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Home My WebLink About2021-09-07 HCHA Approved MinutesMeeting of the HAWAII COUNTY HOUSING AGENCY Hilo, Hawaii September 7, 2021 Agency Members Present Absent and Excused Aaron S. Y. Chung Maile Medeiros David Holeka Goro Inaba Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder Ashley L. Kierkiewicz (Chair) Heather L. Kimball Herbert M. "Tim" Richards III, DVM (via Zoom) Rebecca Villegas (via Zoom) Susan "Sue" L. K. Lee Loy (Vice Chair) Housing Staff Members Present Susan Kunz Jennifer Kualii Desiree Moore (via Zoom) Kori Koike Smith (via Zoom) Sharon Hirota (via Zoom) Corporation Counsel Members of the Public Malia Hall Via Zoom Kierkiewicz: Aloha and good morning. Welcome to the convening of the Housing Agency, today is Tuesday, September 7, 2021, I'm calling this meeting to order at 9:01 a.m. Agency members that are present in the Hilo Chambers include Holeka Inaba, Sue Lee Loy, Aaron Chung, Heather Kimball, joining us from Kona, Rebecca Villegas, my name is Ashley Kierkiewicz, Chair of this Committee. Just a friendly reminder to everyone, we are convening this meeting today, not with our council member hats on, this is the non -legislative function of council members, we are meeting as Housing Agency members today. Joining us also are Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder. Thank you. Excused from the meeting are Maile David and Tim Richards. Just kidding, Tim Richards is joining us from Waimea. Aloha Tim, good to see you. At this time, we will be moving forward with our agenda. First order of business, Statements from the Public, seeing there are no testifiers, I'm closing Public Testimony at this time and moving to approval of the Minutes, may I have a motion to approve the Minutes from the April 6, 2021 meeting. HCHA meeting Lee Loy: So moved. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Second. September 7, 2021 Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Motion by Ms. Lee Loy, second by Mr. Kanealii- Kleinfelder. Any questions or comments? All in favor please say aye. Any opposed? Motion carries with eight aye votes. Next, on to New Business. First order of today is the Approval of the Amended Public Housing Agency Annual Plan for the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program for the County of Hawai `i. May I have a motion to approve the Annual Plan? Thank you, motion by Ms. Lee Loy, second by Mr. Kanealii-Kleinfelder, and if I could please call forward our Housing Administrator Susan Kunz. Good morning Susan. Kunz: Good Morning. Kierkiewicz: Good to see you. Quick overview please of the Plan. Kunz: So, the Office of Housing and Community Development is recognized by HUD as the Public Housing Agency. Public Housing Agency is required to submit an Annual Plan to HUD which outlines the community's needs, what our goals are and how we are going to meet those goals. We came before you previously, this Annual Plan was enacted for July 11t, 2021 and so we are here before you today to make some amendments. So let me review what the amendments are, there's a few, we have, we actually have about five amendments that we're making. So the first one is regarding a policy which addresses the Area Median Income limit for the participants that we serve. HUD allows us to serve up to 80% AMI. In the past, we've limited the AMI to 50% so this amendment is going to allow us to serve individuals up to 80% but I do want to point out that HUD maintains a percentage of those that we serve in the categories. So, for those, and these are all new applicants, 30% of new applicants, I'm sorry, 75% of the new applicants have to be at 30% AMI or lower, 25% of the new applicants can be at 50 and now up to 80% AMI. You know, there are several reasons why we are recommending this and one of them is to address those who are housing unstable, so it could actually be individuals who are housed without a voucher but are, you know, especially during this time of COVID, they get challenged with working, losing their jobs, things like that, so this will allow us to address that population. The other thing coming up, another one of the amendments is that it's going to allow us to work with individuals who are exercising the option to use the Section 8 voucher for subsidies for mortgage, so I'll talk a little bit about that when we get to that. Are there any questions on this one? Okay, so the other amendments that we are making are to our local preferences. So we are adding to our preference, all resident families with minor children under the age of 18 and include elderly, an elderly person or a person Page 2 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 with a disability. This is new, we do not currently have this as our preference. Let me just for the record state, that there are other preferences that we've had that we are making no changes too, so that would be families being terminated from the HCV program due to insufficient funding, that is a preference and we are not changing it. For elderly individuals, that's a preference, no change. Persons with disabilities, it's currently a preference, no change. The other preference that we are changing language too is in regard to preferences to homeless and those involuntarily displaced by a disaster. And basically it's kind of relabeling of the category to broaden it. So we are now saying in the Plan that there is a preference for emergency need which homeless individuals will fall under and persons who are displaced from a disaster will fall under. Are there any questions? Kierkiewicz: Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. Lee Loy: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Susan, for being here. You mentioned all residents, right, how are we defining all residents, you mentioned all residents under the age of 18, elderly disabled. Kunz: Okay, so that is a new preference that we're adding. So, you have to be living in the State of Hawai `i and be able to show your residency. I don't have off the top of my head, you know I actually have staff who are listening in by Zoom, would you like me to have them clarify the eligibility? Lee Loy: Yeah, absolutely, I think because we've heard a lot of concern about housing affordability and keeping it where we can, keep it for our local residence and so this preference, I'm trying to understand that, so that we can continue to share how this may become an asset for those applying and how these actually create wider guardrails for people to be able to get into obtainable housing. Kunz: So I actually have on the Zoom call with me, the manager for the Section 8 programs, Desiree Moore, and I believe she also has a staff with her, Kori Koike- Smith, that's also with her. But Desiree can you please answer the question that's being asked. Moore: Morning Committee Members. So the residency preference will also include people who were hired to work in our State or in our County and for educational purposes also. We did not put a time limit on the residency establishment, some PHA's policies will state that you have to be living in the county for a year and we did not choose to do that. What we will require as verification to prove residency is a current lease or a utility bill or a car registration, employment pay stubs to establish the residency preference and basically what that does is, HUD says we cannot prohibit applicants but our Page 3 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 residents will be able to be put up to the top and out of state applicants will be at the bottom of the list. Lee Loy: I had a follow up question to that. Moore: Sure. Lee Loy: You also mentioned elderly and disabled. How are we qualifying that, those two categories? Moore: Okay, elderly is 62 and above and the disabled is by social security definition or by a medical professional who can verify that the person is disabled. Lee Loy: Thank you for answering those questions. Chair, I yield. Moore: No problem. Kierkiewicz: Thank you Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Moore, if I could just ask a clarifying question as well. Moore: Sure. Kierkiewicz: I'm assuming the reason why we're doing this preference is because a sizeable number of our vouchers were going to non-residents? Are you able to say what percentage? Moore: That is correct. So when we opened the waiting list back in March and it was open for a month, there were 30% of the about 4,000 applicants, 30% were from out of the state. Kierkiewicz: 30% from out of state. Moore: Yes, and of the lottery, the 648, also 30% are from out of state, applicants, it does not mean that they were able to find housing here. Kierkiewicz: And so HUD rules are basically, you can use these vouchers anywhere in the United States. Moore: Anywhere. Right, and it's transportable too so we cannot prohibit, even State people, residents to move out of state, they can take it wherever there is a program. Kierkiewicz: Thank you for that clarification. Page 4 of 34 HCHA meeting Moore: You're welcome. September 7, 2021 Kunz: Next amendment has to do with the homeownership programs. So, HUD does allow, and we've utilized this option, to use the Housing Choice Voucher as a subsidy not only for rent but for mortgage. In the previous, preference, we required individuals in order to utilize this preference to provide a down payment, 3% down payment, for those loans. We found that most individuals were not able to do this. So what we're doing is we are amending this option, we're not getting rid of it, we're just amending it to say that if the individual is using an insured loan, or a loan that is guaranteed by the State or Federal government, so for example, the VA loans or the rural housing loans, we will follow the underwriting for those loans and a lot of times, those underwritings does not require a down payment so we are going to be able to waive that requirement going forward. Another amendment to the existing policy, when a family is in debt to the program, meaning that they owe the Section 8 Program funds, a lot of the times that will happen because say for example the individual had a change in income and they didn't report it, so they are now making more money and we're still subsidizing as if they were making less. So we identify what that difference is and we required them in the past to make a full payment of whatever it was that they were in debt for within 30 days and that's also a huge burden for the family and in a lot of cases it caused them to be evicted or evicted from the program at least. So what we are now doing is allowing for repaying plans in the most basic of ways of explaining it. And the last amendment ... Kierkiewicz: Administrator, before we move on, I'm just curious because you talk about this difference that they're having to pay back, are you able to give us an estimate ballpark figure of what that looks like? Kunz: I'm going to call of Desiree. Kierkiewicz: Is it like $50, is it $300, just trying to get a sense of what folks have to