[music] [music] [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] >> HRA meeting for the city of Bloomington. First item of business is approval of the agenda. Are there any edits or changes? Okay. I may have a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. >> Moved by Commissioner Hoogheem. Seconded by Commissioner Doblinga. Um all in favor? >> I. >> I. >> Motion passes 1 2 3 4 7 to nothing. All right. Um next item is consent business which we have two items under there. First is the June 9th, 2026 meeting minutes and second is the June 23rd, 2026 um meeting minutes. Would anyone like to pull an item for discussion? Okay, hearing none I need a motion to approve the consent items. >> So moved. >> Moved by Commissioner Robertson. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Esey. All in favor? I. Motion passes 7-0. Right, now we are moving on to organizational business. We have a new staff introduction. >> Hello chair commissioners. I am excited to introduce to with you to introduce to you Ryan Solberg. Um he is the new housing development specialist working with both the Port Authority and the HRA. So this position has manages a lot of projects that have overlapping um authorities. And Ryan is originally from Mitchell, South Dakota, recently completed his master's in public policy from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs. He has roughly 6 years of experience working in community and economic development. Most of that spent serving rural and suburban communities in South South Dakota. And in his spare time, Ryan enjoys playing golf and taking walks with his dog. Ryan, you're welcome to say a few words if you like, no pressure. You don't have to. >> Thank you, Sarah. Uh Commissioners, good evening. Um it's great to meet you as Sarah uh introduced me, I'm Ryan Solberg, uh originally from South Dakota. I'm really excited to to be here with the city of Bloomington. I've been here now 6 weeks. Uh and it's been a great experience so far, and I look forward to getting to know uh all of you. >> Welcome. Glad you're here. >> And Ryan has the fun task of presenting on his introductory meeting, so he'll he'll be up next. >> [laughter] >> Um next item is new business, which I believe we do not have any. And so we are on to discussion items. First is 6.1, LAHA funding request from Mount Olivet Rolling Acres. May we have the staff report? >> Then is the presentation. Okay. So, good evening, Commissioners. Uh tonight we'll be discussing a request from Mount Olivet Rolling Acres or MORA uh for $85,204 in local affordable housing assistance funding uh to complete capital projects at two properties in Bloomington. You want to go to the next slide, or do I have the All right. Working the bugs out. So, as a little bit of a background, um MORA or Mount Olivet Rolling Acres is a 501c3 non-profit providing care and services to individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities, mental health challenges, and aging-related challenges. The organization operates 30 community homes across the Twin Cities including two in Bloomington, uh which are known as Bloomington Home and Valley High Home. As I previously mentioned, they are requesting $85,204 in LAHA funding to complete capital improvements uh at both of the homes. Currently, uh their residents their average uh income may comes up to about 18% of the area median income. Uh per LAHA program requirements, the cutoff for rental rehabilitation programs under under the program is 80% AMI, so they do qualify um for LAHA funding. An additional thing uh to note is that most of the funding for More's activities at these community homes uh comes from Medicare Medicaid waiver funds, which can be used for staffing costs, but cannot be used for for capital projects or home improvements, uh which is part of the reason why they are seeking LAHA funding. So, a project overview, uh they're proposing to do uh six or five different uh projects across the two properties. Uh there would be or six different projects across the the two properties. Five would be at Bloomington Home. And then one would be at Valley High Home. So, Bloomington Home is the the property on the left. Valley High Home is the is the property on the right pictured there. That's a little bit of an older photo from from 2019. It's undergone some uh some changes since then. So, in Bloomington Home, uh the five projects that they're proposing, and you can kind of get an example of what the property looks like now. We'll be going clockwise from the top left and then going around. Um so, it would be a full remodel of the north kitchen, which would improve storage, lighting, and long-term durability of the space uh in order to better support resident independence and life skills development. New flooring in the kitchen and hallway to enhance the appearance of the home, uh improve its safety and accessibility, and allow for easier cleaning cleaning and maintenance. A new flooring in the basement bathroom to improve hygiene and comfort. And