All right, Good morning everyone. Thank you all for joining us this morning, and we will now call to order our formal we will now call to order our formal session for Tuesday, October the 29th and Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Council
member Scott Benson. Council member Frederick Hall, the third present council member Letitia Johnson, present council member Gabriel Santiago Romero, present council member Mary waters, present council member Angela Whitfield Callaway,
council president pro tem James Tate, Council President Mary Sheffield, present, Madam President,
you have A quorum. All
right. Thank you. There being a quorum. President, we are in session. We always start off, I'm sorry. Council.
President, Coleman Young,
oh, I'm sorry. You have a quorum, madam.
President, all right. And member Calloway did indicate that she will not be present today, so her absence is excused, and we will proceed with our invocation as always, and we have joining us. Pastor William Bridges, good morning.
Good morning, Madam
President, how are you today? Doing
doing great. Thank you, sir, and you can begin when you are ready to lead us in our invocation for this morning.
Okay,
let us pray. Father, God, Lord, we come now in the name of Jesus. Lord, we come before your presence, thanking you for allowing us to see another day. Father, thanking you, Father for allowing us to gather together in this meeting. Lord, as we proceed, Father, Lord, we ask you now to allow the spirit of unity to fall fresh on this Council today. Lord, touch the minds and the hearts Heavenly Father. Lord, of those, Heavenly Father, who I've been appointed by the people. Lord, we ask you to touch right now. Father God. Lord, that was done may be done. Father God to bring your name glory and honor. We, thank you, Father God for this day. Lord, we thank you for the presence of all these individuals. We ask you to touch each and every home that's represented today. Lord, but come into this meeting, Heavenly Father. Lord that things may be done decent and in order. Father God, that your name may be glorified in Jesus name, we pray amen.
Amen. Alright. Thank you so much pastor for that invocation. And you have a you have a blessed morning. Alright?
You as well. Thank you so much.
Thank you, sir. Alright, we will proceed now with a special presentation. After the presentation is complete, we will cut off our general public comments. So if you have not had the opportunity to fill out a card or raise your hand online, please do so now, as we will cut off our public comment after the presentation this morning, I will turn it over to member durhall for a presentation. Thank you,
Madam President, and good morning to you all. Today we have the honor to honor someone who has been a tremendous amount to the city of Detroit. Over the past 10 years in the city, I know we have seen a lot of growth and development, none more particular than our parks here in the city and some major projects that have been happening to revitalize a lot of Detroit, which at one time was broken. A key component of that is someone we're honoring today, Mr. Brad dick, as many people know, Mr. Dick started out in GSD as well, but became the City of Detroit's Chief Operating Officer, and so in that role, since he's held since February 2022 he has oversaw a diverse portfolio of departments and initiatives that have played a major role in our revitalization and National comeback story. Brad was central to the city's successful hosting of the NFL draft in 2024 which was the largest in attendance of any draft in history. He's also been a key architect for the city's black to beauty campaign, having oversaw the city wide eradication of illegal graffiti, the renovation of more than 160 parks and several recreation centers, and the planting of more than 1000 we had to put this in here, 1000 daffodils and a painting of hundreds of public arts murals. But one of the most important pieces from my opinion, that Brad has been a part of has been the 27.5 mile recreation loop, which will be known as the Joe Louis Greenway that connects over 24 neighborhoods. He also served as the Deputy Director of general services, and also he has maintained five divisions under GSD, vehicle maintenance, Facilities and Planning grounds, forestry and floor, cultural maintenance, inventory management, and, of course, parks and recs, which had over 700 employees, it's been a major force behind departmental initiatives that saved the city nearly $30 million since the department's inception. And in addition, Brad and his team were responsible for the City of Detroit's space plan to reduce occupy city owned and leased space with a targeted goal of 25 million in savings over 10 years. His career has spanned private and public service across his culture. He is a city of Detroit resident living in council member Johnson's district and d4 but he has traveled the world, including spending time in England for two years Mexico City, Mexico Paris, France, for long term projects that he has been connected to and has probably proudly served the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service recruiter, after spending two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania in East Africa, where he taught agriculture business programs at the sojia Institute of Technology. On a personal note, Brad is always and has always been responsive anytime there has been an issue, whether it's parks or RECs or any other department. Uh, Brad was someone that could connect folks together, even to other departments. I consider him a friend, because I truly believe his love for this city has been unmatched. Uh, he has went to every extent to ensure that we rebuild the city and that we continue to grow. And so Brad is leaving us for another position, but has ensured that he will not be too far. He'll be closer down, down the road to us. But wanted to take today to really honor someone who has done a tremendous job for this city, and really is indicative of what we say when we say this is the Spirit of Detroit. And so we are going to present the Spirit of Detroit award to mister Brad Dick today. We appreciate all your service, all you have done for our city all you have done for district seven as well, but again, our entire city. So thank you so much, Brad, for your commitment to our city and
Brad, I know you're going to come up here. This is different from some of the times we've grilled you,
but use this one here. Yeah, and
Madam President, I know there are many members of our, of course, colleagues, that will like to make the make some comments. Make sure
your microphone is on. Press the bottom. Brad, yeah, there we go. Oh,
there we go. Well, thank you very much, honorable Council. I've known many of you for many years and worked very closely with all of you and spent a lot of time with you, and I'm known council member Johnson for 20 years now as neighbors and such, and now I'll be on the other side. I'm going to now I'm going to be on the other side of the aisle. I'll have to still call her and bother her for things but, but I just want to thank all the city employees. I mean all those accomplishments that we did were with with with the team, and I feel like I've mentored and trained and hired a good team that have left behind. And I think you're in great hands with people like Jessica Parker and low on counts and and Andy Taverna and Sam krasenstein People like that, that you've got a good group of people here in crystal Perkins. So love workers, Love you. Love working with the residents. Um, I've only been God a week, and Ron Brundage asked me today. He said, Do you miss anything? I said, the People's what I miss so, but I'm just up the road at Wayne State, and you can call me and or jump on the cable cut line and one up see me. But thank you so much for all you've done and supported me. Take care of my parks. Those are my babies. And one final word is, early voting is in Detroit right now. I voted today downstairs, and so I'm encouraging all Detroiters to get out an early vote and vote. And gentlemen, support the ladies in your life get out and vote.
So that's fine.
Thank you. Thank you, Brad. We
appreciate you. And I know members want
to stay up there. I'm sure a couple of members want to make marks as well. Um, Council Member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, and good morning everyone, Brad. So we have known one another for just about 20 years, and it started just being involved in our neighborhood association. I tell the story all the time that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Brad, because Brad and I met at a community meeting, and Brad nominated me to be one of the vice presidents on the board of East English village, our neighborhood association. And now, 18 years later, I'm here, and so I had no desire whatsoever to be here in this position, but I think just the work in the community led me here. And so I just want to say thank you for being authentic. Thank you for always having Detroit's best interest at heart. I've watched you. I know that the parks are your baby, and I think you really set a standard for our parks in the city of Detroit. And I look forward to us just being able to maintain that, and I hope that you'll nudge us if we're not. But look forward to continuing to be your neighbor just around the corner, and hopefully continuing to be your council person, and I hope that I represent you well. I know that you'll let me know if I'm not not sure, but certainly look forward to a continued partnership being at Wayne State and connecting Wayne State with more of our residents in the city of Detroit and certainly on the far east side. So thank thank you for your continued dedication and commitment. Appreciate you. Appreciate who you are as a person, and just look forward to seeing what's next to come out of this chapter at Wayne State.
Thank you.
Thank you. Council member Johnson, any additional comments? Council member waters,
thank you. Good morning. Good morning to everyone. Good morning, Brad,
morning.
You know, I've got to tell you, you did help to make my life a lot easier when I when I first arrived, you know, I was always calling you or texting you, Brad, what about this? What about that? You know, and you always responded, I could ask you to do something. You make it happen right away, and I and your replacement is going to be a tough act to follow. It's my understanding is going to be a whole bunch of people to do your one shot. So that tells you the type of person that you are. So I just want to thank you, and I'll be looking to see how we can work together in your new role at Wayne State University. But I thank you so much for your service. Thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you,
right. Thank you council member, Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam. Presidents, through you. Good morning, Brad. I just want to say what a loss this is for the city. I was incredibly excited to think that you would be here with me, with us, continuing to do this work, but I know you'll be close. I'm I'm excited that you're going to be close. And, quite frankly, just keep your phone closed, because I'm going to text you for us to get coffee or drinks to continue to talk, because you have a wealth of knowledge, something that I don't want to lose. So thank you for staying close, because we're going to continue to work with you. Thank you. Thank
you. All
right, thank you, and I'll just say, Brad, you truly have left an indelible mark on our city through your leadership, through your work, and in every conversation that I've had with you, your passion and your love for Detroit always came through in every call. We're just excited about Detroit the future and what was possible. So I've had the privilege of working with you. I wish you the best, and I'm looking forward to the continued partnership with you. So thank you for your dedication and your service to Detroit, and let's all give Brad another round of
applause for his
amazing work in Detroit. And if we often come down and do a Photo member draw, that's fine with your Picture. Okay?
I But Then we switch With
Don't Yes, funding.
All right. Thank you so much to council member durha For that recognition for Brad dick, we appreciate again his service, and we will now continue back to our agenda for this morning. The public comment has now been cut off. The Journal of the session of Tuesday, September the 15th, will be approved. There being no reconsiderations or unfinished business. We will proceed to the budget Finance and Audit standing committee for the budget Finance and Audit. Standing Committee six
reports from various city departments.
I'm sorry it should be budget
and 26
reports, six reports from various city departments, okay, six reports will be referred to the budget, Finance and Audit standing committee for the internal operation. Standing Committee,
nine reports from various city departments,
nine reports from various city departments. Okay,
the nine reports will be referred to the internal operation standing committee or the Neighborhood and Community Services standing committee, two
reports from from the Office of contracting and procurement.
The two reports will be referred to the Neighborhood and Community Services standing committee for the Planning and Economic Development, standing committee,
10 reports from various city departments.
I have two reports for planning, two reports from various city departments. Those two reports will be referred to the Planning and Economic Development standing committee for the public health and safety standing committee, 10 reports from various city departments. The 10 reports will be referred to the public health and safety standing committee. We will now move to the voting action matters under other matters,
there are no items. Madam
President, all right, we will now move to under communications from the mayor and other governmental officials and agencies. There are no items. Madam President, alright, we will call now for our general public comment. And we have 98 total people who want to speak this morning. And so if you would be so kind, we are going to limit public comment to one minute this morning to allow you know everyone to speak, but still stay within some time constraints. Okay, so we will start with you, and if we can have people line up to keep things flowing, that would be great. Amy Hubbard will be first.
Make sure the microphone is on. Press the bottom. Press the bottom. It should turn green, over, over in the middle, yeah, oh, sorry,
I'm nervous. Okay, take your time. I wrote it down this time. Okay, thank you everyone. Good morning Council. My name is Amy Hubbard. I'm resident of district five. I'm a Wayne State's public relations graduate of 2005 I moved to Detroit in 2002 I am deeply involved with the technic community, and have worked at several legendary restaurants downtown for more than a decade, even Dylan's delights. Brad is actually one of my regulars. So anyway, in 2002 i 2012 I discovered the Detroit sale club, the Detroit sale club, and sailing saved my life. For the last 10 years, I have worked out of Florida on private yachts to earn a captain's license and valuable experience. I believe our waterway is completely underused, and what I do doesn't exist here. I've even worked at the Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi, giving tours of Fort Lauderdale. Why am I not giving tours of Detroit? I actually work for the city Institute. Jeanette Pierce is a good friend of mine. We need it here on September 20, I called council members callaways office because she asked for a feasibility study for water tax,
ma'am, that that is your time,
and she's not here. She hasn't called me back in six weeks.
That's okay. So what we'll do, we'll connect you with her staff while you're here.
She hasn't emailed me back. So okay, well, we, let's
just connect you while you're here. I know you're it's we're glad that's making money in this time, guys. And we'll also remember, Waters is at large, she can connect with you as well. Great at large members. And then thank you so much for coming down. Okay. We appreciate you. And if we can make sure that the timer is on so that people can hear their time, okay, I love the energy. I love it. All right, go right ahead. Sorry.
Hey everyone. My name is Alexander gilstorf, and I am a Mathematical economics honor student at Wayne State University. I'm very passionate about Detroit's potential, and I see the Fast Track pilot ordinance as a key strategy for fostering the city's long term growth. This ordinance isn't just about attracting development. Developers, it's about ensuring that Detroiters benefit directly from the revitalization efforts. By prioritizing affordable housing, we're creating economic stability, jobs and an environment where young people can build a future. This approach keeps growth community centered, making Detroit a model of sustainable progress where the benefits of economic advancement stay with its residents. Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, Mr. Barrett
Adam Barrett, Detroiters for Tax Justice. We're still opposed to the Fast Track ordinance. We're not sure why council would cut its own voice out of the process of approving tax incentives, unless some of you have ambitions of being mayor soon, unless we're focusing on 50% AMI and lower I don't know how we can say this is for affordable housing ranging up to 120% AMI, sounds more like we're subsidizing gentrification. We do a lot more for affordability by simply pressuring a HUD to recalculate the federal AMI for Detroit, or pressuring the legislature to pass a rent control law for the state. And to your credit, council has made efforts in those area, but Duggan has scoffed at us when we raise these ideas in his community meeting, the budget department recently sent Council a financial analysis that says the pilot program has an indeterminate fiscal impact on the city. In other words, the promises that it will generate financial benefits for the city are not on sure footing. It also said that extensions for the 15 year tax free status can be done by right, unless the mayor denies it, which we won't know that won't happen.
Thank you so much, Mr. Crowley.
COVID, Young, not here, so I'm gonna start with you. Fred. Duah, you didn't. You cheated it, man. You didn't win that election by no 60 votes in 2021, you know it. Janice burn free. Bold, Gina Avery Walker, bold, Daniel Baxter Bo they cheated 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024 in the presidential primary. And Gabriella Santiago Romero, you're a liar. You didn't view that report findings on allegations of voter fraud on May the ninth, you told the bald faced liar. Mary Sheffield, you a liar too. And James E Tate, you said I wasn't a right representative Coleman's family, where the Michigan State Police report is in the hands, they just appealing the unredacted version. As a board of police commissioners, you a whole fraud man, and I'm suspect. I know you gotta vote at trap house over in district one. It's many more, and you probably keep it there too.
Alright, Thank you, Mister Crowley, our next person would be Matt Corbin. I noticed that none of y'all sound Matt Corbin, excuse me. Mr. Crowley, please. Matt Corbin. Matt
Corbin, with central Detroit Christian Community Development, and as a smaller housing developer, I'm speaking in support of the pilot Fast Track ordinance. We currently have several projects in the pipeline, one that has been waiting a year for a pilot approval, and we have another project that's been viable and sustained for 10 years and never got a pilot approved. The Fast Track will absolutely help to incentivize developers to build affordable housing without some type of incentive for the smaller guys, there's just no way to get it done. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Mister Cunningham, 31344491143134449114,
on Facebook, three separate words, click people and put in hand warmers needed again. Hand warmers needed I appreciate folks reaching out in the public. I appreciate it, praying with you and talking with you. Feel free. I'm always in the taxicab outreach vehicle, so while I'm driving, I have the hands free device, and asking those that can to ride DDOT bus the worst times after 6pm and on the weekends, they're still under 70% on time, which I give out, hand warmers, gloves, bus tickets, I'm out of pretty much everything, But someone just sent a donation, and so I'll be buying more bus tickets with that, paying it forward. Thank you always. Councilwoman Johnson and council member Doha, council president Sheffield, I hear I got some hand warmers from Council Tim Tate, and there's two people behind me. I brought to the meeting bus service.
Thank you so much. Mr. Cunningham. Kim Gillespie, Hi,
I'm Kimberly Gillespie. I spoke to you guys before. I just want to, first and foremost, to say thank you. The bathrooms and the transit center, they've been doing a lot better since I spoke to y'all last so y'all are making a difference in the community. Also, just like he said, the bus times, that's another big thing. It's getting cold out here. It's about the snow and stuff, and people are going to be standing out waiting on these busses, and they need to get the scheduling together. And basically, that's about all I gotta say today. Thank y'all again, so much, because they're doing better than bathrooms. Every time I've been in there, the handicap bathroom been open. So ever since I've been here, like couple days later, it been open. So y'all did definitely do something. I
appreciate that. Thank
you. Thank you so much for coming down. Ken Leonard, Nate Phillips will follow.
Hello. My name is Kendall. Leonard, um, I just wanted to state some things about Rosa Parks center, stuff like some things the CDC left out, somewhat like the soap and the water not working correctly. The busses may not be on time, the schedules may not be actual GPS up to date, things like that really not safe for kids to catch the bus by themselves, especially for black kids. I'm not sure if that's offensive to anyone, but it seems kind of I just wanted to say something. Thank you.
