2026-10-29 - City Council ARHA Joint Work Session

03:41Okay, good evening, everyone. It is 7.03, and so I'm now going to call our work session to order.

03:48If I could have everyone's, excuse me, sorry, we're gonna go ahead and get started.

03:53If I can have everyone's attention, a little bit about tonight, a couple housekeeping first.

03:59For our mics to work and pick it up for the video recording, you gotta be like right up on it.

04:05Make sure that when you finish, you do turn off your mic. If too many are on at the same time, it kind of interferes with each other and then we won't be able to hear anyone else who is speaking.

04:16I'm gonna try and make sure that I call on everyone and everyone gets a chance to engage in the conversation.

04:22What will help me is if you can just tilt your card so I can know who's in the queue and I'll try and keep track that way.

04:30In terms of tonight, we're really glad to be having this conversation.

04:36The purpose is I think everyone knows it's been about one year and since we have ushered in a new board of commissioners for ARHA.

04:44The purpose of this meeting is really for us to have that one year check in on what is the work that has been completed to date.

04:52What is the work that remains? What is the plan that the board has for completing any remaining work and issues?

04:59And then what are the opportunities for the city and ARHA to work better together?

05:04I think at the end of the day, we all share the same goal, which is that we know how important ARHA is within our city and we want it to be a well functioning organization that provides the highest quality housing experience and services for all of our residents.

05:21And so that's the work ahead. That's what we'll discuss and figure out how we continue to work together as a team to bring that forth.

05:29In terms of tonight, you have a couple things at your seat. You should have an agenda.

05:34The agenda outlines the main sections.

05:37What I'm going to do so that we have a chance to hear from everyone is after each section, I will pause for questions.

05:43You should also have a copy of the PowerPoint. The slides are online and they will be posted afterwards.

05:51So to begin, we will start with a quick round of introductions.

05:55I'm going to go to my left and turn it over to Chair Jenks and then we will just go around until we come back.

06:01Good evening. Mark Jenks, chair of the ARHA board.

06:04Sarah Bagley, vice mayor, city council.

06:08Cassandra Lewis, commissioner.

06:10Sharon Ivory, city attorney.

06:15Gloria Sitten, city clerk.

06:17Jim Perry, John C manager.

06:20Abdul Unnobi, councilman.

06:24Nate Mason, commissioner.

06:26Sandy Mark, city council.

06:27Teresa Peterson, commissioner.

06:31Jacinta Green, council member.

06:35Anna Gray, commissioner.

06:37Canica Yere council.

06:42Janelle Diaz, acting deputy, ARHA.

06:46Wade Freese, interim CEO, ARHA.

06:49Martin Lucero, director of asset management, ARHA.

06:53John Taylor Chapman, city council.

06:56Good evening, Dr. Darnella McGuire-Nelson, vice chair, women board of commissioners.

07:01Thank you all for being here and for your service.

07:03One other healthkeeping note.

07:05I know we have a number of staff from the two bodies in case there are additional questions.

07:09There are two mics.

07:10One is next to Ms. Diaz and one is next to the manager.

07:13So if you can just go to the one that is closest to you.

07:16With that, I am going to turn it over to Chair Jenks and we will begin with the governance section.

07:23Thank you, Mayor Gaskins.

07:27ARHA staff and I appreciate the talented and knowledgeable, committed nine new board members that council appointed last October.

07:36We have been in place.

07:37Our first meeting was one year and two days ago.

07:41So we are into the second year slightly.

07:44The board have been very engaged.

07:47We now meet 11 times a year, which is up from increase from the prior board.

07:52We created three committees, development, planning and resident engagement.

07:57Each meet about monthly.

07:58That means we are going to have about 40 meetings a year of committees or our board.

08:05And that is probably the most ARHA governing body members have met in decades as far as back as I can remember.

08:15It allows the committee's law of the board to delve into issues with staff at earlier stage to comment on draft concepts.

08:23And we think that gets better results and more informed decisions.

08:28We are also -- I just want to circle back to the introductions to have Mr. Priest back to serve as our interim CEO.

08:36We did not hire him to be a caretaker, but to determine what needed to be fixed, improved and make changes.

08:45We also have -- we were fortunate had many ARHA -- talented ARHA staff assist Mr. Priest in the process.

08:54They have been through a lot over the last few years.

08:57We have had five changes.

08:59In five years we have had five changes in CEO.

09:02We have had four changes in CFO.

09:04We had a number of HR directors.

09:06I think at that point we hopefully have staff stability in the leadership of the organization.

09:15And I will talk in a minute or so about the recruitment for a permanent CEO.

09:20Proceeding to the first item on governance.

09:29You should have the status report.

09:32Last -- when we got appointed last fall City Council had what was called an attestation list.

09:41It was really a list of ten items that were to-do items.

09:46Some of which were fairly straightforward and some of which are pretty complicated.

09:50We have been working on those in the last year.

09:54I won't read -- everything is here.

09:57I will hit the highlights of the ten.

10:00We have a four page chart in your package.

10:06First was the update the 2008 memorandum of understanding.

10:11Which I find ironic because I wrote the first draft of the 2008 MOU.

10:16Now sitting on the other side of the table saying what do we learn from that and what do we need to do next.

10:24In discussion with the former housing director last fall, we kind of concluded, you know,

10:29let experience in time and dispassionate perspective kind of set in, let the new board get up to speed.

10:37And then we can both parties get to the MOU and figuring out what we need to do.

10:44So that is something we need to initiate and schedule.

10:47Compliance with federal and state laws and regulations.

10:52The particular FOIA, we have been very strict and members, board members took the state FOIA training.

11:03We have been working getting back in sync with the city.

11:07For example, the code administration inspections of ten percent of properties that had stopped pre-COVID.

11:15That is now back in place and our staff is pleased because it's giving us a good second feedback on the condition of our properties.

11:26So we've been working on ensuring we're in compliance with federal and state laws and regulations.

11:32Legal counsel at our meetings, we hired early on a general counsel, Steve McCulloch, McGuire Woods.

11:41He attends all our meetings and makes sure in executive session that we don't steer away from the subject that we're allowed to talk about.

11:51And we continue to have legal counsel for specialized services like bond financing and human resources.

11:59Our HUD and board staff training, board members have been through -- HUD has 11 not very exciting sessions, to say the least.

12:13An hour, an hour and a half a piece that board members have been through and watched and listened and learned what our role is.

12:23We got a manual early on about what our roles were as ways HUD defines it.

12:30And the National Association of Housing and Rehabilitation Officials Narrow has been a source and board members have started attending some of their training and conferences,

12:42as well as they do an online, every two weeks, an online discussion of issues at the federal level.

12:50We have a city input into major hiring decisions.

12:54We've only had one major hiring decision so far, as far as permanent staff, and that was the city -- our house finance director,

13:05and the city finance director assisted in that process, interviewed and gave us feedback.

13:11We get to the CEO recruitment, we got assistance from community stakeholders and from senior city staff and council members on helping us write the recruitment profile and the attributes we were looking for candidates.

13:28And once we get to the end of the CEO process, we will need to craft something also to get feedback prior to making an offer for the position.

13:41Compliance with HR policies, that has been -- we have a HR director who started last summer.

13:48She is absolutely top-notch, and we're putting back in place things like annual evaluations, having a more regularized focus on merit in hiring.

14:01We've done recently sexual harassment training, which our HR director has certified.

14:08But we haven't had a whole lot of hiring, because we have a hiring freeze, as Mr. Priest will explain later, that the -- so we haven't really had gone through of how do we fix some of the hiring practices.

14:26We need an HR manual, and one of the things we will be looking at in our budget process is whether to add an additional staff person to the very small HR office.

14:39Third-party audit and assessment of finances.

14:43The -- in January -- and hired a new auditor, and they started working in January to complete our calendar year budget and audit.

14:54And as a result, the auditor worked during the year.

14:58It's very complicated, because many of our individual projects have individual audits that are required because they're outside investors who have assisted with those.

15:08That audit was completed and filed with HUD by the due date of September 30th.

15:15It was a clean audit opinion.

15:18There were some audit findings, and they have been and will be addressed by staff.

15:24And we're in the process of -- again, there's an office that was understaffed and hiring a full-time controller.

15:32The second part of this was a independent assessment of business practices.

15:39We think that the best business -- the most important business practice to look at is property maintenance.

15:46We put $150,000 in the budget.

15:50And what I proposed to the city manager is that when we're ready to do that, the city fund would probably be the other 50 percent and be a joint partner with us.

16:02Each stage of the process, drafting the RFP on hiring the consultant and the report oversight.

16:08So we all own the results of that study.

16:12Customer service, Mr. Priest will go through and cover this.

16:17We've been focusing on how do we do our maintenance better?

16:21How do we catch up to where we should be in regard to property status?

16:26Sharing information in the city on an open basis, I think that no surprise is the goal.

16:32So when we find out something the city needs to know, we figure out who in the city needs to know it pretty quickly.

16:40The work group, the City ARHA work group being briefed on development agreements, and those monthly meetings have been extensive,

16:49where our staff and the two commissioners, Commissioner Masik and Commissioner Peterson, who are part of that work group,

16:57have been participating in making sure the city side is fully aware of each stage of the process.

17:03And that's in addition to the staff interface that occurs pretty frequently.

17:08Sure, our commissioner's staff have thought to speak at those redevelopment work group meetings,

17:14and that has been the case.

17:16The CEOs have now been attending since last year ago, regularly, as the two commissioners who honor Redevelopment Committee.

17:27And I sit in the peanut gallery in case there are questions that get outside of redevelopment that maybe I can help answer.

17:35And the last one is regular briefing of the board and staff of those by Sir Barha.

17:41You'll hear later about the increase in resident engagement with Dr. Roy Nelson and Miss Lewis.

17:48And as articulated on this chart, we have recently saying, you know, we need we had a late advisory committee.

17:56We need a late advisory committee and helping Mr. Priest and the Resident Association getting that up and running.

18:05So I think we're it's an area we still continue to need to work on.

18:11But I think we have generally probably about everything but that MOU, which we need to sit down and figure a timetable on.

18:19We've I think we've made good progress.

18:21Thank you, Chair.

18:23At this point, let me pause and I'll take some questions on these.

18:27I have a few to start.

18:29I want to go back, if you don't mind, to to a specifically the code administration inspections.

18:35I'm curious when this started and how many units to date have been inspected by our code enforcement.

18:41Thank you, Director Fields.

18:48Good evening.

18:49Greg Fields, director of code administration.

18:51So we have inspected every building related to our hall with the exception of that's escaping.

19:01I mean, Prince's Square Prince's Square the the total number of units is somewhere around 40 because it's 10 percent of the total units for each project.

19:14And based on our staff findings, the inspections have gone pretty well.

19:21Director Fields, thank you. Can you walk through kind of so when you guys go into a unit, what happens? Is there like a checklist you're looking at and then who on our staff is that given to and then is there a process by which that's also like shared with the resident?

19:37And in case there are any findings, what does that look like and who's keeping the information?