pay. Moore: So there's a range depending on the family situation but we're seen upwards, I think, we've had a landlord owe us $5,000 but that was in a fraudulent case so it could be a few hundred dollars up to thousands depending on how long they failed to report their income or the amount that they're earning, the difference so of course if someone was reporting zero income and got a good paying job and failed to report it for a year that would be a substantial amount. Kierkiewicz: Thank you for that. Page 5 of 34 HCHA meeting Moore: You're welcome. September 7, 2021 Kunz: The last adjustment to the Plan is to add the Emergency Housing Voucher Program, outline for that program and if you remember I came before this body, I think we went to Finance Committee and the Council, we received 110 emergency housing vouchers and about $1.1 million from HUD to run this program, so we're adding this program to our Plan. Are there any questions? Kierkiewicz: Ms. Lee Loy. Lee Loy: Susan, thank you for being just so comprehensive. I wanted to walk back to the purge to the wait list, cause there's conversations around the wait list, if it's not used that there is a 15 day, right, there's a notice, you're on the purge list, 15 days for an applicant to respond, it the letter is returned then there is an additional 15 days, I just want to understand where that's coming from, it that coming out of the HUD guidelines? Kunz: It is coming out of the HUD guidelines, and I am going to call on Des because we've been meeting pretty regularly with HUD and we're actually been advised to lessen that period, that response period. So Des you want to talk about that a little bit. Moore: Okay, so an applicant, once they're selected off of the wait list, has 10 days to respond and historically, in the past, if they did not respond we would send out an automatic appointment for 10 days later, it was recommended by HUD that we shorten the time and do not allow the second appointment. If they applied, especially recently right, we opened the waiting list in March, and they are not responding to the selection, then we should move on so that we can help others. And we will, with an exception, if they call us after the period, and there's good cause or they are disabled, we will review the denial, so there is a grievance process. Lee Loy: There's a process. Great. Thank you, Chair, I yield. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Mr. Kanealii-Kleinfelder. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Thank you, Chair. Thanks Susan and your department. Couple of questions, for the residency, can you touch on that a little bit more, I'm getting that people from out of state can apply and if you're granted funds you can also take those, the voucher and apply it anywhere even outside of the state? Page 6 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Kunz: Yeah, so the Housing Choice Vouchers are portable meaning that an individual who received a voucher here could actually move that voucher out of state if they choose to leave. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: How long is that in effect for, for a year, for a month? Kunz: As long as their eligible, I believe. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: And then we lose one voucher here and then that voucher is now being used in a different state, different county. Kunz: Right, but we also port in vouchers so there are individuals who want to move to Hawai `i with a voucher, we have to accommodate them. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Okay, so it goes both ways. Kunz: Des, maybe you can clarify the funding piece of the vouchers moving like that. Moore: We don't lose our voucher, when someone transfers to another jurisdiction, the other PHA will administer the voucher for us and they bill us a fee. If the PHA, receiving PHA, choses to absorb that person into their own program, then our voucher is released, we can use it for someone on our list. We don't lose it. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Second question then. Is it in our best interest to really tighten those preferences up so that we have more residents able to use the program, like you've done, you've touched on it a little bit but was there a thought to really tighten that preference down to someone who is a resident, resident versus someone who may be a resident? Kunz: So remember now, the preferences are allowing an individual to move up on the wait list, so we're prioritizing is what we're doing. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: As far as the residency aspect though, there is no (inaudible) you would amend it, the residency preference. Kunz: That didn't exist before. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: So you added that? Kunz: Yes, we added that. Page 7 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Kanealii-Kleinfelder: So you added the residency and you are now requiring a lease agreement or a registration, correct, as you stated, can that be tightened even more to really define what a resident is? Kunz: Des, I'll let you answer that. Moore: We decided not to be so restrictive only because if there are homeless families that are moving here and have been here for six months, we want to include them and restricting the residency preference to only someone who lived here for 12 months or more especially for the vulnerable population wouldn't be a good idea. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Thank you, as what I was wonder, what was the reasoning. And then I think before we had talked about programs to increase stock or to help people, housing stock, or increase people's want to participate in the program as far as homeowners, who want to rent out their houses. Has there been any movement on that, have you seen an increase/decrease in stock as far as our housing? Kunz: So, I wish I could report something better to you. There has not been a significant increase in the number of available units, it is one of the mission, priorities of the Housing Office to work with developers to do this, so this part kind of steps outside of the Section 8 Program, and it's what the Housing Office does through our 201 H process, through Chapter 11 and just working directly with the developers to encourage more affordable housing production. We see some units in the pipeline, but certainly not yet at a number that we know we need, but we constantly work at that every single day. Now, the Section 8 Program, does have incentive programs, landlord incentive programs, that we have instituted to promote or try to get landlords to participate, you know, we've seen a little head way on that but not enough yet, I think we just need to keep promoting the programs, if you're a first-time landlord coming on to the program, there are incentives for you there, things like that. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: That's what we had talked about earlier, I just wanted to see how that was going. Kunz: Des, did you want to add anything further on the landlord incentive program. Moore: We've had about 140 new landlords but we've recently expanded the program, it used to be just for new applicants who are newly leased, but we expanded the program to now include current participants in which the landlord decides to renew the lease so we're hoping that will enable housing stability and have them not move out to do a whole new lease at six month or Page 8 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 one year and at six months, it's 250, if it's a year, it's 500, so we want them to renew their leases. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Little bit different approach but same idea and you said 140... Moore: New landlords. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Okay, good, good, thank you, that's my questions. Thank you, Chair. Kierkiweicz: Mr. Inaba. Inaba: Thank you, good morning. Just for clarification, these changes that are being proposed here, are they being proposed or they've already taken effect? Kunz: So we did a public, we are required to do a public posting, and we did that, we incorporated whatever comments that we had and so this is being proposed to this body. Inaba: Got it, and is this a yearly Plan or this Plan sticks. Kunz: This is Annual Plan. This will cover July 1St, 2021 through June 30th, 2022, and so we'll be back before you next year. Inaba: Okay, and then following up on the preference, previously we didn't have the residency preference so for example this year when the people applied you said it was up to 30% were non-residents, prior to this year have we been granting those people just based on ... Kunz: First come, first served. Inaba: Got it. Okay, and then moving forward with the proposed changes, are those different categories of preferences stackable so say they are a disabled kupuna resident, does that put them higher on the list? Kunz: Yes. Inaba: How does that work in terms of preference stacking? Kunz: I don't, Des, maybe you should take that. Moore: Okay, so people who were terminated from the program, due to insufficient funding will be the first, at the top of the list, that's if we terminated Page 9 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 anybody from the program for insufficient funding and then it will be all residents with a minor child or an elderly or disabled person will be next and then elderly and disabled and everyone else will be after that, so out of state residents, single households, single non -disabled households will be at the bottom. And then regulatorily out of the order, or position number, 75% of all new admissions, like Susan said, have to be at 30% or below, extremely low, so we will have to screen based on their application to ensure that those applicants will be first. I know it's a little complicated. Inaba: And then just for informational purposes, we talked about fraud it was mentioned earlier, how are we actually going to verify, or how does your office verify this financial aspect of these applications? Moore: So we require the applicants to provide their pay stubs and we also have access to an electronic database through HUD that tells us when they have a new hire report, and the report is also able to tell us if there's a discrepancy in quarterly reporting by the employer so what we report to HUD is matched to what is reported to, I guess, social security and then it's, if there's a gap over 2500, if there's a discrepancy over, sorry, 2400 then it flags us that says there may be an error here. Inaba: Thank you so much. Chair, I yield. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Ms. Kimball. Kimball: Thank you Chair and thank you Administrator Kunz for being here. Just going back to the lottery process then, there were no preference of any kind applied at that time, just making sure I understand. Kunz: The preferences that were in the original Plan that was approved for this year applied, but not these changes. Kimball: Okay, and the bench mark of 75% at 30 and you may not be able to specifically answer this, that's a pretty low bench mark particularly for Hawai `i County, how likely is that bench mark to actually override these preferences? It seems like there could be a shift based on that value overriding these other preferences that you guys have identified, it's kind of a hypothetical but if you can respond to that at all. Kunz: I think what the staff is doing is looking at the preferences whenever we have the waitlist open or individuals are coming on to the wait list without having us to formally open it right, but I think before the vouchers are offered and remember this applies to new applicants so they have to make sure that Page 10 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 we are meeting this threshold that HUD sets otherwise they would have to move on to the next applicant. Des, did you want to add anything more? Moore: So let's say, I'll give you an example, for the priority is for a resident family with a minor child and if they applied and met the income limits at 30% when they did their initial application, and have since gotten employed and is now at 60% AMI, they would have to wait until we have met, so we would help all other families at 30% or below before this person, before the 60% AMI. Kimball: Okay, great thank you for that clarification. Kunz: But once they, my understanding, Des you can correct me if I'm wrong, is once they qualify at 30% and say they get into the program and now she's found a job, she still has to report the income but it doesn't then disqualify them, is that correct Des? Moore: Correct, correct, so once you're a participant, this is only at admission when the income limits apply because the program is, our goal is to get you self- sufficient so we want you to work, we want you get off of Tanif, financial assistance and so it's an incentive, you would pay your portion, the tenant's portion of the rent will increase but we don't terminate you from the program unless they've become fully self-sufficient where their making enough money to pay their full rent. Kimball: Okay, so at the point of application is really where that benchmark of 30% is evaluated then they get on the waiting list and then the preferential treatment applies so given that 30% benchmark, do we have a pretty sufficient number of folks on the waiting list that are residents that meet that threshold. Kunz: I would say yes, but Des can give the details. Moore: So the latest data that I had for the past year showed that almost 80% of our families, actually more than that, are at extremely low at 30% or below so we do meet our requirements. That's the reason why we had expanded up to 80% is because we are meeting our 75% and wanted to give more moderate income families a chance to be stabilized. Kimball: Thank you for that. Just one last question based on something you briefly said about how of course these will not apply for folks that are already on the waiting list, how many do we have on the waiting list at this point and how will it take to get... Kunz: We're actually trying to get through a waiting list that we opened up, I think it was in April sometime, but Des can you give us an update on that? Page 11 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Moore: We have exhausted the list, so 648 applicants have been offered assistance and I think there may be about 200 that we're going through the process of determining eligibility so we're actually getting ready to open the wait list again, that's the reason we needed to get the amendments in before we open the wait list to ensure that the changes are in effect. Also, I wanted to clarify one of the preferences so the emergency need preference is not subject to the opening and closing of the wait list so that is a big change, we expanded the opportunity so that population will be allowed to apply through a referral system on an on-going basis so it will remain open for homeless and displaced through a supportive service agency so, or it could be a government, non-profit, charitable, mental health, health clinic, hospital any agency that has a supportive service for the homeless population or someone who is displaced will be able to refer on an on-going basis. We expect the amount once it's out there will be long so we will do a lottery system when we offer. Kunz: Des, thank you for that I forgot about that piece. And just to point out, similar to the emergency housing voucher where we're doing a referral system but it does not have to be a member of the local CoC or the Community Alliance Partners. We are expanding what we're doing with the regular housing choice vouchers. Kimball: Thank you. To reiterate, at this point, the waiting list is exhausted and so these amendments will apply to any new applicants once the waiting list is opened again. Thank you so much, I yield. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. I just want to check in to see if Mr. Richards or Ms. Villegas has any questions before I take another round here in Hilo. Villegas: No, thank you. Many of the questions that I might have asked have already been asked, so thank you for your thorough questioning. Kierkiewicz: Great, thanks. Mr. Richards. Richards: No questions, just wanted to comment, your whole Housing, your amendments are very well thought and I really like the direction of all this, so I wanted to compliment you and your team as far as what you've done, that's all I wanted to say, I yield. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Mr. Kanealii-Kleinfelder. Kanealli-Kleinfelder: Thank you, Chair. Got a low level question, how do we increase the amount of vouchers that we have, I think I ask this every time but some reason... Page 12 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Kunz: It's a HUD calculation and unfortunately I don't have any control of it but the one thing I can tell you is that the only performance measure is that we spend this money and so I just heard an update from my staff that we've now exhausted the wait list which means we can go out again but we need to keep the money spent so that monies don't get taken away from us but it's based on a calculation and I don't what it is off the top of my head but it is HUD driven. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Okay, does anyone on your staff know what that is without getting too, one of those basic perimeters that guide. Moore: I don't have an answer for what determines our baseline amount but I will say that we also have the opportunity to apply for other specialty vouchers, for veterans, for non -elderly disabled, for foster youth, so HUD has started issuing or making available these special purpose vouchers and so it's, we apply for those whenever we can and it's renewed annually also so for instance we started with 25 VA we're now up to 60 and we applied again this year so we're waiting for the determination on the amount of vouchers and allocation for funding that we'll get from that. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Is it population based, is it just County specific. Kunz: I would expect that might be but we could ask. Moore: Yeah, I'll ask. I don't know if it's based on the census, I can't remember off the top of my head. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Would be good to know. I think I've asked this before but I can't remember, the answer is not there so I'll ask it again but I think if we're real clear on that maybe the Council can help push that data out and get that out when it's time to ask for more funding or whatever that may be. Thank you, I yield, Chair. Kunz: Okay, will do. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Administrator, just a couple more questions for you and Des. I'm just wondering if I can get a little more details around the incentive programs for landlords, what sort of tactics are you employing to build up that base, what's worked so far and what else are you looking to get creative with experiment with. Kunz: Des, I'm going to let you take that. Moore: We have to beef up, I'll be honest, we have to beef up our marketing right now, we do want to, there's talk about doing some type of social media Page 13 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 because that's how everyone gets their information right now, but we do realize our marketing needs to be a little bit better on that. Kierkiewicz: I'm just curious if there's any targeted sort of messaging conversations say with the number of realtor groups that are around the island, I know that rotary clubs and chambers of commerce are also connected to folks that may have available housing stocks so also trying to get a sense on who your target audience has been and if any of those audiences haven't been reached, maybe just a suggestion to reach out to them as well. Moore: Yeah, we haven't been to the NARPM meetings this year but we do reach out to our current property management company and try to work through them to get more owners to buy into the program so we've worked with the existing property management company. Kierkiewicz: Okay, maybe another suggestion, Administrator, Des, a presentation to the Vibrant Hawai `i Housing Coalition, lot of folks around the island... Kunz: I think we did do that. Kierkiewicz: Okay, maybe one more time because I'm assuming that you have made some changes and refinements to the program and just want to make sure that this is top of mind for them. Kunz: Okay. Kierkiewicz: Couple of other things, the down payment assistance program using the HOME funds, that's correct, how much are you looking at, what sort of pot of money are we working with? Kunz: Des, do you have a dollar amount that we've designated? I don't believe that's a cap. Moore: We don't have down payment assistance program, we used to have one but we don't have that program. Kunz: I think she's referring to the amendment where we assist individuals with subsidies for mortgage payments? Moore: Oh, I'm sorry, the Homeownership Option Program, if you have a conventional loan and non -backed government loan, the down payment is 3%, 1 % must come from the participant, 1 % of the 3% must come from the participant. But most of our participants are, they qualify for first time home Page 14 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 buyer programs which require no down payment so that's the reason for the change, there were conflicting policies. Kierkiewicz: Yes, got those details, just wondering, have you designated are you looking for a million for the program, three million, is there a range in which you want to be designated. Moore: So that would be determined by the amount, the 25% above the 75 required for the 30% AMI only because home ownership, there's all these other qualifications, they have to be employed, they have to have a credit score, so there's all these variables so they're more likely be in the higher income level, more moderate income level so I'm, I think we said in our policy, I think we opted to get five additional homeownership