All right. Thank you so much for coming down and just remember as well, we appreciate you bringing feedback here to the city council regarding DDOT, and we will report those issues. But also, DDOT does host monthly meetings as well where they have the director and staff of DDOT that is there who can address directly, specific issues with DDOT. So this encourage you to go to those meetings as well.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for coming now. All
right,
if the clerk will know, member Young has joined us. Mr. So noted, Madam President. Mr. Phillips, Hi,
so my name is Nate Phillips. I manage the housing portfolio for central Detroit Christian which serves for a 202, primarily. And we do, we manage affordable housing, all of which is 60% and under, coming out in support of the fast track pilot program. So it that that will help not just develop the properties, but actually continue to keep it affordable. So by way of a case, a case study, I have a 11 unit building that that we manage that didn't get a pilot renewed in this after the 15 year compliance period, and the tax liability on that went up for that building astronomically. Now the majority of people in there get, like, social security disability income. And, you know, unfortunately, central Detroit Christian is like, supplementing the cost of keeping that building open, but we're going to have to make decisions on like, do we need to sell this building or so we need things like the pilot to keep housing affordable.
Thank you, Mr. Landing.
Esteemed Council time does not permit me to say much more than what I'm about to last evening, I was fortunate enough to attend a housing forum just up the street at Michigan State use campus here, and we heard from a lot of people on the question of affordable housing. This is in reference to the Fast Track pilot program that is being discussed and hopefully voted on. I am here to state my support for it. We heard basically two words yesterday evening, and we've heard it throughout the city for years, actually more now this this fast track program, gets us there a lot quicker than anything else I've heard and seen. We've squandered opportunities over the years. Let us not let this get by us. Let's get out of our own way. Please come together support this project. Let's move forward. Let's get affordable. All
right, thank you. Ms Haygood.
Good morning. Thank you for allowing this. I'm here to support the Fast Track pilot program, and just very quickly, by way of how important it is to us, we have approximately 70 youth, single family homes, four bedrooms, two different developments. Property was sold in December, and we lost the pilot. The taxes went under the pilot, from 28,000
per property to 84,000
we don't have those kinds of funds in escrow, and so within two years, if we can't get the pilot reinstated, pretty quickly, we're going to be at a position where we're going to have to consider how we keep the houses occupied with our families. Most of the properties are 40, 50% units, and so they're very affordable. They're post 1978 so we don't have issues of lead for the children that are living there. And so from our perspective, it's critical.
Thank you. Miss Hagan. Council.
Good morning City Council. I'm here in support of the fast track pilot program for the same reasons we deal with a lot of affordable housing in the city of Detroit. I've done this for 30 plus years now, and the pilot is detrimental to us being able to keep affordable housing and to get additional housing units that people can afford. So by not having the pilot program, I don't know how we would maintain rents for people that are under the 60, 80% 120 AMI, to keep the rents affordable for them. So I am in support of this fast track program, and I hope everyone else is as well. Thank you.
Thank you so much. It's a mod green.
Good morning, Madam President and this honorable body. My name is Saud Ahmad green. I am a developer honor and principal of SNS development group. I do affordable housing developments. I currently and actively have a project in our neighborhoods, and I'm speaking here in support of the pilot ordinance. It's critical that this ordinance is passed. Speaking from experience, I currently have a pilot on existing project takes years, I mean, years to get a small scale project off the ground in our neighborhoods, which is where we need our projects, where we need our affordable housing. Right now, this fast track ordinance will allow developers like myself and others to bring on suitable, healthy projects in our neighborhoods in a very fast manner, quicker than, you know, three or four years, something that we can do probably in months, which is critical to all minority developers and developers at whole
Great. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Lisa, Joanna, you
Good morning city council and council president Sheffield, it is an honor to be here today to support the Fast Track pilot program. And I thank you and the HRD for the hard work that you've done to bring it to this point. It is just an excellent piece of legislation we I've commensurated With all of the people before me to say that as a developer and as a property manager, how important having a stabilized number to pay taxes on or payment in lieu of taxes on a regular basis, and how critical that is for us to be able to continue To do affordable housing. So we ask for you today to support this legislation and this vote. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Brandon Hodges, good morning to this honorable
body. My name is Brandon Hodges. I'm the principal of tribe development, a black owned real estate development and consulting firm headquartered in the city of Detroit, but most importantly, I'm a proud resident of the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood. I'm here today to voice my staunch support of the fast track pilot ordinance, having worked in the development and finance spaces for a number of years, I'm no strangers at difficulty of creating affordable housing, but even I was surprised by the nuanced challenges faced in the city of Detroit. You see, after years of disinvestment, the city lacks many of the comparable tools other large cities have to combat a significant housing crisis. We lack deeply funded affordable housing trust funds and evergreen sources of capital funded by private and philanthropic sources. Even more to the point, in post ARPA environment, many of the affordable housing deals that we celebrate today will simply not be feasible tomorrow. We all have to figure out a more creative way to solve our affordable housing crisis for these and many other reasons. I'm a firm support of the fast track pilot. Is this policy perfect? Absolutely not. But the point of good policy is not perfection. It's progress, and the Fast Track pilot will undoubtedly achieve this for the city. And thank you.
Thank you. Sonia Mays
Good afternoon to this honorable body. I'm Sonia Mays. I am currently the founding CEO of develop Detroit. I am also a proud member of read I am actually here in support of the fast track pilot ordinance. I also want to commend this body for bringing forward this excellent piece of legislation that is really tailored to encourage as much affordable housing as possible. You've heard from other nonprofit developers the challenges that we are currently facing with costs, with high property taxes. This will alleviate that. It will allow us to better manage our properties, and I believe it will add a valuable tool for small developers working in our neighborhood, so they also can can add more housing, more quality housing, to the people who need it most. So thank you again for your consideration.
Thank you. Ernest Johnson,
good morning, honorable Councilwoman, Mary Sheffield and the council I'm glad to be here this morning to support project fast track, because I think we need it, especially in Jamison neighborhood and district five. We're working on a building now the Jamison LLC group, across the street from new Bethel, is about six, seven buildings in that area, in Jamison area that's sitting empty, and if we could get people in those buildings that have built up the whole neighborhood.
I'm with this project. I'm with rebuilding Detroit, and we gotta just keep moving forward. We can't stand still the full council people that put this together in the mayor, I take my hat off to you. Y'all did a great job.
Alright, good to see you, mister. You ms Whitfield, Good
morning, madam. Madam President and city council. My name is Sonia green. I am the owner of Lynnwood Fresh Market and rich and Drexel properties. I stand before you today as President of the Lynwood Business Owners Association. I, along with the members, are in full support of the fast track pilot program. I do believe this is a game changer for that area. The rent in the district five Linwood corridor is astronomical at this point. Some two family flats are going for $1,300 a month with the redevelopment that some have have done in the area. So with the Fast Track program, this will allow those residents that have been in the neighborhood to stay in the neighborhood, along with a healthy living and fresh produce, I believe is a right, and also affordable housing to all Detroiters is a right, and I ask that everyone support the Fast Track pilot program. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Sonia green, that was you. I'm sorry about that. Okay, you must have got confused here. What's your name
now? Cindy Davis,
okay, right ahead.
I am here today in support of my son who is behind me. Perry Jenkins, homes, um, I'm going to start out of order so that I don't run out of time. He's in a battle with the land bank. Lot of things could have been done differently by both entities, but his house, the house, was damaged by the land bank intentionally, and then they got BC to do a document saying that he couldn't stay there because the house was not fit to live in. We have the before and after pictures. It was damaged when they went to re put the plexiglass up when they said he wasn't supposed to be there. He was living there. The doors were removed with all his belongings being exposed. So they said they will forcibly remove him tomorrow, which his court date with the land bank is November the 15th. His paperwork deadline is Friday, but they said they will forcibly remove him. And it was on speakerphone. The police were there the land bank and BC, and they said they did not care if he had a court date on the 15th. Alright.
Thank you. And I know your son is going to speak next. He's definitely been down here a few times, and I know it has been working with some of my colleagues to address the issue, but I will let you speak and then we can respond. Thank
you. Thank you guys for your time. So the reason I'm here today is because I've came before you several times, and I know I've corresponded with your office and I've tried to do it the right way. They served me. I went to court, I showed up for my Zoom. I did everything I was supposed to. I pleaded my case, and the judge adjourned us until the 15th, and she said that I should be able to turn in all my documentation by the 15th. The land bank lawyer came back during that session. It was like the first I agreed. I said, Your Honor, the first is fine. I'll have everything turned in that day. About an hour after I got off of the Zoom meeting, I got a call from Larry K from House housing services, and he said to me, something just came down. They're about to come and give you an intent to vacate. I don't know when, but it's coming. So they came out a couple days ago, and they gave me the intent to vacate, and it's two days before I'm supposed to be able to turn in my paperwork on the 28th so this is all completely like I've done everything I can. I've tried to you guys do everything the right way. I don't know what to do. I'm scared that they're gonna
alright. Thank you so much, and I know member Johnson has been working with you so and I'll come, I'll come to you as well. Member waters, member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President. Mister Jenkins, thank you so much for corresponding with our office. I actually had a conversation with Tammy Daniels, the CEO of the Detroit Land Bank Authority, and they have an offer that they want to make to you, but we have not been able to communicate with you, so I will reach out to you today so that we can coordinate a conversation directly with the CEO of the land bank so We can get the matter resolved.
Okay,
thank you. Applause. Thank
you. Council member Johnson, Chase control, Good
morning, Madam President and this honorable body. My name is Chase Cantrell. I am the Executive Director of building community value, a nonprofit institution based here in the city of Detroit that serves Detroit residents. We teach Detroiters how to do neighborhood scale development in their neighborhoods. We've been doing that since 2016 have had over 400 Detroiters who have gone through that program, many of whom are doing neighborhood scale development right so these are small, small development projects, usually under 10 units. People are getting started. They really, are really passionate about keeping rents low for their neighbors. That's what usually brings people into our programs. However, when they look around at things that are happening in greater downtown and the corridors in certain neighborhoods throughout our city, and they see subsidies and abatements that are given to larger development projects, they begin to wonder, why is it that for small scale development, there aren't enough resources and tools for small scale developers who want to do this work, who are mostly black and brown Detroiters who want to keep again rents low for their neighbors. So I urge you to pass the Fast Track private ordinance.
Thank you so much. Darius Derek, good
morning, council members. My name is Darius beer. I am Detroit native, local developer, and also a member of the RE committee, and I'm also part of the every year team where we have raised the private equity fund to support black and brown developers. So I have a unique experience and insight on a lot of the development projects, and I am in here in support of the fast track pilot program, I see that, you know, in based off the mayor's words, and affordable a billion dollars of affordability that we already created with the development firms today, we're going to need another billion dollars, and this fast track pilot program is the best thing we have going forward to incentivize developers to create more affordable Housing our communities. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Press bellant,
good morning,
pilot program will still allow rent increases. The pilot program is not designed to create home ownership on affordable terms. It is designed to create tax free rental income for business owners for decades to come, public money should only be invested in public housing, as Detroit once did, the origins of Motown and Brewster. Instead, we get a proposal from business to create a system where they get decades of making money tax free, denying money from the for the schools, libraries and city services that their businesses will use. Tax incentives have already de my denied 420 million to our schools alone.
Gotta stop people. Thank
you so much. Mister bellant Harris, is the timer working?
Okay? Mr. Harden,
you can come up. We want to make sure the timer is working correctly.
Alright, if we can start the clock, please, Okay, we're good.
Good morning Council, I
have prepared marks, but I just we talk about you all have been staunch supporters of creating equitable opportunities for job creation, Affordable Housing and Development, Opportunities for black Detroiters since you all been in office.
But sometimes we forget where folks start at
I started doing two families, three families and four family flats in a Dexter Davidson neighborhood, and you hook and crook and you put every band that you can to make a project work. We didn't have tax incentive programs like the pilot enhanced pilot orders did, and so those problems become impossible at times, this enhanced pilot ordinance now gives an opportunity to incentivize equitable development, affordable housing for local developers, local Detroiters, no matter how big or how small you are, but most importantly, it provides teeth and a balanced approach so that administration and the council can hold us accountable, so I support it. Thank you so much.
Donald Richard,
hello through Madam Chair and also this honorable body. My name is Donald rancher, proud citizen of the city of Detroit. Want to express my gratitude the City Council and the administration for their efforts in advancing this pilot ordinance. I also like to commend city council, because I know and you all have been steadfast and making sure that we create affordable housing for our neighborhoods. We also understand this is a national challenge, and Detroit has consistently been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to this topic, the ordinance would particularly, I believe, help black and brown developers who are the, who are the majority of the developers who are developing in our neighborhoods. And increased investment in our communities is crucial, and this tool will be something that helps it. It's not the only tool that we need, but we but it is a strong start. And if I also could say this, this council has always been had their ears and eyes open to the people on the ground who do this work, what is valuable is that they're here in support of this work, this ordinance. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Mr. Tom, good
morning.
I'm like Thompson, Director of Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University. I'm here to oppose the property maintenance code amendments. The proposal is likely to lead to more children to be endangered by lead dust. This is because it eliminates the lead investigation, risk assessment that is the standard for protecting children from lead dust. Instead, the ordinance proposes a visual assessment. A visual assessment is unreliable. HUD, EPA, ASTM and American Committee of Academy of Pediatrics all say that visual assessment has very limited capacity to protect children. The awesome ordinance is also inconsistent with state law and lead regulation regarding completing a risk assessment, risk assessors would be at risk of losing their certification. Implementing this ordinance is likely to lead to more children being led poisoned. I have a memo that comes from the state to lead investigation risk assessors. I want to make sure you all have a great day.
Thank you. You as well.
Good morning to this honorable body. My name is Linda Smith. I'm
the director of snapback on Detroit's east side.
I stand today to support the Fast Track pilot ordinance it makes it possible to create more affordable housing as the owner of two light tech project, these deals will not exist without a pilot being in place. It helped preserve city state and other gap dollars to further to produce more low income housing at 60% of AMI and less. Again, I
stand today to support this fast track pilot ordinance. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Thanks thinking.
Good morning City Council. My name is Langston King, and I'm a resident district five. I strongly believe in the affording and the affordable housing. I'm a young black male who is a lifelong Detroiter as from as for my profession. I am currently connected to corporate sales and business development. In addition to that, I am an aspiring business owner connected to passive income. I'm the son of a single black woman, and my mother is a is currently a homeowner due to the ACT connected to Habitat for Humanity, I strongly believe in the in the affordable housing movement. Please find it in your heart to make a change. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Stacy West,
Hi, good morning. My name is Stacy, and I'm a resident of the district five, district Lynnwood. I'm sorry, neighborhood, I encourage the honorable Detroit City Council to adapt the proposed pilot ordinance. I'm also a young person who is entrepreneur, hairstylist, and looking for housing in Detroit has been a struggle. I need something affordable in my city because I love my city.
Thank you.
Thank you so much. Good morning, everybody. Good morning.
Hi. My name is Candice Rucker of Rucker Property Management Group. I'm also a member of RE and I'm in full support of the expansion of the pilot Fast Track program. I specifically work in underserved neighborhoods in the city of Detroit, where my rents are between 30% to 60% AMI, which averages to $750 to $950 per month for a two bedroom, one bathroom home. When I listed my two unit one bedroom home, I'm sorry, one bathroom home, I received over 300 inquiries within the first 48 hours of listing it. I met with folks as young as 21 years of age and also as old as or young as 70 in their 70s. My goal has always been to offer quality, affordable, safe housing to low to moderate income families as well as seniors, but this effort has become extremely difficult for me because my taxes have doubled overnight, which leads me to not be able to set aside additional funding for capital improvements
and also, hey, that was Quick.
Thank you. Good morning.
Sean Tidwell, I've been a landlord in the city of Detroit for going on 30 years now, and being a landlord for so long, I've seen rents in the neighborhoods significantly increase. That's happening because it's not easy for landlords either to offer affordable rents because of expenses, like the taxes going up. So I'm in here. I'm here in support of the pilot I think is essential in order to keep rents down on not only existing housing but new housing projects. And just wanted to speak in support and thank you. Okay,
thank you, sir. Member young Yes,
sir, I just want to say that's a nice shirt you're wearing, man, I appreciate that. Thank you, sir.
Matthew Boyd, yes, ma'am,
good morning, Council.
My name is Matthew Boyd. I grew up on the west side of Detroit, seven mile in Greenfield in district two, and I support the Fast Track pilot program. My personal testimony is one of poverty, housing instability and homelessness, and through the grace of God, I'm fortunate enough to help solve those same issues for some of the other members in our community and in the pilot program enables me and other developers, in order to do so, I now serve on the development Leadership Council of reed and I'm also the director of acquisition for Kipling development. As a case study, we have an acquisition right now where we can preserve over 120 naturally. We can preserve over 120 naturally occurring affordable homes with residents already in place, and while creating 30 more natural affordable units, without this pilot program, preserving that property and those rents that are already have natural occurring rents in place, it would be virtually impossible, and this is why we stand in
support of The pilot program. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Applause. Good morning.
Good morning. My name is Cynthia Thomas, and good morning to my Detroit City Council. I am an Emerging developer in district five, and I'm here in support of the pilot program. I know something extraordinary is happening here in the city of Detroit, and I want to be a part of it, but what I am already starting to encounter is how to have the neighborhoods I'm committed to empower, actually build and create the program, the properties and the developments and the housing for the people who are going to be in those neighborhoods where the values are already depressed. So I'm here speaking in support of this pilot, so I actually have an opportunity to participate in creating and growing my own city. So thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning Council. My name is Mark. I'm a resident of District Six. I'm actually here in support of the pilot expansion. I think it'll be a great way to encourage more affordable housing in our city by offering tax breaks to developers, it should make it easier for them to build more affordable units. I think this will help address the pricing the housing crisis and make our city more affordable for everybody, and the expansion also has other benefits, bring back neighborhoods, create jobs and boost the local economy so Irish the City Council approve this. Thank you.