19:41Absolutely. So we have a checklist that we walk through, you know, life safety items, sanitary conditions, you know, egress everywhere from electrical work to testing all the appliances and somebody with our is with us depending on what the property is.

20:01They're notified of any corrections.

20:04We don't have a time frame to correct those if they corrected within 30 days, we come back back and do a reinspection to double check those those reinspections have been successful because they have received their four year certificates on the units that we have inspected so far.

20:23And as the goal to so it's 10 percent of each property every year and then you keep going back until an entire property has been inspected separate units each time.

20:32Thank you. I appreciate that. Sure.

20:34I see a question from chair. I'm used to saying council member. So vice chairwoman require.

20:44Thank you. How do you determine what properties to inspect?

20:48Well, we inspect all of them. So it's just a matter of which schedule. Are you talking about the units or the properties?

20:56I'm sorry. When you say 10 percent of those properties, which how do you choose that 10 percent?

21:04So we allow our management provide those and as long and that's the same with outside of our our inspections.

21:15If we begin those inspections and we see violations, then we'll ask to inspect more units.

21:23But as long as those units go well, then we'll continue with our inspection and then pick additional units the next time we come back.

21:30Thank you. Sure. I have councilman Gary and then I have councilman Chapman.

21:35Thank you, Madam Mayor. Dr. McGuire Nelson was going along the lines.

21:39What I wanted to ask is, you know, yes, you inspect every single property, but how are those unit specific units selected?

21:45And then to go a little bit more specifically, how much time in advance are both our staff and residents given to know that that inspection is coming?

21:58Well, we what we usually do is when we're setting up these inspections, they have 30 days to get back to us with their schedule.

22:05And then we accept that schedule and move forward. So I'm not exactly sure maybe our staff can answer their questions.

22:12It relates to how much time tenants are given. But we we ask for at least 30 days to build the schedule if that answers your question.

22:23Mr. Priest or Mr. Diaz, did you guys want to weigh in on how much time tenants are given on the section related to code enforcement?

22:30They're usually giving at least 14 days notice of the inspection. Thank you.

22:35Councilman Chapman, and then Commissioner Mason. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

22:40I had a question about kind of the stopping and restarting.

22:44What was that period of time when inspections didn't take place or duration of time?

22:50So that happened pre COVID. OK.

22:53And so there were, you know, there were several years when those inspections weren't being performed.

22:58At one point, there was maybe a misunderstanding on whether we were allowed to perform those inspections or not.

23:07But we were able to get that cleared up and began those inspections.

23:11OK. Now, is there any opportunity and maybe from a capacity, whether it's financial or people capacity to kind of do some, quote unquote, catch up with that?

23:24Because if we are doing 10 a year, which are randomized, I'm assuming, or something of that nature,

23:30and we have a number of years where we stop inspections, that seems there is an opportunity to hopefully come back and increase the percentage that we do to try to catch up to kind of our regular process.

23:42Is there is there capacity issues on the financial stance or time or people capacity not being able to do that?

23:52Or is that something that we could maybe potentially discuss as an action item coming out of this?

23:57That's a good question. So the our inspections are set in state code, so we can't exceed the number of units per inspection based in state code.

24:07And you said you can or cannot?

24:11We cannot. OK.

24:12We can only inspect a maximum of 10 percent each time we go to visit the property unless we find additional violations.

24:19Got it. Thank you.

24:21Commissioner Masik and then I have Vice Mayor Bagley.

24:23Yeah, I thought it might be helpful to note that in addition to the city's code enforcement,

24:29code administration inspections, there are also inspections that ARHA does of its own units.

24:33And I wondered if it'd be appropriate for Mr. Priest or our staff to speak briefly about that process, which augments what the city's doing.

24:42Yes, Mr. Priest.

24:45Yes, we conduct we're required to conduct a fiscal needs assessment every year annually.

24:51And that's done where we go in and take an overall look at the conditions and quality of our inventory.

24:57And partly as part of developing also our capital plan for the year.

25:01We also conduct we have just recently completed just before I came to the agency, 100 percent inspection of all of the units.

25:09Those led to the production of work orders for the work that was cited that needed to be addressed.

25:15Those inspections are not done that way all the time.

25:19We also have a respect requirement by HUD to conduct annual inspire inspections pursuant to the new law.

25:25And those are much rigorous standards than the housing quality standards were in place before.

25:30And so those so they really have stepped up the requirements of what items have to be covered both internally and external to a unit.

25:38So we are doing that also.

25:40So there's a whole range of inspections that are being done on a regular basis by by ARHA.

25:47I wonder, Virginia.

25:51Oh, yeah. And we also have inspections done by the lenders on the property's equity investors, Virginia housing.

26:02So it's a whole list of inspections that we manage.

26:07And those are done on our on our tax credit invested properties.

26:10So I think what might be helpful and I think why you're getting so many questions is probably the number one thing we get through 311 or the number one things we have people reaching out to the council are related to property maintenance related issues.

26:23And so I wonder what it would look like.

26:25And maybe this is a question for the manager and Mr. Preece to kind of outline like here are all the different types of inspections that are happening.

26:32Here's the different things that they each look at.

26:34And then are they overlapping?

26:36So, you know, when you've done your assessment is Mr. Fields and his team coming in a month later or is that happening around the same time?

26:42And then I think that would give both bodies a set of data around here's all the different times we've been in a property.

26:48Here's what we've seen in each of these.

26:50And are there common trends across them that we can be investing in?

26:54So I'm not sure what it would take to pull that together.

26:57But I think that would be a great next step.

26:59I have pulled that together for inspection for for our heart.

27:03And I'd be happy to share it with you.

27:04I shared it at another occasion with the city about what our inspection for the cause look like.

27:11And also share it with the residents at our community meeting that we held with them on the 24th of October.

27:16Yes. And I think I'm looking.

27:17So if you have that, that's great.

27:19And then what I'm looking for is an overlap with Mr. Fields.

27:22So one document with I had Vice Mayor Bagley.

27:27And then I saw Councilman Chapman's and then we'll go back to the agenda.

27:30Yeah.

27:32Thank you, everybody, for the contributions.

27:34I have a couple.

27:36I don't want to repeat things.

27:37So I have a couple of random questions.

27:38And one is, Greg, I appreciate you spelling out that the number of units is set by code.

27:42Does code also set that our house selects the unit or could you select the units?

27:48Now the owners select the units initially.

27:52And I sort of knew the answer to that.

27:54But I thought it was important for the room to hear it.

27:57However, if the 10 they select don't meet a certain threshold of quality, then you can say I need 10 more.

28:05That's correct.

28:06Okay.

28:07But I thought it was worth just saying clearly that that's standard practice.

28:11And it's apparently in code as well in Virginia that they get to select.

28:16You reference Inspire, Mr. Priest, and others who maybe can answer this.

28:20I'm curious, you know, is Inspire also and M.O.R., other inspections, have a schedule that is not predictable and not consistent in terms of returning.

28:37And so I'm curious if you're able to share with us a little bit this evening or maybe in this document you're describing when a Princess Square, for example,

28:48or when a particular property was scheduled for or did have or anticipates its next.

28:57Because again, for people participating in this, a good score means you don't get inspected again potentially for two to three years.

29:05A poor score means it's happening again next year.

29:08And so I just think I'm just saying that out loud because I think it's a it's a it's why the schedule might look odd and inconsistent.

29:19And maybe it would be useful if we had a baseline of when these properties most recently had an Inspire or an M.O.R.

29:26and when you anticipate the next one.

29:28I can provide the schedule to you in the document that I have.

29:32Unfortunately, I didn't get a copy of that with me, but I'd certainly be happy to provide that to you as you know, that AHA has adopted the requirements for using Inspire when it's not even required.

29:46HUD has not required every authority to mandate to be able to do that.

29:50Yet we have adopted the higher standard for inspection consisting with Inspire and we are doing our properties.

29:56At one point you may have known that there were reaction inspections that were being done by HUD.

30:01And they have not done many of those since COVID.

30:04In part as due to their own staff capacity to do it.

30:08But in fact, there was a whole series of new inspectors who were trained by HUD in order to be able to understand and adapt to the new inspires inspection standards.

30:18No, I appreciate that.

30:19And I think one of the thing one of the major changes between the past react standards and inspire standards is a greater emphasis on actually in unit performance versus sort of cosmetic.

30:29And, you know, appearance and property wide standards.

30:32So I agree with your statement.

30:34And I think it's important maybe for people to appreciate that the Inspire standard really is trying to focus on the quality of life for the residents inside the unit is a higher higher standard.

30:44So yeah, it would be great to see that schedule.

30:48Also, all of our inspection staff, in fact, we're required to take the training and are required not just for that, but annually are supposed to be continuing to get continuing education on inspection standards and protocols.

31:02Yeah.

31:03And so the last question I have, I appreciate that you've done a hundred percent unit inspection over the last 12 months.

31:09What is the plan moving forward?

31:12Is there a quarterly, you know, where X and 25 percent every quarter?

31:18Have you all set that process out yet?

31:21Well, one of the things we're doing is in addition to the standard inspections that we do, because we have staff that are in and out of units on a regular basis.

31:29Our maintenance staff, our inspection staff, our housing specialists and whatnot.

31:35We are asking them to, in fact, to denote any conditions that they see in a property that require us to go out, not just do a work order, but need to go in and do some further inspection of the unit for whatever the reason may be.

31:48And even if we requested by a resident to conduct an inspection, we'd be willing to do that, regardless of whether the schedule for that is.

31:55So no, I appreciate that.

31:59And I guess my last question is there's a slide that I think we're going to see later that talks about sort of several thousand open work orders.

32:06And now 200 work orders.

32:09Are those work orders the result of that hundred unit inspection or are those resident reported work orders since the new process?

32:19It's a combination of both.

32:23So I have one more question and a comment and then I'm going to turn it back over so we can go into the CEO search item seven on improve customer service.

32:30I'm just wondering what metrics are house using to evaluate any improvements in service either Mr. Priest or a member from the board.

32:42In terms of what standard are we using to determine whether or not?

32:46Yes.

32:47So for number seven, one of the things that the council wanted to start to see was improve customer service.

32:52I'm just wondering either what standard criteria.

32:54How how are you guys evaluating that so that we can track that over time?

32:58One is looking at the number of city community resident requests we would get for or complaints we receive about quality of service or things like that.

33:09So we track those kinds of things on a regular basis.

33:12And I don't know what the standard was before or what was happening.

33:16I don't think there was.

33:17Okay.

33:18But I know we pay a close attention to that.

33:21What percentage of our residents are we getting complaints from?

33:24What are they?

33:25What's the nature of them?

33:26How quickly are the staff responding to them and things like that?

33:29So we I'm going to pay close attention to making sure we responsive.

33:34I hope that you are seeing since I've been here that we are responsive to those requirements.

33:38It comes requested comes from the council of information that we've been trying to be responsive to that as well.

33:44Is there a resident survey?

33:46I mean, it's something I know on our side on the city side.

33:48We're trying to implement so we can get more feedback.

