Housing Committee meeting – July 21, 2020

Housing Committee meeting – July 21, 2020 - MINUTES

Date: Tues, July 21, 2020, 2:00pm (Sullivan Chamber)

The Housing Committee held a public hearing on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. in the Sullivan Chamber to discuss the City Manager’s candidate for the open Cambridge Housing Authority Board position, and to receive a report from the Housing Liaison to the City Manager’s Office on her proposed priorities for the remainder of the 2020-2021 City Council term.

Present at the hearing were: Councillor Carlone, Naomie Stephen, and Paula M. Crane, Deputy City Clerk.

Participating in the hearing via Zoom were: Councillor Simmons, Co-Chair; Councillor Sobrinho- Wheeler, Co-Chair; Councillor McGovern; Councillor Zondervan; Mayor Siddiqui; Lisa Peterson, Deputy City Manager; Iram Farooq, Assistant City Manager for Community Development; Chris Cotter, Housing Director, Community Development Department (CDD); Maura Pensak, Housing Liaison to the City Manager; Michael Johnston, Executive Director, Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA); Peter Daly, Executive Director; Terry Dumas, Director of Planning and Development, Homeowner’s Rehab, Inc. (HRI); Louis Bacci, III; Elaine DeRosa; Emanuel Antunes; James Williamson; Sue Reinert; Susan Connelly; Valerie Bonds; and Victoria Bergland.

Mayor Simmons asked that a Roll Call take place for attendance of committee members.

The roll was called and resulted as follows:
PRESENT: Councillor McGovern, Councillor Simmons, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Councillor Zondervan - 4
ABSENT: Vice Mayor Mallon - 1
A quorum was present.

Councillor Simmons convened the hearing and read from prepared Opening Remarks (ATTACHMENT A). She gave a summary of the agenda for the hearing (ATTACHMENT B).

Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler stated that housing is a key issue throughout the pandemic, and he looks forward to upcoming discussions in this regard.

Councillor Simmons opened the hearing to public comment.

Valerie Bonds, 808-812 Memorial Drive, asked how a person applies for a position on the Cambridge Housing Authority Board. She noted her concern about the renovations at 808-812 Memorial Drive.

James Williamson stated that in Cambridge, the public does not have the opportunity for public at CHA meetings. He said that it could be done in a way that is reasonably well-managed. He asked the proposed new appointment about his view on this topic. He said that another big issue is that some of the managers of CHA properties are good but there are many complaints about other managers. He said that in Boston, the tenants are allowed to select the management company that manage the properties. He said that it works well, and it would be one way of addressing the issues that some people have with managers.

Councillor Simmons invited Mr. Johnston to give his remarks.

Mike Johnston stated that Gerald Clark has been with CHA as a Commissioner since 1974. Mr. Clark joined the CHA board in the dark days of the CHA. He said that between Mr. Clark and other new Commissioners, they were able to turn the CHA around under Dan Wuenschel’s leadership. He stated that Mr. Clark has been a Hearing Officer at the CHA for a number of years and is a retired law school professor. Although Ms. Clark is not present at today’s hearing, Mr. Johnston stated that he is prepared to answer any questions regarding this re- appointment.

Councillor Simmons invited questions or comments regarding Mr. Clark’s re-appointment. There were no questions or comments.

Councillor McGovern made a motion to forward the re-appointment of Mr. Clark to the CHA Board to the full City Council with a favorable recommendation.

The roll was called and resulted as follows:
YEAS: Councillor McGovern, Councillor Simmons, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Councillor Zondervan - 4
NAYS: - 0
ABSENT: Councillor Mallon - 1
and the motion passed.

Mr. Johnston stated that as background, the CHA Board is made up of 5 individuals, consisting of one person appointed by the Governor and four individuals appointed by the City Manager and confirmed by the City Council. He stated that of these four appointments, Massachusetts General Laws requires one of the four positions must be recommended by organized labor and one must be a Tenant Representative. He stated that Mr. Bacci would fill the seat that was vacated by the departure of Tony Pini. Mr. Johnston said that Mr. Bacci is a lifelong resident of Cambridge and a member of the Local 151 Laborers Union. He noted that this is a five-year seat that would be held through 2024.