Thank you. Hello, Council. My
name is James, District Six resident here in support of the pilot Fast Track program. But a simple fact that our past needs know that our future is going to take care of them. They've been here, they've helped the city become what it is, and now it's our turn to sit back and take care of them. It's going to give them a incentive to have housing that's affordable and available to markets and to all the commerce that they need, along with the development of this new bridge and everything like this, I see our city going forward, and it's time for us to shine. And Detroit is definitely one of those cities that can be a Limelight across the Midwest and be a top 10 city again. And this is one of our opportunities to make sure that that's going to go ahead and go forward, saying that our our housing and everything is going to be subsidizing people are going to be able to live here and flourish, as opposed to how it's been. Thank you for your time.
Thank you as well. Morning.
Good morning to this honorable body. I'm Samantha Scott Jenkins, and I'm the CEO of effect Detroit, a local non profit community revitalization organization, and I'm here in support of the fast track pilot program. And what we do, we aim to make sure that communities stay mended together. So what this does is it helps local, smaller developers to be able to continue to bring affordable housing to areas which which helps prevent displacement of the current residents, which also helps to displacement of students in school, and helps their school attrition rate stay lower. So overall, it will help families stay in their community so that they can thrive together. Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning, honorable body and through the Chair. My name is Akuna olumba. I am a developer for legacy city group. We have put up the Detroit pizza bar, but have been doing development in Detroit for the last 20 years. I've seen different iterations of trying to help community developers all the way from the beginning of Chodos that we used to use in community development organizations, but we I'm in here in support of the fast track pilot program, and you should be too, because it helps us ensure that the housing stock of Detroit, the parts that are not being ground built right, the rehabs those projects can get done by developers who are emerging, or even larger developers. But more importantly, it empowers the individuals in their community who want to rehab the six unit apartment building that they've been looking at for a long time to be able to make that bankable, right, I have so thank you.
Thank you so much good
morning. Automobile body, Madam President. My name is keona Cowan. I am representing invest Detroit, which is a nonprofit lender focused on increasing density and jobs in the city of Detroit, only in the city of Detroit, and we stand in support of the fast track ordinance because it is essential to advancing affordable housing by providing critical incentives that encourage developers to build and preserve affordable options for families, seniors and individuals who deserve the chance to thrive in our city by lowering the long term cost of development, the pilot makes it more feasible for developers to prioritize affordable housing in their projects, which otherwise may be unfeasible. The program promotes equitable housing opportunities, helping prevent displacement and fostering more inclusive communities for all residents. Additionally, these incentives would stimulate economic growth and revitalizing understaffed neighborhoods and expanding the overall housing supply, creating a stronger, more resilient city for everyone.
Thank you so much.
Good afternoon, honorable body. My name is Jason Jones. I'm a developer here and represent Reed. As you will notice, there are a few of us here. Hopefully you know that it is a we are here in support of pilot, also that it is a critical tool that we need to continue to develop our city. It's absolutely critical for developers and like myself, as a tool to expand and to support our neighborhoods, and that's both affordable and workforce level development and projects. In the past, we've heard suggestions that have been made to amend this ordinance. We believe that some are reasonable, but we also believe that these specific requests are likely better suited for inclusion in the pilot policy not hard coded in the ordinance. Keeping the ordinance clear and focus allows the detailed policies to provide the necessary year to year flexibility that will adapt to the changing needs of our neighborhoods, and it also will continue to support the best outcomes over time. Reed is obviously fully committed to this pilot, as well as to working with improve the ordinance. Thank you for your time.
We support the pilot. Thank you. Thank you.
Good morning City Council. My name is Matt hanuti. I represent the Islamic Center of Detroit. I major community service in district seven with Mr. Door Hall. I came here in support of the affordable housing since we started the business in 2000 for the last 25 years, I would say, and witness that this year is one of the worst in terms of the housing for our community in district seven. Part of our mandate is to encourage many new immigrants to move with their businesses to district seven. So we have a lot of challenges because a lot of issues with the high rents, high housing prices. So we encourage you to come up with the better terms, in terms of the land, back housing, maybe incentives to buy new houses, because everything has been so difficult this year. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. Good day, Council.
How are you guys doing? My name is Andre James. I am homeowner in district five. I'm here representing the Columbus, Whitney Hogarth community, I want to stand in agreements with you guys on the fast track program. Guys, go ahead and get that through. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you so much. Applause.
My name is investigator, Tanya R wells. I am a legal scribe, jurist. I was very ill on the 25th of October, I was evicted and my property was larceny out of my chair. I lost a lot of property. No one told me where it was. I asked professionally, please give me my things back. And I do want my things back. I lost everything. This is seven page was called register actions, and it depicts that I've been there 24 times. I was sick and I missed the date, and she would not give me my trial. So in the hospital, my son went over and saw that they had taken everything out of the house, and I had a lot of property that was very, very valuable. Please help me.
Thank you so much, Miss wells, and we will have my team as well with council member at large and other members to help address you. Why you're here. Okay, Miss wells. Council member Durham, thank you, Madam President,
to miss wells. I don't know, are you still in d7 or you're in d5 now I want you, yeah, d7 Yeah. Okay, so my team will be able to assist you. I know Mark is by there and you got my cell phone number. Yolanda brought it to our attention sometime last week, but it was already too late. And so, from my understanding, Yolanda and them right now are working on temporary housing and also to find some place. But we will be in contact with you, and at any time you got my personal sales, yes, sir, even in the house. So please don't hesitate to contact us for
anything that you can do to help me. I have nothing. I don't even have a pair of earrings that I had nothing. And I'm I'm so upset every day, so very upset, and I need to bring it to your attention. I'd like to live in 480, 202. But if they can't do no better, that's just fine. It's me and my son, and what both just say about Okay,
thank you for coming down and sharing that with us, and we will work with you as well too. Miss wells, okay, you're welcome. Thank you. Alright. Miss. Betty Lyons, if
they give us over
$600 million they owe us, you could live there. Okay, over $600 million of overpaid property tax belonging to the Detroit residents stolen by satanic Mike Dugan and his partner, Dana Nessel. This illegal act cannot go unresolved and whitewashed as was old the reparations to the over 400 years of Black slavery, Attorney Whitaker still no proof, because there is none in black and white, he still sits mute, refusing to assist Detroit residents and our right to no Law for justice. Add penalty and interest. Do you honor Jesus, Christ, our Lord and Savior, or satanic Dugan, who is definitely evil.
Thank you so much. Miss Lyons, go right ahead. Miss tally,
hi. My name is detricia Talley. Most people know me as Tricia Talley. I'm the Executive Director of the North Corktown Neighborhood Association and the developer for tomorrow's housing Innovation Showcase, which will be the first community land trust to sell affordable homes in the city of Detroit. I'm here in support of the fast track pilot. It's my hope that the fast track will create a pathway for making Detroit development friendly for small developers.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you as well.
Madam President, honorable council members. My name is Eddie Carrington, a Detroit resident and developer, and I'm here today to support the expanded pilot ordinance. As the developer of the ribbon at East English village, I transform that site into a mixed use facility with commercial space below and 18 affordable apartments. Projects like the ribbon only become feasible through abatements, which help us balance operating costs with affordable rents. Securing our current abatement took over 610, months, actually, a significant time investment. Once it ends, our tax burden will more than double, putting projects like the ribbon at financial risk. The expanded pilot program solves this by linking property taxes to rental income, ensuring long term affordability. Real Estate Development is driven by developers, not residents, which is why pilot is critical to the Detroit's housing future. This program enables us to add 1000s of affordable units citywide, meeting Detroit's needs while remaining viable. I urge the city council to support this expansion and help us build a more sustainable future for all Detroiters, thank you.
Good morning Council. My name is believer. Thanks for the good job. Council, president of Elevate higher community development in District Three, and a proud member of the Oba Osborne Business Association, our model says we deserve better. I'm here to support a pilot for the Fast Track program. Reason being that when blight was an issue, the city started by doing what is called Motor City makeover. Then we added Motor City restore, but everything was a snail pace. When they switched to model 6365 it became evident, even though the blind that this is not where we used to be, even though we know that goal yet, but now everyone is conscious about the blight, and the city is moving forward. It is said that you cannot solve 21st century problem with 19th century's ideas. Therefore, the pilot is a fast track that will get us faster. Just have models three Motor City 365 have motors move off much faster to where we're going and fighting the blight. Thank you.
Good morning. Anambra City Council. My name is Chris Jackson. I'm one of the Executive Board members of Reid, and I'm also the managing partner of Queen Lillian development. I just want to first just thank you for your leadership. This is a, I think, really a historic piece of legislation. Many may not look at it that way, but as a developer, and one who actually has tried to mentor and work with emerging developers, the one thing that always comes to mind, and people come to me, they always say that there is this sort of wall as relates to development in Detroit, and they say, Chris, how can I, you know, get to where you are be what Queen Lillian is. And they always feel like it's a daunting process. Pilot is something now that makes available the same incentives that many larger, more established developers have had available today. So I just want to thank you for your leadership on this. Thank you.
Hello. Good morning, Madam President and all of you committed counsel to Detroit. My name is Deepa Harper. I am the Founder and Managing Member of champ nation organization. I am also a real estate developer who is a member of read, I'm here before you to support the pilot ordinance. We are currently in development of a project called the champ life Bridge, which is located on Linwood and Ford in district two. This project is a commercial misuse building where 24 units are 100% low income, 60% and below AMI, 30% of those units will be set aside for aged out, foster youth and returning citizens in the retail space. We are doing workforce development so that we can train our residents and our community members to be skilled in high tech emerging
technologies for upskill into this tech workforce. Thank you.
Mr. Foster, good
morning. Ronald Foster, first thing I want to say is appreciate 16.1 part of the program, simply because it cuts red tape to address affordable housing, addresses the social condition first and creates an opportunity for black and brown developers. Second. Secondly, rental compliance, 20.1 rental compliance simply amounts to human rights. We must protect and advocate for human rights at all costs. Thirdly, transportation accountability. DDOT, you know, their voice need to be magnified a little more. The season has changed. Weather is changing, although at 70 degrees today, it'd be cold soon, we have to get those busses on time. Fourth, education. We need more social workers to work on social conditions, less pharmaceuticals to blind the community or the social conditions that already exist. Lastly, I ask you all to keep up the good work. I don't have much time, but if you're open to anything, I say vote. Vote. Thank you
so much,
Reverend Barry.
I'm Barry Randolph, Priest, Pastor, Church of Messiah in Detroit. Thank you for allowing me to say a few words, and I'm going to be brief. So we do church of the Messiah. Housing Corporation has been doing housing in the city of Detroit for nearly 50 years, and we have built or rehabbed over 200 units of affordable housing, and we own 49 vacant lots. We believe you cannot gentrify a neighborhood if you own it. So it's all about ownership and building up for people who need so we stand in support of the fast track pilot program, and we want to continue to do affordable housing in the city of Detroit, and we believe that this program can help us do that. Thank you.
Thank you.
Hey everybody.
My name is Juan rap. I'm a resident and developer in District Three, and I had the opportunity to bring back blocks and make them more visible and safer for people to live. I'm in support of the fast track for development. This will allow me to spam my footprint, not only in District Three, but it's a different district, and I urge that y'all pass this and we can move forward and be okay for the people and the residents of the city of Detroit for everything that we worked hard for. Like myself, I own multiple houses on blocks on the same blocks, and I went and did this stuff with my own funds and everything, and I just support this the Fast Track program to make sure that everything work yourself out. So
thank you so much.
Good morning. My name is Sabrina Levine. I'm the CEO of Neo purpose for life agency, which is a nonprofit agency as a Master's social worker with over 14 years of experiencing experience providing holistic service to low income pregnant moms and babies in the metro Detroit community, I strongly endorse this housing pilot program. My professional experience has consistently demonstrated that stable, clean and safe housing is a fundamental barrier to the well being of vulnerable families in our community. I serve in our community on multiple capacities. I'm a community advocate in district seven, a community ambassador, a formal Detroit Public School educator at Marcus Garvey Academy. I am on a committee of the Robert aviation Association in my current practice, we serve approximately 440 mothers weekly. 60% lack stable cleaning housing. Many resort to temporary shelters sleeping in their cars or remain unhoused with babies.
I support it. Thank you, Miss Williams. Hello, it's
26 homeless shelters in the city of Detroit. Every
last one of them, the directors, whoever's running these facilities, are fully aware of this illegal corruption is back door dealings to the fullest. This could not be going on if cam was not involved the house in hands and city official workers that sit up here because it's impossible that you can call in and get a referral at 11pm in the evening time, like I said before, the shelters are for homeless people, not for officers, police and fire department. It's not acceptable. I do not care if they've gone to a different facility. The issue still remains. Them bads are for homeless people, not the means of someone to pay rent periods. And like I said, it's at the highest and you all need to address this problem. But it looked like you all are part of the problem. Thank you and have a great day.
Thank you so much. Miss Williams, David, a lot a
My name is David latte, and I'm the CEO of century partners, as you can see, the city council president and our honorable body, I'm honored to limp before you today as a real estate developer that's primarily focused on nationally occurring affordable housing, that's housing between really 30 and 80% AMI, and in my capacity as President of Reed, an advocacy group that supports black developers in Detroit, I know firsthand how difficult it is to provide high quality housing service to the folks that need the most at affordable levels, and whether it's a four unit or a 50 unit, I know how difficult it can be for the folks that want to do the right thing, that want to develop quality housing within their neighborhoods, to do so without bankrupting themselves or their families. This pie provision lowers the barrier to entry for hundreds of Detroit residents across the city to do just that. We're an affordable housing crisis, in part because the time it takes to develop this policy both increases the supply of net new affordable housing and will improve our current stock of 30 to 6% AMI housing by encouraging investment with a contractual obligation to maintain affordability with one good leg, I applause. Honorable body to support this pilot provision.
Thank you so much.
Good morning, city council. My name is Lynnae Gilbert Williams, as someone who has been as a native Detroiter. I've been serving families here in the city for a few decades in being an administrator in a free clinic for women and children that serve primarily Detroiters who are homeless and uninsured. I'm a youth program coordinator. I am the president of Wilder Mayor parks Neighborhood Association and the president of our only black LED, community owned grocery store here in the city, Detroit, people's food Co Op. Across the board, housing is the number one issue, and being a mom of six, the one thing that I'm dealing with is that our children have access to social media. If you're born and raised in Detroit as a young person, you don't know how great it's once been, you don't know how great we can be, and they are losing hope and waking up without adequate housing, adequate food, just the basics. It just seems like to young Detroiters we just can't get right. That is a big deal. It's lowering the self worth and self value of our youth. I am in support of the expansion of this ordinance, this pilot ordinance, and I've reached out to a number of community leaders in whom I trust, and they support this ordinance as well. So I back at 100% Thank
you. Thank you. Morning.
Hello Council and Council President. My name is Miranda Mara Bartel. I'm here in full support of the pilot. I'm a real estate broker and a developer, and this pilot here would definitely push off very strongly and assist our developers that we have in the community and seeing what they are going through, and making sure that we are continuing to create home ownership, not only home ownership, continue to making rental reasonable for our home, for our citizens of the city of Detroit. This is one problem that we're definitely having as being landlords and being able to fight the blight of the taxes, because taxes are definitely expensive in the city of Detroit, and this would definitely be a great deal to be able to push and move forward, continue to keep doing the great work that you guys are doing, and let's come up with some more pilots to help. Hey.
Thank you so much. Bartell,
good afternoon to this distinguished body. Rufus Bartel, Independent Business Association of liver noise. We concern ourselves with small business development throughout the course of city. And in order to be an innovative city, you gotta have innovative policies. There has to be a smart mix between market rate, availability and affordability. So with this policy, I stand in full support. And as my wife stated earlier, let's come up with more pilots, come up with more innovative ideas to speed up development so we can really, you know, keep Detroit popping because we the hottest city in the mirror. I had to get that in. So don't hold it against
Thank you. Okay, thank
you.
Miss Helen. Good morning.
Good morning, good
morning. City council members. My name is Helen Starks, and I am a resident of district three in Detroit. I am reaching out to express my strong support for the proposed pilot Fast Track program, which I believe will be a positive step toward creating a better more accessible housing options in our community. As a long time resident of affordable housing, I was promised the opportunity to purchase my home after 15 years, only to encounter obstacles at every turn. After reaching the closing stage with the Detroit land bank, I discovered that the property had been transferred multiple times via quit claim deeds and eventually sold to a company that has taken me to court repeatedly, and is currently trying to evict me without a cause, a good cause, despite, despite me living in the home for 20 years now, this experience has shown me how vital it is and to improve housing access and stability for residents by supporting small developers through a fast track approval process, the council can help, and shortly, Detroit's affordable housing market provides real opportunities for residents without specific legal challenges I have faced. I urge the Council for the trash back, develop program. Thank you.
Thank you, Martin.
Good morning. My awesome Council. I'm Alan Martin. I'm with Detroit impact as well as president of AMTS, and we actually teach folks how to invest in our city. Just two things. One, without question, I'm in favor. I am truly, truly in favor of the Fast Track program. We need affordable housing. No offense and butts about this. So I appreciate this. And actually, this was something that I proposed, very similar about 25 years ago. At that also time, we also proposed that another solution that would help people with affordable housing, and that was to it took about 60, $6,900 to bring up some of these houses up to code. The proposal was to borrow from the pension fund, which historically had lost money. Have those codes homes brought up the code, so those homes back to the community for just $20,000 making it affordable for folks, and then raising the tax base of the city of Detroit, also bringing ownership and the pride of ownership to to the community. Lastly, I still want to push our Youth Commission in the city. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Good morning.