then a landscaping project to replace an uneven concrete slab uh with grass to improve outdoor usability and curb appeal. And then the last project that they're proposing is a is a replacement of the water heater for Bloomington home. At Valley High Home, just one project, which is landscaping, um redoing uh the yard to enhance the aesthetics and allow for greater resident use of the space. So, some important notes about about financing. Um Mora is requesting LaHa funds to cover 100% of the project costs that I've previously mentioned. Uh since 2024, the organization has invested close to $35,000 in Bloomington home uh and $14,500 in Valley High home. Their capital budget for 2026 across all of their properties in the metro is $2.2 million. Uh and about 136,000 of that is for for properties in Bloomington. So, additional state, local, and federal funding sources are not available for housing improvements, which is why they're seeking LaHa funding uh as well as uh gifts and donations from private individuals, uh organizations, foundations. Uh the organization has received a LaHa funding commitment for from the Edina HRA for a similar project in that community, and they've also made similar requests to Waconia and Chaska. Uh they're proposing that uh the $85,204 of LaHa would be structured as a granted agreement administered on a reimbursement basis, which would be similar to the terms they've received um from the Edina HRA. So, looking at uh next steps, uh we do have representatives from Mora here on the with via WebEx to they're available to answer any questions and support of the commission's discussions of of the proposal. Um they have uh expressed a willingness to allow for commissioners to to visit the two properties if they are interested. Uh if the commission chooses to move forward uh with the request, staff can begin working on a grant agreement for for its review. And then we just have a few questions uh at the end there um that can help guide the conversation tonight. So, um with that I'll allow you guys some room for discussion. >> Right. So, do we have questions, comments? Maybe the Mora people can answer. Commissioner Esey. >> Yeah, so is this like an immediate improvement? Or like what's the timeline? >> So, the timeline would really be based on some of the discussion that happens here tonight. If the LAHA funds are approved, we are ready to move forward with a number of these projects. Um our hope would be that if the LAHA is approved, that we will move forward as soon as possible and finish this work within 2026. >> Commissioner Carter. >> Thank you. Um so, first uh to the Mora team, just thank you for providing such a valuable and needed resource in our community. Very much appreciate it. Um so, I guess I'm just wondering and this is maybe more for us or for staff. Um you know, obviously we have this new newer LAHA funding up resource for community projects, but we haven't really talked about um whether like how to support like whether or not we want to support group homes or community-based homes like this. Um I know that we have quite a few in Bloomington and so I guess I just I'm curious overall, do we want to say like we're comfortable setting aside like a certain percentage for if we have I mean I assume if we approve this request that we'll probably get more requests. Um and maybe that's not a safe assumption, but yeah, I mean I think a lot of I'll you know, I I run a nonprofit. A lot of nonprofits are, you know, working hard to manage balance budgets and it's really hard especially in the housing space right now. So um I guess I just am that's maybe one thing that I'm thinking about as we're having this conversation of just um if we go down the path of supporting um in capital improvements for group homes, what does that kind of mean going forward if we get more requests? And although we have this wonderful resource, we it is a limited resource. And so how and we've talked about this before, right? How do we balance all of the things that we want to fund and have a strategy for that? So um that's one thing I'm thinking about. And then um is it common for um organizations like this to request um funding from local, state, and federal government for capital improvements? Uh or does is that kind of typically funded by other like private or foundations? Or I guess I'm just curious like is this kind of a new type of request in general or um or is it pretty common? >> Um I think to to answer your first question, I think the the conversations that that I've had with Sarah uh kind of go to the uniqueness of of receiving requests for LAHA funding. Um there really isn't a formal process right now or an application process. I can't really speak to the requests from similar types of housing in the community um and what the demand would be for for LAHA funding. Uh going on to your your second question, um particularly um could you kind of remind me the the second question? >> Oh yes, sorry. I should have >> Yeah. >> So um is it common for