Mr. Bacci, 18 Eighth Street, stated that he is a lifelong resident of Cambridge. He stated that his goal is to represent the City in the best way possible. He noted that he would like to see more low-income housing. He said that he looks forward to doing his part to give back to the community.

Councillor Zondervan stated that he has heard from tenants in public housing about their concerns regarding mistreatment by certain property managers. He asked Mr. Bacci to what extent he is planning to represent tenants as well as the labor union and what he will do in this situation. Mr. Bacci responded that he would like to represent all stakeholders equally. He stated that both sides of a story need to be heard.

Councillor Simmons said that the position on the CHA Board is extraordinary and important because we are allowing, through these appointments, for advocacy and policy development for the CHA. She said that this is a commitment that will take up a lot of time. She asked Mr. Bacci if he is able to meet the time commitment that is necessary for this position. Mr. Bacci responded that he will allocate as much time as needed for this work.

Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler asked Mr. Bacci what direction he would like to see the CHA take in terms of improvements, etc. Mr. Bacci said that he wants to focus on improving the existing housing and he would like to see improvement in services by the CHA.

Councillor McGovern made a motion to forward the appointment of Louis Bacci, III to the CHA Board to the full City Council with a favorable recommendation.

The roll was called and resulted as follows:
YEAS: Councillor McGovern, Councillor Simmons, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler - 3
NAYS: - 0
ABSENT: Councillor Mallon - 1
PRESENT: Councillor Zondervan - 1
and the motion passed.

Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler made a motion to close Public Comment.

Councillor Simmons invited Maura Pensak to give an update on proposed priorities for the remainder of the 2020-2021 City Council term.

Ms. Pensak stated that the Liaison position was created to add capacity and to support and augment the existing efforts and to implement and coordinate various strategies and recommendations that have been identified through the myriad initiatives, committees, and task forces in recent years. She said that in order to actualize and operationalize the position, a three-pronged strategy was recommended and started in the first 6-7 months (pre-Covid). In summary, it is to adopt a Comprehensive City Housing Platform that would include a multifaceted public education campaign that promoted and clarified the housing opportunities and housing related services throughout the varied departments and establish the Cambridge model of a decentralized, yet robust, and active office of housing stability. The second strategy is to address both access and tenant displacement concerns by filling direct service gaps such as the need for more housing search and case management capacity and by creating and expanding tools and trainings for not only tenants but owners, management companies, realtors and others who impact a tenant’s ability to find and maintain housing. The final strategy is to effect system change through policies, procedures, and best practices to include implementation of a tenant notification act, supporting pending statewide legislation such as support of the right to counsel for tenants and developing an alternative credit screening tool, coordinating efforts around key concerns such as hoarding and/or distressed buildings or consideration of a landlord incentive program.

Ms. Pensak noted that most of these goals continue to be important, but the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the housing crisis to an unprecedented and critical level of concern. Fortunately, at the start of the pandemic, the City Manager’s Office, the Mayor, City Council, and City Departments and/or affordable housing partners moved swiftly to establish tenant protections and enhance and expand City resources and services to assist tenants in need. An Emergency Temporary Eviction Moratorium Order was issued, the Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund was established, and a housing hotline and web page were created. In addition, CHA and others led the region in implementing flexible and supportive policies and practices. She explained that these efforts were essential to ensuring that our residents maintained their housing during the initial months of the pandemic. However, with unemployment at unparalleled heights, the financial impact of the pandemic continues to threaten the stability of our tenants and homeowners. She noted that without continued interventions, Cambridge will experience increased tenant displacement and a further decline of our socio-economic diversity.

