Board Meeting

The mission of the CLIHTF is to “meet the permanent housing needs of Chicago’s very low-income residents…by providing secure, safe, sound and affordable housing,” per the City of Chicago. It has 15 directors, who are appointed by @chicagosmayor.

The CLIHTF’s rental subsidy program gives yearly rental subsidies to owners of qualified buildings or developments. This program “reduces rents on a specified number of units…to a level that is affordable for very low-income individuals and families.”

It’s the largest City-funded rental assistance program in the country & provides rental subsidies in 55 of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods.

There are about 30 participants on the call & Directors are in the middle of approving last month’s minutes when I log on right at 8:30. Now on to finance and audit committee reports. Here’s the agenda: https://t.co/DqdoRhy6S1

The finance report takes just a minute. Art Donner speaks now about investments and their “basis points” and treasury rates. https://t.co/lbVPsKNBt4

We are on track for what we’ve planned for this budget year, there is nothing out of the ordinary.

Someone says there’s a chance they may not have to go into their reserves for 2021. Also mentions the Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund’s resources are decreased…

..and it’s incumbent upon the CLIHTF to “really become fiscally responsible” & in some cases look to do freezes on increases to ensure the trust fund can continue providing rental resources to landlords & tenants. See what they can do to reduce their operational costs.

Donner says there were 4 items from the last board meeting where they were trying to “tighten up these numbers” such as changing benefits numbers down to more “realistic information” which saved $30k.

This is “a budget that’s structured to have simply an excess” Donner concludes.

There is a motion to approve the budget.

Motion is unanimously approved. Next is a report from the Allocations Committee. Amy Tran talks now about a tenant who is unemploymed & dealing with various issues so she recommends a 6 month extension for him. Next is a change in ownership for a building; no change in subsidy.

The next 3 items are tabled for the executive committee due to negotiations with the owner. Now a couple more buildings where the ownership is changing, or where more units are being added.

There is an update to the unit designation at 7605 S Drexel; it’s being changed to something called an RSP.

Jackie Eden asks about the organizations Access Living and Northside Housing which seem to have had a relationship to these units in the past, & expresses concern that the lack of relationship now “is how these units are eroding”

Board President Thomas McNulty says the allocations are up for approval. A motion to approve is made and it passes unanimously.

Now for Executive Changes. These actions were taken by the Executive Committee. There is a motion to approve this action taken; the motion passes unanimously & the action is ratified

Now for a building at 1810 W Jackson Blvd developed by @CityPadsChicago, a real estate company that “focuses on developing innovative urban living, blending technology, convenience and style that the modern renter seeks” per their LinkedIn page.

“This is in a great neighborhood, a great place for us to plant our flag..a very positive development” says McNulty. It will have 29 units with CLIHTF rental support. https://t.co/ozxYYm373k

There is some concern about whether tenants can afford the rent in the building; someone assures that CityPads said they knew they could get tenants in those units.

Barry Chatz says he has a conflict and needs to abstain from the vote

1810 W Jackson is approved.

Now for MAUI, the “Multi-year Affordability through Upfront Investment” program which gives “interest free forgivable loans to replace up to fifty percent of a developer’s private first mortgage loan. The resulting savings are used to reduce the rents of very low-income tenants”

Jason Sethen talks finance, says “we don’t need to have a MAUI budget in 2021” because funds can be allocated forward. The next time they’d need to have a MAUI budget would be 2022.

The matter is tabled until the next meeting.

McNulty says they’ll end the meeting there and board members will stay on for closed executive session where they’ll hear updates from an attorney regarding a Globetrotters program. All non-board members are asked to leave. That concludes the meeting! Thanks for following along

Reply here with any questions or check out http://documenters.org later on for full meeting notes #ChiDocumenters #AffordableHousing #ChicagoHousing