HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-17-17 Public Comment - H. Grenier (HRDC) - Affordable Housing and Beall Street ProjectFrom:Heather Grenier
To:Agenda
Cc:Tracy Menuez; Brian Guyer
Subject:A few points of clarification
Date:Monday, July 17, 2017 7:01:38 AM
Good Morning Mayor & Commissioners,
I wanted to provide a few points of clarification following last week's commission meeting inrelation to the two agenda items discussed pertaining to HRDC.
The first item relates to our responsibility/role in relation to the Affordable Housing
Ordinance. During the planning and approval process, HRDC submitted public comment anumber of times as to our thoughts on the Ordinance itself.
However, the point of clarification I wanted to make is in regards to our role. HRDC currentlyhas in place a contract with the City of Bozeman to verify income eligibility of potential
homeowners and to provide follow up documentation of owner-occupancy of any homespurchased through the ordinance. Both of these responsibilities are directly tied to the lower
income bracket included in the Ordinance. HRDC was tasked with creating and maintaining await list of income eligible households, this list is active and a process is in place by which to
contact these households once we are informed by the City of Bozeman that a qualifying homeis being produced. We are not responsible for enforcing the Ordinance.
The second item relates to our pilot project located on the corner of Beall and 24th. I believe
our presentation overlooked some key points. The main reasons HRDC is producing thisproject include:
1. Communications in the community, at the City, and at CAHAB have discussed 'orphanlots' as a significant potential for producing affordable housing. This project is designed to
produce a replicable model and design that can be used to create infill while producingaffordable housing, utilizing the many vacant or 'orphan' lots within the City.
2. The tiny home model has been discussed both at CAHAB and within the buildingcommunity, the concerns for builders to jump start this market stem from risk: uncertainty
that a market exists for these types of homes and uncertainty from the lending communityregarding financing due to the lack of comparable units for determining value. HRDC is
hoping to alleviate this risk by producing two units and therefore potentially increasing theviability of creating additional units.
I hope you find this information helpful for your future discussions. As always, HRDC is
grateful for our long standing partnership with the City of Bozeman and your individualsupport.
Please let me know if I can provide any further clarification on these or any other topics.
Best Regards,
Heather Grenier
President/CEO
HRDC
32 S Tracy Avenue, Bozeman | 406.587.4486
111 S 2nd Street, Livingston | 406.333.2537
www.thehrdc.org