Ms. Pensak stated that FY21 housing priorities must respond both to the increased need for tenant protections and housing assistance resources and services as well as exploring opportunities that may have resulted from the crisis. She explained that these priorities would include the development and implementation of a Comprehensive Covid-19 Housing Safety Net, Improvement of Access to Housing Opportunities, and the Continuation of Project Development, Implementation and/or Coordination Activities to Address Access and Tenant Displacement Concerns.

In summary, Ms. Pensak asserted that the City must continue the strategies of enhanced direct service and interdepartmental collaboration, explore access barriers, challenges and opportunities and enhance and promote a safety net with strong policies and best practice recommendations that will address this crisis need and ensure long term policy change.

Councillor Sobrino-Wheeler thanked Ms. Pensak for update. He asked Ms. Pensak about discrimination that vouch holders receive as there is a report from Suffolk University looking at discrimination that renters face with voucher holders as well as black residents. He asked Ms. Pensak to talk about what aspect of this she has seen and what efforts the City has looked into in this regard. Maura Pensak responded that there is a lot of work to do. She talked about the need for more collaboration with the Human Rights Commission in their fair housing work. She said that there was some conversation pre- Covid. From her office, she stated that she has been talking to tenants and management companies. She said that it is very tricky to put your hands around. She said that some tenants do not want to pursue action. She said that they are seeing a lot of perspective tenants being asked if they are professional or a student with no room for family or just a resident. She said that some of it is financially driven. She said that if a person rents to a student, there will be more turnover than if you rent to a resident or family that wants to be a permanent resident of Cambridge. She explained that we do need more testing. She said that she hopes to have a public education campaign which includes education, regulation and the creation of tools such as credit screening.

Councillor Zondervan thanked Ms. Pensak for the great work that she is doing. He said that it feels so overwhelming with so many obstacles. He worries that we won’t get there this way. He asked what some of big things are that can be worked on at the policy level to help break some of these challenges and assist with the work. He asked if the City Council should be working on a condo conversion bylaw. Ms. Pensak responded that when we are able to pull together more specifics around management company practices, it is something that could turn into a policy. She said that supporting continued funding is something that the City Council can do. She said that a balance must be found between policy and best practice. Councillor Zondervan said that he would like to be kept informed in how the City Council can best assist this work. He noted that he is encouraged by the work on discrimination and racism or policy moves that can be made to help Ms. Pensak in her work. He said that these are persistent and longstanding problems in the housing market. He asked if there are any updates on staffing in Ms. Pensak’s office. He noted that the City Council approved a reallocation during the budget process. Ms. Pensak said that she has not spoken with the City Manager regarding next steps in this process.

Councillor McGovern thanked Ms. Pensak for her work. He stated that he would like to talk about shortterm and long-term goals from a policy perspective. As it relates to short term solutions, he asked that some sort of “Know Your Rights” pamphlet could be given to a renter in the event that they have any issues. He noted that he is amazed at how many residents have month to month leases. He asked if this is something that the City Council should work on. He asked if there is lower hanging fruit work that can be done quickly while unpacking the bigger issues. Ms. Pensak responded that said that a “Knowing Your Rights” brochure when a person becomes a renter is definitely doable. She said that it is interesting that Councillor McGovern raised the issue about month to month leases. She said that because of Covid and working on the Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund, there are people that presented that thought. She said that people had a lease, but it ran out and it turned into a month to month lease. She said this could potentially require a policy along with educating people that they should request a lease to be renewed from an owner every year. Ms. Pensak said that the other issue that came along with Covid was that a lot of people were asked to renew their lease 90-120 days before the end of the first lease. It became problematic when people lost their jobs and were not sure that they could commit to such a lease. She said that if they did not renew, there would be a fee. She said that they worked one-on-one with a number of places to forego the fee but a policy change amending the length of time that a signed lease could not be requested more than 60 days in advance would be beneficial. Councillor McGovern said that it may be helpful to break down issues such as housing, quality of housing, and discrimination into different sections. He said that rather than a long list, a break down in sections would be easier to work with. Councillor McGovern asked about incentives for landlords. He talked about a group in Charlotte that implemented a program with veterans wherein they provide insurance for the landlord in the event that the veteran skips out on the rent or damages the property. He explained that the other thing that they do is gap vouchers. He said that where the Section 8 caps out and where the floor of market rate begins there is a gap. Even with a Section voucher, it is difficult to find something on the market. He asked if this is something that could be helpful for Cambridge to look at. Ms. Pensak stated that this is interesting. She said that one thing that is different in Cambridge is that the CHA has put in the smaller fair market rates so that has increased what they will pay and that has made quite a difference. She said that there is a fine line of continuing to support the really high rent. She said that the rates that the CHA is paying now are pretty good. She said that she is open to more discussion about Councillor McGovern’s ideas.