options this year. We only currently have seven, three of which were closed escrow this fiscal year. Kunz: So there's no dollar cap? Moore: There's no dollar amount, it depends... Kierkiewicz: It's a set amount of folks you can help is what I'm.... Moore: No... Kunz: This category of individuals who qualify for this program, or would be coming in for a mortgage subsidy program would be those at 50% to 80% AMI, right, they're not going to be at the lower income and what will cap it is us meeting or exceeding this 25% threshold (inaudible) of the new applicants only 25% that be in that AMI, so that's the cap. Kierkiewicz: Got it, thank you. And then, just a clarifying question as I was reading through the Plan I noticed a moving up strategy, is this the same thing as the Emergency Housing Voucher Program? And the reason why I bring that up is because I was going through the testimony that was provided as part of the packet, there are a number of folks that really wanted to make sure that OHCD is going to be continuing the Moving Up Program, so just trying to get clarification. Kunz: Yes, it is. I apologize it is not on my list here but there is a preference for Moving Up program. Kierkiewicz: That's separate from the Emergency Housing because the Moving Up is intended to support homeless individuals. Page 15 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Kunz: It's intended to support like those programs that are not permanent programs like the FYI Program, the Foster Youth Program, there's several others that I'm not thinking of right now. Kierkiewicz: That program, that specific strategy, Moving Up, it's successful, it seems according to the testimony. Kunz: Yes, and we want to provide, you know, the basis for on-going support to those who are in those programs because they are only limited, limited time. Kierkiewicz: So the Moving Up vouchers, are these also coming from the Section 8 that we're talking about here? Kunz: Yes, all Section 8, Housing Choice Voucher. Kierkiewicz: There is no special purpose? Kunz: No. Kierkiewicz: Okay, and then have you identified how much you're going to allocate for the Moving Up strategy? I think when you guys piloted, it said about a hundred. Kunz: Yeah, I don't believe that we have, Des? Moore: Yeah, okay, so the Moving Up strategy is basically a conversion from temporary housing to permanent housing and I think each category, foster youth, veterans and home tenant based rental assistance program will be limited to 15 or, for each category, 15 turnovers or absorbsions, so the way this works is they will be absorbed into our program as long as they qualify and in good standing, so let's say, foster youth is a 36 month program, at the end of the 36 months we will put them onto the regular Section 8 program. And I think right now we have about nine of them and 18 applicants, right now. That comes from a referral from Child Welfare Service. The other one was VA, so if the VA no longer needs clinical, clinical assistance and they get severed from their VA program, we can absorb them into the Section 8 program cause it doesn't necessarily mean they no longer need housing, they just don't need the supportive service from VA. Kierkiewicz: Got it. I really appreciate those details, Administrator Kunz, Des and the entire division working on this, thank you, it's certainly a lot to manage I think we all really appreciate these very thoughtful amendments and how you've identified issues that are happening on the ground and really translated Page 16 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 into strengthening programs that we can ensure residences have housing. Ms. Lee Loy did you have a last question before I move to the vote. Lee Loy: I did, and I'm going to be supporting these amendments on this policy shift. I just wanted to understand for the use of the Section 8 housing voucher, I understand the income levels, who we're trying to help, the fine tuning what that product is like as far as the housing, is it a studio with a bathroom, a kitchenette, can we use ADUs, our SDUs, our ohanas, is this ways to qualify some of the existing housing or future development of a 900 square foot ADU, help me connect how these vouchers could incentivize the construction of housing. Kunz: So, the units in order to qualify for the subsidy and to house those individuals with a subsidy they have to be meeting County Code. There is also a guideline of the number of units and number bedrooms that a family can rent for the number of people in the household. That's the guideline. So, you know that we have families, we have individuals and we have families of, big families, so we don't limit that and the voucher is going to pay 30% of that household's income, whatever that is. Lee Loy: So then we could actually stack along with preferences multi- generational homes who have our kupuna, who has a disabled family member in a 5 -bedroom home, love it! Chair, I yield. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Mr. Chung. Chung: Thank you. I just have a few short questions, and Susan or Des, either one of you can answer, it has to do with the voucher system. First of all, historically, have we ever had any problem with spending all the money related to the vouchers. Kunz: Not on my watch. Chung: Then, have there been people who have not been able to avail themselves of these vouchers. Kunz: Are there people who have not been able to get vouchers? Chung: Yes. Kunz: Yes. Chung: So we don't have, so we cannot satisfy the demand, basically. Kunz: I guess you could say that. Page 17 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Chung: Yeah, okay. Explain to me, this is, you heard a lot of questions relating to the residency, that's something I think that many of us feel that is very important, right, cause we want to help people who have been here many years, there's a lot of history here and don't have the mobility to move to other places for whatever reason, they kind of stuck here so we want to help them. Explain what went into the decision-making in not going with the one-year residency, I know touched we upon it briefly and there was some mention about people may be coming from the mainland with families who are here for six months and we wanted to help them and of course we all understand but there was also mentioned that other jurisdictions are able to do that so obviously it's legal so from a public policy stand point, explain to me what kinds of discussions were made in that regard, when is the last time something like this was put in place, the one-year, was it ever? Kunz: I don't know if it was ever put into place here in Hawaii County, there was a lot of discussion about how strict we were going to be, you know, Des did explain a little bit about making sure that if an individual was here for six months and is now finding it difficult to be housed, that we have the option to support them and I think maybe it was erring on the side of being more inclusive as we put into play this policy we that we never had in place before. There's certainly an opportunity if we find that this is not restrictive enough and we're still finding a lot of individuals coming on to the wait list, I mean we could certainly come back to do another revision but I think it was trying to be inclusive. Chung: And nobody can fault you guys for that, of course, that is a good policy to advance but unless I misheard what was stated, did you guys say that about 30 to 33% of the recipients of these vouchers are from out of state. Kunz: The last time we opened the wait list. Chung: How does that number, that percentage stack up with other jurisdictions, how does it compare, is that a high number, a low number, just around average. Kunz: Good question, Des, would you happen to know? Moore: I don't, in comparison to our in-state PHAs, I don't know what that is. Chung: What you guys want to do, food for thought, go back take a look at that, go do some comparison analysis because that might be a good starting point to see if the inclusion policy is working or not. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Page 18 of 34 HCHA meeting Kunz: Thank you. September 7, 2021 Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Seeing as there are no other comments or questions, we have a motion on the floor to approve the PHA Annual Plan Amendments, all in favor please say aye, any opposed? Motion carries with eight aye votes. Thank you. On to the next item of business, Coronavirus Relief for Families Program Update, may I have a motion to close file on this presentation? Thank you, motion by Ms. Lee Loy, second by Mr. Kanealii-Kleinfelder, Administrator Kunz you have the floor. Kunz: Thank you so much for this opportunity to provide you some updates on the programs, you know, we've come before you with appropriation after appropriation for a lot of different programs in the last few months and I'm sure that a lot of this list of programs is somewhat familiar so I have two of my staff who are on Zoom who will be doing this presentation, Sharon Hirota who leads these programs, oversees all of these programs and all of her staff, Kelci Wandell out of Kona. So I'm going to allow them to present to you an update and maybe give you a little more information about how these programs are doing and what they're for. Sharon? Hirota: Hi. I'm sharing my screen, can you guys all see my Power Point presentation? Kierkiewicz: Yes, we can see it and we hear you perfectly. Hi Sharon. Hirota: Hi, good morning, Council Chair and members of the Housing Agency thank you very much for giving the Office Housing the opportunity to share the work that we're doing in the community in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. As Director said, thank you very much, we've been in and out of Council, Finance and appreciate our request to waive out of Finance and into Council to ensure that we meet deadlines given to us and I know it seems like it's always last minute but there are, it's more of a state government saying you need to do within an x amount of period of time and we try to be ahead of them so that the all resolutions and ordinances are in place when we receive the funding so again, I just want to say thank you, appreciate it. So today we're going to cover four different programs that we are currently administering, the Emergency Rent and I put in parenthesis and Utility Assistance Program, the Landlord/Tenant Mediation Program, our Financial Empowerment Center and then our proposed Homeowner Assistance Fund Program and this morning I'm very fortunate to have our partners on board with us by Zoom that would be sharing more in detail about the programs so first we, first off I have Jeff Gilbreth, Executive Director, Hawai `i Community Lending, who's with us this morning to share more details about our emergency rent and I always put in parenthesis utilities, people sometimes, we're learning, think that we're only helping them Page 19 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 with rent