My name is Brandon Reed. I'm the Director of External Affairs for the Michigan Black Business Alliance. Our mission is to tackle the racial wealth gap by supporting entrepreneurs of color through one financial like programs, but then also we work a lot on advocating for policies. And so I'm here today to say thank you all. Thank you council president Sheffield, thank you, Councilman duerha, for your work to kind of experience this. And also want to thank the rest of council for considering this. So there's two main reasons why we're really in support of this. One is, as a lot of developers mentioned, financing. So Apple access to capital is one of the most difficult issues for black business owners, and a big part of that is the fact that the current pilot program is only for 15 years. So by extending this, there's a better chance for them to get more favorable and long term funding. Secondly, I want to make sure that we also point out what this will mean for our subcontractors and businesses and construction, because these new home developments going to take a lot of plumbing and trades work, and so we really appreciated that as well. So thank you.
All right. Cindy Dara, you get to close us out.
All right. Cindy de I just want to talk to the people here that are listening and in the audience, please help get the vote out. And if you have questions, you can call 833 that's our old number. Remember 833 we had Am I votes? Am I votes eight, three. And if you got any questions, that'll get you to the assistant line for the Democratic Party. But if each of you would go out and get, like, talk to everybody every day and ask them to make sure they vote, give them information. And if you listen on point radio, you'll find some very good information. Go to their podcast on there and go to past shows in the jackpot. But we need people to really work hard on this. This is an important election for real. So I'm afraid, because if I go out and support people that are being scapegoated, and if Trump is elected, you can imagine eventually they'll be coming after me, and I never did get an answer whether or not they're taking some of capturing some tax money out of our new millage that we're going to be voting on. I've asked, I've asked your office. I've asked, and this has been two weeks, and Whitaker, I think, is wrong. I think that they only make up the state to the minimum level 7000 a student,
Miss Dara, so,
so Cindy just captures on the on
the school.
Excuse me. So Cindy, if you would just let me respond, LPD actually did just commission a report. Miss dar if you're interested, be careful. LPD did respond to your request, and so we will print out the report, Yvonne, if our office can just print it out and give it to Miss Cindy Dara, that they did commission a report based on your public comment, and they did a whole writing on proposal s, and so that is done, and we'll give it to you before you leave today. Okay? So that is done, and that request was responded to. Alright? We appreciate you. Miss Durham, and we will continue now. That's it. Okay? We will continue now with our public comment for those who have joined us virtually. Miss Dara, please. Can you please be quiet? Miss Dara, thank you. We love you dearly. Thank you so much. If we can turn now to those who have joined us virtually,
Good morning, Madam President, there were 36 hands raised before you had public comment, and the first caller is Andrea, good morning, honorable members of the council. My name is Andrea Pfizer. I am the founder of the 12 600 grand group and a proud member of reed as an emerging developer working on a mixed unit development in wonderful district seven, I am here to express my strong support for the pilot program for projects like ours, a 30 unit mixed use development that we have planned for Grand River and Fullerton. Pilot is a crucial factor in making affordable housing a reality in our community. This program will not only help us bridge our financing gap, but encourages sustainable investment tenant retention and the long term affordability. Detroit so urgently, urgently needs with this streamlined approval process, pilot empowers responsible developers like us to contribute to Detroit's growth while supporting residents who need it most. By adopting this program, you're not only helping developers like me, but also ensuring a stable, inclusive future for Detroit. Thank you for your time.
All right, thank you.
The next caller is moratorium now action.
All right, good morning.
Good morning. This is Mike Shane. I'm with Detroiters for Tax Justice. Sorry about the name. I want to express my opposition to the pilot ordinance because it is unaccountable to the public, to our scrutiny and to the city council oversight. Why do I point this out? We have another organization called the Detroit Land Bank Authority, which does not have the accountability that is needed. And what have we seen with the land bank? Just last year, the federal government find the land bank $1.5 million for doing things improperly. They've they've had improper lead and asbestos remediation, resulting in the contamination of children who are near demoed houses. They were filling holes with debris. They're going under a Bing. Demolitions cost eight to 10k under Dugan, they went up to 24k for this and many other reasons, we need to oppose this. We need public accountability.
Thank you.
The next caller is Nancy cannon,
hi. This is actually Richard cannon, Executive Director of church of the Messiah Housing Corporation. I wanted to add a couple comments after pastor Barry in terms of why we support this fast track pilot ordinance. First, one thing that didn't come out is that it does incentivize quality through requiring maintaining a certificate of compliance, and that's a real issue in Detroit in terms of quality housing. Secondly, the am eyes of Detroiters is half that, of them Statistical Area used for determining, quote, affordability. One of the incentives of this ordinance is that it does incentivize rents less than 50% which most of the nonprofit CDOs in Detroit support, and so we again encourage City Council to pass this ordinance. Thank you.
Great. Thank you.
The next caller is Robert Matt,
good afternoon. Can
you hear me?
Yes, we can.
Thank you. My
name is Robert matler. I'm a proud member of Reed for the second year. I'm also a Managing Member of green portfolio solutions. We are in support of the fast track pilot program, and we believe that it's going to be very helpful for bipoc and early stage developers to get their projects financed. We are helping these developers through the Michigan State law C pace, commercial property assessed clean energy. And Madam President, I believe you were at Samaritan center yesterday that use that same law for upgrading that facility. This, along with the pilot program, will help developers through their neighborhood development projects let them pencil and become cleaner, more healthier, more comfortable places for Detroiters to live and prosper. I again, strongly urge this body to please pass this ordinance. It's very well conceived and thank you.
Thank you as well.
The next caller is Steven Harring, can I be her?
Yes, you can. Awesome.
So, as I mentioned before, I'm in strong, I mean, double strong support of this ordinance.
I mean, it takes,
there's so many affordable housing projects that aren't even on the ground yet, or take about 10 years. But I'm going to take the rest of my time to explain there's been incredible misinformation against it by the Detroit scam organization, Detroit people's platform, and Detroiters protects justice, and they decided it was a good idea last time to put Theo pride to speak against it, who spent three years in federal prison for embezzling 700,000 from Detroit Public Schools. And you know that Mike Shane, or whatever his name is, that old hat just needs to retire. He's just been causing problems for who many times, and same with Russ Belan.
But
to the point is we lack so many affordable housing, and we gotta be realistic about it. That's why the next
this next caller is we see you.
Good afternoon, good
afternoon, and through the Chair, may I be heard. Yes, you can 16.1 is not going to produce more affordable housing, because we don't need affordable housing. What we need is low income housing. I'd like to know how this ordinance impacts the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. Do any of the properties get this particular credit, and have you had any in the past that have received it. We have received $100 million for lead at abatement since Duggan has been in office. I like to know how that money has been spent and how many houses have been remediated. Then I want to call your attention to 10.4 which is a $1 million Barcelona contract. The people are in Barcelona to build boarding platforms for the city of Detroit. I'm not sure how that equates to us. And then the ordinance, the 16, the IPA, I'd like for you to explain me the city portion of it, and why would we be putting cars on a credit card and this kind of credit environment? Thank you.
Next caller is William and good afternoon. Could
that be heard?
Yes, you can,
you know, I think that the Fast Track needs a little bit more work. You know, I think especially as a city chart retiring, you know it, you know, any type of proposal, it should be at the very least positive cash flow on neutral. But if this, you know, after reading that the CFO financial impact statement, you know, I think this is very troubling because, you know, as a city retire, I do not want the city to have less income coming into it, you know, we, you know I'm all for development. I'm all for more housing being built, but I think this still needs some more work. I think I need to make sure whatever I come up with does not negatively affect the city's budget or the bottom line. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next caller. Scott,
good good morning to the council afternoon. Derek Scott, principal J 29 seven, and
also an executive committee member of reed. I'm a black developer actively engaged in neighborhood development, affordable housing any city of Detroit. And I want to thank Council for being leaders nationally on this. I'm currently in Las Vegas at the Urban landers, the two conference, which has over 20,000 land development professionals across the globe here, and believe it or not, the global market is looking to see what Detroit Council will do today. Detroit is currently being praised for being one of the only cities in the country with a strong black development ecosystem actually participating in the development that's happening in black cities. But it's still extremely difficult to access capital for emerging black and brown developers. The Fast Track pilot program signals to lenders a long term commitment to affordability in the city of Detroit, and takes away a huge risk that will unlock capital opportunities for individuals like myself and other black developers committed to delivering high quality, deep, affordable housing for Detroit families, I humbly ask that you not delay passing this ordinance today, but do what Council has continued to
do. Okay? Thank you.
Next caller is Samsung SM 22 all
right, good morning. Applause.
All right, good morning.
Okay, Ari, can we go back to the go to the next caller please, and come back to this caller.
Okay, next caller is phone number ending in 299, you
did you say? Caller 999,
apologies. Phone number ending in 299,
299, caller 299, good afternoon.
Yes, good morning. My name is Joyce Moore with the Virginia Park community coalition within the boundaries of the Virginia Park community. And I am calling in regard to the fast track that the AMI should be 30 to 60% and then in addition to that, I'm calling regard to contractors develop in 2025 we expect an increase in development. So what we're having is nonprofit organizations like CDC, Lisa Johanna, where we're getting shabby work in our community. We're not sure what the recourse is, but what we're suggesting is that we have a third party that will actually go work with the homeowner to ensure that the guidelines are followed in terms of city codes and whatever that the project is complete and and it's conducive for our neighborhood. So we're asking you to help us draft the ordinance that will do that again. Joyce Moore, Virginia fire community, and please vote everyone and I, I, give up my time. I can't think of the term now, but thank you so much.
Okay, thank you.
The next caller is Richard Hosey,
right. Good morning.
Council President, honorable
body.
Thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm here to speak in favor of the pilot Fast Track
proposal, I think it congratulate you all on on designing a proposal that that looks at the needs of Detroit now and in the future and for maintaining affordable Housing and expanded Thank you very much.
Okay, thank you.
The next caller is Karen's iPad.
Hello, yes,
good Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
Yeah, I think we need to pump the brakes on this pilot, on this fast track pilot, because we, you know, we haven't taken care of the past housing issues. So nothing's piling on additional issues. You know, we can't deal with what we have now, affordable housing that that's nebulous. The word is nebulous because, you know, it's, it's, it's depending on, you know, where you're coming from, and especially when you get a chance to decide what you'll be in the housing giveaways, they get a chance to decide what, you know, what that is, you know, what the number, you know, it's just it doesn't make any sense, because you want to decide, and you want to ice everybody out. So if we do, we know when who has all these current discounts, is the budget. Has the budget been considered for the next 15 years? You know, with all these projects, we gotta, you know, we we got all these accounts. We got all this money we spending on planning. We gotta start planning for the future.
The next, next caller is Miko a Williams,
right, good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Mr. Miko Williams,
yes, hi, can you? Can you hear me. I'm
sorry, yes, we
can hear you.
Oh yes, Madam President,
you look very nice at the Kamala Harris rally. Such a great job. You spoke truth. And thank you so much. I am opposed to the housing ordinance. I think this need to be delayed. We need to work on it more time. There's no rush to get this through. It just seems like a lot of conflict of interest, a lot of issues, especially the public's voice, have not been heard. And those that are living within these developments, it also seems like a cover for the larger developments to sweep white own in, and they're using black faces and companies. I think we need to look at this a little bit more. What I mean by delay is that we need to look at all of the devil in the details, and we need to fix this quickly. And Stephen Harwin, you need to stop talking about activists. You're going to get sued for defamation. And also, I just want to say to everybody, get your asses out and vote. Thank you.
All right.
Good morning. This is Betty a Varner.
I'll just the next call. Is Betty. Betty a Varner,
Hi, good morning. This is Betty a Barner, president of DeSoto Ellsworth, black Association and our association, we are working with the city to revitalize our Finkle corridor from Finkel and Livernois to Finkel and Wyoming. District seven, borderline with district two, some of these developers that are speaking, I'm praying and hoping that you would take some time to come to our area, our neighborhood, and check out some of the buildings that we have that are vacant. The city has done research. We have some buildings quite sure that could be used for portable apartments or something. We're trying to improve our neighborhood. So I'm humbly asking some of these developers take the time or reach out to council member durha. He knows about the program. Dave Walker, he's working with us. We are working hard to
alright. Thank you.
The next caller is Marguerite, Scarlet, Matt Scarlet. Maddox.
Good afternoon, Miss Maddox. Where
you She used to
really see
developers, we need To realize that we have different income now.
He About
there are some areas agree state university needs to be taken
at
the show city. We're out trying to figure out a way to get around these crap that needs to be done over by next fall, I am giving city council members to please I go up my shoes in the next couple of weeks, Please. Thank you very much.
Thank you Miss Maddox.
The next caller is Anthony askew, Good morning, ma'am.
I hurt Yes, you can. Thank you Good morning to this honorable body. My name is Anthony askew, principal of city on the rise development. I'm a native Detroiter, a DPS grad and a former economic development professional for the city. I'm currently a real estate developer focused on neighborhood revitalization and a proud member of reed. I'm here to give my fervent support for the pilot expansion ordinance before you today. There are many reasons to support this ordinance. I want to lift up three. In particular, the ordinance will expand affordable and workforce housing at a time when the city is in dire need of both. This is a tool that will help to incentivize development in the neighborhoods by reducing long term cost of building, renovating and maintaining residential properties. And finally, the ordinance will help level the playing field for black and brown developers by mitigating mitigating the time cost and uncertainty of pre development, which is where our counterparts have the financial resources that give them a significant advantage. More Housing concentrated in the neighborhoods built by black and brown developers are important goals for every city in the country, and especially so for majority black city like Detroit. For that reason, I asked
right thank you
the
the next caller is phone number ending in seven. I'll do the next caller is phone number ending in 711.
Yes, good morning. Malik Shelton, I don't trust anything that dug in is initiating. He's very untrustworthy, tricky and cheeky. Also, why has there not been a study initiated by the city through the Health Department about the number of marijuana shops and liquor and beer and wine stores near public schools throughout the city, as well as residential districts and neighborhoods, and this includes all these gas stations throughout the city to sell alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. This kind of study is mandated by the Detroit city charter, again, section seven, dash, 201, and is this charter provision is being blatantly ignored, and why does the CFOs office have over 400 employees? But the health department only has a total of 274 employees, and we have all these serious health issues in this Detroit and only
the next caller is Tahira Ahmed
morning Council with the Coalition for Property Tax Justice, a hard no on this fast track. You know, when they want to fast track something, they stealing something. So what they stealing is your power and our voice, and also we have an affordable housing crisis because this administration and this council has stolen 100,000 homes through illegal foreclosures and cost 600 million to a billion dollars illegally, and we're and you guys were good enough, many of you to pass the affordable housing crisis ordinance, which is the property tax reform ordinance, but you're not even abiding by your own ordinance.
We need
you to give the Board of Review candidates that test, and that's the only way you're going to be able to handle this problem. Is it starts at the core, which is the assessor's office and the Board of Review, and you need that test. Thank you.
The next caller is Jessica s
Good afternoon council members. My name is Jessica Sanchez. I'm a developer. In full support of the pilot Fast Track program, we are currently completing a 30 unit rehab in Midtown Detroit, securing 40% of the building to affordable housing. This new ordinance incentivizes supports and protects developers through the streamlined process and allows developers to build and sustain affordable housing. By approving this ordinance, you're not just supporting developers, you're creating a system that benefits the entire community faster, smarter development means more affordable housing sooner, without sacrificing oversight or quality. This is the kind of forward thinking solution that Detroit needs to stay ahead of the affordable housing crisis. I encourage you to approve the pilot Fast Track program today, and thank you for your leadership supporting the future of affordable housing in Detroit. All
right. Thank you.
The next caller is Janae,
right. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Council members. My name is Johnny Maxey. I'm a local, small scale developer and native Detroiter, born and raised by Lisa Detroit. I am calling in support of the fast track pilot ordinance because it aligns with the city's mission of providing affordable housing throughout Detroit, regardless of the size of the units. Me, being a small scale developer, I'm, you know, looking at single family, small scale, multi family, but right now for a project that's like, you know, four units is no tax abatement or any tax incentive for smaller development projects like that. This would be a game changer, because it will allow small scale developers to invest in our communities while still providing affordable housing. So I think it's very important. Yeah, that's all thanks. Thank you.
The next caller is SST,
good afternoon.
Good afternoon, member of the graduate of ECE and also I'm in support of the pilot ordinance. I want to thank Council. Bring this to available developers. I'm a merchant developer trying to push my property rule district seven for City area. So once again, thank you. God bless Detroit.
Thank you.
The next caller is Brittany McGee, hello, everyone.
I'm Brittany, a member of the reed developer Leadership Council and principal of apparatus development. I'm here to express strong support for the pilot program. It is essential for advancing equitable development across Detroit, which tackles two issues, taxing, taxes and affordable housing. The pilot program offers a forward thinking policy framework which encourages affordable housing development, not just in downtown, but across Detroit's urban core neighborhoods, regardless of location. So it's a hands on all, hands on deck approach, which fosters deep affordability while providing necessary tax incentives that balance development costs. So it has the potential to create about 1200 affordable housing units, and it essentially positions Detroit as a national leaner leader in terms of housing solutions. So we have to remember that when development thrives, so does Detroit. So thank you very much.