Mayor Siddiqui stated that something that comes up regularly has been inclusionary preferences. She asked about the status. Ms. Farooq said that CDD has been working studiously on updating the preferences. She noted that after previously meeting with the Housing Committee, her department went back to the Affordable Housing Trust to talk through the issues that came up at the Housing Committee in the last term. She said that it fell to the back burner during Covid as the housing team has doubled down in making sure that inclusionary program doesn’t flag and also working on the various grant programs. She noted that they will be ready to come back to the Housing Committee with a revised version of the preference recommendations in September.

Mayor Siddiqui asked if there is any update with respect to city owned property and housing. Ms. Farooq said that each of the various city parcels has different characteristics that is amendable to different kinds of uses. She noted that Cherry Street is one property that the staff feels strongly that housing would be a good use on that site. She explained that a public process was initiated that ended in an impasse. She said that the neighborhood is different, and the goals are different, and the hope is that in September they are hoping to host a first meeting to bring everyone back to Cheery Street issue. She said that instead of starting with an open-ended question, they will start with the goal of having housing on this site and then have a discussion with the neighborhood which will help to define the discussion.

Mayor Siddiqui asked about property at the intersection of Main Street and Massachusetts Avenue. Ms. Farooq responded that it is slated for housing because it is a part of a transfer agreement but the issue is that it is more complex because although it is dedicated housing, it is a much more complicated and very tight sight so CDD needs to go through a community process and more discussion with the Affordable Housing Trust. Chris Cotter added that it is a challenging site so they expect that there will be complexity when it comes to redeveloping it. He commented that the building is a 6-unit building that has been vacant and will likely involve demolition. He said that CDD expects to go through the Affordable Housing Trust as they have done in the past to select the developer but they want to first think about the size, scale, approach, funding, and how the housing will be used, for example, would it be best family housing, individuals, lower income household individuals, etc. He said that conversations need to take place.

Mayor Siddiqui said that Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services would be another group to talk to because they are strong partners. They could advise as to trends that they are seeing. She said that the City Council has received some reports from the Human Rights Commission around discrimination. She said that there is an Intake Form asking questions regarding discrimination, but most people don’t know about it. She said that a campaign around reporting discrimination to the City via some type of mechanism would be beneficial to track these incidents.

Councillor Carlone stated that he is curious. He said that the work of the Affordable Housing Trust is something that the City Council supports. He said that in the proposed ordinance there will be a report back. He asked if there is there any evaluation of build projects done by the AHT or CDD to learn what worked, what didn’t work and what can be done better. He asked if there is public access to that information. Mr. Cotter responded that there is not a formal review, but they work closely with the housing providers and have informal discussions where they learn from each other as projects go forward. He said that CDD is learning from Homeowner’s Rehab as they are completing the Finch development and there are discussions among the housing agencies to share notes and learn. Mr. Cotter said that evaluation is happening continually and is informal. Councillor Carlone said that there is mysticism about the Affordable Housing Trust, and it does not seem publicly open which creates a concern by neighbors that can be avoided. He said that the information could be as simple as a document summarizes what was discussed and key points.