nonprofit organizations like this who run um >> Right, thank you. Um >> parent services in communities to ask whether it's local, state, or federal government for funding for capital improvements. >> Right, so I would maybe defer to the folks from Aura who are here via WebEx. My understanding based on the documentation that they've given me is that they have received a very limited amount of capital funding through the state of Minnesota. Um most of their other capital projects have come from private donations. Uh their request of LAHA funding is is a is fairly recent. >> I have a question. >> Hi, so my name is Katie Ellarose. I'm from Mount Olivet Rolling Acres. Would you like us to address the question, committee? >> Sure, yeah. >> Yes, please. >> Hi, so I apologize we did not introduce ourselves earlier. My name is Katie Ellarose. I am the senior director of advancement here at Mount Olivet Rolling Acres. Um I have co-workers here. This is Suzy Lutrell Levy. She's the vice president of residential services here at Mount Olivet Rolling Acres. And this is Alyssa Chaffee and she is our development director. Um to the first question that I heard and we had a little bit of an interruption in terms of sound, so I might have to ask you to repeat one or two things. Um but in terms of capital budget, 99% of our funding comes from the federal and state government and none of it goes towards any kind of home improvement. Every dollar that we receive from the state and federal government is spent towards uh the staffing that we provide, the individuals who live in these homes. And so to be very very clear, any kind of funding that we receive that is aimed at a housing project or housing improvement, 100% is that of that is a donation. None of that is received from the state or federal government. >> Got it. Okay, thank you so much. That's really helpful. And then so before there were kind of LAHA funds available, where how would you fund capital improvements? >> So, one of the things about being a nonprofit is, of course, our margins are incredibly razor thin, um and we really develop our rely on our development team to help fill those gaps with dollars from donations, um and from other agencies who are willing to donate to ours. Um but other than that, it is it is truly all on our backs to make that work financially. >> Okay, thank you. That's really really helpful. >> Commissioner Who Kim? >> Sure, Commissioners, could I could I respond to the first question real just real quick? Um I'll I'll just say that I think that's part of the question before the HRA tonight is to have the discussion on this is a different type of project to use the LAHA funds that's come before the board, um and is fairly unique. It's the first time we've gotten a formal request to use LAHA dollars that we haven't assigned internally to projects that were already um underway. So, I think that's part of the question for the HRA to discuss is is this type of use something that you would like to use LAHA dollars for. >> Commissioner Who Kim? >> Thank you, Chair. Um piggybacking off of what Commissioner Carter was saying and um the the response, I'm wondering if in this conversation is if we should direct a conversation, maybe not today, but in the future near future here of a formal request process, um so that we're being equitable, so everybody has to follow the same procedure and not just anybody and I'm not saying it I'm just saying that way we have a standard and an expectation, um and everybody's going through the same process going forward, um for LAHA funded funding. It's something I really think we should look into and >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Commissioner Wooten? >> I'm just uh curious as to how they came about knowing about LAHA funding is being an option. >> Me too. >> Yeah, so again um I'm my name is Katie and I actually came from Scott County where I served 7 years and our executive director also came from Scott County where she served 10 years. So we are well uh well-versed and very familiar with all the inner workings of government. Additionally, Susie came to us from Ramsey County after 25 years. So we have a lot of folks who have decades of experience working in um the public sector. >> I have a question. >> Yes, Commissioner Lee. >> I'm sorry. >> Um maybe this is more so a question for staff, but what methods do we use to like evaluate or the criteria for projects right now? >> Yeah, Chair and Commissioners, um a couple of things. So uh a couple of the metrics we use are is it a good fit for LAHA funds? Of course, screening of the the application for LAHA eligibility is a really critical um first factor. The way we evaluated this particular request was we took in information around um what's the scale of the need? Does the income level apply? Does this fit into what are the some of the goals of the LAHA dollars, which is really serving those who are underserved by the marketplace, in very similar lines with the HRA mission. But evaluated um their