All right, thank you.
The next caller is phone number ending in 124,
good afternoon. Applause.
Yes, may I be heard?
Yes, you can.
Okay, thank you. You know, I get the idea for the fast track, but the devil's in the details. There's only a one page summary attached to the agenda today. We don't know what regulations the HRD director might promulgate. This could be the Trojan horse for the 80% market rate. So I think it just needs to be slowed down, and it can be crafted to help the people who the land bank is trying to take homes from through their nuisance abatement program that might be some progress. Also got a problem that the Board of zoning appeals is saying it doesn't want to record its meetings anymore. I've been asking that the land bank board meetings be posted on city council TV stations like City Planning Commission is although it could be posted more timely. So why not this transparency? And I still like to ask for inclusion in the master plan advisory group meetings to be complete. Thank you.
The next caller is Candace Jones. You
and is Jones Good afternoon.
And it's Jones, good afternoon.
Hi. I just wanted to say, I hope everyone go out and vote early, and I hope at the voting place that they do cleanliness, because when I was there, voting early, that was the whole purpose of me almost going early because I didn't want to get any sickness, and just as I'm walking in, somebody walking out with a sick kid. So I hope that the voting sites that they do clean, they did clean the voting area for me, but I just hope that Janice Winfrey keep up on that, because when November the fifth come, there's going to be way longer lines and way more probably possibilities of people being sick there that's all have a great day.
Thank you.
The next caller is Steven Rimmer, all
right. Good afternoon. Hello. Happy Eric, yes, you can Hi, yes.
My name is Steven River. I'm a lead organized for the Detroit Tenant Association. We came down last week to speak about the Sherwood Tenant Association and the Turners, just giving a brief update that the associations were able to work in an action plan and get the Turner's lease renewed. But this leads to a bigger question of, you know, people still going through these situations, and why we need a right to renew ordinance with good consultations here. So I did just send out an email to all council about our legislation and including the proposed language, and I just ask you all to review it and introduce it as a proposed ordinance in the city of Detroit. Thank you. Okay, thank
you.
The next caller is Renard Renard monks,
good afternoon
and good afternoon, Madam President, can I be heard?
Yes, you can. Hi.
My name is Renard Chesky. I'm a resident the city of Detroit, and I do understand the need for truly affordable and low income housing. I agree with some of the callers earlier that we actually need low income targeted housing. I'm worried about the implications this is going to have, this pilot ordinance is going to have on our revenue. Seems like the city is just giving away a lot of money and leaning in, relying more on income taxes, which is which could be a cyclical form of revenue, meaning that if the economy goes bad, there goes the city's ability to pay its bills and to provide services as well. Um, I think that we need to slow down this process. Go back to the drawing board. There is no rush. And that's the thing about it, I'm very suspicious of any ordinance where to ask you to fast track and rush. And the thing is, it's not removing red tape. It's removing our voices in this body's ability to, you know, provide these tax abatement
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next caller is phone number ending in 301,
good afternoon.
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can hear you.
Good afternoon. Richard clay,
hiring no on the pilot, it seems like another dug in scam where you got black faces fronting and talking, but white hands controlling and cashing in. Want to reiterate that the National Federation of blind has negotiated new things for people who are blind and disabled to go into the water company and get your problems handled at the Randolph office,
and remind you that we are also working to get the number of CCS increased by which people can apply for the water affordability plan, which would help all people throughout this community with their water rates. Thank you.
Thank you. The next caller is Steven Johnson. The second Hello.
This is Steven Johnson, Can y'all hear me?
Yes, we can.
This is Steven Johnson. I'm a citizen of Detroit. I'm currently out of town, and I'm a future developer, and I am for the pilot program. Yeah, that's basically all I say. I know it's it's going to be a great benefit for future developers and developers of this town. So I'm looking forward to this pilot program getting approved and development getting started. Thank you.
Okay, the next caller is Bobby Johnson,
good afternoon.
Good greetings. Now on this fast track, I think we need to hold up, but I think we need to look I think we need to make sure that we're talking to the tenants, the people that are living in these developments, just like you have Plymouth square over there, about to get a pilot program. Those residents have problems over there. First of all, we need to have attendance Council. We need to make sure that if these developers, because I've heard a lot of developers who are talking about fast tracking, and this will help, if these developers are keeping up their properties and things like that, I have no problem with giving them this pilot program, but if they're not, there should be some kind of repercussions, where we can put liens on their properties, we can do all other kind of things. We need to think about the people that actually live in the city of Detroit, that actually need the housing. So before we fast track this, we need to do some more community engagement.
Thank you. And the last caller who raised their hand before you comment, Samsung SM, E, 22 seven. You
all right. Good afternoon.
It appears they just lowered their hand. So that is the end of public comment of people who raise their hand, all right, thank
you so much. We appreciate everyone for coming in and also calling online for public comment that will conclude all of our public comment for this morning, and we will return back to our agenda. Welcome back. Dr
Powell, you powers,
alright, understanding committee reports for the budget, Finance and Audit, standing committee under unfinished business.
Council member Fred durha, joined by Council President Mary Sheffield, joined by council member Mary waters, joined by council member Coleman Young, an ordinance noting a roll call line item 16.1 and also noting that this line item was postponed from last week formal session. Council member Durham, thank
you, Madam Clerk. Member Durham,
thank you. Thank you, Madam President. And as noted that this ordinance has been brought postponed and brought back to this week. The title of the ordinance has already been read a third time. The ordinance was then read and so like to make a motion to open it up for discussion. There are two additional amendments that were provided last week before the question of the passage of the ordinance. The First Amendment, Madam President, is an amendment that would amend the following language in Section 44 dash four, 117, while eligibility is maintained in the government covenant remains for multiple successive renewals totaling not more than 45 years, except as otherwise provided by law. And the purpose of this amendment is to clarify the intent for multiple renewals on the fast track and workforce pilots, per feedback that we have received from lenders and others. And law advised that this is not a substantive change and could be introduced at the table for a vote without requiring a second public hearing, and then the second amendment also deals with transparency. We heard from a lot of folks during this process about reporting requirements. We talked and heard about folks who wanted to know when these want these pilots were issued that did not require council approval. And want to be specific about that anything 80% of or above will still require council approval, but we had a reporting requirement that we did previously in budget, Finance and Audit during the public hearing. This amendment made by honorable council member waters will add to that It amends section 44 dash four, dash 113 for any housing project to which subsection of this Section applies and that received approval from the housing and revitalization department, the department shall report the following approval on its website and notify City Council within seven business days from the date of the approval, also including an annual summary of units created and the annual fiscal impact. So first, Madam President, I would like to make a motion to move those two amendments.
Alright, so just discussion on that motion briefly, and I'm not sure if someone can come up and speak to this, because I did have a question just regarding the transparency in the approval process, just so that the general public has a better understanding about this. And I do see in the approval process guidelines that were sent over that essentially a developer would apply to HRD, and once HR HRD goes through their good standing processes or processes, it would then be referred to the assessor's office. I guess my question in transparency purposes is, what about the projects that are like denied within you all. Do we get to see what projects? Because, you know, you all will receive multiple applications, and if someone meets the criteria and is not selected to move forward to the next step, how do we how do we know and see that? And I just say that because I want to make sure that there is diversity in the applicants, right that we are ensuring that minority developers are getting access to the pilot, so typically, will come before Council, we would approve or deny, but in your reporting that was just proposed or an amendment, is there a way to see all of the applicants that apply, just so that we're able to see the variety of who actually applied, not just the ones that were granted, but the ones that were denied as well, too. Just wanted to get a better understanding of how that process plays out from a transparency standpoint, so that it's not just one type of developer that's receiving pilots, but we're able to see all of the different applicants that are applying. Yeah, to
the chair. So certainly had considered how we how we do that, how we both provide a list of both the approved applicants as well as who has applied. I think that if we were to to publish that that information, I'd want to make sure it was related to complete applications. So it's not there's a lot of things to apply for on our website, so I want to make sure it's
the director. This will be specifically for everyone who meets the qualifications, and so you have criteria laid out in the guidelines, so if they meet the qualifications, and then you all have to go and say yay or nay, because, from my understanding, there's only a certain amount of pilots per year that you're going to approve, so there's going to be some that you have to, I'm assuming, deny. So is in all transparency, I think it will be important to see all of the you know, who was approved and denied that met the qualifications, just so that we're able to see. And again, for me, it's about, how do we ensure that that process is inclusive of every type of developer, diversity is included in there? Because once we let go, we're you know, and I do support this. I think it's a great tool. I'm just making sure that that transparency are is there so that we can ensure that emerging developers and minority developers are having access to this once approved
to the chair, when we receive a completed application that meets the criteria as you described, that will be approved on a first come, first serve basis, up to what we have set as that administrative cap, which we have seen in the guidelines, was the 1500 units for any project that is potentially a revenue loss. And the purpose of the cap is to allow us to assess the fiscal impact on an annual basis and then adjust as needed, up or down for the recommendation of the CFO to ensure that we don't have excess revenue loss associated. But we won't be making approvals or denials for anything that meets the criteria they will be approved. We can, as Director Snyder said, provide a list of completed applications that do not meet the criteria for council to view.
Okay, that'd be perfect, and you'll include that in your reports, your quarterly or you mentioned seven days, they will come before Council. And I just want to make sure I'm clear so everyone who applies for the pilot that meets the qualifications, first come, first serve, they're automatically, essentially, would be approved. There's no yay or nay if it's within the 1500 unit cap or allowance.
Correct yes for any project that meets those criteria, which includes average affordability, of course, below 80% Am I correct?
Okay, perfect. All right. I have additional questions, but just on this particular minute, is there any additional questions on this amendment or the reporting requirements? Okay? And member door, you made the motion for approval.
Thank you, Madam President. And just for clarification, we move to amendments. And the First Amendment was to the clarify clarity of the language for multiple successive renewals totaling not more than 45 years.
A motion has been made for these amendments. Are there any objections? Hearing? No objections. The amendments will be approved. Member durha, did you have additional amendments? Thank
you, Madam President. There are no additional amendments. Obviously want to continue discussion or those questions, if there are any noting that the next action would be as the question of the ordinance passing, and at that time there will be no discussion. So I just wanted to leave that open. Thank you, Madam President,
thank you so much. Any additional questions on the pilot ordinance council member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President, I'd like to get some clarity on ensuring a certificate of compliance is retained for pilot projects if they receive the 15 year pilot, whether they're in their first renewal, second renewal, or whatever phase. How are we ensuring that a certificate of compliance is retained throughout the entire 15 years?
Through the Chair to council member Johnson, the ordinance describes that the project must not just achieve an initial certificate of compliance, but maintain that. So the ordinance requires that we follow up on an annual basis, which is what the assessor's office would be doing. So they would be collecting, in addition to the rent and income verification, they would be checking with BC annually to confirm that the project still have that certificate of compliance. And there's language in the ordinance as well that says they would have a reasonable cure period to enter into either correct the deficiencies or enter into an agreement with BC to correct them on a specific schedule. And if they don't meet those requirements, they will no longer have access to the pilot. The reason we wouldn't pull the pilot immediately is because residents live in those units, so we want to make sure that we have adequate time for the property owner to correct those before we would consider a move that ultimately impacts the residents in addition to the property owner. Thank you for
that, and I believe the ordinance states that they have to obtain or certificate of compliance within 60 days. The reason I'm asking this question is because I did join member Callaway in district two at Sherwood heights last week, and there were a lot of concerns about the units not having a certificate of compliance, and I just want to be sure that we are able to manage that. And can you clarify what the penalty is if it's not obtained within 60 days after they've been notified,
so through the chair to council member Johnson, the property would not be added to the pilot program until it has a certificate of compliance. So the assessor's office, regardless of the Administrative Approval, they would be looking to see the project is completed and has that certificate of compliance, or certificate of acceptance, if it's a rehab scope, along with that certificate of compliance, before it has access to the pilot so we don't put ourselves at risk approving the pilots early, because the projects need the CFC to be added to the pilot program. For projects that don't receive that certificate of compliance, they would be subject to ticketing from BC for their failure to meet their requirements under the rental ordinance, so that penalty would be applied, just as with any other project, in addition to ensuring that they make those corrections within that 60 day time frame so that they can maintain the pilot as an incentive. And you know, I listen to the residents from Sherwood heights as well for that property, this is potentially an incentive that gets them to a CFC and addresses those concerns up front before any kind of tax incentive would be granted. So having that CFC requirement is something that other tax incentives and abatements don't have, and it raises the bar on what we're expecting of our building owners in exchange for that tax incentive.
And for clarification, so is the certificate, certificate of compliance renewed every two years. So I'm speaking to once they have been approved for a 15 year pilot making sure that they retain a certificate of compliance throughout that entire 15 year period, and if not, what are the penalties? So it sounded like you indicated that there is a fee that's a part of the rental ordinance. But does that mean that they still retain the pilot
through the chair, they would have both, both of those penalties, so one under the rental ordinance, and then under the pilot, they would be at risk of losing that pilot if, if not making those corrections. And as far as the the recurrence of those CFCs, I would defer to B seed on that. I know that, depending on, I think, the results of the inspection, they may be re inspecting annually, or some certificates may be good for multiple years, but we would be having the assessor's office confirm that they have an active certificate of compliance under the rental registration ordinance per BC. So
I thank you for that that still to me, is not quite firm as it needs to be to ensure that we are not providing this pilot for development projects just to have them have units that are in question, especially if they get renewed that second 15 year period, because now they're at least 15 years old. So can you speak to anything that is in writing? Because I inquired about what was in writing within the ordinance as it relates to retaining a certificate of compliance and any penalty that is received as A result of not having a certificate of compliance. Thank
so
through the chair to council member Johnson, what the ordinance states is that the the certificate of compliance is just, it's, it's absolutely one of the baseline three factors that are necessary in order for you to for the the kind of Administrative Approval to translate to the actual tax benefit. If you do not have a certificate of compliance, then you are not eligible to receive the pilot. The pilot is our most Gen. It's it would be the most for the, you know, 30% 40% 50% 60% units, it would be the most incentivized tax incentive tool that we have. We're not going to we don't want to provide that tool to people if we aren't requiring a certificate of compliance in Section, sorry if you'll excuse me while I try to figure out which section in Section 44 dash four, dash 114, I'm sorry. I'm just b, d, d, e, sorry, E, 44 dash four, dash 14, e1, it talks about the to be eligible to continue or and to continue to receive certification of tax exemption for the PILOT payments or a fast track or workforce housing project. The owner of that housing project and that housing project must meet the following requirements. One comply with the requirements the standards and requirements of the property maintenance code for rental property is to provide property is provided in Section 815, dash, 81 through section 815, dash, 87 of this code and its successor provisions as certified by IBC. So it's, it's the base, it's the baseline of being able to be eligible for the pilot. So I, without receiving that certificate of compliance, without maintaining it, you would not be able to receive the pilot. So I'm, I'm, I just want to be clear that that is, it's, it's not, um, it's not in the guidelines. It's the what is underlying anybody's eligibility for receiving the pilot, which is different than it is just today. It is not currently a requirement of receiving a pilot. And we think it's, it's important to clarify that when we're building affordable housing, standards of quality and compliance must be met.
And so this this measurement, so presumably HRD on an annual basis, before the developer is allowed to retain that pilot, a certificate of compliance has to be provided.
Yes, okay, sorry, I actually wanted to go through the details of it. Sorry. Thank
you. So my next question, just for clarification, because a lot of a lot of developers talked about affordable housing and being able to be a part of the fast track, only one or two people talked about workforce housing as a part of this project, this ordinance, and I think maybe some people misconstrue what my comments were last Week. Since I've been on council, I've always talked about being supportive of affordable housing. Would love for that conversation to start to happen around affordable homeownership. That's something that I've not heard much about in the city, and I just want to clarify, because there was someone who spoke about rehabbing single family houses and duplexes. Can you clarify whether or not a developer who's rehabbing or developing single family or duplexes would be able to qualify for the pilot fast track, or even the 80 to 120% pilot
through the chair. The ordinance states the minimum of four units. A project could include multiple duplexes or multiple single family homes, but it would still need to be a total of four units that are all part of a single financing structure. So it would have to be conceived of an executed as one project. But the ordinance does not require a specific building type, so it could include single family homes. For instance, I think one of the callers spoke about a portfolio of scatter site single family homes that are under low income housing tax credits, those are currently supported through a pilot, and because they're a single project that were built together and are managed together. So as long as it was part of a single project, a duplex or single family home could be considered for the pilot, but it would need to be part of a project totaling four units or more.