33:51Is there one for our house?

33:52You know, at one time customer service survey was a thing that was done on a regular basis.

33:58I don't know when your last one was done, but it is our plan to do one again this year before this year's out.

34:03Yeah, I think having I think what we're learning on the city side is a survey tool like that that we'll be able to benchmark against.

34:08Would be really helpful.

34:10And so I'd love to see that.

34:11And then my comment.

34:12And then I'll go to Councilman Chapman Councilman newbie.

34:14And then Mr.

34:15James on the MOU's council has given.

34:19So I think just for our house awareness, we are trying to finish these MOU's with all of our quasi agencies.

34:24So we're in the middle of trying to get them with everything from ADP to the idea to the libraries.

34:30We've given the manager direction that we want these completed all of them by I think mid of next year.

34:35So I just it says this needs to be scheduled.

34:38I just want to make sure we're all operating, that we expect this to be done just like we do for our other agencies within the next six months.

34:44Councilman Chapman, Councilman newbie.

34:47Thank you, Madam Mayor under number seven for the actions to date.

34:51Can you expound a little bit more on what you mean by maintenance management, given more decision making authority and also what's the expected outcome from kind of doing that?

35:01And what that means is the fact that what I've been trying to do is empower the directors of our maintenance department and our crew chief to make decisions about work that needs to be done and not have to come to me or other senior management to do it.

35:19And part of that doing is empowering them to realize that they have the responsibility for the day they scheduling management of staff and reporting.

35:27They don't need to come to me and say, can I do this?

35:29Okay.

35:30And that was the behavior was going on.

35:32Thank you.

35:35Okay.

35:37Councilman newbie.

35:39Thank you, Madam Mayor.

35:40Mr. Priest, you mentioned the number of requests that come in and how fast they are addressed.

35:45So it seems like you're tracking that would it be possible to like provide counsel with like an annual report of like how many requests are coming in and how fast these requests are being addressed or how, how fast work orders are being closed, something like that.

35:58I can only do that since I am present and I'll be happy to do that, but I can't go back because I don't know what I have not found any reporting system that accounted for that.

36:09Moving forward.

36:10That's fine.

36:11I think it just like something that we can counsel can look at and see if you know maintenance and service is actually improving by the numbers.

36:18That'd be fine.

36:19Happy.

36:20And I'm sorry.

36:21One more question.

36:22Do you have a standard of how quickly a work order needs to be addressed or closed?

36:24Yeah.

36:26The standard again depends upon the nature of the work order.

36:30If it's a life and safety healthy issue, 24 hours, that's required by standards for regulation.

36:37If it's a matter of dealing with routine maintenance items, they have to be completed within 30 days on things like dealing with repairs to our properties or unit turn around.

36:49We're looking at a 20 day schedule for doing that.

36:51It's not 20 days right now, but we are tracking our work orders and you will see these I've seen from the number of workers we're getting now per month to the amount of time or what's left in the end of the month to be done.

37:03There is in fact an improvement in the timing of how they are being done.

37:08And part of that also comes just from really directing the staff to take ownership and accountability for the quality of work that they do and the timing for when they do it.

37:20You know, I have found and seen that there are too many situations where we are going back on one work order two or three times.

37:29It's a problem.

37:31And so we're trying to correct that situation so that and part of that goes to training for the staff.

37:36Thank you.

37:38I appreciate it.

37:39I think one opportunity because I'm always trying to look for like where we can support each other.

37:43You know, I'm thinking about 311 and the fact that if we needed to pull at any given time, we can see how many 311s came in.

37:51How many meet their standard of when they were supposed to be responded to and what's the feedback we got.

37:56I don't know what the equivalent system looks like for a housing authority, but there's got to be examples that we could look at to have some sort of software with it.

38:03Then we can see here's what's coming in.

38:05Here's the benchmark it was supposed to meet.

38:07Here's how many met it and how many didn't and I don't maybe there's some shared learnings or opportunities to follow up between thinking.

38:14Mr. Manager may be director Wells can come to the next our city work group meeting and maybe there's some ways we can think about setting up a similar system.

38:23Vice Mayor Bagley last one.

38:24I'm going to hold my word.

38:25Last one.

38:26We got a lot more to get to last one.

38:27And then charging.

38:28So it's actually on this point, which is when we had the when we appeared several of us at the tenant event a couple of weeks ago, there was reference to a grievance process for a ledger issue for like rent based disputes and that there was a grievance.

38:44Employee assigned.

38:45And what I just want to float is I think one of the other persistent things we're hearing is a work order is created and is closed.

38:52But from the residence perspective is not actually addressed.

38:55And we see this in three one one two to be clear.

38:57So I'm curious.

38:58I'm just floating.

38:59The last question I was going to ask is like one has that grievance employees information been posted throughout the portfolio.

39:06My understanding is that was the plan.

39:08And two, could that potentially be a venue as well for, you know, I said there was a leak.

39:14They came out.

39:15Nothing happened.

39:16The work order has been closed.

39:17So, you know, send it to the grievance officer to sort of express that it wasn't addressed to the resident satisfaction in some way to follow up because admittedly we see that in three one one two.

39:27Sometimes it gets closed and the hole is still in the road.

39:30Yeah.

39:33I mean, I think what happens when needs to happen is the fact that on work orders when a resident is present at the time that the work is being done.

39:41The residents requested to sign that they have seen and observe the work has been completed.

39:47That is being that's being done.

39:49If it's not being done, then we will be able to distract that because they have to turn in a completed work order to indicate that and has the signature on it.

39:59Now, that's not a grievance matter.

40:01A grievance matter is something we were terminating services or evicting and things like that.

40:06So there is not a similar structured grievance process for what you were asking the question about.

40:13But we do have a grievance process in place for handling other level of actions that are taken relative to a continuing service or continuing eligibility for a resident in our program.

40:27Thank you.

40:28In regards to the recruitment status for the CEO, where we are at this point, we hired this this this summer a search firm earlier than that.

40:42We had had extensive community input on what the community thought community as well as city cities.

40:51I ask and counsel and asking the city's key city staff what they thought the attributes of a CEO should be.

41:02So we've had that information.

41:03We gave that to the search firm.

41:05We hired them.

41:06The job has been posted.

41:08It closes November 10th.

41:11So far, they're about checked with the search firm a couple of days ago, about two dozen applicants.

41:17And the firm, which focuses primarily on public housing recruitment, is very pleased with the number and the quality of some of the applicants.

41:29We'll probably have more once we get close to the end.

41:32That's difficult in the HR business.

41:36The search firm will vet the candidates.

41:38The background checks on applicants have already started so we don't do interviews on anybody that doesn't pass a background check.

41:47And then we will meet.

41:48The board will meet the search firm in November.

41:51We've got to do screening of the search firm will say these are your top -- I'll pick a number -- top ten people who have applied.

42:00And then the board will determine -- probably interview those folks and then determine who are the finalists to interview.

42:09The schedule says final interviews in December and an offer made.

42:14I wouldn't be surprised the process doesn't take us longer.

42:17I think Mr. Peterson said something in one of our meetings.

42:20You know, we just got to get -- this is our opportunity to do it right.

42:26So if it takes us a little longer to do it right, that's the plan.

42:29But at this point, we're pretty close, I think, to the original schedule.

42:35Any questions on the CEO search?

42:38Okay.

42:40Well, we look forward to checking back in December on the applicant.

42:45Moving now to resident engagement and transparency.

42:49And I'm going to start with Dr. Darnella McGuire-Nelson.

42:54Thank you.

42:57I'm also speaking on behalf of Commissioner Antoinette Rodriguez.

43:05So, Antoinette, I'm sorry.

43:07So I want to talk a little bit -- just point out some key factors.

43:10Mr. Preece and Aja on September 24th had a meeting with residents and stakeholders.

43:17And during that meeting, that gave the residents and stakeholders an opportunity to ask numerous questions,

43:23trying to resolve some issues.

43:26And what made that different was that there were key staff from all departments

43:31that ranged from maintenance to property manager and to resident services.

43:37Also in attendance was the resident association.

43:41And it is the goal of Aja and the board to make sure that these meetings are intentional,

43:48so they want to have these meetings on a regular basis.

43:51During our board meetings, we also want to make it clear that residents and stakeholders

43:57in the public have an opportunity to speak at the meeting.

44:02So we want to make that opportunity to speak more flexible.

44:05Right now, people who want to sign up, they go online and they register.

44:11However, if you come to the meeting, you are able to speak, and we want to make that clear.

44:17We want to take down any barriers that may limit you, a person from not speaking.

44:24So that is not the intention of the board.

44:26We want to hear what you have to say.

44:28For the resident association, the officers are in place, they have regular meetings,

44:36and they are out and about in the communities, all the Aja communities.

44:42Our rent cafe has been enhanced, you can pay your rent, file your paperwork, and submit inquiries.

44:49So we are training residents on how to use that.

44:53And if residents have any questions, they feel free to contact Aja.

44:59Now, there's something that's coming up starting January 1st, and that's HOTMA,

45:05which stands for Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act.

45:10And this was an act enacted by Congress several years ago.

45:14It's been postponed numerous times.

45:19However, on January 1st, it goes into effect.

45:23And I do want to say in speaking with Mr. Priest and the staff and myself going on training,

45:30Aja is ahead of the game because they have been implementing these requirements for some time now.

45:37So it should be a smooth transition, but it's about educating the residents on what they need to make sure they are certified.

45:45And with that said, I'm going to send it over to Commissioner Butler.

45:52I mean, I'm sorry, Cassandra Lewis. I'm sorry.

45:58Good evening, everyone. I'll be reading this for our president, Annette Rodriguez.

46:05This is Rebuilding a Stronger and More Active Resident Association.

46:10Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council, City Manager, Aja Leadership, and everyone present.

46:16My name is Annette Rodriguez, and I'm the president of Aja Resident Association.

46:20Today, I want to talk about rebuilding a stronger, more active, united, and transparent Resident Association.

46:28When I stepped into this leadership position, one of my priorities was to bring residents back together,

46:37rebuild their confidence, and encourage them to become more involved in decisions that affect their homes, families, and communities.

46:49I believe a Resident Association should be more than an organization that holds meetings.

46:54It should be a place where residents feel welcomed, respected, supported, and most importantly, heard.

47:01Resident engagement begins with communication, trust, accountability, and transparency.

47:07Our association is working to become more accessible and active throughout our communities.

47:12We want residents to know that their voices matter and their concerns become deserve attention.

47:21As president, I am working with our association officers to strengthen meetings, improve communication, encourage participation,

47:29and help residents understand their rights and responsibilities.

47:32One positive step toward greater resident engagement is providing more flexibility for public speakers at our board meetings.

47:40Residents know residents now have the opportunity to speak without being required to sign up before the meeting.

47:47Who also wants to encourage more flexibility in how board members engage with residents, allowing meaningful conversation and questions when appropriate.

47:59We saw a positive example of this during the last board meeting when the elite residents had an opportunity to engage with the board and express their concerns.

