##VIDEO ID:sX0rQfKEKdA## e all right we'll start she can join us oh there she is we'll give her two seconds hey you just got to make it by the clock on there oh yeah good call all right it is 7 p.m. we'll call this meeting of the regular Housing and Redevelopment authority of the city of Richfield um uh we'll have the open Forum seeing no one um My Little Spiel is gone but if anyone is dialed in are we still dialing in Cher V Daniels no we are not unless um you call ahead to request that service it is no longer available we'll let you know when when that happens oh good I don't think anyone ever called in anyway so that is the reason we are no longer offering it every meeting sounds good um okay so that takes us to the approval of the minutes of the regular housing Redevelopment Authority meeting of October 21st 2024 is there a motion for approval uh so moved is there second second it has been moved and seconded any changes comments seeing none all those in favor say I I opposed the have been approved um taking us to item number one approval of the agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda I'll move to approve the agenda I second that it has been moved and seconded any comments questions concerns changes seeing none all those in favor say I I I I opposed the agenda has been approved take us to item number two the consent calendar executive director pman thank you chair Bree Daniels members of the board the consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the H in one motion once once the consent calendar has been approved the individual items and their recommended actions have also been approved no further HRA action is necessary on these items item a for consideration is the approval of a resolution accepting contributions for the 2024 tour of remodeled homes Item B consideration of a resolution authorizing the execution of a First Amendment to the Declaration of covenants restrictions and easements between the HRA and brickmore for the property at 14066 Street West and item C consideration of the updated Richfield HRA administrative plan to conform with the new Housing Opportunity through modernization act final ruling under the Section 8 housing Choice voucher program and that concludes tonight's consent calendar which I submit for your approval thank you is there any discussion or anybody want to remove anything from the consent calendar all right seeing none is there a motion to approve I make a motion to approve the consent calendar is there a second I'll second it has been moved and seconded all those in favor say I I opposed the consent calendar has been approved taking us to item number four executive director pilman thank you I will ask uh housing specialist Hillary LEL to present the staff report tonight for those of you have who have not met Hillary here she is thank you um I'm here today to talk about uh change to our loan forgiveness policy so that there are fewer loans that we need to bring before the HRA in a formal and recorded public meeting um as the H has a loan portfolio of over 375 loans currently and with many reaching their 30-year um term deadlines uh we are looking to approve a loan forgiveness policy that would Grant the H executive director uh the authority to approve the Forgiveness or settlement of HRA loans in cases of financial hardship so this could include foreclosures underwater mortgages cases where the borrower needs to move due to medical or safety reasons or where the borrower has passed and The Heirs are not able to um pay back the loans on the property um we recently have uh heard of more interest in forgiveness for these loans in situations where it feels like asking somebody to be present in a public meeting might be a potentially traumatizing experience um we are um this the change to this loan policy is similar to one that we asked for about this time last year um and this is just extending this to all loans within our portfolio thank you anybody have any questions yes can you just remind us a year ago what what was different about that decision than this it was giving the authority um to our H executive director to make some decisions that didn't have to come to the H so um similar in cases of financial hardship it was giving the power to staff to review that internally rather than bringing it forward to a public meeting for the um for the voting of our public body okay and then just to clarify there are certain loans that have like an automatic forgiveness period I'm assuming this is not for that type of forgiveness or is it correct it's not for that type of forgiveness where they've reached the end of the term of the loan though many folks um with the 30-year term loan end up needing to sell their home a little bit before that y um and so that's why we're kind of coming up in a situation where a lot more of these are happening okay the main and I it was just sort of like one of the factors the HR executive director would consider it's not totally binding but the language of like borrowers decease and years do not have the financial means what does that mean and and why would it not just be like a claim on the estate and if the estate doesn't have that money we don't get our money yeah so it would mean that the value of the home or what was paid off on the home frequently in a reverse mortgage scenario um that there's kind of no equity left in the home to pay back a loan if uh that happens before the term of the loan is up for forgiveness um we have seen not with part of our loans but um an uptick in people coming into the city asking for help with uh dispossession of as an air of property of somebody who had passed um reverse mortgage um schemes are more common with people who have pretty um profound and difficult to treat uh disabilities near the end of life um and so that's something that we're seeing more frequently I would say kind of after a global pandemic okay yes I did just want to add um if you took a look at the draft forgiveness policy that was attached to your staff report the the information that we are requesting from um folks looking for loan forgiveness or modification is quite extensive so it isn't as if we would be looking uh to forgive loans where there wasn't very good evidence that they