Thank you for that. I wasn't aware of that it Are there any parameters around location
through the chair to clarify the question, would that be requiring that the units are in a similar location? Yes, that's that level of detail is something we would, we would be happy to speak to you about within the guidelines. You know, currently, the scatter site projects that receive a pilot are approved by Mister, and Mister does require that they are within, you know, a neighborhood and there's a, you know, there's some judgment by Mister on what that looks like. We are welcome to define that, and I think it's reasonable to define that as within a particular geography, and we can do that within the guidelines certainly
Okay. Thank you. And I just want to just kind of share that. So I've always advocated for lower Amis being addressed and being provided, being offered. I think my district is probably not necessarily unique in the city, but when I look at properties throughout the district and having the most vacant land in the city of Detroit, recognizing that we don't have a lot of houses to be rehabbed in the city, so if a renter is being displaced from a property because it's in a state of disrepair, they're likely not staying in District Four. And so recognizing that we need a plethora of housing types of am eyes that need to be addressed in the district, one that we certainly need is the lower end. Am I? I'm happy that I had a conversation with the Detroit Housing Commission, and they the Detroit Housing Commission allows for a housing choice voucher to be utilized towards a mortgage, and so that was exciting news for me, that that really focuses on the lower am I and home ownership so you eliminate the fluctuations of rental rates rising. And I just want to reiterate that as I've been advocating for Community Land Trust, and we'll continue to do that, and look forward to drafting an ordinance around community land trust to help assist with developing the lower income housing that I hope will focus on Home Ownership, or my intention will be to make sure that we focus more on home ownership so that we have housing for everyone in the city of Detroit, I've always said that that we need housing for everyone if we are focused on more workforce housing, I just want to make sure that we can also provide housing for those individuals who may end up getting displaced, because there is a challenge with rental housing in the district, and because I am still trying to address a tremendous decrease in population from the previous decade, This is something that I'm very focused on. I am supportive of the fast track portion of this ordinance, and will scrutinize very closely the 80 to 120% AMI that comes before this body, because I think it has to answer the question of the whole that we seem to shy away from making sure that we develop housing, that we create housing opportunities for people of all incomes. Housing is something obviously that's very important to me and I'm very passionate about but I'm going to stop talking now. I do hope that someone does inquire about the fiscal impact that was provided to us to just get a more thorough understanding of what that means and what that indicates. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President,
thank you council member Johnson, thank you,
Madam President,
so I know
there was still an open question from member, remember Johnson about the analysis? I believe it was
the analysis, the fiscal impact analysis. Yeah, has that been completed and submitted? That's, do we have a fiscal impact analysis on this pending ordinance before us.
Madam Chair,
yes,
yes.
Madam Chair, that was provided, I
believe, last week or the week before.
Do you need anything additional for that Member? Member Johnson, are you looking for something today regarding that statement?
Thank you, Madam President, so it was identified that there is an indeterminate fiscal impact on the city's budget. So I just wanted somebody to explain what that means.
Okay, your name and title, please. Yes.
Thank you, Madam President. I'm Donnie Johnson, and I am the deputy budget director for the city of Detroit. My team prepared this fiscal impact statement through you to council member Johnson. An indeterminate fiscal impact means that we often don't have enough data to know over the course of the future how this is going to play out in terms of the revenue or expense impact. So in this case, we know that pilots will be granted these are, of course, abatements of property taxes. However, we also we don't know the extent of that. We don't know if we will reach that estimated cap each year. We don't know the nature of the pilot granted in each of the various possibilities. So it's very hard for us to quantify what the revenue, the property tax revenue impact, would be. But we also know on the flip side that these sorts of developments that stable housing is a strong determinant of economic and health outcomes. And so when we have residents who are able to live in stable housing, we know that they're more often likely to seek employment in higher paying jobs. And so we expect that we're going to see economic benefits from this, as folks are established in insecure situations. And so because this is a situation where there are pros on one side of the revenue point, income tax, sales tax, these sorts of things on the on the property tax side, we know that there is a reduction in the property tax, but we don't know the extent, and so it's very hard for us to quantify whether it's on hold, good or bad. The we know that there is an expenditure need in the housing revitalization department, Director Schneider's department of additional staff to oversee this program for compliance, to ensure that folks do maintain those certificates of compliance and meet the other criteria. But what indeterminate means is that we simply don't have enough data to project project long term, whether we have a positive or a negative overall.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank
you council member Johnson, member president, pro temp Tate, thank you, Madam
President, and
I appreciate the line of questioning and
increase of member Johnson and then your statements as well. I support them wholeheartedly and look forward to working with you as we start to look at how we as a body start addressing this issue of affordability, accessibility, meeting the need that we have, holistically, completely, totally. This is one tool, certainly that deals with workforce housing. But as we know, this is just a piece, so I'm supportive of this right now, this moment, but there's going to be eyeballs and scrutiny along the way. That's why it was important to see things as close to real time as possible, so that we know how to make adjustments and not wait six months, one year, until there's potentially some changes in this particular legislation. And I just want to say to my brothers and sisters and read, we appreciate you. We want to have you continue to grow. And we heard time and time again, constantly that you're working on projects you want to work on projects in the neighborhood, that scrutiny is not going to only be with the administration, is also going to be with you all as well. Because it's one thing to say something to us. We want to see different results. I don't believe that it is unrealistic to see high rent, high the challenges that we have in the downtown area, because it's replicated all across this country. Downtown is always a very challenging space to place affordable, accessible housing, not saying we can't break that ceiling, but we know how challenging it is, but but many of the developers came here today saying they want to go into the neighborhoods, and so we know what the issues are in the neighborhood, so we end up trying to replicate what we see in downtown, in our neighborhoods. That's going to be a major problem, I will say, for me right now, and so we will have an opportunity to scrutinize not just the the 80 to 21 120, projects, but the collective. Because I know that many of our developers not only have a hand in this project, you have a hand in that project. So I'm just saying that's the the chair Planning and Economic Development, if we're talking about making adjustments to our processes to help our black and brown developers. I think it's important for us to also expect different results than what we've seen as well in downtown. So letting you know in advance, I'm not holding you to a higher level of scrutiny, but I am going to be scrutinized personally and making sure that all those words that we had, that came to us are going to come into fruition. I'm willing to work with you, but also want to see results as well, because we have to work collectively to address this particular issue, because where we are right now is not fulfilling the need, the overall need. It's a tool, but it's not fulfilling the overall need. And I don't think that we we overburden this particular ordinance itself to try to fix everything that we have in terms of the concerns. But member Johnson, again, looking forward to working with you and all colleagues. We got four, four sponsors on this ordinance, so I'm sure we can get you know even more, we're working on this holistic plan as we as it relates to affordability, accessibility, attainability, and really meeting again, the need of the housing in the city of Detroit. And that does not mean Studio One bedroom. That's very, very critical. We have to keep that in mind, not Studio One bedroom. We look at what the need is truly in the city of Detroit. So again, we'll be supportive today, but very, very, very, very intently scrutinizing as we move not just with the projects within the Fast Track pilot, but overall together. Thank you,
Madam President. Thank you
so much. President Pro Tem Tate, Director Schneider, can you just briefly speak to and I know at one point, when we worked on the inclusionary housing ordinance A while ago, and throughout the time with the Housing Trust Fund, a report was commissioned on the greatest need for housing in Detroit, and it was at the 50% AMI, I think it was 30 to 50% was the greatest need for housing. Any trade is that still stand today as the greatest need for housing. The area median income is still between 30 and 30 and 50% AMI, that feel the greatest need based on that report that was commissioned
to the to the chair, yes, that continues, but we've also actually had a decreasing number of sub 30% households. Please make up a little bit. Sorry. So I'll just say that the economics of a unit that is renting at a level that would be affordable to a household earning under 30% of AMI, the rent that you would receive on a yearly basis is equal to or less than the cost to operate a unit. So it's it's a difficult type of unit to develop, and so yes, there does remain a great need for housing at those levels, and that's one of the reasons why we've set the the lowest rates for the the lowest income households as a part of of this ordinance. But what we've seen in the past few years is actually increasing housing need, increasing numbers of households who are cost burden in the 30 to 50 and 50 to 80% as well as in the 80 to 120% income categories of households. So Well, yes, the number of households is greatest at the the zero to 30% AMI level in terms of need, but, but the need is growing among the 30 to 50, among the 50 to 80 and even above that. And so that's why, as a part of the rate structure of this ordinance, we sized it to encourage the most deeply affordable units by setting the lowest rate for those households and for the the 60 to 80, setting a level that is kind of appropriate for how much rent might be charged in those in those units. Well, not kind of over, potentially over enriching anyone with too deep of a discount.
And if you could just also clarify that 30% through 50% AMI will still receive the same percentage reduction as the 60% Ami. Is that correct? Because I got a couple of emails from residents who I think were confused because they don't see a bracket from 30 to 51 on the spreadsheet here that they would not receive a pilot or a reduction, is that, can you just clarify that if it says up to 60% gets a 1% reduction, so projects that fall between 30 and 50% am I if you could just bring clarity now, if there will be A pilot reduction
to the chair, we are subsidizing all of the units that are in those 60 and under categories. They all need some sort of additional cash subsidy. The reason we set the 1% at zero to 60 is because the pilot, as it is currently structured, lessens the need for addition for subsidy, which helps us to to capture some of the some of the subsidy that we might have had to invest because of the previously higher pilot rates, and then we can invest that into the lower income housing. So I think we estimated that the annual savings is about $3.4 million over a five year period. We anticipate to be able to save by establishing that 1% rate at the zero, 60% level. So that is probably two to three additional projects just by setting that that rate. That is one to
clarity. So the fact so the 1% rate does apply, it's applicable, applicable to 30% am I as well?
Correct to the chair, yes, and permanent supportive housing would be $1 per unit per year. I'm sorry. Permanent supportive housing, the rate for that for households who are previously experienced homelessness, would be $1 per unit per year. And the reasoning for that difference is those permanent supportive housing units, they need supportive services, and so that would free up some operational revenue or providing those, those additional services at those units. Okay, all right, I
just wanted to clarify that because, you know, we've had, we have heard from, you know, a lot of residents about, how do we incentivize the creation of lower income housing within this ordinance, is, this is an opportunity to do so. And I just want to say that, you know, I understand the sentiments, because it has been one of the greatest needs in Detroit, is that 30 to 50% AMI, and I think that for me, I support it as is, but also looking, you know, within the next six to eight months, at all the projects that do become before Council in your report to see what types of projects we are getting, and if there's room to go back and amend this to give a greater reduction in your property taxes, if you do go lower in your AMI, through that 30 to 50% I think that's something that we should consider. And I wanted to publicly state that that is something that I will be watching that as as the reports come. If they're up at that 60 to 80, they're not reaching the lower incomes, then I will be looking at possibly a way that we could, you know, work with the developer community, because I know that they're on board as well, and want to address that need, but making sure that that that greatest need in Detroit is being addressed by possibly, again, amending it, or maybe in your guidelines. I'm not sure how we can do it, but making sure that we are incentivizing even more, the encouragement of lower income levels. So that's important to me. Wanted to also highlight, you know, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is something that I'm very proud of, which was a fund that was created. 70% of that fund has to go to projects at 30% AMI, I think people forget how important that fund is to address affordable housing, and I think we need to continue to invest in our Housing Trust Fund, because that it was one of the ways that we address the lowest incomes in Detroit. Also wanted to echo council member Johnson that, you know, we talked so much about units and rentals, and I do think that the conversation has to shift back to, how are we creating home ownership in the city of Detroit, when I think about how we rebuild our neighborhoods, and I think about community, and I think about people taking pride in where they live. It all goes back to people owning their homes and having pride in their communities, in their neighborhood. So I think this is a tool in the toolbox, and I'm proud to have sponsored I want to thank Council Member durahaw and his work on this, Council Member young, Council Member waters and everyone who who partnered on this, as well as a developer community, to give them a tool, because I think we have to address it from various angles. You know, we have a housing crisis, and the quicker we can get housing in place, the better. But just keeping an eye on, how do we increase the level of home ownership? Because when we talk about women and children and putting them in rental units, and it's nothing wrong with that, but I will prefer our women and children in homes with their families to be able to raise their children. So I'm a firm advocate of infield housing. I think we need to look at that more, and we need to figure out ways that we can encourage the development of more for sale, affordable opportunities in the city of Detroit. So I'm just grateful for this tool in the toolbox. I'm looking forward to what it does for our developers here in Detroit, and again, to the to those who have sent emails regarding the concerns about the lower income brackets, I will be closely looking at the types of projects that come through this reporting, I think the seven day reporting required. So thank you. All right, I see a couple of more hands council member young
Thank you. Always good to see you guys. Appreciate you. I just wanted to ask you, what will these projects do to reduce housing burden? And what I mean by that is people who spend more than 30% of their income on housing, I think right now, according to the University of Michigan, it says that one in five residents spend between 1/3 and one half of their income on housing. So that's 22% whereas one in eight spin exceedingly half of their monthly income is severely caught housing cause, burden. What does this project do to reduce that in the city of Detroit
to the chair through the chair to council member young? So I think there's two main things I'd like to focus on in responding to your question. So first of all, this helps to increase supply, and it does so by incentivizing production at lower AMI levels previously or currently today. The only way to access this tool is if you go to go get a low income housing tax credit project, you're we're probably getting six to eight a year in the city overall. Or to to utilize some of our funding, some of our home funding, or CDBG, we've actually received pick up a little bit. We've actually received less money in CDBG and HOME over the last several years due to changes in federal appropriate, like the level of federal appropriation, or those national, national funding tools. So this ordinance has proposed opens up this tool that has been previously only used for developments where they're they're limited just by their very nature of how they're being financed, right? The tools that they're using to finance them are finite, so this helps to it, by opening up who can access this tool that's really critical for affordable housing. It helps to increase production. Part of the ordinance will require income certification. It will require rent levels to be kept at certain levels over time. The second thing I want to highlight is our tenant retention requirement. So current state, last part, again, tenant retention requirements. So if you are coming to us looking to receive a pilot for a property that is currently occupied, we want to see residents kept in place. We want to see limits in increases over time, and we want to see improvements in housing quality. And so anybody who is looking to receive a pilot that has an occupied property be required to follow our tenant retention standards, which we've been have been in place for several years, and are have been available on our website, and it would be required to be followed and sign an agreement in order to be eligible to receive this this benefit. And so that helps to keep lower income households in place, and also in improved housing as well, because they would have to get that certificate of compliance again in order to actually receive the benefits of the pilot?
No, no, that's excellent. And I appreciated information, and that's a lot to decipher, but and I appreciate but I just want to ask, Do we have a specific number or estimate? Because I know you can't be the prediction in terms of but do we have a position prediction of how that number will be decreased from what it is now? I think that's a big deal. A lot of people, especially with inflation, are really struggling and making it mean and so I think that with the fact that it's going to be more affordable, those prices are going to come down. I think the pilot is going to really contribute to that. Do we have an estimate of what that would be? Would it be a 10% reduction? 15% reduction? We have an estimate of number percentage I
through the chair to council member young to clarify was your question about the percentage reduction we would estimate in cost, percent of residents cost burdened, or about supply
terms of cost burden, it turns in terms of what people are, in terms of what people are paying out with their paycheck, whether it be so they would be, so they wouldn't be house burden?
Yeah,
I think, you know, we rely on census data to provide that information to us. I think we would watch that census data to see how the pilot is related to that. But it's, you know, there are as as the budget office described with a fiscal impact. I think the same is true for households as there are so many other variables that impact their cost burden, right, their wages, child care costs, etc. So, so we will look to that, and we hope to see a correlation, certainly given that we are producing more affordable housing and preventing rent increases that would add to people's cost burden. No, I
mean, it's good thing, because I didn't know, if you do your economic modeling, you are mapping that they would be able to predict that, or if you had, like, an artificial intelligence model that would be able to predict what is, I don't know. I mean, I'm just kind of shooting in the dark here, you know what I mean, but I just wanted to, if you had those numbers, I'm making that assumption, and I just want to know what they would be, because I think that's a, I think that's a huge selling point. You know, I'm assuming you've also predicted how many jobs would have to be created in order for people to be able to have these houses to afford that unemployment rate is at 4.1% it's pretty low. So there's a lot of people who are working. Give me or you know, you know, I'm sure you also presented your job. You know, your jolts, you know, your job, your job, overall labor turnover. I'm assuming you predicted all that in your model, but I don't know, and I'll just ask, if not, it's fine. I just want to know what that number is, so I can go tell my constituents, look at what this could contribute in terms of your cost affordability.
So to the through the chair, to council member young, we did do so we did do estimating of unit production, but just to give you a sense of that, the number of cost cost burden households is affected by larger economic forces such as people's people's incomes, and just in the last few years, the number of cost per households earning up to $35,000 has actually decreased by 14,000 in parts, it's because we've seen a decrease in the number of households earning less than than 35,000 Well, the number of cost burden households at the at 50% of area median income has actually increased by about 4200 and for 80% households at 1800 just in the last few years. So there's other larger economic forces that are that are in place. So we focused on, on, on estimating the kind of new unit or and new unit production, as well as preserved existing
local housing as well. No, not. I understand this is my final question, because I make this quickly. I just wanted to ask, um, has there been any discussion about using, you know, technology at all, or other, you know, housing in terms of, you know, the type of housing, in terms of prefab housing, or in terms of small housing, or in terms of, you know, 3d printing at all? That's something I'm really passionate about. Is there any sort whether you're whether you're actually having that in house, or whether you're contracting that out. I think a lot of times, the problems that we have here sometimes is we are facing 21st century problems in Detroit. We're using 21st 20th century solutions. And I think we just don't live in that world anymore. You know, we can't treat 2024 like it's 1974 it's not anymore. And So has there been any sort of technological or advances to be able to do that, especially since it's cheaper to be able to build and since we have a serious housing shortage, I don't think, for whatever reason, Detroit Housing Commission, it necessarily has the ability to be able to make the to build the houses that we need for a variety of reasons.