but it's actually to address both rent as well as utilities. This is a federally funded program, Hawaii County was very fortunate that it received a direct allocation from the U.S. Department of Treasury. Hawai `i County as well as the City and County of Honolulu were the only two counties that received a direct outside of the State's allocation, so Maui, Kauai is in a sub -award agreement with the State, so we got a little over 12.8 million dollars directly from the Treasury and then through a State sub -award agreement, the State gave us an additional 6.1 million, so for this program only we have 18.9 million dollars to spend. We implemented the program in April of this year and Jeff will share more in detail but I think what highlights our implementation is the method in which Hawaii Community Lending has implemented the program here on Hawai `i Island in working together with various non -profits to do it. There's lots of, this is our second round so in August in 2020 we launched the first rent and mortgage assistance program and there were lots lessons learned there and so we issued the RFP we incorporated those into it making it a much more effective and efficient way to bring up services. So I just wanted to confirm, Jeff, are you with us? Gilbreth: Yes, I'm here Sharon. Hirota: I'll let you take over from here. Gilbreth: Mahalo, Sharon and mahalo Council Members, it's so great to be here with you and presenting on this program. So Sharon has shared with you folks this partnership is unlike any other in the State of Hawai `i for the emergency rental assistance. There's seven on island, non -profits that are working in the trenches processing applications, paying out funds which we found is a strategy to make sure there is no bottle neck in terms of dollars getting out, the doors of the program have (inaudible) non-profit administering, we have six that are cutting checks which means we have six back offices able to wire funds, cut checks, right there on island. We're using the single data management database called STREAK that's being managed by Neighborhood Place of Puna and all of our partners are putting data into that system to make sure there is no duplication of financial support. Going all the way back to March 2020 including other programs that have been administered even by other agencies that aren't on our team at this point. The funds themselves, there has been a lot of, as I'm sure you folks have seen, lot of changes to the program federally and I think the federal government experienced that we've had is this that administration came in an wrote rules very quickly on the funding in comparison to the previous administration where there wasn't a lot of guidance and so with that guidance they're pretty restrictive at the beginning and we've now seen the program open up because we're hearing from the federal government they want to see dollars spent at the jurisdiction level, the reality is, is that the program needed to be more flexible to meet the needs of local families and so Page 20 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 now we're offering rent and utility payments, rental deposits and payments of temporary hotel and motel stays and this can happen, these payments can happen between March 2020 and end in December, the first traunch of funds not to exceed 15 months assistance. The temporary hotel and motel stays, I will tell you, these are for folks who have been evicted or homeless as a result of persons coming back to live in their property as homeowners or property owners are coming back to live in or selling the property, (inaudible) buyers in particular and so these temporary hotel and motel stays have been critical to keep our families housed at this time as housing navigators work to find something more permanent and there's great support on that but happy to take more questions as they come. They also opened up the rules so that you don't have to be directly impacted by COVID you now can be indirectly impacted by COVID, in our estimate everybody on this call is potentially impacted indirectly by COVID and so that opened the door, to say okay if you're alone come rent on Hawai `i Island you can qualify for assistance. Sharon, if you could continue. In terms of key points that you folks should know, as you go out sharing in your communities and with your constituents, these are only for primary residence, so folks have to be a resident and renting on Hawai `i Island, they have to be low income so 80% AMI and down and they have to provide proof of hardship whether that's due to COVID with an unemployment letter or PUA approval letter or other financial hardship which they can attest too in writing which is allowed by the federal government and payments are going directly to landlords, property managers, utility companies to make sure those dollars flow. Sharon if you could continue. We have just recently, again, the federal government changes some rules, provide some more funds, we move and so work real closely with Sharon and her team and non -profits here locally to get housing stability services up and running so there's some exciting things happening folks. We will be, we've gone through contract modifications, we've added in partners through Legal Aid Society is now a partner, they will providing legal service to make sure we have enough capacity on island to address that need, we're also adding in Vibrant Hawai `i to have community navigators who will help get word out, not just about our program but all the programs you'll be hearing about today and other who provide financial assistance so there can be that personal touch, that trust built, out in hard to reach communities in particular. They will be financial counseling through the Financial Empowerment Centers, making sure families have the emergency budget to whether this storm. We'll have additional housing navigators on island, Neighborhood Place of Puna and HOPE Services, we have a contingency fund that if folks do end up staying at a hotel or motel stay for some time and there's damage beyond normal wear and tear of a hotel stay, we can help make hotels and motels whole on that damage to make sure we're a good partner and to make sure they open these units not just because of this crisis but potentially for those for the future. And then lastly, making sure that we have a pot of funds for additional deposits for families that are low income and maybe need to compete in the marketplace which is really Page 21 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 tough right now and so we can do an additional deposit, we can also help with storage moving costs what have you, this contract essentially this extends us through June 30, 2022 or once the first round of funds are exhausted. Continue on Sharon. If you want more information, this is the website you can go to, on that website, I'll tell you there's some key points. Sharon if you want to continue on. The main thng is, is where to apply, these are the six non -profits that I mahalo deeply, these folks have been in the trenches fighting hard since April 2020 and they continue to work hard, I give them so much gratitude and mahalo and you folks should be proud of these people. Folks can apply in person, they can apply by phone, they can go on-line to any of these six partners and get that application in and so I just mahalo them and you should know they are working very hard for the community and for you folks. Continue on Sharon. This gives you a snapshot of where we were at last week so we've since have gotten a report we're at close to five million dollars disbursed to I think 750 approved applicants but this gives you some data on that dashboard, if you folks go here weekly on every Wednesday it's updated so if you want to know where we stand, what's happening, this will give you the information that you're looking for. Seeing the duplicate application numbers that have been disapproved, this tells us this system is working so using one data system tells us we're not doubling up on payments out to families so this represents that if an individual applies with two non -profits, three or four, they'll be denied from the ones where their application was the latest and taken only by one non-profit to be applied to the first, obviously, missing documents is one thing we continue to struggle with in this program though it represents about 1 % of applications, 10%, continuing on, applications received, this gives you a sense of who's applying, I will tell you self-employed individuals has increased significantly over the last month. I think the numbers of employed folks and those recently returned to work, just going to share with you where we are at as an economy, what are we looking at when 56% of folks are applying and they are unemployed and you're seeing about 18% returning back to work, still have a significant number of folks having reduced work hours and we have this aggregated data by gender head of household as well as race and ethnicity, we felt this was critical to make sure that we are addressing the needs of those disproportionately impacted economically by COVID. Continue on Sharon. This shares with you folks those who have now received funding and those who have been approved and so I can't stress enough, families are coming to us with about $27,000 annually and that's hard to afford anything. I just want you to know this program is helping a significant numbers of families under 50% AMI so very low income folks, with average grant is about 3,500 bucks but I really, I want to point your attention to that number of total individuals approved, households, this program has helped 21,000, 21,090 children and adults on Hawai `i island stay housed stably and that's just from the financial assistance and you know, in terms of, if you're looking at the race and ethnicity data, the gender data, this aggregated, we're essentially seeing a proportional amount of applications, received applications Page 22 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 approved, so that tells us we're address this disproportionate impact and women and native Hawaiian (inaudible) across the islands, just wanted to share that and Sharon I think that might be the end of what I've got, these are your partners and we're going to be adding Legal Aid, Vibrant Hawaii on there and that will be the team for now, we'll grow as time goes, possibly the mediation centers. Sharon I'll hand it back over to you and I mahalo you folks. Hirota: Thanks, Jeff and thank you for joining us, again, as Jeff said, this work could not have been done without true partnerships and using one application, one database to track all the data to minimize duplication and then to ensure people are provided assistance in a timely manner, more importantly I want to give great kudos to not only the leaders of these organizations but those individuals working in our trenches that are receiving the applications, processing and the data management team who allows the County to ensure