Ms. Farooq clarified that when Mr. Cotter said that conversations were not public, he was referring to conversations with non-profit Affordable Housing builders. She noted that all of the Affordable Housing Trust meetings are open to the public and the meeting minutes are posted on the website. She said that she would be happy to send the link to Councillor Carlone. Councillor Carlone said that he knows much business occurs in the committee meetings, but he was referring to conversations with non-profit builders. He asked Mr. Cotter about design discussions being public or not and that is what he was focusing on. He said that many decisions get made behind the scenes, but many decisions get made and if it is not clear why the decisions were made, it hurts the process. He Recommend that whatever those discussions were, he would like to see a summary of those conversations. Mr. Cotter said that meetings that he is talking about is with affordable housing builders, they are not meetings in which things are decided. It is more about sharing notes.

Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler stated that it is hard to get good data on displacement and evictions, especially during the pandemic. He said that it is great to see the Housing Stabilization Fund that has been set up. He said that the eviction moratorium has been extended statewide through mid-October. He said that he is concerned about seeing a potential flood of evictions after that and how the city is tracking that. He questions if there is data from the Housing Stabilization Fund can be aggregated. Ms. Farooq responded that Ms. Pensak has led the charge and is better positioned to speak on this issue. Ms. Pensak said that there is data from the Mayors Disaster Relief Fund that they are working on to figure out patterns and where requests have come from. She said that the Tenant Rights and Notification Act is important because it will require information to be given and hopefully, we will get more calls at the early stages. She said that it is imp to have a sense where we will be at. The goal is to help people keep their head above water and they will not have huge arrears when this ends.

As it relates to accessory dwelling units, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler asked how many units have been created. Ms. Farooq said that she does not have the specific numbers handy at the moment. She said that the Inspectional Services Department keeps those records, but she will happy to provide the members with that information. She said that since the Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance focused on where there is existing space that is unused it was limited by the existing amount of built square footage by the date in the ordinance. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler noted that he looks forward to next steps.

Councillor Simmons thanked Ms. Pensak for her hard work. She thanked Ms. Farooq and Mr. Cotter. She said that the next step is to synthesize. She said that she is interested in hearing where we are in terms of preferences. She said we should make it easier for people to get into the inclusionary program. She said that she is pleased with movement around the Cherry Street lot. She said that the Housing Committee members need to focus their attention and determine what the Committee sees as important that we may be able to get completed in this term. She said that she is interested in a comprehensive housing platform or plan. She asked the members to find one important topic that the committee will focus on and will be completed by the end of the current term.

Councillor Zondervan said that he appreciates the charge to the committee to think about priorities. He said that the work that was done last term in the task force brought forward the opportunity around condo conversions. He said that this has been an ongoing problem in the city. He said that he is wondering if this could be prioritized now. Councillor Simmons said that she wants to collaborate with Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler to put together a work plan in a focused way.

Councillor McGovern stated that Councillor Simmons is on target. He would like to see the committee develop a roadmap with priorities.

Mayor Siddiqui said that Ms. Pensak has outlined the work in her office while CDD has their workplan. She said that there are different people working on different things. Councillor Simmons said that the work can happen in tandem.

Councillor Carlone said that he agrees with Councillor McGovern. He said that it is the beginnings of a residential plan for the city. He said that there is no doubt that CDD has many of these thoughts in mind. He noted that even an outline would help everyone. He said that each expertise area has something to give and it is something that can begin to develop into a housing plan for the city.

Councillor Simmons and Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler thanked all those present for their attendance.

The hearing adjourned at 3:47pm.

For the Committee,
Councillor E. Denise Simmons, Co-Chair
Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Co-Chair

O-10 Sept 14, 2020 (proposed)
COUNCILLOR MCGOVERN
ORDERED: That the City Council confirm the appointment of Louis Bacci, III to the Cambridge Housing Authority Board.

O-11 Sept 14, 2020 (proposed)
COUNCILLOR MCGOVERN
ORDERED: That the City Council confirm the appointment of Gerald Clark, to the Cambridge Housing Authority Board.