Through the Chair, we have seen an increase over the last couple of years and developers that are using that kind of technological innovation to develop housing. So just this past week in North Corktown, there was an expo of modular homes for sale. The 7850 East Jefferson project on the riverfront by janasco development is utilizing modular construction, and they're looking they have a factory close to Detroit that they're looking to utilize on future phase developments that they already have in the pipeline and that they're also looking to the pilot to help support. We also see right now, as far as other tools on the financing side, a lot of money coming through the EPA in green building, and a lot of incentives associated with building net zero and green buildings that are more efficient, which can also pass savings on to renters, but those projects tend to utilize innovative construction techniques as well, so we do see the pilot potentially working well with more modular development as well as some of that green money that's coming from the EPA so that we can be as close to the forefront as possible, and sort of adapting that new technology, where it is cost effective, right? It sort of it always has to get to that threshold where it is is no longer brand new and becomes more cost effective given the margins on affordable development. But we're seeing it more and more,
okay, that's it. So it's so, so, just to be clear. So this is just copy. That's great. I just want to make sure that's just, it's just more of us partnering up with the private sector in terms of being able to do that. There's no real public initiatives on our side, from the supply side in terms of building it's just more from the private sector partner up with them, correct?
Yeah, through the chair. We're supportive where, wherever we can be, and wherever we're we're needed. The some several of the community land Land Trust are considering doing modular development. We will work, continue to work closely with PDD, will continue to work closely with with BC, to make sure that those can be permitted quickly. And meet neighborhood design standards so that they can be realized into affordable housing. Those that are, in this case, rental units, well, they would be eligible for for this pilot, if they're home ownership units, there's, there's other tax abatement tools that potentially are available to them. Thank
you. Thank you. May President, thank
you. Council member, Santiago Ramiro, thank you, Madam President. I just want to wrap this up, but I have a question that I don't believe was really answered. I think many of us have the same concerns. I love pilot, the original form. It provides housing for 30 to 60% AMI, and like my colleagues, I'm concerned that we will only see the 60 to 80% of AMI, I believe there was a memo sense around requiring there to be 30 to 6030, to 50 in every project. I understand that would be difficult to do, as in amending the ordinance. But what are some internal policies, best practices that HIV will have because we discussed the means that we have. We discussed what we have to be building. We discuss if we only see 60 to 80, we have an issue, how are we going to avoid that issue from happening in the first place? And how are we going to assure residents that we are going to be building for what we need?
Through the Chair to member Santiago Romero, so in HRD, with the funding that we have available, we build as many 30% AMI units as possible annually. And right now, our baseline over the last five years, on average, for new units at 30% AMI is a bit under 100 a year, which is, you know, two or three projects that we're building at that range. What director Schneider mentioned before is that the pilot at 1% for those LIHTC projects below 60% AMI, it allows us to save that, you know, roughly three and a half million dollars that we can put back into producing more units at 30% because that's what we do. That's what our funding is meant for. The trust fund has been an excellent resource in getting 30% AMI units built. So the more that we can conserve those gap dollars, we believe that we could see another 100 units a year. So doubling that output for 30% AMI units with the pilot providing us that cost savings. And then another piece that is important to consider is that for you know, as many council members having have acknowledged and spoken with us about, you know, additional subsidy is needed. The taxes alone are not getting us 30% units, but it makes our projects in Detroit more competitive when they're applying to mister, because they can take out larger loans so they need less gap dollars from mishta to get their deals done. So we see that as a second path. Mista incentivizes developers to produce 5040, 30% AMI units to compete. And so the more of those units you can do, the more competitive they are. So that's an incentive that's built in, and we want to help folks be as competitive as possible when applying for those tax credits. And then a third piece is the income averaging. I think it's really important, and maybe hasn't been talked about enough. With these occupied buildings, you're going to see people buying buildings with rents and people living in them that are at 40% AMI or 50% AMI, and the pilot requires them to keep those rents stable for those residents. So it's a tool, and because it allows the averaging, they can offset that with vacant units and new vacancies at higher am I's to make the deal work, but it's a tool for producing 30% units, even outside of LIHTC, that does not exist right now. So I think there's also a possibility that we'll see a lot more output of 3040s, and 50s that are preservation of that existing natural affordable, which you know, they're going to have to offset with maybe some 80% units or maybe even 90s. But it's right now there is no tool. There's nothing to protect those residents, and nothing to guarantee that we have those 40% units or 50% affordable for the next 15 years. So I think more city funded projects at 30% is an outcome more from mishta, and then also more that are just under those tenant retention agreements to keep those units at 30s and the 40s. So I think there's three ways that we see this really working with the existing incentive structure and other tools that are out there to produce more 30% units than we're doing right now. Thank
you. Through the Chair to HIV, to my colleagues, to anyone listening, the comment made around supporting Detroiters with home ownership is real and it's needed. I recently bought a house I could not afford it. The taxes went up within the first year. We need people to be educated. We need people to understand how to buy a house, what it actually means, the cost long term, because the houses are over 100 years old, you cannot find something right now in southwest under $100,000 you need another $100,000 to fix it, to make it move in, ready? It is hard, which is why we're pushing for the 30 to 50 as residents need it. I Who it's hard, okay, hard out here. We need the support. I'm happy to talk to anyone talking about housing, because I can talk to you about my struggle right now and how we can fix it to make it better for everyone else. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Council member Benson,
thank you, and I just want to thank HRD administration for working to make this a a great tool to help with affordable housing. Also want to thank my colleagues who have put in the time and effort to make this a strong, workable ordinance and just another great tool for us to move affordable housing forward. And with that, I call the question.
The question has been called discussion. Discussion on question being called, or do we need to take up the motion to call the question?
What discussion on the question being called? And to member Benson, I would just, I'm just
making sure that was we could do that so we can discuss. Okay, go ahead. Remember, my
motion is on the my motion is on the discussion, or discussion or the questions being called because I cannot have discussion Through you, madam president, the member Benson would ask if he rescinds his motion as one of the main sponsors of this ordinance, would like to thank a few people, particularly who have worked very hard on this ordinance. Member Vincent,
yeah. Okay, all right, so he will remove his motion from the table. Member durha, thank you,
Madam President. Member Benson, I love you, brother. I will be as brief as possible, but I did. I'd be remiss if I did not thank first my team and Doctor Isha Gosman Esma, who has worked very hard on this, along with Rebecca Labov, Juliet from HRD, who have been on the ground for this ordinance since day one and since this had became a discussion, and this ordinance has come a long way due to dialog from colleagues. It is in my thoughts that legislation becomes better with that great dialog, with debate. And I think that this is happening within this ordinance, particularly I am very intentional when I introduce an ordinance and identifying a need. And one of the greatest needs that our city has right now is housing, whether that be the rental, or as member Johnson indicated through home ownership, which I look forward to partnering with her in the future, on some ordinances that she will push forward, we've got to become better here in the city of Detroit on how we do housing, whether that be rental or whether that be permanent. But as we are looking at rental housing here in the city of Detroit, the need is very evident. And the need is, is that yes, we have low income housing, yes, we have housing that is considered affordable, and then we have workforce housing, which has not necessarily been even highlighted. And what that means is that here in the city of Detroit, folks who go to work every single day, but they don't make or make too much to qualify for some of these subsidies that we have. They're still struggling to pay rent, and there are no tools out there to be able to assist them so they don't drop back down into low income housing. So they don't drop back down into what is considered affordable housing for the lower Ami. And so I do believe this is a tool. The other component about this ordinance, which is really important to me, is, and you've heard it from nonprofits that have come down here today. You heard it from minority developers that come down here today, who have been very intentional in the city of Detroit on how they build housing. They are dedicated. Many of us had a conversation while ago, over two years ago, and I remember we had developers come and talk about particularly minority developers on what they experience when we talk about low income housing. And yes, there are tools to do that. The original pilot did that. But the problem is, it was not as inclusionary for minority or smaller developers as this ordinance is this ordinance expands that diversity. So it's saying right now, if you're listening to us and you are a small or minority developer, we are creating a tool for you to put you in the pipeline, to help you become successful, to help you come at to help bring some of those things in fruition that we talk about at this very council table, like generating generational wealth that doesn't come from just saving your money, that comes from people having the ability to own property, and most of these folks, again, even on the state level, when these tools exist, they are shut out. And so today, here what we're doing, we're expanding. We're expanding that. We're opening it up for success. And two folks, again, who have already been very pointed, who's but for is exacerbated because they don't have the access to capital that traditional developers have. But today we're saying we're changing that. And so I am very thankful to my colleagues for your support. Hope to have your support on this ordinance, but I do believe, and I heard I've been quoted on this, saying that it is a game changer. It is a game changer, because if we are going to push this city forward, we're going to fix our commercial corridors, if we're going to house those who are in need and then support those who want to choose to elevate themselves, we've got to start somewhere. And I believe today is that start. So with that, Madam President, in respect to member Benson, I'd like to make a motion to call the question. I
don't think we need to at this point, maybe just approve. Move forward. I don't think we need to call the question, yeah, that's it's debate is over. Yep. Okay, so we appreciate everyone. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for the dialog from everyone, and you move the ordinance
for approval. That's why That's why, that's what we're doing. Call in the question
that's that want to move the ordinance for approval? Go right ahead. Yeah.
Motion to approve. Shall this ordinance now pass? Okay,
Hearing no objections. That action will be taken. Council member Durham,
Madam President,
he I thought when he read earlier, he mentioned that he had already read it into the record from the previous session, and that he was just moving forward. Yes, yep. So he's already read the ordinance into the record from the previous session because it was postponed, and so he's already moved forward as is. And so Hearing no objections. And now we'll go back to council member durha.
Thank you, Madam President, and I move that this ordinance be passed as amended,
right. There being a there being a roll call required with the clerk, please call the roll
Sure. Council member Scott Benson, yes. Council member Fred or Hall The third Yes. Council member Letitia Johnson, yes. Council member Gabriella Santiago Romero,
yes.
Council member Mary waters,
yes.
Council President Pro Temp Tate,
yes.
Council member Coleman, a young a second number one, yes. Clerk will so no. Council President Mary Sheffield,
yes.
Madam President, eight yeas, zero, nays, That motion passes.
Alright, the ordinance is approved. Council member durha, joined by council president Sheffield, joined by council member waters, joined by council
member young member durha Through you, madam president, I know you and I are not equipped with the traditional script today, as I can tell, but from my mind, I move that the ordinance of the title of the ordinance be confirmed correct
and Hearing no objections, that action will be taken. Thank
you, Madam President. And if I may, I like to make a motion to open it further, open it up for co sponsorship. I know we said we were joined by many members, but I would like to open this ordinance for CO sponsorships, because there were other very important mini minds and and ideas that went into this. So that is my motion. Madam President, alright.
Any additional member Benson the clerk would note. Member,
so no. Madam President, clerk will so no,
okay. And also Member Santiago Romero,
clerk will so no. Madam President,
okay, thank you. Madam
President, may I request a waiver for line item 16.1
Hearing no objections. A waiver will be attached. All right, moving along from the law department. Council
Member durha, an introduction of an ordinance line item 16.2
council member durha,
thank you, Madam
President, I move that the orders be read twice by title, order printed and laid on the table.
Hearing, no objections that action will be taken from the law department.
Council Member durha, a resolution set in a public hearing. Line item 16.3
council member durha, thank you,
Madam President, I move to set a public hearing at a date to be determined. Hearing
no objections. A scheduling of a public hearing will be set from the Board of Review.
Council member durhall, two resolutions. Line item 16.4 is 16.5
council member Durham, thank you, Madam
President, these are two resolutions of the authorization for the HOPE program. One is dealing with the homeowner property exemption and bringing an attention to state statute. And the second is the policy and guidelines in accordance with MCL two, 11.7, you move for approval for line item 16.4 and 16.5
right? Any objections. Hearing, no objections that action will be taken. Request
a waiver for both line items, 16.4 and 16.5
hearing, no objections. A waiver will be attached to both items from the office of the city clerk, City Planning Commission.
Council Member durha, a resolution line item 16.6
council member durha, thank you,
Madam President. Line item 16.6 is a resolution of authorization for a neighborhood enterprise zone certificate application for 23 units in the Pullman Park neighborhood, enterprise zone area. This has been recommended for approval by the CPC, as well as committee Move for approval for line item 16.6
alright. Thank you. Member, durha, I'm actually going to see if we can move this for discussion, and I'm not sure, Mister Washington, do we have someone on from this item? And I am going to ask if we could postpone it for one week just due to this is in district five, and actually, I'm right around the corner from this project, and there's a lot of concerns about the status of the water retention pond that's right there on the corner that has been there for quite some time. And people are just curious what is happening with just the way the site looks, as far as it being properly maintained. So Mr. Washington, is someone on that can just publicly give a brief update on that for 16, point 16. If not, we can bring it back as well towards the end of the agenda.
Madam Chair, I would defer to Christopher Gulak
from CPC,
I believe he's online. Oh, he's
here. No.
Mr. Gulak has just been moved over.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Gulak, Good morning, Madam Chair, Chris
Gulak, City Planning Commission staff.
All right, do you have any update? Or is a developer available to provide an update on I understand the project is changing slightly, as far as the for sale component, but more so just the appearance of what is taking place on the site, as far as the big old or water retention pond, if they're I guess contemplating on the site.
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I believe Richard Barr, representing the developer, is in the attendees, and he said he's available to try and
answer that question.
Okay, we can promote him as well. I
Good afternoon. Madam Chair. Richard Barr, can
you hear me? Yes, we
can hear you.
Thank you. Tim lochran from the developer, is also available. If you're able to promote him, he can speak specifically to the question about the pond.
What is his name? Richard Barr,
uh. Lochran, L O, she, l, o, u, G, H, R, I n, I believe is in the attend.
He has been promoted. Thank you so much. Mr. Barr,
thank you.
Hello. Tim. Walk with Robertson Holmes, thank you.
All right, go right ahead. Good afternoon. Good
afternoon. Yeah.
So through the chair we that is not property that we own. In fact, we're very frustrated with the way it looks as well. The landowner is broding saxy. We've been working very hard for them to clean that up, which they have to some degree, but we wish it was a different condition. It is not Robertson's fault or condition whatsoever.
Okay, I appreciate that, and want to have further discussions with the construction company that you mentioned. I'm not sure why they would own that portion of the site, because it's adjacent to where you all are developing, but I just wanted to publicly have you respond, and if possible, I would like to hold this for one week. I also like opportunity to meet with you as well. I'm your neighbor, and we get a lot of calls and concerns about just the progress of that site in general. That was a huge promise for that community and on, you know, with this project. And just have not heard much about what's going over there, going on over there. So member Doha possible, like I said, I would like to just postpone this for one week to allow our office to work with you to address some outstanding concerns. Thank you,
Madam President, move to postpone line item six point 16.6 for one
week. Okay? Thank you. Um, if there's no objections, we will postpone 16.6 for one week, and Hearing no objections, that action will be taken and Mister Barr, I will get with you offline. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
I just have a question about six, 16.4 and five. You know, I want to ask a question because I thought for sure that we had to have that approved in Lansing. So it's hot. It looks like we don't have to do that. Looks like we can do it right here. Remember, we approved the resolution. I don't know when I basically when, when we first arrived on council, sent it to Lansing to do exactly this on property tax exemptions for for those people who whose income does not change year after year. So I I'm just curious if somebody could just answer the question, because I was originally told I had to send it to Nancy, which is what I did. So even wrote the bill for
right? So from my understanding, this resolution is in concordance with the change in state statute that now allows for the local municipalities to review. Okay, so supporting what they're doing, the work that you put in to get it done.
I just want I thought, oh my goodness, you need all this time we could have done it. So I just wondered, okay, yep,
thank you. Thanks for the clearing. Okay, moving along to under resolutions.
Council member durha, our resolution line item 16.7
council member durha, thank you, Madam
President, this is a resolution of authorization, supporting the approval of the issuance of tax exempt housing revenue bonds by the Public Finance Authority of Wisconsin, acquiring and improving residential rental housing facilities in the city of Detroit. Move for approval for line item 16.7,
any objections. Objection members, Santiago Romero, the clerk will note. Clerk will So note, Madam
President,
hearing no further objections, the one resolution will be approved for the internal operations standing committee from the Office of contracting and procurement, Council
Member Johnson to resolutions, line item 17.1 and 17.2 line item 17.1 is contract number 6006394, 100% city funding to provide policy and compliance consulting services. Contractor is banks and company total contract amount 100,000 that's for creo. Next contract is contract number 6004656, dash, a, two, 100% city funding. Amendment two, to provide an increase of funds for pre litigation services in connection with condemnation matters relating to the Detroit City Airport contractor aloha and Associates, PC, total contract amount 350,000 that's for the law department. Council member Johnson, two resolutions.
Council member Johnson, thank you, Madam
President, Move for approval.
Hearing no objections. The two resolutions will be approved from the law department.
Council member Johnson, nine resolutions, noting that line item 17.6 has the correct resolution, and it has been submitted and uploaded into E scribe. Thank you council member Johnson, nine resolutions.
Member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, I'd like to make a motion to postpone line item, 17.3 and 17.4 I am still awaiting information from the police department relative to their internal policies.
Right hearing, no objections. We will postpone 17.3 and 17.4 council member Johnson, for one week. For one week. Council member Johnson, thank you, Madam
President, Move for approval on line item 17.5 through 17 point 11. These are various lawsuit settlement requests and requests for legal representation and indemnification. All right with discussion. Yes, thank you, Madam President, there was information that was provided to us relative to line item 17.6 attorney Anderson, can you please come down and share initially, there was a split decision from the department and the law department, from the police department and the law department,
through the chair to council member Johnson. Yes, that is correct. The Law Department recommended representation where DPD did not
and has anything changed that is
still consistent from both sides. Last I heard,
so attorney Anderson, did we not?