that we meet the federally funded reporting requirements which is always changing, I appreciate all of them and to ensure that the payments are being done in a timely manner. So, any questions for Jeff, if not, we'll continue on. Kimball: Hello, thanks for the presentation both of you. I just had a question about the applicants that were disapproved for missing documents, just curious if you've disaggregated that and determined, are there certain things that people seem to be missing in particular that we can make sure to share out that they have if they apply for this program? Gilbreth: That's a great question, thank you for that. We have dug through the data the in system and, you know I'll tell you, income documents and even copies of executed rental lease agreements can be tough to locate and especially on the income documents side, the number of family members who are adult household members earning, can be tough sometimes, they're having three or four persons documents and so we continue to go back through and contact those families, we even been working with Micronesians United Big Island and the instances where English has a second language to be able to make sure that we're properly communicating the need and the documents that are needed, after three touches and we're not hearing from folks, we do disapprove them but we encourage them to apply back any time and so you know, it is discouraging I think with any program the more paperwork that you have to put together, I will tell you, we've moved toward promoting the income attestation form which the federal government has encouraged us to do as a way to streamline some of the process if we can't initially get all the documents, federal government is saying, here, come sign this form and they can move, we'll also working with the landlords, if there's not an executed, signed lease agreement in the tenant's hands, if the landlord wants his money, I think they've been happy to provide that executed lease agreement so we're seeing that number reduce but I think that will be a constant with this program, you know, Page 23 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 as I said just continue to message folks on that website: hawaiicountyerap.org, there's a documents checklist and if you folks, if you're doing anything, messaging out to your constituents, I would really encourage them, first get your documents together and that list is provided on the website there under Documents, the Documents Checklist prior to applying and that will help them streamline a bit. Kimball: Thank you, that's very, very helpful cause we do get a lot of questions about what documentation is needed. The other question I had was, at this point, roughly 25% has been disbursed, is that amount calculated across that whole 15 month timeframe, I'm wondering about the longevity of this program which the remaining funds available, how many more families do you think we can add on to this program? Gilbreth: Yeah, that's another good question. So actually these funds that we're referencing here today are those that have been spent since end of April so this was under a separate pot of funds from the rent and mortgage assistance program where we disbursed I think around 11 million, and so with this, our projection show that by end of September we should have committed close to six million dollars, that would help about 900 households roughly 2500 residents. There's a second traunch of funds, I think which Sharon pointed too, and so those funds will actually carry us through to June 30, 2022 and our assumption is is that by the end, by that point, our projection show about 1800 households will be served under this program, roughly we could be looking at close to 5000 residents stably housed as a result, those are just based on projections and what we are finding is there's folks that are applying now that didn't get anything as far back as March 2020 and so we're seeing larger amounts of disbursements come out and possibly fewer families but that's where our numbers point too right now. Kimball: Great, thank you so much so that, thorough response and everything you and your partners are doing to help house, keep our families housed, I yield Chair. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Jeff, I had a question, I'm on your website right now and maybe it's just me but I'm not able to access the data maps regarding applications received and where funds have been awarded. I just wanted to flag that it said I needed to either request access or it didn't exist but I'm really curious about that data, you know a number, there's so many (inaudible) around the island particularly in Puna and Ka`u and so I was curious around how many applications you have been seeing from those regions and how many pay outs are actually happening, you talk about wanting to make sure the most vulnerable are getting this support, so I'm just curious where are you getting the Page 24 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 most applications and where's it's going out now and where it is in which you need better support. Gilbreth: Yeah, good question. I'll make sure that we'll double check on that website, Councilmember, in terms of applications received and those being paid out, we are tracking by zip codes, right now we're seeing Hilo and Kona having the most in terms of applications and those approved, I don't think that should be a surprise, but in the Puna and Ka`u districts, what I can do Councilmember, actually for all the districts, we have data by zip code and I can pull that together and get that back to you folks in response so you have it, I do think, getting outside of Hilo and Kona we are constantly needing to get on the ground and honestly go knock on doors. In support of the solution with Vibrant Hawaii and housing stability services is to get community navigators potentially students from the University who are from those communities and they're knocking on doors and neighbors, friends and families let them know about this program to build that trust kind of right off the bat but I don't have that readily available, Councilmember, but I can provide it to you in a follow up. Kierkiewicz: Jeff, no worries, just curious, yes, if you could get us that data, I know that we'd appreciate it. Thank you. Any other questions? Mr. Kdnealii- Kleinfelder. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Thank you, Chair. I just watching everything happening right now as far as the ups and downs in the business community with COVID cases, we have a person who is just seeing a lower wage or lack of hours and bouncing in between jobs, no job, job, no job, on hold, on pause, are they, I'm guessing, yes, are they, can they apply for these funds as well? Gilbreth: Absolutely Councilmember. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Okay, that's good. I mean it's, we're going to be in a weird pattern watching the COVID and the way the Delta variant is affecting us and I wanted to make sure that everyone knows that these funds are very open and that it just takes the application, get your documents together and then hopefully getting some funding and what's amazing to me you're able to actually back fund to March 2020, if they didn't come in and apply earlier. A lot of people I know just, there's this thing where someone else needs it more than us or our family is doing okay you know, we're not struggling too bad but someone else could use it more than us and they're not taking advantage of it, I keep telling them the funding is there, take advantage of the funding and make sure you guys are okay and get ahead and not fall behind so it's incredibly important. I'll help message this to our Facebook page and social media and I thank you for the presentation today. Page 25 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Gilbreth: Thank you Councilmember and just your last point, I think we're hearing a lot of that, I think our local families are humble, they feel like they're not struggling at this moment, putting together whatever funds they have to pay for housing, that might mean they are not paying for other needs and so I appreciate them, I think Councilmember, if there is any way we can help message your constituents that this program is open and available, we want to work with you so just tap me, let me know and I'll be happy to work with your offices to get that done. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: I would offer that I have heard from people I that know very well that they didn't there is any programs still available. I keep pointing them to this website and others saying just go and log in and sign in. It is hard to reach everyone, I'll do what I can to help you out. Thank you. Kierkiewicz: Thanks you guys. No other questions for this particular program I know you have to get through a few more, feel free to continue. Great to see you, Jeff. Gilbreth: Mahalo. Hirota: Thanks, Jeff. Thank you to everyone. So next on our schedule, we'll move this along, we want to be mindful of your folks time, is the Landlord/Tenant Mediation Program. This was funded through the State through a sub -award agreement so although its coming through the State its federal funds, contract period currently is August 1 It to July 31 It and in essence this program was program was created under Act 57 which was signed by the Governor back in August of this year, July of this year and we are currently on contract with West Hawai `i Mediation Center in partnership with the Kuikahi Mediation Center to implement this program and we have both Eric Paul, Executive Director of the West Hawaii Mediation Center as well as Julie Mitchell, Executive Director of the Kuikahi Mediation Center here this morning to join us and share more information about the programs, so Eric, I'll turn it over to you. Paul: Mahalo, Sharon, mahalo Councilmembers for listening to how we're helping our residents here in Hawaii County through mediation and in partnership with several other agencies and community, including Jeff's Hawai `i Community Lending, Legal Aid, etc., so in short, I'm going to share a little bit and then I'm going to hand it over to Julie, my counterpart in Hilo at Kuikahi Mediation Center, we're really working hard to make this kind of a uniform program for the full County and working together in order to really serve the residents here. So this is a Countywide program, we act as a direct service agency that offers mediation for landlords and tenants to come together but we also work with referrals for those who call in whether that's with Legal Aid or Hawai `i Community Lending and Hope Services. The State moratorium ended Page 26 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 on August 6th and as it expired, Act 57 was enacted which was signed by Governor Ige, this new law requires that landlords provide the option of mediation to tenants before landlords can file a summary possession case in court. So the same week that the State moratorium ended, the CDC