48:07I believe this type of open communication should be continued because it helps residents feel respected, heard, and comfortable participating in the decision making process.

48:17Transparency is not only about sharing information, it's also about creating opportunities for residents to speak and be heard.

48:26By rebuilding an association cannot be accomplished by one person alone.

48:32It requires teamwork between residents, association officers, property managers, all our leaders, and the city of Alexandria.

48:39We must also reach residents who cannot regularly attend meetings, including seniors, individuals with disabilities, and working families.

48:52Offering in-person and virtual participation helps ensure that the voices are represented.

48:59As we move into 2027, my goal is to continue to strengthen our association through resident -- ooh, this is small -- through resident education, community outreach, leadership, development, and programs that encourage residents to take pride in their homes and their neighborhoods.

49:19Our association is not here to create division.

49:22We are here to encourage cooperation, people together, and work toward solutions.

49:30Today I ask that the City of Alexandria and all our leadership to continue supporting meaningful resident participation, open communication, and greater transparency.

49:41I want residents to understand that this association belongs to them.

49:45The voices, the ideas, and participation are what we will make stronger.

49:50As president, I remain committed to serving with respect, dedication, fairness, and accountability.

49:59A strong resident association means a stronger resident voice, and a strong resident voice helps build a stronger Alexandria.

50:06Thank you for your time and continued commitment to our residents.

50:09Thank you.

50:11I want to open it up to questions on resident engagement.

50:14I have three quick ones.

50:16The first is, I've appreciated that after the association meetings, Ms. Rodriguez sends the council meeting minutes from the meeting.

50:24Are those posted anywhere on the ARHA website so that residents who did not attend the meeting are able to see the minutes?

50:30They are not currently posted on our website, but that's very easy to do.

50:38Yeah, I'm happy to forward you the ones that we've received so far, but I think if there could be a, I don't know if there's an association page on the ARHA website, but where these could be posted, I think that'd be helpful.

50:50America, we have our own, we can post, we have our own resident association page as well that will post it there too.

50:56I think as many places as possible. I know our board clerk Kia is also keeping copies and so I think so everyone can have the information.

51:04The other question I had, you mentioned that the mandatory meetings like the one in September will be had on a regular basis.

51:12Has the board determined the frequency for those meetings, how often they'll be scheduled?

51:17The board has not perhaps decided, but we are going to conduct from a staff standpoint, at least quarterly meetings.

51:27Two quick ones, two more left for me. One of the things that I did really like about that meeting is I did think if you had a question you could go directly for like very specific issues and I think having staff there there were people who you could get that answer really quickly.

51:42What I didn't see was a portion where if you just had any question or like maybe there's something where you're not sure which staff person.

51:49What ARHA forum is most appropriate if people just want to ask about like any question that might be on their mind?

51:57Well, they have access to certainly any of our staff. They are regularly connected to either our housing specialist or to property management staff.

52:10So and also certainly to my office to be able to ask any question and we certainly get them.

52:17Yeah, I raise it. I'm just I'm thinking about when we had a previous council member, Councilmember Kirk McPike.

52:24We realized that even though there were venues where people could reach out to the council, it wasn't always the most effective.

52:29And so we started this traveling was a traveling town halls around the city.

52:34And it was a lot for us as council members to sit through.

52:38But I think we got a lot of people coming who maybe didn't know about traditional ways of reaching out to us.

52:43So I guess I would just offer up if at any of these meetings there's a space where it's just a portion for any question or if there's a way to do some of that.

52:51It's a helpful learning that we have had on our side.

52:53And we are a regular participants at the resident association meeting. So if they're the last meeting that was held, I think it was a week or so ago.

53:02Staff was president and we were available to answer any questions the residents had at that time.

53:07So we certainly intend to be a partner in those meetings. Thank you.

53:12And then last question for me, I didn't hear an answer earlier to Vice Mayor Bagley's question about has the grievance policy and grievance person been posted at all properties.

53:20Yes, it has. Thank you.

53:22Any other Councilman Green.

53:25Thank you, Madam Mayor. In relation to this, Rodriguez's notes or tonight, I also have heard from a few residents about not being able to make the meetings for the public comment section.

53:39I was wondering if not being able to do it virtual or hoping that you can do it virtual is there opportunity to put another line item at the end of the meeting,

53:51maybe for people that are working or have childcare issues that could come towards the end of the meeting to be able to have have public comment time.

54:03We have not. It's pretty late when we get to the end of the meeting and it's usually after an executive session as well.

54:10So it's very unpredictable, but the virtual an option.

54:15It is already an option. Yes. Councilman Marks, Vice Mayor Bagley, we've talked about all of the ways in which you're trying to open up and expand accessibility.

54:25During these meetings to ask questions and who might be available to answer them.

54:29Could you describe a little bit?

54:31I'm not sure who this is directed to a little bit about what the content of those questions are.

54:36We know what we see through 311 and what residents talk to us about.

54:39Is it mostly maintenance? Is it, you know, rent related?

54:43What kinds of questions are you getting that you're providing staff to answer?

54:48Generally, they're generally related to maintenance or something like LaDray.

54:56The property manager had changed how the trash bags were dealt with and said leave them in the hallway outside your door.

55:04And which is no longer the case now brought to our attention.

55:08And that was that was addressed.

55:10So sometimes it's an operational issue.

55:13And but very often it's it's related to the condition of the units and problems.

55:21Vice Mayor Bagley.

55:23So along those lines, the rent cafe doesn't explicitly mention here if work orders can be checked on if the work order is tied to your unit.

55:31Is there a way to tie the work order status, the clock, you know, into rent cafe?

55:36No, we don't have a platform to rent cafe to do that in terms of work orders.

55:42But what we are doing right now through our YALI system, which does have a work order file program with that one.

55:52We are in fact have YALI scheduled to come in to do training and serve our system for work orders within the next 30 days.

56:01So that's that's already happening for a feature that we weren't using.

56:04The agency was not using, but it is available through YALI and we have that access.

56:08So that will be done.

56:09That will allow people to be able to check not only residents, but also internally for us having the dashboard where I can know what's going on with work orders.

56:19So if I might, one thing I might suggest is to include members of your resident association.

56:24Let them see how the system will work and not necessarily sit in when you already comes.

56:28But when you all have had your training, allow some of the resident association members and representatives to come in and see what it looks like to the staff.

56:36Because I hear it.

56:39You can pull up a unit, for example, and then click on the tab and see, you know, not just the current work orders, but the work order history.

56:45So you can see, wait, this person has been complaining about their HVAC unit for three years, you know, kind of thing.

56:51And I think that might help if the resident association representatives have some perspective, you know, and can explain back into the resident associate, okay, this is the new system.

57:01It will show how long it's been open on what date it was closed, which staff member responded to it.

57:07And the way you've described, too, it sounds like a work order can't be closed without the resident signature.

57:12And so that will be a piece of it as well.

57:14And so this might just help in terms of like resident engagement and feeling, you know, like a part of the process to let them see what that looks like once it's in place.

57:23Another thing I'd offer up in response is we have so many city work group meetings coming up, you know, there might be a space on the agenda where we could do like a demonstration of yardy and help at least all of us kind of understand what this dashboard is able to do.

57:37So then even as council members, when we're asking you to pull data for us, we actually know what the system is able to produce.

57:43I see Dr. McGuire Nelson.

57:45So Councilwoman Green, you got my wheels spinning regarding regarding how residents can be can we can remove those barriers.

57:57And I'm thinking that maybe even though they may not be able to attend, we since we have a spot that you can sign up, maybe we can have a comment section section when you sign up or, you know, for and then we can get back to that to those tenants with those questions.

58:13We're at least categorize those questions if they if they start coming and how we want to address any concerns so they can put it in writing, even though they may not be there.

58:24You're welcome. Okay, I'm going to move us to the next section, which is property management and I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Priest to begin.

58:30Thank you very much. There are five major goals that have been established for property management. Safe party housing is part of the work that we do the provision to that to our residents.

58:47Tenant stability in terms of providing early intervention and in terms of the eviction process. Maintenance responsiveness that we're just talking about that in terms of questions about timing and making sure that not only is the work being done being done in an effective way.

59:01Next up, improving the time that we can lease up a property.

59:06And second and third and last the landlord partnerships, a lot of the ability of us to have an effective housing choice voucher program relies upon our relationship with landlords, because that programs entirely connected to our landlords and we like now are meeting regularly with landlords going over,

59:25understanding, for example, the new hot no requirements, which also deals with them as well.

59:32But also making sure that we continue to be responsive to the requirement the landlords have to want to maintain continuing participation in the program.

59:43You know, this is, I'll come back to that when we talk about the housing choice voucher program. But in terms of what we're looking at to eviction mitigation and tenant stability.

59:55We have only evicted five people this year.

1:00:00We have issued about 34 unlawful detainers but has only led to 5 evictions.

1:00:05We had 318 people who benefited Mayor Gaskin from the work that you did to raise capital

1:00:12for the agency to avoid evictions that are occurring in large numbers.

1:00:17We have in terms of that balance of identified joint initiatives, there was $1,049,000, $1,000,000

1:00:27related to that.

1:00:29And since the Fresh Star initiative right now we have outstanding rent balances of $190,000

1:00:37to date and that's from April until now.

1:00:41So of that we have 138 accounts with zero balance, 114 accounts with balances that are

1:00:48owed, 2 non-compliance evictions that have occurred and 64 people have relocated or moved

1:00:54out of our property.

1:00:57What we have done is in fact trying to be on top of understanding the process that residents

1:01:05go to that leads to the potential of eviction and that is in fact what we are doing now

1:01:10is that we are making phone calls to residents.

1:01:13Once they have gone past that 10 day late period when their rent hasn't been paid and

1:01:18now you technically can begin to take a process that leads potentially to eviction, we are

1:01:23making phone calls to remind people before they get a 30 day notice.

1:01:27So you know that you haven't paid your rent this month and what ranges can we make with

1:01:32you to do that.

1:01:33So that's happening also.

1:01:34We also are mailing late notices out to the residents so they know that their rents are

1:01:39late and sending them late notes about that and then we also are working very closely

1:01:43in terms of coordinating with the court with their diversion program they have just recently

1:01:49set up to in fact allow more time for persons to be able to defray their accrued rent balances

1:01:56and pay forward for that 3 month period so we are interesting enough one of our cases

1:02:03was two of our cases were the first to try that new diversion program and the court itself

1:02:09still is not sure of how they are going to administer that program so we've had a brief

1:02:15conversation with the court about it but we are going to be supportive of whatever

1:02:20they decide to do about that.

1:02:23We also have talked about the inspection process earlier in terms of how we begin to address

1:02:28that.

1:02:29Oh one second Mr. Priest before we go to the inspections Councilman Aguirre has a question

1:02:34on evictions.

1:02:35Thank you Madam Mayor, Mr. Priest real fast so you said after 14 days they get a phone

1:02:39call and I'm assuming 30 days is the court proceedings what's the timeline for the mailing

1:02:45the late notice letter?

1:02:47The late notice that it goes out after the 30th day.