So can you speak to YES to splitting the question? Thank you. Council member Johnson through the chair in regards to what we did at committee to split the question. In this regard is, of course, you guys are familiar with the legal representation and the indemnification in these type of matters. What we did is we separated the representation and the indemnification. We pulled the indemnification out of this resolution so you are just voting to approve the representation of Officer DeAndre Williams
and attorney Anderson Through you, madam president, can you speak to why? Yes,
absolutely, through the chair. It really just comes down to the pace at which the litigation is moving. At the trial is next month, realistically, we would not have a closed session in that time to be able to pull the representation. The representation is, in that sense, inevitable. However, the indemnification can still be pulled, if that is the will of the body, and we will have a closed session, which we're hoping in January, to make that determination.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
All right. Thank you so much. Member Johnson, and a motion has been made for the remaining item, 17.5
17 point 11. Any objections? Objection? Member Santiago Romero, 17.6 proton tape,
no objection. Rather, on 17.6 President pro tempore
Tate, any further objections? Hearing none the resolutions will be approved from the law department
council member Johnson, on behalf of Council President Mary Sheffield, an introduction of an ordinance line item 17, point 12.
Council member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President. I move that the ordinance be read twice by title order, printed and laid on the table.
Right? This is for the introduction and setting of a public hearing for the Crown act, ordinance, any objections, hearing none the one resolution will be approved from the lobby. Waiver. Online, item 17.2
I'm sorry, request a waiver. Online, item 17.2
okay. Waiver has been requested. 17.2 any objections. Hearing, none. A waiver will be attached to line item 17.2 from the law department
council member Johnson, on behalf of Council President Mary Sheffield, a resolution set in a public hearing line item 17 point 13,
Council Member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, Move for approval to set the public hearing on November 13, at 10:35am,
right hearing. No objections. The resolution will be approved for the scheduling of a public hearing under resolutions.
Council member
Johnson, three resolutions, line item 17 point 14 through 17 point 16.
Council member Johnson, thank you, Madam
President, Move for approval for line item 17 point 14 through 17 point 16. Line item 717 point 14 is to reappoint Teresa DuBose to the Board of Review. Line item 17 point 15 is to reappoint Sonia Mays to the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, and line item 17 point 16 is to reappoint Marcus Twyman to the property assessment Board of Review.
Right. Any objections? Discussion, yeah, please
serve me. A no on 17, point 15, please.
The clerk would note. Clerk will show note, Madam
President,
any further objections on these items, hearing, none the three resolutions will be approved.
Madam President, yes, I'd like to request a waiver online item, 17 point 14 and 17 point 1614,
and 16, not 15.
I would do that to you
right. Hearing, no objections. A waiver will be attached to those two items for the Planning and Economic Development, standing committee from the Office of contracting and procurement.
President Pro Temp Tate for resolutions, line items, 18.1 through 18.4 all our contracts. First up is contract number 6006216. Dash, a one, 100% ARPA funding Amendment One, to provide an increase of funds for program administration over neighborhood opportunities, funds, program contractors, SP, Grace, LLC, total contract amount, 2,150,000 that's for housing and revitalization. Next contract is contract number 6006214, dash, a one, 100% opera funding. Amendment One, to provide an increase of funds for the down payment assistance program, contractors, national faith, home buyers, total contract amount, 6,500,000 that's for housing and revitalization. Next contract is contract number 6006745, 100% ARPA funding to provide roof and window replacements for qualifying Detroit residents selected for the renewal Detroit home repair program. Contractor one 800 Hansons LLC, total contract amount $1,580,853 that's housing and revitalization. Last contract is contract number 6006746, 100% ARPA funding to provide roof and window replacements for qualifying Detroit residents selected for the renewed Detroit home repair program, contractor, LGC global Incorporated. Total contract amount $1,580,852 that's for housing and revitalization. Council. President, pro tem Tate for resolution.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. President, pro temp Tate.
Madam President, move approval of nine items, 18.1 through 18.4 please. Discussion,
yes. Discussion council member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President. I believe I, my team and I were informed that on November 7, there is slated to be a discussion around arpa. Is that still correct? Um,
that is accurate, correct. Um, November the seventh, I think we were holding a date for a 3pm committee of a whole discussion for ARPA, yes.
Thank you, Madam President. And so I'm trying to understand what that discussion is about, because I understand now that all of the ARPA reappropriations are coming to us via contracts, and included within that are two of, well, actually three, if not four, of these contracts are increases in ARPA funding. So I was asking if there was going to be a reappropriation of ARPA funding, or reprogramming of ARPA funding that was provided to us as a whole, so that we would know prior to the contract coming before us.
So I could just tell you the reason why we scheduled it is just because we have not had, like, a full dialog overall on where money has been spent as a full body was pending. I know Mr. Poorly mentioned to us that there was, like, roughly 9% that was still not obligated. Technically, I know contracts are coming before us now, and we are seeing some like the roof repair contract was unencumbered funds that were shifted to this program. It was mentioned that some possible funds can be moved to existing programs, and I think that's happening now. So we just felt that it was a perfect opportunity to have a conversation just on where we are in general, for the public to understand with ARPA funding, whether or not Council has the ability to make any, you know, major changes. I'm not sure. I think we could talk more about that, but we just wanted to have an opportunity for the full body to meet, to get an overall picture of where money has been spent, what's left in the pending deadlines to spend all of the funds that are before us.
Thank you, Madam President. I appreciate the request for the discussion to be had. I think by the when we have the discussion, all of the arc of funds will be reprogrammed at that point. And so if council had any desires to reprogram it for any particular program that may still be in in need of additional funding, then at that point, we've already reprogrammed all the funding. So all any desires that we have will just be desires that we have, and no funding would be available to address any of those desires. So is it? I'm thinking we should postpone these contracts until we actually have the discussion around ARPA so we have a full understanding of where the dollars are going.
I support that council member, Johnson. Are you referring to all of the ARPA ones before us today, or just the home repair
so think it's the all four of them, because I well 18.1 so I was trying to get clarity. So when we were in ped, I was able to get clarity on 18.3 and 18.4 that those are ARPA funds that are being reprogrammed. Perhaps somebody can come on and share with us whether or not 18.1 and eight, 18.2 are as well.
Okay, Mr. Washington, do we have someone on that can address this? Please, Madam Chair,
if we can promote Tanya starter Meyer,
uh, Madam President. I
do not see her hand. I do not see her listed.
Okay, looks like she was promoted Paris. Okay, she is. We have promoted her. She just had to turn her camera. Okay. All right, good afternoon. Miss dotermaier,
good afternoon. I'm Tanya Stoudemire, chief deputy CFO and interim budget director. I believe y'all had a question regarding a couple of the ARPA contracts. Yes, ma'am,
yes, ma'am, go right ahead.
Which contracts Do you have your questions about?
Yep, we're under the Planning and Development Committee, the amendments to the down payment assistance program, and then also the money that was allocated to the roof repairs. We're trying to get a better understanding of the reprogramming that's taking place and Council's ability to make any changes if, that's if, if that that is the desire council. So can you just speak to kind of where we are?
I can. So, Madam Chair, where we are with down payment assistance is we're adding an additional $1.5 million and those dollars for the down payment assistance program are coming out of appropriation. Oh two. It does not require us to move any dollars between appropriations, but we can actually charge that appropriation directly for the additional funds for down payment assistance and then for renew Detroit, that additional $3 million a portion of it is coming from the Renew appropriation, but then there's also a portion of it that's coming from a different appropriation, which also allows us to do House Repairs. So neither one of those will require us to come to council to have dollars re appropriated, because we're using those dollars for the original purposes that they were set up for.
Council member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, okay, so it's 18.3 and 18.4 that is increasing the ARPA funding for that particular program, correct?
I don't have that in front of me. So 18.3 and 18.4 which two are those?
Those are the two Through you, madam president, to ms datameier, those are the contracts for renew Detroit. And it was indicated during ped that there is an additional $2 million of the 3.6 I think that is being added to the program
to member through the chair to member Johnson. So you are correct. So as you recall, originally, there was $30 million of ARPA funds available, and then there was the additional 15 million that we got from Misha. So they gave us a total of 45 we are adding an additional $2 million to renew Detroit, but that $2 million is coming from an appropriation that allows us to use funds for home repairs. So that's why there was no need to come back to council to move those dollars from one appropriation to another. We're actually able to use those dollars from the appropriations that they're currently at.
Okay, thank you. And so I do understand that the additional funds will not net any additional roofs or windows being provided for our residents. Um,
through the president to member Johnson, my understanding is that with these additional funds, we can get to, I believe 1900 of the 2000 roof, so it won't still get us to the 2000 as as you recall our the promise that we made was that we would do 2000 roofs. These additional dollars will get us to 1900 we're still trying to find some, maybe some non ARPA dollars to get us to the 2000 because that is still our commitment to the residents, but these dollars will get us to 1900
Thank you, and through you, Madam President, to chief deputy, CFO Stoudemire, are can you help us to fully understand what's happening with the ARPA funding? I think that's my overall question. Initially, we were told that there was going to be a reappropriation request that came before city council, but it appears that that is not the case, that we are reprogramming dollars still within the allotment, the buckets that were identified. So I think that's the part that's really confusing, and just to have contracts brought before us, considering that I at least was expecting a re reappropriation ask to come from the administration
member Johnson. I apologize if there was any confusion, but I know that we received questions from Mr. Corley, and he indicated that he wanted to know if we would be doing any reappropriations. And we said no, that there might be some reprogramming, but it was not our intention to indicate that we would need to re appropriate dollars.
Okay, thank you. So I'm still a little leery and would like to get more clarity on where we stand as it relates to ARPA, I'm not sure where my colleagues are with this
question. So thank you so much. Member Johnson and I, I'm with you on postponing, you know, if we need to to have our discussion, because, based on the email that poorly has sent out, it talked about $57.9 million that needed to be obligated by December of this year, December 31 of this year. And then I had a brief conversation with Miss Dotto Meyer, and she mentioned that I think 30 million of that, 57 was already going towards housing projects, which leaves around 20 something that that I guess, will be reprogrammed, not not reallocated to or re appropriated, but could be reprogrammed to existing programs that are already within the city, but to me, that still gives us the ability to have a voice in that process. So can you maybe just speak to that deputy? CFO Tanya stedemi,
yes. So what I want to explain is that right now, there's $57 million that needs to be obligated. Of that 57,000,030 9 million is going to be for the affordable housing contracts that council has already approved that would leave us with 18 million. That 18 million is for 16 contracts that council already has, either in committee or before them. We only have one contract remaining that council has not seen, that is ARPA funded, and then that's it for our obligation. So then the entire 826, point $7 million will be obligated when you get that final contract that you will get probably in the next week.
Okay, so the $18 million in contracts have already come before Council. It's just 1 million left over. There's just one contract, one contract, that's okay, okay. Got you Okay. And Mr. Corley, are you? Thank you,
Madam President, so it will be wonderful for Mr. Meyer administration to respond in writing to our questions because again, if we want to make sure that we're going to meet the deadline, you know otherwise, the money has to go back. And so Mr. Myers indicated that we are, but we would like the response in writing, and she can identify those contracts. You know that she's saying that council approved, and when a contract that still needs to be approved, that'd be great.
Okay, so deputy CFO Stoudemire, we can get that and, you know, possibly just postpone these ARPA contracts before, since we're kind of at the tail end here, and I think having a bigger overview and snapshot of where we are would be helpful with all of this. Yep, one second. Member waters, yes, we have.
We have submitted those responses to Mr. Corley probably just within the last 15 minutes. So we have provided written responses to his questions. Okay, thank
you. We're looking forward to reviewing those council member waters.
Thank you. Madam President, yes, I just want to verify. Are these two contracts for senior citizen home repairs? Is that correct? Go ahead,
Malik,
I'm sorry, yes, through the
chair. If we can promote Rico ro as well As director Schneider,
okay, we will promote both.
I Good afternoon. Council members,
good afternoon.
Sorry, I'm not sure if I could go yet. Rico razo, Chief of home repair, neighborhood services. HRD, all
right. Thank
you so much. Council member waters,
hi there. Rico, Mister razzo, did I get there? Right? Rico, correct. Thank you, Mister razzo, for being here.
Listen of
these two contracts I need to verify this. Are they for senior citizen home repairs
through the chair? That is correct when renew Detroit was set up as a program, one of the stipulations is that these home repairs would go to seniors, those with disabilities that also qualify for a hope exemption. So that was that is a criteria for those who are receiving roof and window replacements through renew Detroit,
okay, thank you. Just wanted to verify. Thank you, Madam President,
all right, thank you. All right. So Council, yes, thank you, Madam
President, so
through you to Mr. Razzo, Director razzo, how much do we have in funding already, still less rather, in the Renew program.
So this, these two contracts before you are the final contracts remaining for renew Detroit roof and window replacements. So we, I want to say it was somewhere in the ballpark of $900,000 that was remaining in RFPs for the Renew Detroit program, we were able to gain another $2 million in ARPA funding, and that's in the two contracts that are before you right now. So that that is all that is remaining to get to our just
for clarity, not you say $900,000
still left Correct?
That is, that's the amount we had before the infusion of the $2 million in the in these two contracts.
Okay, all right, thank you.
Thank you. Proton council member, durha, thank
you, Madam President. I know we're talking about possibly postponing this for a week, and I always check when we do postponements, particularly on contracts like this, this would not delay any type of work being done, or we don't anticipate it will cause any issues or work that is already set to be completed.
Director Schneiders
through the Chair, I I'd like to comment about answer that question regarding down payment assistance, but given that we're talking about renewal, I'll let Rico answer first related to renew. Mr.
Razzo,
through the Chair, I believe council member durhall was stating any delays on the construction side, whenever we push contracts back. There's always going to be a delay in how quickly we can get to these houses for roof replacements and window replacements. You know, obviously, in a perfect world, we would love for these contracts to move forward today, so that we can get to our residents quicker. But, you know, it's the will of the body. Should you guys decide to hold the contract
and through you, Madam President, to Director Snyder, if we were talking about 18.1 18.2 are we discussing all of them? By the way, yeah, thank you, Madam President, that is so 18.3 18.4 I understand if that's going to be postponed, I know we'd like to get that done sooner than possible, but I'm really concerned about 18.1 and 18.2 particularly, these are down payment assistance programs, and I don't know if there's anything attached to that, that if we postpone and hold this back for a week, folks who are already in the pipeline that they may be expecting to receive Down Payment Assistance. Does that affect them in any type of way, or
through the chair to council member durha? We believe that it would we have been fortunate enough to, at this point, have both between the generous contribution from the city of ARPA funds as well as philanthropic dollars a little short of $18 million into the program. But due to the really, the positive, extremely positive response we've received, we are kind of at, we are at the point that we have to make a decision on when to end the program, which, right now we do not have funding to continue. With the with the additional funding, it will allow us to continue, probably for about another month, and so yes, those households who have accepted offers who are kind of lower on the first come first serve list, they they might not be eligible to participate in program,
and that that is a concern. So for you know, we push these two, at least these two, 18.1 18.2 back a week. Yeah, we're slowing the process.
I think you just mentioned the other ones, member durha, not the first two, just the home repair ones,
right? But I'm I'm asking, that's what I'm asking her, specifically about 18.1 and 18 points I'm asking her specifically about 18.2 the the home. I'm sorry, down payment assistance. Okay? Member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, through you to member deer Hall, I excluded 18.1 and 18.2 My understanding is that those funds were already available for these two programs. So we were just referring to 18.3 and 18.4 because there is an additional allotment of ARPA funding that's being reprogrammed for renew Detroit and thank you
through through you. Madam President, member Johnson, that's what I was trying to clarify, that we are just talking about 18.3 and 18.4 and madam president, if I may, Mr. We do have our discussion coming up. Just to clarify on the seventh
correct, we just mentioned that you have the seventh at 3pm session. Okay, so, member Johnson, did you still have a motion on the floor? Still? Okay, so I'm coming to you, Benson, it's a motion is to postpone for one week, 18.3 and 18.4 and we're still doing discussion on that. Member Benson, alright, thank
you. And so the question is, this is a point of information. Are we having session? Are we having session on six November? Or are we pushing that back, no, to the 13th of November.
We are formal session. We were going to come back the regular following Tuesday. Yeah, so then this
would actually push this back two weeks versus one week. So I just want to make sure that we understand that, and with the weather coming in, how is that going to really impact the ability to get this info or to get these resources to our vulnerable homeowners who are looking to make some improvements to their homes, and I appreciate the need for further discussion, but just the timeliness is also critical as we move ourselves into the winter months and we lose the ability to do exterior construction on homes,
Thank you. Member Benson,
am I sure? Member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, I was aware that we were not here next Tuesday. I'm not sure if that changes anything with the departments. It still does not change my desire, I will say only because I'm not sure how long the administration had thought about reprogramming these dollars in order to provide support, additional support to renew Detroit. In my last meeting with HRD, specifically around renew Detroit, my understanding was that the average price point to replace the roof was about $20,000 that would equate to $40 million and I believe 45 million has already been allocated between the city and the State ARPA funding. And so I'm not sure if where this additional $2 million is needed so it would be.