funding information. So we evaluated their budget. We looked at their requested information on their fundraising processes to make sure that, you know, to ask if they were also investing in these homes and not solely relying on a government funding source. So those are some of the the questions that we asked and looked into to bring this to the HRA board. It's We also asked some of the information that we asked for is a little bit similar to how we screen TIF applications. Um not quite as rigorous, but some of the same financial information asking them to demonstrate the need for the dollars and and things like that. >> Commissioner Houck Kim. >> Thank you, Chair. Um personally, I'm not against supporting these types of projects, but I do think before we do any sort of commitments or anything like that, I think we need to look back at what Commissioner Carter was saying as well of having some sort of, you know, standard up to this amount or percentage because it could get us into that um predicament of everybody and I I'm not saying everybody's going to come asking, but you never know. Um so, I think I think that would be the first step in this whole thing is figuring out a formal process, figuring out, in my opinion, um figuring out what we want to commit to these type of projects and maybe um maybe this is a obviously a bigger discussion that maybe we could put to our retreat or something like that that we kind of think think of the things we as a board would put as a mission of um of organizations and projects that we would want LAHA to go to. Um kind of have that conversation. Just a suggestion. That's what I would That's what I put out there that I think that I personally would be supportive of assisting a project such as this, but um we definitely need further discussions. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, Chair and Commissioners, one more thing I'll just note is the the LAHA framework that we're currently working under is 50% for um projects that support affordable home ownership initiatives and 50% towards multi-family development redevelopment. And so, we're kind of looking at this as the second bucket and that there are multiple individuals who are living in these properties and so, it fits into the the LAHA framework that we have established as well. So, that's another thing that we did look at when bringing this forward, but yes, thanks. >> I kind of echo what what other people have said. Um I I was a social worker for 30-plus years and I know the social work world is small and once word gets out that we're doing this there there are multiple, you know, homes and again like Commissioner Wooking I'm not against this. I just am afraid of setting a precedent that we haven't thoroughly thought out, made steps, you know, have have a review process. Um, I appreciate any organization that does creative funding. I I appreciate I like the thinking outside the box. Um, I just am not ready to say yes, we should go ahead with this. We we need we just need to study it more. Commissioner Carter. >> Uh, thank you. So, could we make it an agenda item in our retreat just to talk more about this and then um, and then I don't it sounds like kind of the timeline is when it when they get the funding they'll make the improvements and so and then just circle back with them based on that conversation cuz our retreat's coming up relatively soon. >> Yes, Chair Commissioners. Uh, I will note it down as a future topic for discussion. There's a lot of different suggestions for the retreat so it may not be at the retreat but we could also have a work session discussion at a future board meeting as well. So, I'll kind of look at where it fits. Yeah. >> [snorts] >> Okay, any other questions, comments or does Rolling It Green have anything to say before we >> We just wanted to say thank you so much for your time tonight. We certainly are appreciative and we feel like we have a wonderful working relationship with the city of Bloomington. Um, we have certainly found a sense of community not only um, with the staff that we have worked with but also your mayor and just the the city itself and so thank you for hearing our request and we look forward to hearing more from you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Y'all have a wonderful night. >> You too. Okay, next item is 6.2, the 25 20 2025-26 nonprofit American Rescue Plan Grantee Accomplishment Report. That's a mouthful. May we have the staff report? >> Good evening, Chair Commissioners. My name's Keely Jackson. I'm um Program Specialist II with the Bloomington HRA. And I'm presenting. All right. All right, as you said, this is um I'm presenting on the 2025-26 American ARP accomplishments. A background, um the purpose of this funding was for the HRA to use the ARP funds to support housing stability for Bloomington residents and summarize um the accomplishments, that's what I'm doing here today for this partnership. Um the funding category was homelessness prevention, emergency rental assistance, and tenant legal services. Three nonprofit organization partners um were chosen to work with us um for this process. All right, so this funding was allocated um 175,000. And with that RFP that was closed in November of 2025, we gave money to Homeline, Touchstone Mental Health, and Oasis for Youth as listed on the board. The funds have been completely spent as of June 30th successfully. Um some highlights, one from Homeline, um so they were awarded $45,990.90. There were 712 Bloomington households that were sold served. Um 1,320 clients interactions. 