1:02:51Oh so that goes out the 30th and so when would court proceedings?

1:02:54That usually takes longer than that I mean it takes you I mean from the time you issue

1:03:00a 30 day notice to the time you actually end up in court before a judge that is that

1:03:05is can be anywhere from 90 to 180 days and depends on the court docket and other things

1:03:12like that so and even once we get a court may give us the decision on possession still

1:03:21we continue to work with residents to make sure that they can have time to pay that

1:03:26rent we give them maybe actually we've only evicted five people and we found that for

1:03:31example the unlawful detainers have led to most people don't have to your time finding

1:03:36a way to solve the outstanding rent balances so that evictions not necessary yes say I

1:03:43think the phone call is great for those that have emails do you choose to send an email

1:03:48reminder as well and maybe potentially a text message if someone wants to opt in or something

1:03:52like that yeah thank you on that point we are working with rent cafe they have those

1:04:01functions that we're trying to set that up so we can email text all at once and does

1:04:09rent cafe have the text feature or is that just the email feature um I had a follow-up

1:04:14question here when in the process can you begin the grievance process request is that

1:04:18after you get the late notice or can you start right after you receive the phone call

1:04:22well you really after a fair day notice thank you um any other questions oh councilman um

1:04:31al newbie thank you madam mayor um is there any coordination with uh city staff on um

1:04:39where the residents can be if they are late on the rent they can know about the programs

1:04:43that the city has in terms of rent rent assistance and things like that I mean council just

1:04:48you know put a lot of money into rent assistance in in this year's budget so is there any coordination

1:04:54where residents can um take advantage of that I mean certainly residents are we inform you

1:05:02about what programs are available in the city they can go to we we don't go in for them

1:05:08but we let them know which ones are providing some assistance in terms of rent support

1:05:12and things like that but that's all that we really can do at this point in time so

1:05:16if the city has any other kind of rent aversion program where they can provide additional

1:05:21assistance and it's known to our staff we certainly will refer people to those okay

1:05:25so so they are so so they are informed about the programs um when they fall behind yes

1:05:31is what I'm hearing you saying yes they are thank you uh vice mayor bagley and then dr

1:05:38um maguire nelson um thank you and I think I just want to clarify something maybe it's

1:05:42clarifying my own understanding but um if a resident has an issue like referring to the

1:05:47grievance process if a if a resident sort of disputes their tenant portion of the rent

1:05:53they can dispute that separate and apart from the rent being late or on time

1:05:59because the mayor asked the question you know and you said well when it's 30 days late I guess

1:06:03what I assume the the tenant counseling or the explanation of how their rent is calculated

1:06:10includes you know if you dispute you know what your calculated tenant portion is

1:06:15this is how you move forward because what I can envision is somebody might pay what

1:06:21they believe continues to be their their rent but they've been told that it's gone up you know for

1:06:28some people um so these are two separate things as all I'm trying to sort of have confirmed back

1:06:35is sometimes people are late because they're late because life has happened but if they're

1:06:40late because they fundamentally disagree with how much they owe that doesn't have to wait

1:06:46for a certain amount of time to pass they can kick off that grievance process that you've posted

1:06:53okay that's correct yes councilman el newbie um to your question about I think you said

1:07:02something about are there any resources I know that um miss gaino diaz does an excellent job

1:07:09in assisting residents trying to find those resources be it church organizations but the

1:07:17I've seen it firsthand how aha goes above and beyond and trying to help people to get their

1:07:23rents paid uh one final question for me I am very glad that we are away from million dollars owed

1:07:33to where you know the number we're at now but I think what concerns me is to 200 almost $200,000

1:07:40since April worries me like are we starting to tick back up because I feel like fresh start was

1:07:45a one-time thing and I don't know that that could be pulled off again so I'm curious

1:07:50what sort of actions is our ha taking to um I don't know to support people who are continuously

1:08:00struggle like if we identify somebody and they continue to be on this list after receiving help

1:08:04what next like what's the preventative action that can be taken or the supports that be in

1:08:09place so we don't continue to watch this balance go up uh yes councilman agree and sorry to piggy

1:08:17back on the mayor's question are we seeing is it more so because of the economic times folks

1:08:23simply just don't have the money or are you seeing that folks are saying I'm just not going

1:08:27to pay for whatever their reason might be well right now we had a hundred nine thousand dollars

1:08:34but two months ago we were at 300,000 uh that accumulated up to that time so that amount is

1:08:41going down fortunately um and in fact I mean each of our persons who are in our public housing

1:08:50have staff who are assigned to them that's definitely available to at any time review a

1:08:57tenant's ledger and go over them on a continuing basis they can do that if people have a discussion

1:09:03about that if in fact that requires a third party like a grievance officer we have a grievance

1:09:08officer who can listen to that kind of situation uh that may occur but so so staff is available to

1:09:15hear those kinds of things and try to remediate it as soon as possible so you know this is I mean

1:09:21there at one point in time there was a legitimate concern about the issue around tenant ledger

1:09:29accuracy and that was when we had a system integration that went on between our two systems

1:09:33um that has all been corrected has all been corrected and in fact when fresh start was done

1:09:41all the tenant accounts that were in fact uh made a part and benefited from fresh start

1:09:47were all reviewed by third party outside accountant to determine that the records

1:09:53were correct and accurate and pavement and all the people who participated in the program

1:09:57were required to sign an mou indicating the amount that was identified as being removed

1:10:03was accurate the people who are also end up in court diversion programs also signing mou

1:10:10indicating that they are agreeing with the amount that's outstanding and I um no I appreciate you

1:10:19emphasizing that I think what I'm trying to get at is I don't think there will ever be a day where

1:10:23there won't be some balance oh I'm sure that's even the case with like our private landlords

1:10:27but I guess I'm wondering if we see trends where let's say somebody went through fresh start and

1:10:32they were at zero in April and then they were back not paid in May and they're not paid in June and

1:10:38then maybe they were able to get help from the city or another church or faith and they got help

1:10:42again and then they were behind in July and August like what I would just be curious moving

1:10:46forward like what processes are we starting to see around is that because they continuously just

1:10:53cannot pay is that because maybe they need to do their recertification but like what are we seeing

1:10:58if somebody continues to be in the same situation over and over and part of that is being discerned

1:11:02by the fact of reaching out to the residents early so we call them after they have gotten

1:11:08past the late period and say well what is what's going on but maybe we can refer them to a specific

1:11:13service of some kind that may be able to assist them in the issue some people will be very

1:11:17forthcoming perhaps about what the issue may be others don't choose to disclose that so I think

1:11:23that what we are experiencing is not unique I think every landlord in this city in this country

1:11:31is having the same condition that they're dealing with where large account balances because people

1:11:36just frankly it's not that they don't want to in some cases they may be chart maybe making that

1:11:42decision but whether I pay my rent or feed my children or get health care or do all those

1:11:48things and if in fact people trusted the agency to be able to say those things we could do more

1:11:53to assist them and I think where you ended is exactly where I was getting it because if we know

1:11:58that the reason why somebody's not paying us because they can't afford food then like there

1:12:03are so many city agencies and nonprofits that provide that and could we do like a handoff or

1:12:07matchmaking to make sure we enter that it's not a perfect science but I'd love for us to figure

1:12:12out how we how we get there and let's at this point let's go ahead and go back and go to

1:12:17property management under Janelle is the acting deputy of the agency and also has run the housing

1:12:42it runs the housing choice voucher program so she's wearing kind of like two hats um so Janelle you

1:12:47want to speak on that okay on the landlord engagement one of the things that I started

1:12:56doing um starting in 2025 is meeting with different landlords so we um I meet and my

1:13:05staff my lead staff monthly with different property managers and also with private

1:13:11landlords who explain how the program works and also to review any outstanding payments that

1:13:17is missing for any participant and since then it has helped a lot to alleviate any missing payment

1:13:26for the half that it was oh um one of the things is and then new new landlords coming into the

1:13:33program also we explain how the program works so we do a briefing with them usually like in the

1:13:39last I will say in the last three months we had gotten few private landlords and once they come in

1:13:46we just explain how the program works for them this is important for the program so that way

1:13:51we can retain landlords in the program um and and also build stronger communications with them

1:14:02one of the things I want to mention just just today uh I received a message from the assistant

1:14:11secretary of HUD about the housing choice voucher program it was sent to every executive director

1:14:19around the country so it just didn't come uniquely to us and what they are saying in here is that

1:14:24because of the budgetary situation related to the housing choice program that they are requesting

1:14:29authorities to really begin to restrict what they are doing in this area and only operate

1:14:35within the budget that they have available to them and they've asked for example for agencies

1:14:40to cease the issuance of new vouchers with the exception of HUD vast vouchers pause entering

1:14:47into new project based voucher agreements reduce payment standards and in in Alexandria our

1:14:53payment standard is 110 percent and what they are saying is we should only have a payment standard

1:14:59at 99 percent I mean so the work that we're doing with with landlords if we had to go back

1:15:07and adopt a 99 percent payment standard would infect a lot of people negatively and so you know

1:15:13we have to then manage the resources that we have to make sure we can stay with our landlords

1:15:20still paying them the rate but still operate within the resources we have and that is going

1:15:25to be a challenge going forward I mean I was just shocked when I saw this kind of direction being

1:15:31given by HUD to all to the country uh about the management of the housing choice voucher program

1:15:38because this is the lifeblood for so many families and households we serve more families

1:15:42through the housing choice voucher program than we do through public housing so it's good I want

1:15:53to go into the next item which is dealing with our minions work order progress uh year to date

1:15:58we've had three thousand three hundred and fifty four work order that have been requested

1:16:03through the department and right now we have uh about eighty four percent of those work orders

1:16:09have been completed uh we have 201 uh that are pending and so we are in fact moving to

1:16:18make sure that we can get our numbers down the standard I have set is for getting work orders

1:16:24done at least 90 percent of them within any one month period and part of that work we've been

1:16:29doing is around vacant units um we had about 58 vacant units at the beginning of at the end of

1:16:38September we are now down to 29 and based upon uh our experience in turning units you know we

1:16:47came up with a schedule that these units were not going to be available until January to be

1:16:51turned that's not acceptable so I've created a 30-day period of time when all of our vacant units

1:16:57must be back and ready for occupancy and that requires also the coordination with our property

1:17:03management staff for them to begin right now identifying families who began to move into those

1:17:0829 units as soon as they are available you know I found for example in many cases uh this Diaz

1:17:16was pulling the names from our waiting list and because it was taking so much and those are only

1:17:21good for 60 days and it's in the 60 days the units weren't available people had to go through

1:17:26the same recertification process again for that same unit and so that has to be eliminated so we

1:17:32want to make sure that when those units are available in turn so now I have my staff along

1:17:37with contractors turning all of these units and all of them will be back and we're going to make

1:17:43sure that on and going forward that will release my staff to be able to then operate within a

1:17:4920-day turnaround time for any vacant unit and so that will open up opportunities for at least

1:17:56being able to house more households on a quicker time frame so that's part of what we're doing