were unable to pay these loans back um really what we're trying to avoid here is um a public earing of of their circumstances thank you yes and that would be why I would be in support of this it's been very awkward at times like people really shouldn't have to come before the Public Square and be on cable TV and tell everybody about all the things that are going on so I I think the criteria you have here are good in general if it's one of those loans that's forgivable we just PR rate it correct is like if they've done 25 out of the 30 years is that how generally how it works when we're setting this up or it depends on the circumstances um we certainly could prate it um we have made modifications like that in most of the circumstances that we've seen they are unable to pay really any um of the loan back although it has been toward the end of the loans and so we have ended up just fully forgiving what what remains yes the pro-rated amount yes we'd end up forgiving that all right thank you no I do think this is good it doesn't seem like it should be necessary to have somebody have to come and tell their whole personal history on the Public Square yeah go ahead well I would concur with that I would agree that I don't think there is a need for someone to come and you know who's going through a traumatic situation to kind of air their difficulties before the public and I I know that this indicates in the packet that these are for loans it would be like for like $50,000 or less so um It's relatively small amounts I guess the only thing I would ask for is maybe once a year maybe with like an annual report there' be some type of report of what type of activ ity has been um has been involved with this uh approach uh no details you know know who when why where or what details but maybe it's a report like like this as a theoretical example you know that in 2025 there were three loan forgivenesses um you know for a total amount of X number of dollars so that way we we kind of stay in the loop of you know how this is going but um but we're not revealing people's private matters um thank you I agree I think that we had asked for that on the last one as well and so I was going to suggest the same thing I think it's um a nice balance of I agree not having people come but we still want to be mindful right and want to be aware of what's Happening um and so if we could get that in the yearly report or in claims and payroll um somewhere within there we'll be really helpful yes absolutely um I do remember that we said that we would do that last time we haven't forgiven alone uh since then or modified the terms um but yes absolutely we can report to the board on those thank you all right is any other question yeah go ahead do you need a motion oh yes I need a motion I'll move to adopt a resolution approving the proposed Housing and Redevelopment Authority loan forgiveness policy is there a second uh second any other comments questions concerns yes Ahad sorry I still I'm like a little bit stuck on the language of the a out of the financial means if I could just like walk you through a scenario and I apologize for putting you on the spot on this but um so if I had you know a parent who had a forgivable loan they had $100,000 in equity or the estate had $100,000 left over but I personally um had $150,000 in medical debt and I would otherwise receive that would the H still expect the loan to be paid from the estate or because I don't have the financial means because my personal debt is greater would that loan be forgiven or could it be forgiven and my concern with saying it should be forgiven is then our subsid is going for something it was not intended to go for which is somebody else's unrelated financial hardship and not something related to the housing sure I think this what this policy is doing is allowing me to look at those circumstances um and in a case where there would be a question um and it wasn't a clear case of there are not the means to pay off this loan um if there were the means in the estate that's something that I I could make a decision no and then they could appeal to the board or if it's something that is in a gray area all of these can come back to the board so I think that what this policy is doing is allowing me to forgive them in cases where it is very clear um that the means are not there anything where there would be a question um I would be bringing to you for consideration so in the circumstance that you are outlining that is not Al loone that I would forgive with my authority that is something that if they wanted for foress they would have to apply to the board okay thank you for clarifying and it does sound like from what you're saying something like that is pretty uncommon it's usually just like there isn't the money any way or how okay okay I'm comfortable with it then thank you anybody else last all right all those in favor say I I opposed the motion carries scroll back up um item number five H discussion items any H discussion items um I know we said last week or last meeting that we had um about the um event the tour remodeled homes but since we have Hillary here just again thank you guys for all the work that you do um it's a great event and it was so fun to see everyone so um well we can thank you in person thank you anything else all right item number six executive director's report thank you I will just uh mention if you didn't see it in your email if your email is like mine uh that there was a council memo that went out about our decision regarding cdbg funds and the fact that we will through 2025 continue to administer them um as we have since that is programmed in the budget that will give us time to complete our housing program evaluation and look for a way to replace those funds or explore other opportunities so that will be happening in 2026 where will be part of the Consolidated pool um and again there's a memo in your email about that if you have any questions let us know that's it all right uh is there a motion to approve claims I make a motion to approve claims second it has been moved and seconded any comments questions concerns seeing none all those in favor say I I opposed claims have been approved and that takes us to adjournment thank thank you everyone