extended a federal moratorium and two weeks ago that moratorium was overturned by the Supreme Court. As of today, September 7th, landlords who have tenants who are three or more months behind on rent can begin the mediation eviction process. For tenants in Hawaii County, landlords must email the 15 -day notice to the mediation center or give us a call on the side on which their tenant lives so if they live west side, they call West Hawaii Mediation Center, they live on the east side, they call Kuikahi Mediation Center and the landlord will receive an email confirmation back, kind of a form letter, letting them know that the process has started for them. Sharon, if you could go to the next slide for me. So it's really important for landlords it's kind of a dual process, they need to let their tenants know that the eviction process has started but they also need to call the mediation center right away when they've received the notice because mediation for us has to be scheduled within 15 days from the date of that notice. Now the mediation doesn't have to occur within that 15 -day scheduling period but we are letting the landlords know as the process goes whether or not those mediations are being scheduled and when. So the mediation center will then schedule those mediations as soon as possible, we're working with contract mediators in order to expedite that process and then after 30 days from the date of notice, the landlord can then file for summary possession eviction case in court. So that's kind of the process that it goes, both of our centers have case managers that are strictly devoted to this program as well as contract mediators that are working with in order to make sure that the program itself, the mediations, can go as efficiently as possible. So I'm going to hand it over to Julie now, she'll go over a few other things. Mitchell: Hello, thank you for having us today, we appreciate sharing with you folks. So, I think most of you here today are familiar with the non-profit mediation centers do and how we help our community and are aware that Act 57 is the Statewide program so the five non-profit community mediation centers in the State have been working closely together on this program and we will send people in the right direction because again people may call a different center and so we'll direct them to where ever the rental unit is located to that mediation center. So, for mediation, we're letting the landlords and tenants know that mediation is a safe, private and confidential process, it helps people make their own decisions about their own issues rather than having the courts or the judges have to decide. The goal is to help improve the communication between the landlords and tenants, it's been very strained during COVID times so we've had situations where the landlords were not sure how to approach their tenants and the tenants are behinds and maybe shame or what have you and so don't want to approach the landlords so a lot of the work that we're Page 27 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 doing is bridging the gap between those folks and also sharing resources with folks, for example, we are sending everyone information about the rental, Emergency Rental Assistance Program so that landlords and tenants both have that information like one of the Councilmembers said, I can't remember who now, but the people, I think it was Matt, people still don't know about this program so sometimes we're sharing it with people who call for the very first time or they have heard on the news that it's run out of money and that's Oahu's program, not Hawai `i County. Mediation is very different than going to court and in court everything is public, it's intimidating, it's very formal, it's based on legal precedence and in mediation we can help people talk story, talk story with the mediators, talk story with each other, by being impartial, the mediators demonstrate to the participants that they don't really have a stake in what's happening, they do have stake in helping people see if they can work it out on their own and to see if people can negotiate some solutions going forward, I can tell you over here the mediation agreements so far have all included rental assistance either continuing on with the application, continuing to communicate because it's been granted or applying for the very first time. If people are able to come with a mediated agreement, that helps them avoid court so I think one of the big empathise behind this program is to divert cases to mediation so that we're preventing eviction, we're preventing people from potentially becoming houseless and preventing an on slot in the courts of summary possession cases and so this is kind of like the last stop where the people can make the decisions for themselves to avoid going through that court process. Next slide, Sharon. And so some things that we anticipate negotiating and we also anticipate some very creative solutions that may not be on this list so we're looking at a combination of these usually so for example, let's apply for rental assistance together, it's going to cover up to this many months and then there may be other months that are not covered, let's do a payment plan for those, is there an opportunity to do some work trade, to work off some of this money owed, what about going forward, so let's say rental assistance is going to cover you for 12 months, what about the next four months of rent that are coming up before the end of year and in some instances it may be moving out is the preferred solution so we've had some agreements where we've seen that the landlords agrees to let the tenant move out and waive all back rents owed and just keep the security deposit in order to recoup, reclaim the unit and then that's also help for the tenant who wants to leave without having an eviction on their record. Anything else that would support folks to come to resolution together is something that we are in favor of so it's very unique to each person, I mean there are going to be some similarities but each agreement is written separately and independently of each other one, every other one, so that people can come up with whatever creative solutions work for them and their specific situation. Next slide, Sharon. We have dedicated web pages, dedicated emails and dedicated phone numbers specifically for this program and again, it's based on where the rental unit is located so where Page 28 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 the renter is located. If people mistakenly call the wrong center whether it's on our island or in the state, we will refer them to the correct location, we'll just do a warm hand off to the other mediation center saying this is actually is someone in your area and so again, we're working closely together, Eric and I, and we're also working closely with the other centers in the state to try to make this program as effective and beneficial to folks as possible and we're hoping that the messaging becomes even more clear on its availability and we're going to be ramping up our outreach and marketing efforts, we're waiting until October 3rd when the CDC eviction moratorium was supposed to expire to do a big push because there has been some confusing messaging so we'll be continuing to do a lot of community education around this program. And that's it for our section. If there's any questions, Eric and I will do our best to answer them. Hirota: Thanks Julie, thanks Eric. Kierkiweicz: We have some questions here. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Thank you Chair. Quick questions for you, for anyone. Does this apply to commercial leases, businesses? Mitchell: No, this is a residential program, Act 57, specifically is for residential eviction cases for non-payment of rent so it does not apply to other types of evictions that landlords are trying to effect right now, however, we actually have a few or more, we are getting a lot of inquiries about anything related to landlord/tenant issues right now and we're trying to answer and steer people in the correct direction. If people did want to do mediation around commercial leases, we would be happy to provide those services it just wouldn't be through this program. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Ok, thank you. That's going to start to happen more and more, lot of the funding that came to businesses has been used or wasn't predictive of a Delta variant causing multiple closures, so it would be good if you can help at all in that aspect and then I wanted to ask, what happens if a landlord does not email the notice within 15 days? Mitchell: There's a lot of things that will be left to the court to decide so we have heard sometimes from tenants that they received something and then we'll ask for their landlords contact information and try to reach out to them but sometimes it's a different kind of notice cause there's 45 -day notices, so we'll try to get as clear as possible on what the situation is and then still offer mediation services no matter what, if it's a 15 -day notice to Act 57 or if it's any other kind of landlord/tenant issue, we're still going to try to help them. Page 29 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Ok, ok, so you're not quite sure what happens if that landlord does not email or sent that notice within 15 days? Mitchell: I mean, again ,we're not an enforcement agency so there will be a lot of decisions that will come to the court if landlords did not follow the methodology set out in Act 57 that will be up for the district court judges to decide and it's written into Act 57 that they can refer parties to mediation from court as well so we anticipate that happening as well. Kaneali-Kleinfelder: Ok, thank you. That was all my questions, that was a wonderful presentation. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Any questions from our friends in Kona or Waimea? Hearing none. Julie, Eric, mahalo nui for all of your hard work in this space, I know that you folks have been at this for some time now having stood up the rapid response landlord tenant mediation program and I know that has been really successful and has had a lot of impact in community because it's been an option and now the State has seen wisdom in that program and it's been mandated here, just wondering if you could take a couple minutes to kind of talk us through the impacts that that initial program has had just curious about your successes and any lessons learned that are being applied here. Mitchell: Eric, do you want to take that one? Paul: I think we both can. The first thing that comes to my mind for a big success is, it hasn't necessarily seen, for me the successes are not just in the agreements that came about which we did, our cases on landlord/tenant has doubled over the last year and we've seen agreements come out of that that have kept people housed but really we've fielded a lot of phone calls where we've been able to give people kind of direction of where they can get rental assistance, I think a lot of our marketing efforts as well has kind of driven the success that Hawaii County has seen in getting rental assistance out to folks and the mediation centers here I believe have really played a key role in that work as well. I'll let Julie speak from her perspective. Mitchell: Yeah, I think again, when we look at success and mediation, yeah there's how many agreements we get and then there's a lot of other things that happens so I think a lot times for both the landlords and the tenants have someone to call and talk too, so we had some landlords calling us like literally every month, going, when is the eviction moratorium ending and we would just keep telling them the new date because they just couldn't keep up with it, they are small mom and pop landlords and also with helping people communicate so after they've talked to our very friendly, kind and compassionate case managers who give them resources and listen deeply to their situations, a lot of Page 30 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 times, the case manager was able to go back and forth a couple times, the landlord and tenant where then they didn't need our services, they were able to talk directly to one another because the fear of saying or doing the wrong thing was dissipated through what the case manger would pass back and forth and again, even though we're aware of what all services are out there, the public is still not aware, I mean, I can't tell you how many times we're hearing that people still don't know that there's rental assistance available even though it's in the newspaper every day, Jeff has done million presentations, people still don't know about it so just being able to connect people with the resources that will help them, help them talk it out, I think has been really crucial and both the rapid response and landlord/tenant program and also will be the landlord/tenant eviction mediation program will be a key for both. Kierkiewicz: Thank you and I'm just curious if you have the data that would be really great but you know whole intent of the mediation program when you guys launched it was to really flatten that eviction curve so in the work that you've done to date with that initial program, I mean, how many evictions have resulted because we talk about all this work being done in the mediation space, I mean, has it resulted in positive solutions or folks are just not able to move forward and we've seen some evictions kind of result, people can't resolve the situation? Mitchell: Well because there was the State eviction moratorium was in effect until August 6th, I think that put a stay on most, I mean, there was still evictions allowed to go forward in specific limited cases like someone's trashing the place or doing something illegal there but they were not allowed to evict just for non- payment of rent so I think we would have to delve a little more into the filings that are happening in court but you know, the judge, so our deputy chief judge who's also district court judge, Kanani Laubach, she has been convening the mediation centers, Legal Aid, rental assistance, HOPE Services, to try to talk about how we can take a holistic approach to providing services to people as they are coming in and then also we contract with the judiciary collectively to provide mediation centers so we regularly get landlord/tenant cases so they are continuing to utilize mediation I think to try to see what can be done here. The worst thing is when the tenants, they don't show up at court so we've heard from Legal Aid that about 50% of tenants do not show up for their court case so they automatically get a default against them, it's automatically ruled in favor of the tenant so I mean one thing you folks can do is encourage to everyone to show up for their court case. There's a lot of legal services available right now, Legal Aid is providing a lot of information for both landlords and tenants that both mediation centers on this island have posted on our web pages for this program, tenants right and responsibilities, landlords rights and responsibilities so people understand what they should and should not be doing at this point. Page 31 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 Kierkiewicz: Thank you guys so much for these details, we're going to have to be wrapping up the presentation soon, we're kind of over committee but thank you so much for hard work, you can count on all of us to help you get the word out on this important program. Thank you. Sharon, we have a couple more programs to get through, yeah? Hirota: Yes. thanks Julie, thanks Eric. Yes, so we can always come back so I just want to quickly go over the next two, the first is the Financial Empowerment Centers, we've talked about this for a number of months and years and we're finally getting ready for implementation so we, through several funding sources including funding from the Cities for Financial Empowerment out of New York, locally here Hawaii Community Foundation as well as the County, we are getting ready to launch our programs, so on July 1 It we entered into a contract with Hawaiian Community Assets and Hawaii First Federal Credit Union to be our financial counselors and to stand up our Financial Empowerment Centers. Basically, what it is, it's free one-on-one counseling services as a public service to our residents, they work directly with a counseling, financial counselor to address whatever their house holds needs are. I just want to move quickly along, so using the concept developed by the CFE fund out of New York almost 11 years ago, our funding, out of Mayor Bloomberg's foundation, it's taken off and we are the first in our state to become an FEC partner. As you can see by the diagram, number of components coming together in partnership, starting with the local government and your support, so I appreciate your support in this program, our counseling providers has indicated Hawaii First Federal Credit Union as well as Hawaiian Community Assets. Our initial community partners who have issued letters of support to our program and have agreed to refer their clients to the FEC, they include two County departments so to Keith at the Department of Water Supply and to Lisa Miura at the County Real Property Tax for those that are struggling and need help in paying their obligations, instead of taking them to the (inaudible) for moving into other derogatory situations, they can refer them to a counselor who can connect them to potential resources that are available to address all of their needs. So you can see our partners there. Our funders, the Cities for Financial Empowerment Funds, Hawai `i Community Foundation, and then moving along. And then our training providers, so heads off to Advance, Hawaii Community College Chancellor, for being committed to the program. What they did was take a curriculum that was developed in the US mainland, specifically for more metropolitan cities and infused our culture into the training and I will tell you that all of our counselors who completed the advanced training and recently completed their certification all passed so thank you to Advance, their contribution to this is they did it at no cost to the program so we appreciate their partnership. So moving along, just to kind of give you some conceptual idea of how this works, they will walk into a center, get referred to a center and they'll do a financial health assessment to address what their specific household needs are but what also Page 32 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 unique about this is we'll start through a database, start tracking outcomes so depending on upon the goals of the household, we'll be able to provide the agencies that refer them into the FEC, exactly what kind of goals were achieved and then make that public, not only to back the agency but to everyone so like I said, to share as we get into it. Our goal is to have all of the counselors in place and our database in place for a soft launch at the end of this month and a full formal launch in early October. So again, the FEC, although we're starting with just a handful of partners to get us started, eventually we, this program will encompass many other organizations and agencies that work one-on-one with individuals who may not have staff on board that is certified to develop the financial or may not be comfortable in doing the deliver of services. We want to really begin to build our partnerships in the community. So like I said, for implementation, delivery of services in October of this year, we're completing the financial counseling certification process and doing some outreach, our office also brought on board Kelci Wandell, and who is being charged with full program implementation and management of this program moving forward, we have lots of work ahead of us. Any questions? Kierkiewicz: Sharon, if it's okay with you, can I ask you any questions we might have at Council tomorrow because I know that this particular Bill had been rushed, I think you (inaudible) Committee or Council so we can reserve them until that moment. Thank you. Hirota: Yes, correct. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Hirota: And then the last one cause I know, I want to be mindful of time, homeownership assistance program. Program launched in March of this year, we just finished our Request for Proposal which we will be posting today for 14 days, we're looking for a contractor to help us administer the program, initial funding is 3.2 million, with $375,000 for program administration, it is funding coming through the State, Department of Budget and Finance and I think it's on the agenda for tomorrow too for approval so I appreciate your support. Hawaii County and Kauai County were selected as doing the initial and the pilot program and then reporting back to the State for full implementation once their full plan is adopted. It's for individual homeowners experiencing financial hardship dating back to January of 2020 provided they have not received assistance, there's certain income levels and like I said, it's going to get posted today and we're launching, we're targeting for a launch in early October. Kierkiewicz: Thank you, Sharon, I think we'll also have a moment at Council to kind of talk story, ask questions so I just want to mahalo you, Administrator Kunz and your entire team for all of their incredible hard work in innovation on these Page 33 of 34 HCHA meeting September 7, 2021 programs, we really appreciate you and we look forward to helping you to promote these very worthwhile supports for our community. There is a motion on the floor to close file on this communication, all in favor please say aye, any opposed. Motion carries with eight aye votes. May I have a motion to Adjourn the Housing Agency Meeting. Thank you, motion by Ms. Lee Loy, second by Ms. Kimball, all those in favor, any opposed. Motion carries with eight aye votes. We are adjourned at 10:51 am. Thank you so much. Meeting adjourned at 10:51 a.m. Page 34 of 34