1:18:03around the whole issue around and a lot of us deal with work orders and making sure that we

1:18:07are testifying our workers and the majority of our workers for general maintenance items and

1:18:12plumbing those are the two major categories where we get requests for work orders and again you'll

1:18:17be able to see that once we again put in place the yardy work order system we'll be able to see

1:18:23that and track that on a continuing basis again as I mentioned earlier the question you raised

1:18:29we are going to reinstitute customer surveys satisfaction surveys it should be done annually

1:18:35but at the same time I think that we want to be able to do it more than annually to let people

1:18:41know where people are what do they think is happening because you know I understand people

1:18:46complaining about things and we want to make sure we can cut down their their feelings about

1:18:52what we do and we can be more responsive to providing our work on a timely basis so

1:18:58I think we'll be on top of the work order system uh in a much more aggressive way over the next 30

1:19:03days and I'm really happy about and I want to be I will report back to you all on our achievement

1:19:10on our vacant unit turn. I apologize I thought we started at 7 30 so we didn't and this was

1:19:29supposed to be 90 minutes we're going to keep going I hope folks can stay a little bit longer

1:19:33but we'll keep going and then I'll save some questions after this section. So I'm just going

1:19:40to give an update about the waiting list currently we have over 10 000 applicants and we have not

1:19:47done an update on the waiting list for the last three years so we started with the process and so

1:19:53far we have sent out the first 3 000 notification by mail and also emails out of that amount we

1:20:02have received 350 mail return so those have been closed out um as we go through the process we

1:20:09must be do this because this is one of the challenges that we have when we have to pull for

1:20:14our vacancies we have a lot of dead applicants so if I pull 50 only three showed up and then

1:20:20those three they might not qualify for the unit so they'll have to do the whole process again

1:20:24and that's kind of like delaying and taking time for us to um lease any units um also in the same

1:20:32time I just had did I pull from the waiting list for applicants to receive their um vouchers if

1:20:39they qualify for it so we're going through the traffic is is really heavy right now um managing

1:20:46the waiting list and and I only have one person handling the waiting list so um but we we moving

1:20:52through the process given the HUD guidance that just came out if people qualify for a voucher at

1:21:01this point is it just the answer is no if they do qualify for the voucher no we we briefing them

1:21:07and then coming in well I guess given the guidance to stop issuing new vouchers what happens at that

1:21:12no only a hardwood comment let us know if we're facing shortfall we're not in that category we

1:21:18have funds that we must use um before the end of the year and that's why the pool was done thank

1:21:24you discussion madam mayor mr. mason yeah real quick on one thing to keep in mind about the

1:21:34waiting list um I think there's a lot of confusion over what's that universe of people who are on

1:21:39the list and it's important to remember that those 10 000 people could be from anywhere in

1:21:43the metropolitan region who could apply for the list they're not necessarily all existing

1:21:47Alexandria residents um and I think that helps to provide some context into where will all those

1:21:53people come from who may be interested in moving to Alexandria thank you commissioner

1:21:58mason uh mr. priest yeah I want to move quickly through this next part of the presentation

1:22:03dealing with the capital improvement program oh are you finished this next slide just like real

1:22:12quick is just um how I'll be we serve the family when we receive fund the funds that we receive

1:22:19is not in our banks it's held by HUD so once we lease a voucher and we send the records to HUD

1:22:26they will know that we have a record active so it's money that we report like it's a voucher

1:22:31that we report to HUD and that's how we get the additional funding every month so this um slide

1:22:39only kind of like explain the the process yeah when I moved to the next part which is about

1:22:48capital improvements we have a we have a pretty aged stock of housing and public housing and part

1:22:56of that is some of that is requirement for putting capital investment that we right now

1:23:02only receive from HUD 1.9 million dollars of funding for capital funding and of that amount

1:23:09of money only 50 percent of it actually goes for capital funding because there's a whole range of

1:23:14eligibility of what you can use these funds for including administration staffing a whole bunch

1:23:19of different things that you can go into laval it support comes from the capital funds so uh so

1:23:27you'll never catch up with the with the maintenance of these properties built in the case between 1940

1:23:33and 1990 um what what we've done is we've created a five-year capital plan initially uh for what

1:23:42would it look like just based upon what we know already that comes from our fiscal needs assessment

1:23:47from our inspections and everything else so between 27 and 31 we know they would cost us

1:23:5411.1 million dollars to provide for all the capital needs that we have on our properties

1:24:00and they mean uh you know new roofing new windows new whatever it may be appliances uh and but the

1:24:10only capital funds we have available during that same period is 4.9 million dollars so there's a

1:24:15gap of 6.2 million dollars now you can easily connect work orders to interview to do capital

1:24:23investment so if you so one is relying upon the other so we need to be able to close that 6.9

1:24:32million dollar gap and we certainly are going to uh talk to the city more about how we can become

1:24:39a part of maybe your capital investment plan uh as your budget so that's you'll see that in one

1:24:45of our later slides um so this was the first comprehensive assessment we've done of our

1:24:51portfolio uh and again over 20 years we estimate that the capital needs would be 54.5 million

1:25:00dollars over the next 20 years and only 11.1 million dollars would be available in terms of

1:25:08the five-year part of that so again we are prioritizing life safety property conditions

1:25:13inspection results and work order evidence so uh you can read the rest of this i won't go over

1:25:23this in in terms of what is what you can use money for and what it covers um and again we

1:25:30want to make this capital improvement plan a need-based capital strategy that we want to work very

1:25:35closely with the city to in fact define how we can work together related to that so with that

1:25:40this is some questions i'll move on to presentation that will be done by related to the late so just

1:25:54a quick update for everyone just uh current status of the late um as you know we we uh recently

1:26:01acquired this building it was um for the most part you know vacant so we we spent the last year

1:26:09leasing up um currently our occupancy our physical occupancy is at 88 percent um forward

1:26:17occupancy is at 95.5 percent uh so that represents uh applications that are currently in process that

1:26:22we are you know feel confident that will turn into actual leases so we're well on our way to

1:26:28having a fully occupied uh building um currently uh the the units that are left to uh the the

1:26:38latest units that we that we leased that were the two-bedroom units which gave us a little bit of

1:26:43uh trouble in terms of our lease up pace um given our population seniors um these two bedrooms that

1:26:52mark it right with no subsidy took a little bit more than more time than we expect in terms of

1:26:57lease up um so that's um kind of the status on on the the uh occupancy so the next page shows the

1:27:05financial status uh so you'll see that um bottom line here is our uh net operating income is around

1:27:122.6 million dollars against our budget is around 3 million so you see we are um under budget

1:27:21about uh 380 000 and again vacancy was a permanent primary driver of that given again this is the

1:27:28first year that we were working through lease up of the entire building um so as a result um we

1:27:35also had operating expenses that we inherited from the previous owner um so the budget was

1:27:40is higher than what we plan to manage going forward there were some services that were

1:27:45promised in terms of the previous programming which was programmed for luxury senior housing

1:27:52basically that that we know unfortunately won't be able to carry forward but reducing some of those

1:27:57expenses going forward we will be in good shape once we get the building leased up um so going

1:28:04to the next page speaks to that a little bit so for this year uh we're looking to we're we're

1:28:10expecting to come under uh our uh our target of 1.15 annual debt service coverage so that

1:28:17basically that debt service coverage basically means how much rent you're coming in that's

1:28:21available to pay the the mortgage uh so per our requirements with uh vra and the bond financing

1:28:28we're required to meet a 1.1 1.15 coverage so for this year our initial year lease up we actually

1:28:35won't projecting that we won't won't hit that coverage um and again primary factors of that

1:28:41was that you know we were leasing up uh the building and then these last uh two bedroom

1:28:47units took longer to lease up so we didn't hit our uh lease rate lease up um as expected

1:28:54but going forward as you see once we do lease up the building we're projected to have a pretty

1:28:58healthy coverage um annually going forward so 1.1 1.18 we're projecting for next year and then as

1:29:04you see it increases uh year after year then up to 1.25 by one by 2030 um that's in terms of our

1:29:15current operations and then just kind of some other things that are going on at the building

1:29:20currently we are looking to uh lease up the commercial space there so we've hired a broker

1:29:26jll we're working with them to uh lease up the kitchen area restaurant area there

1:29:33uh we're still going through what that could look like in terms of the space and tenant it's

1:29:37et cetera uh but we're going to begin marketing that very shortly and then that will also bring

1:29:42in some additional income to the building that help offset mortgage and operating costs

1:29:48and um as part of uh as part of the fund the financing the uh the bond financing uh the city

1:29:56uh put up a moral obligation as part of the requirement for for closing and then in turn

1:30:04we had to agree or i had to agree to performance agreement uh the stipulated various items that

1:30:09we were we required to meet so we do meet with the the city staff city departments housing

1:30:16finance on a bi- bi-weekly uh uh bi-weekly meetings with them and review um all of this

1:30:24you know operations and where we are in terms of hitting our milestones so i can report that we

1:30:28know we've hit we've hit all of our milestones as required under that agreement um and then um can

1:30:36me pause here for one second there's two questions on the elite councilman agiri and then councilman

1:30:40chapman thank you madam mayor um with the retail that's going in at the bottom i know you want to

1:30:44try and uh prioritize or maximize uh revenue coming through but were there conversations with

1:30:49the residents as well to see what they would like to have within the building certain amenities

1:30:53that they would like yes so primarily is is you know the food service so that was one of the

1:30:58amenities that was carried over from the original owner we've had to cut that uh because of because

1:31:03of funding uh so we're we're hoping that we can bring a tenant in that would serve the the

1:31:09residents as well so that's primarily and you know given that the space there has a beautiful

1:31:14kitchen brand new kitchen you know fully fully uh built out so that's that's our what we're hoping

1:31:21to to bring in is there other any other hoteling space or retail space available there is another

1:31:27small space that's currently leased to a um a hair salon that's two chairs and um that's that's

1:31:34leased and then we do lease out some of the uh parking uh to um to another local building

1:31:42and also to um a uh construction company that's doing some work in the area so we're trying to

1:31:48maximize you know revenue however we can to make sure the building operates efficiently

1:31:53gotcha thank you uh councilman chapman councilman al newbie vice mayor back thank you madam

1:31:59mayor uh part of my question was answered um by kind of the the opportunities for leasing

1:32:04there but i do want to kind of better understand um i guess the timeline on working with jll and

1:32:10and kind of marketing this other property how quickly do you think you can get a kind of

1:32:14finalized lease up of all the commercial space that's hard to say um in um alexandra right now

1:32:22the the the market for uh retail is actually very good right now so it's uh it's booming it's

1:32:28kind of the exact opposite of uh of office so uh that's that's good and also given the location

1:32:36so we we know we expect to have some some interest thing is that uh it's a large space

1:32:42so to bring in one one um one commercial tenant to take up all that space um you know could take

1:32:49some time um we're also thinking of or considering maybe uh dividing the space into two two different

1:32:57retail um components maybe it's kind of um yeah smaller see if we can fill those quicker um we're

