both the ahfc board and in particular ahfc staff for the way that you've gone above and beyond to make things right at Arbors, and in particular, for the ways that there has really been a commitment to engaging with residents and in particular with resident association leaders throughout this process. I counted, since 2020, folks [10:49:21 AM] like Jamie may, Kennedy and Patrick Russell who had more than 12 meetings with the association. I know Patrick and Brendan and a lot of other folks have walked the halls, climbed the roof, really looked at conditions, met folks at the door. And it's really made a difference. And I think it is really important, the work that ahfc does, not only to build quality housing, but to do this outreach and to engage with residents and say, not only do we want to build you quality housing, but we want to make sure it stays that way. And I think this whole engagement process has just been really, really remarkable and I want to commend everyone for it. And I would like to see it continue also at other ahfc properties. I think one of the questions I get most often is does the city really care about the place where I live. And in this case, I am very [10:50:23 AM] happy to say that residents are beginning to feel like the city really cares. Thank you so much. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. >> That concludes ahfc speakers. We do have another last-minute call-in for the -- >> Mayor Adler: Okay. We'll get to them in a second. Staff, thank you for this work as noted. >> Mandy Demayo, Austin housing finance corporation, you have four items on your agenda today and as you noted there's late backup on 2, 3, and 4. Item 1 is approving the meeting minutes from the October 13th meeting. Item 2, as we had speakers reference, is with respect to Arbors at creekside. We're really excited about moving forward with the bond issuance up to $25 million in private activity bonds, multifamily revenue bonds. And items 3 and 4 are related to cityview at the park apartments, a 70-unit senior apartment complex in district 3 that ahfc [10:51:25 AM] is both asking for authorization to form a nonprofit subsidiary and to acquire the investor interest in that property. I am happy to take any questions. As noted previously, there's late backup on all of these items. And I do want to thank the speakers, both from national church residences and, of course, from the tenant organizers and the residents who spoke last week on the Arbors creekside complex. >> Mayor Adler: Great. Thank you. Colleagues, the consent agenda could be items 1-4. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Director harper-madison makes that motion. Is there a second to that motion? Mayor pro tem seconds that motion. Discussion, director pool. Okay. Discussion, director harper-madison. >> Harper-madison: Thank you. I wanted to echo the sentiment of our last speaker, which, [10:52:25 AM] thank you, by the way. That was brilliantly articulated. I couldn't have said it any better myself. Thank you very much for bring that to our attention. I wanted to also -- a resounding thank you for the creativity and innovation of the ahfc staff. I remember when we first brought this up, and it was one of those instances where -- it's interesting that we have the beautiful regal and royal purple of colony park in the room as I say this. It was one of those really interesting Franken management properties that my office inherited. And that wasn't the only one. So once we realized that, you know, for folks who are listening, there's something that I want you to take into consideration. When a person comes onto the Austin city council, it's a brilliant, beautiful honor. Most folks come in here ready to do the work. But there's no training. Nobody trains you to be the city councilperson who comes in here and takes on the items that were in the queue long before -- for [10:53:26 AM] me, for example -- long before I ever thought about politics as a profession, policy-making as a profession. So you have to acclimate and make commitments. All that said, I was new to it. But the residents, much like colony park at Arbors, called me over that January and they said we want you to see our swimming pool. The water was green. And it was a mosquito breeding ground. And I think they sat us all next to the pool on purpose, just for impact. They said I want you to see the pool. We also want to take note we can't meet in the community room because there was a flood and it was never repaired. There's mold. We can't sit in there. I'll never forget the impact of the way that those community members and residents advocated for themselves. And the fact that y'all took the opportunity to really get creative and thinking through how to address it. It wasn't just creativity, it was the commitment. I appreciate that. I don't think y'all get enough credit for when you really do [10:54:26 AM] dig down deep and make the commitment for something that's difficult, because it's one of those times where even while you guys were working, you couldn't tell everybody what you were doing at every step along the way. So sometimes folks feel like nothing's happening. You can't see the feet kicking under the water, so you feel like nothing's happening, but I promise y'all, more often than not if it's been handed to the hands of the staff members who feel so much, you know, commitment and integrity around delivering a high-quality product, especially in a situation where we all took a look at this income-restricted housing project for our aging residents, and it was completely inappropriate. It was bad. And I don't want to go back. I want to look forward. But I also want to recognize that without making that commitment we wouldn't be sitting here. Without them making that commitment to advocate for themselves, we wouldn't be sitting here. To our residents, general citizenry, just because you don't see the work does not mean it's not happening. I saw them kicking feverishly [10:55:29 AM] until they were able to finally say -- they didn't want to come prematurely. They had to get beat up along the way with the implication of them not having made the commitment or doing the work, but they were doing the work and I wanted to not so briefly highlight that. I appreciate it. This project along with all the other district 1 assets that have been overlooked and underrepresented, you know, this is our time to shine. All over the city, to really make these true commitments with our time, with our dollars, and with our staff's innovation. And I appreciate that once again y'all showed up when given the opportunity to do so. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much for that acknowledgment. Our staff has worked closely with the residents and the tenant organizing on the property. And we cannot wait to take you on a tour of the property after the renovations have occurred. So, we're super excited about this development. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. Colleagues, the consent agenda, [10:56:29 AM] all four items have been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Let's take a vote. Those in favor, please raise your hand. Those opposed? I'm seeing it as unanimous. We've taken care of all our work. Thank you, staff. And we will adjourn the Austin housing finance corporation meeting here at 10:56.