1:33:05still um we're we're going to begin actively marketing in the next week or so and uh you

1:33:11know we're going to leave that up to the broker depending on what kind of interest we get to see

1:33:15uh you know what what what we might do but our obviously preference would be

1:33:20we know one tenant to come in and take the whole space use the kitchen use the restaurant area

1:33:24serve the community serve the residents uh but we're going to see what kind of feedback we get

1:33:29from the community from the from the business community at our monthly um work group meetings

1:33:35if we could have a line item about how that's going thanks councilman on ubi thank you madam

1:33:41mayor um you mentioned that the bond covenant minimum coverage supposed to be 1.15 and we're

1:33:46not meeting that for 2026 what are the implications of that for arha and for the city yes so um the

1:33:53implications for arha in the near term we have to number one disclose at the end of the year so

1:33:58we haven't we haven't uh default that's not a default but we haven't met the coverage yet

1:34:03because you know we're not in the year but we expect not to not to meet it so we'll have to

1:34:07notify uh vra and uh per the uh for the closing documents uh we'll have to provide them a plan

1:34:14or how we plan to meet the uh the deck of the deck coverage service uh the next following year

1:34:20so as you can see per our projections our updated performer we expect to meet that going meet that

1:34:25going forward so we'll provide a plan showing our assumptions our performer and how we expect to meet

1:34:31that going forward um if if for whatever reason they are not satisfied with that they have the

1:34:36right to require us to hire outside third-party uh consultant to come in and review our plan

1:34:42and help us develop a plan to make sure that we ensure that uh going forward so that's that's

1:34:48what the um kind of what the steps the steps are is there any penalty or anything for not

1:34:53yes i think that yes there's a um i think it's like a five thousand dollar penalty that that

1:35:00they could enforce as well um well we would ask them to you know given that it's a lease up from

1:35:08you know basically a brand new building that we took it over when it was a stress that we're

1:35:13you know servicing uh seniors that we leased up all of the one bedrooms you know very quickly

1:35:19it was just the last market rate two bedroom units that you know really outside of our target

1:35:24uh demographic you know i asked them to take all that into account but um you know with we

1:35:29i mean they could charge us that what was our vacancy what was our target our occupancy target

1:35:35when we built the projections on uh 95 percent uh vice mayor bagley councilman chapman um so along

1:35:46those lines i appreciate the work that's gone into the lease up it's it's going well and two

1:35:49bedroom units are harder to fill can you just confirm for me does it have to have two occupants

1:35:54like it is yes that's the issue so um what we've done is uh really started marketing to

1:36:01seniors who might have uh a living aid aid or a family member that they come in and take care

1:36:06of them so that yeah and i just again say that out loud because like if people hear that there's

1:36:10two bedrooms available the catches it actually you know you have to satisfy a minimum of two

1:36:14people on the on the lease um are you seeing so vacancy and lease up is going well is turnover

1:36:20low yes turnover is very low okay unfortunately uh the turnover that we're seeing is because

1:36:27you know residents are passing pass away but uh once they're settled in it's amazing building

1:36:33amenities location uh we're not seeing much turnover okay thank you and the last point i

1:36:38kind of wanted to make to the manager maybe to my colleagues is we sort of had to brush through

1:36:41the cip section which yeah so so if we don't have time tonight i just wanted to express like this

1:36:46is a conversation i'd love for us to find a space for another time um i think so just to point on

1:36:52that to me probably that's like one of the biggest takeaways like we're not going to be

1:36:56able to improve the stock at arha if we don't address this 54.5 million gap so i don't know

1:37:03that that can be i think we need to come back to that after we finish the elate but i think that

1:37:07we're getting ready to do our budget um we're going to have a cip work session i think this

1:37:12probably needs to be a dedicated portion of in order to improve the housing stock there has to

1:37:18be funding for maintenance and right now there just isn't but also how do we weigh that with all of

1:37:22the other pressures on our cip right now from schools to all of the other infrastructure about

1:37:28to here and what does that mean for the projects we have planned so i i just want you know i don't

1:37:33think anybody missed that that that needs to be the main thing but let me go to councilman

1:37:38chapman and then we'll close this out so we can come to some of these questions and i promise

1:37:42i will not keep you past nine so quick question on on the debt service coverage outlook at what

1:37:49point next year will we understand that that that goal is not met well we expect to meet it i mean

1:37:56if it isn't right what at what point do we does the the flag go up and everybody yeah at this

1:38:01point uh if you go back to the one of the previous slides we showed four documents of 95.5 percent

1:38:06so right now uh we have only i think either two or three units that we do not have an application

1:38:12and on right now so we expect to be you know i'm not going to fully least up within the next month

1:38:18so that you know should not be an issue starting the starting the the 2027 we should already know

1:38:26that we're at least up and we'll be able to meet our covenant but i guess if it's not and you go

1:38:31into the next year with those two units how long until with those two units we would still meet it

1:38:37so i think uh it's our cutoff is um i want to say it's 11 or 12 carrying like 11 or 12 units

1:38:46the whole year would would prohibit us from meeting that but i'm not exactly the surrounds

1:38:53around there but i mean this is an item that we are meeting with the city staff with every

1:39:00monday so we are following this very closely and everybody's very aware of what's going on and we've

1:39:06been working with our housing charge voucher program to try to help identify some of the

1:39:11people who are on our waiting list who in fact would be eligible to move into the elite and that

1:39:17will help close this vacancy gap that we have right now on these two bedroom units that was part of

1:39:23our strategy we project based all of the uh voucher subsidy on the building so now the subsidy is tied

1:39:30to the building not not with the unit so this this building will remain affordable uh regardless

1:39:36of you know people that come ago so that's you know if we could move um let's go ahead and move

1:39:45to the funding piece and sort of these final ask or questions that you have on the federal funding

1:39:53um just so people understand where does where does all get this money from uh we get 30.03

1:40:01million dollars from the housing choice voucher program we get 3.83 million dollars from our

1:40:06public housing operating funds this is for the actual public housing that we had the 831

1:40:11units we have there's still public housing that's that 3.83 million dollars for operating funds

1:40:17and again this is an area where we are we like everybody else is very vulnerable because if HUD

1:40:23were to and there's been effort to reduce the operating subsidy that are coming to all

1:40:28authorities okay and so this would really be a game changer uh the public housing capital fund

1:40:36again 1.3 million dollars and we've got other federal grant funds at 3.14 the other major

1:40:42source of funding that's not shown on this chart is the money we get from rental income

1:40:478.1 million dollars is what we receive to eat this to date uh against a budget of 10.9 million

1:40:55dollars so we are right now we've only we are uh uh 1.1.4 1.9 million short of our budget right now

1:41:08based on mental income so that creates a gap in funding and the only way you can reduce that is

1:41:13what reducing your expenses and so one of the things that i'm looking very closely at is how

1:41:20do we absorb that kind of loss 1.2 to 1.5 million dollars a year and still operate within the

1:41:28resources that we have available because this is not going to change the funding going forward

1:41:34it's not going to go up we just be lucky if it stays constant for the next couple years um uh

1:41:42in terms of what do we do to cover the efficiency one is something with restricted funding uh we

1:41:48may serve fewer voucher households but fortunately right now we do are allowed to spend some money

1:41:54because we do have a surplus that we have got to protect and make sure we spend it because if not

1:41:59in this notice that i read to you earlier hud is saying we're coming forward so you better spend

1:42:05your money or we're going to take it back from you so we're going to work really hard to get as

1:42:09many vouchers out as we can in a short period of time uh again we are only in terms of administration

1:42:16of the housing choice voucher program we are only this year receiving 88.5 percent of the

1:42:21administrative cost to administer the program historically hud is always given 100 percent

1:42:27administrative funds and that amount is going down every year so they say we're going to give

1:42:31you less money less money to administer the program and expect you to still produce results

1:42:36i mean it is uh and again costs are increasing uh on everything we're doing for example our

1:42:44maintenance operating costs went up 5.5 million dollars this past year up from 2.5 million dollars

1:42:51in previous year and 24 so we had a 3 million dollar 3.71 million dollar increase in our cost

1:42:58to operate our maintenance and operation our program this year than we did the previous year

1:43:03and again you see you've got to find social capital to balance off all these potential

1:43:09increases many of which we don't control and again our 2027 strategy is to prioritize life

1:43:17safety inspection deficiencies use condition assessment to a sequence capital work that we

1:43:23have to do and also strengthen our cost controls and pursue other federal partnerships that we

1:43:29have now i want to make one point the lifeblood of of aha is in the aura redevelopment that aha

1:43:40does historically in the past we were generating because we were and i hate to go back when i

1:43:47was here before but when we were generating and generated over a eight year period a surplus of

1:43:54almost 10 to 15 million dollars it came from our redevelopment work those are some scenes we got

1:43:59what we the development level for the agency has gone down we finally have samuel madden

1:44:04north under construction we hopefully will get samuel madden south done we hopefully will get

1:44:09the dray done and those will begin to provide some additional capital for my redevelopment

1:44:14work but that's not money it's going to come in for the next year and a half to two years

1:44:19so in that period of time the agency has got to determine how it's going to operate and stay

1:44:23stable with reduced funding and that's the reality we're doing with in terms of also

1:44:29our capital requirements that we have to deal with and again the next charge just deals with

1:44:36one of our fiscal outlook and one of the priorities that we are going to be looking at

1:44:40certainly i'll have interest voucher utilization our capital investment and may i thank you

1:44:45for paying attention to the point that i was making there uh and also what we do in terms

1:44:50of the late because we want to make sure that the late does not become a financial liability

1:44:55for the city or for our and then also operating controls where we are doing that right now

1:45:03setting controls it was mentioned by chairman mark yinx dead in fact i've established a hiring

1:45:10freeze because i knew we could not afford to continue to maintain employing people when we

1:45:16were facing deficits and so i put it and also continuing to build partnerships uh with all of

1:45:24our partners and stakeholders is important to do and the last chart that i have on here deals with

1:45:30some qualities that we want to work with you all about trying to do we want to work with you

1:45:35all on light of first refusal for things that come in the development opportunities that we

1:45:41can work with you about trying to accelerate also zoning incentives for all our partnerships

1:45:46tech continuing tax exemptions for all our furniture projects looking at certain fee

1:45:51waivers for our redevelopment work that we've been doing and you all have been very good about

1:45:55doing that the city has been very good about tax exemptions being offered and again we know that

1:45:59those are fiscal impacts to the city so we understand that you are partnering with us in

1:46:04that regard so we don't don't take that lightly but if in fact we can't continue those things

1:46:09it's going to significantly impact our redevelopment work and that again is a lifeblood

1:46:14of this agency and again inclusion of funding in your upcoming ship project which you already

1:46:21mentioned and we'll get back looking forward to that conversation and also consideration of maybe

1:46:27a fund that we could create to begin to support earmarks for aha for some of the redevelopment

1:46:34work that we're doing so that's my sort of bucket of ask and with that i'll take any questions you

1:46:45have i will open it up are there immediate questions from the group uh councilman chapman

1:46:54question about kind of bond issuance i know we've had a couple of bonds that have been issued by

1:46:59aha um how does that play into any fees that are collected or any income yeah uh we just recently

1:47:06closed one with um on the project being done right down on uh yeah and yeah and on that bond

1:47:15issuance that uh chairman jinx and i signed we we earned a hundred thousand dollars in fees

1:47:20on that particular one we have three that are in the hopper right now so potentially we could

1:47:25recover three hundred thousand dollars this year from that source of conduit bonds so we are doing

1:47:31that we also are looking and having conversations about how we can also ratchet up obviously the

1:47:37issue bonds that are not conduit but we can actually do that but that partly requires we've

1:47:42got to be able to create the credit standard to be able to do that okay and that's going to take

1:47:49being able to present financials that are demonstrating that we are in fact healthy

1:47:55as an organization i mean aha is a 262 million dollar organization but it does not have strong

1:48:04what cash flow and it has so much of our money tied up in dedicated restricted reserves

1:48:13so so you can't take that money and use it for operations uh so those are the limitations that

1:48:20that we have to operate within in terms of making sure that we can continue to continue to have

1:48:25liquidity at the same time being able to meet all of our operating requirements and needs

1:48:30uh that is a challenge that we face is there any way thank you is there any way you can give us a

1:48:37either a breakdown or pie chart or some visual of what that looks like i think we've seen that in

1:48:42other organizations where they've been able to say hey you know this is what we have that's

1:48:46flexible this is what we don't have and this is where it's it's stored so that we can get

1:48:50everybody happy to so two things that are coming to mind for me i think one is this reminds me of

1:49:00challenges we're facing with other issues in the city where when other levels of government don't

1:49:05do their fair share in funding it falls on the city to try and make up that gap so the first

1:49:11thing i'm thinking about is i know we are navigating interesting times but i do think

1:49:16we need like a federal advocacy strategy because even if we find a way to get some of this in our

1:49:21capital we're never going to fill the place of the city just will never have that much money

1:49:25and so i don't know what that looks like but i think um one follow-up i want to put on the

1:49:30table is we need to work with our federal lobbyists and have a clear strategy and be elevating this

1:49:36to our senators and our congressmen about just what is the pressure we need to keep uh because

1:49:41we're not alone i mean you said every public health there's no way we can make up this amount

1:49:45so it's one i have a second thing um we have our work our budget work session coming up

1:49:53on the seventh mr manager i think we should add as part of the cip review maybe an additional 30

1:49:59minutes to that section to really do a deeper dive into i guess the capital presentation here

1:50:06i think what would be helpful for us preparing for that conversation is we look at our cip's in

1:50:1110 years uh this is currently in five if you could do some of that other mapping since you

1:50:16do have the number for 20 years help us map out what that looks like i think to helping us

1:50:21understand like what would we be i recognize the capital need but like how many units is that

1:50:27getting or how many major projects like what are we paying for and what does that look like um and

1:50:33then i think i really appreciate you said the focus has to be prioritizing life and safety

1:50:38first i agree for any of the places where you've already done the physical needs assessment helping

1:50:43us understand the greatest cost or like the greatest risk that need to be addressed as

1:50:47quickly as possible and what we might be able to do to map backwards there i think that'll at least

1:50:52give us the data to be able to have this conversation in the context of all of our other

1:50:57cip needs uh councilman agari real fast with the so just to clarify the 54.5 million over 20 years

1:51:09is that a gap or is that just the overall need at the need that's the need okay so then over

1:51:15five years 11.1 6 6.2 million gap um i say i basically what the mayor was asking for then

1:51:23to get tease out the rest of the numbers 20 million dollar gap over the 20 years okay perfect

1:51:27thank you i have councilman chapman thank you madam mayor um one of the things i didn't see in here

1:51:32is kind of any mention of the state um in terms of state funding or state lobbying i know we're

1:51:37not the only uh this is not the only public housing authority in the state and so kind of

1:51:42what are the collab what's the potential collaboration with other um organizations

1:51:47within the state to maybe seek some state funding as well i mean they've done they're

1:51:53trying to talk about filling the gap for federal funding in other areas whether it's

1:51:57health or or whatnot and so this is seems like another opportunity yeah i mean their big

1:52:02investment is through virginia housing which was former vhda but a lot of them when you went to

1:52:07test credit funding some special housing related funding uh and they are being pretty good about

1:52:14providing some grants to us on some of our development deals and some of our pre-development

1:52:19community building processes that we have to do uh they've given some grants for some soft things

1:52:24like that but they have gotten very very conservative in their in their administration

1:52:32of their the space housing programs do we find that that's uh just by design or politics or

1:52:41what have you is there is there you know a conversation that can be had there to to move

1:52:46the needle there yeah and i think that's coming not only from users like public agencies but also

1:52:52from the development community which is already starting to make some noises because they're

1:52:56concerned that the rules make it difficult for them to be able to even use the test credit

1:53:01funding that's available to them okay because of some of the rules and restrictions and requirements

1:53:06and that all starts with how the state publicizes what they're going to make available and what

1:53:10kind of like one of the things that benefited aha for years was a public housing cellicide

1:53:17in the lower income housing test credit that was done uh that amount has gone down i mean we i

1:53:24mean we were fortunate we captured every first round of funding under that program as you all

1:53:29know for 10 years but we need to continue to make sure they do things like that and i think

1:53:35to comes from chapman's point you know we're getting ready to finalize our legislative package

1:53:39for the state right now i think it generally just says we want flexibility and new tools i think we

1:53:44need to be working with you guys to understand specifically what tools we need to be advocating

1:53:48for in uh public housing yeah let me go to vice mayor bagley and then i think i'm gonna try and

1:53:53wrap us up um thank you mary gaskins and um i wanted a second cosmon chapman referenced sort

1:54:00of like a pie chart or something to indicate like that the pots of money that are effectively sort

1:54:04of locked up and i think i i just i think that would be useful and one of the areas that i'm

1:54:09curious about in in that way is um has insurance had a significant impact on sort of the availability

1:54:15of funds have you have you seen your insurance burden go up you know in the last five years

1:54:21and that's sort of one little question and then separately you've talked a couple times about the

1:54:25hiring freeze and um but i'm curious has the hiring freeze decision also foreclosed the use

1:54:31of third-party contractors is that effectively how you've ramped up the unit turn process by

1:54:36using third-party contractors and that's sort of a cost-saving measure in terms of bringing on

1:54:42full-time employees which i understand but what i wanted to clarify is the hiring freeze is not

1:54:47necessarily preventing work orders from being done or units from being turned we're just doing it

1:54:51with third-party contractors it was that's right okay uh what i in terms of just trying to do some

1:54:57cost constraining uh that's 5.5 million dollar increase in maintenance costs half of that was

1:55:05related to contractors yeah so if i could save on that and and maybe put more pressure in a way

1:55:13to step up the performance of our own staff yeah do some cost savings uh on in terms of insurance

1:55:22costs we are seeing that both for personnel and administrative expenses as well as for our

1:55:30developments where insurance costs are going up and up because of really a lot of the requirements

1:55:36that things like adding features like environmental quality standards and and handicap

1:55:42accessibility and all those things add on additional costs so your premiums are going up

1:55:48no i just think it's worth noting like in terms of like unfunded mandates and and cost pressures

1:55:53that are not unique to us that that insurance is a problem the last comment i just wanted to make

1:55:57and it's more again the manager and back to council is are there opportunities like this

1:56:01third-party contracting and plumbing you mentioned and things like are there opportunities perhaps

1:56:05where you know the city employs you know plumbing and we have general services and we we prepare our

1:56:12own buildings you know in this moment are there opportunities for efficiencies there with perhaps

1:56:18the deployment of our own resources yeah and i think that's a great point based on some of the

1:56:24information i'm seeing tonight as well as i think some additional information we'd want i think

1:56:29there are some opportunities to consider you know where there might be value in efficiencies with

1:56:36shared responsibilities or shared services or contracted um you know that's that's the

1:56:42challenge and then the the other piece i would just add is i think a better cleaner picture of

1:56:49the entire real estate holdings and how that really factors in or doesn't factor in i think

1:56:55is a part and parcel of the con the conversation we need to take place too and i think too on the

1:57:02contractors i know um hud has some rules around like contractors or hud certified i think if we

1:57:07could have a bank that actually is doing work across the city then then they become a trusted

1:57:12partners where we know the work we know the standard but once we have all of these different

1:57:15things we're looking for like we are able to train people to meet that at the highest level

1:57:20as we begin to close so here's what i captured as follow-ups and somebody can let me know if i'm

1:57:26missing anything one is a follow-up document that maps out all of the different types of

1:57:30inspections that are happening across the portfolio what they cover when they're completed

1:57:35and what are the trends across each there was also a request for the specific inspire inspection

1:57:41schedule another was a um look at the sort of specific timing and what types of questions will

1:57:48be asked on the resident customer service survey um there was a request for an annual report on

1:57:55work orders similar to the type of data that we're able to get from 311 a request for a briefing on

1:58:02yardie the dashboard and the new functionalities that might be available to there there um timing

1:58:09on when rent cafe will be able to send emails and text messages and have that additional

1:58:13functionality a request to add a cip section and to our upcoming budget work session as well as

1:58:22requests for specific data about the cip gap over the next 10 years a request for a pie chart that

1:58:29looks at arha's total funding and the different buckets to which it's allocated a request to look

1:58:35at where there might be potential low-hanging fruit i would say for shared services or shared

1:58:39contracting a larger look at the real estate portfolio and the holding arha's holdings and

1:58:47opportunities there and then um i added this one but i would love to just see the hud guidance

1:58:53that you received circulated so we're all on the same page about what those impacts are

1:58:57so i know this so that's one um is there anything i missed let me pause there that

1:59:03i did not capture from things people are looking for follow-up uh councilman green i still would

1:59:08i would love to see how um residents that aren't able to come to meetings for public comment the

1:59:14whatever we might be able to set up i would love to hear back on that as well so a follow-up on

1:59:20the process for those who can't come to in-person meetings what's the resident engagement strategy

1:59:25for getting their voices to the table so um we will i will work with the manager mr priest and

1:59:30mr jinx to kind of get a comprehensive list and a timeline for when people can expect those items

1:59:35coming back the soonest being the cip since we're meeting on the seventh the next thing i will just

1:59:41say is um even in the scope of this bigger work there are little things we can be doing together

1:59:47i know um our huz winter wonderland is going to be coming up thanksgiving distribution is going

1:59:52to be coming up there are dates for that that we're in the powerpoint so i would encourage

1:59:56people to be there and be out meeting residents be out having conversations

2:00:00We are looking forward to hearing what they are saying and how we are all supporting to work for a better future.

2:00:30But I appreciate even just what we covered tonight and all the work that has gone into even just getting the basics of like reports so that we can have the data, have the information to keep doing the good work that our residents are depending on.

2:00:44So thank you. I just really want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

2:00:48And with that, at exactly 9 o'clock, we shall finish. So thank you.