40% received documents for review. So, that was them receiving the documents from those clients. And a majority of those clients were under 30% AMI, so extremely low. So, this service was definitely needed. Some of the communication that they noted is listed here. The top 10 issues discussed during those phone calls. Eviction, repairs, financial aid, leasing questions, breaking lease, landlord notices, um security deposit fees, neighbors, and renters credits and CRPs. Some highlights from Touchstone Mental Health is as listed here. They were awarded $65,826. And they served 15 households. Also averaging 30% AMI. And most of their outreach was going towards Blooming Meadows. We can kind of know the history there. And lastly, Oasis for Youth. Um our award for them was $63,250. They served 24 youth households. Um 307 youth were sold uh serviced through drop-in programs. And um 4,355 outreach contacts. 25 households received eviction prevention support. And I just listed out some of the zip codes within the city that we serviced. And this This our demographics. Just an overview from all three nonprofit organizations. So, that's a combined demographic from all. Do you have any questions? >> Any questions or comments? Commissioner Carter. >> Uh thank you. Uh thank you for the update. It's great to um see the uh kind of outputs and outcomes of the funding that we approve. And um I know that there we get sometimes we get questions in the community. And so it's really helpful to have this information. Um I have one quick question related to it's the the Touchstone, I think. So, they served um 15 Wilmington residents or 15 households, right? So, so I think if I I think I did the math earlier, I think that was like 4,000 on average per household. And so was this kind of uh like was this were these situations where people may maybe owed a few months rent and so needed help getting caught up and then maybe paying another month's rent? >> Yes, that was. And the average was like three >> Uh-huh. >> months. >> Okay. >> Max. I don't think we were really going over the three-month threshold. >> Okay. And do we have any idea um after helping people get caught up and pay their next month like do we have any idea if people were able to kind of continue continue to stay in their homes? >> Oh, that was the goal of this project. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. And I'm I guess I'm assuming like longer term we wouldn't be able to track because the contracts have ended. >> Right. >> Okay. All right. >> But yeah, the purpose of this RFP was for homelessness response and prevention. So, the mission was to keep people housed. >> Yeah, that's awesome. Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Do you have records Oh, sorry, one more question. Um or have an idea of how how many of these families were affected by the metro surge and that's why they were behind. >> We did not ask specifically for that data, unfortunately. >> could compromise. I get it. >> Mhm. And I think a lot of people at the time were kind of apprehensive, too. >> Uh Chair Commissioners, I also note the timeline of this. So, we awarded these dollars at the It's actually the end of 2024. Um and so these contracts are taking place in 2025 and early 2026. So, uh uh especially Touchdown because they had that effective outreach strategy, they expended their funds pretty quickly. And so I think those dollars went out before Operation Metro Surge took place. Um some of the other the other contracts may have been impacted a a little bit. >> And just excuse me, Chair and Commissioners as well. So, this funding ARP is different than our emergency rental. Now, that is going directly towards that outreach. >> Okay. >> Whereas this kind of overlapped during that time period, but not directly. >> All right. Appreciate it. Any other questions, comments? Commissioner Robertson. >> Thank you so much. Um not a question, just a comment. I just wanted to thank you and thank these organizations for all the wonderful work they do here in Bloomington. Keep keeping, people, excuse me, um housed and happy and healthy. Um as an Eastsider myself, I'm pretty familiar with Blooming Meadows. I've got some friends who live over there. So, thank you all to you and the other organizations for the work that you do. So, thanks. >> Thank you all, too. Great partnership. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Next on the agenda is 6.3 HRA Administrator Updates. >> [snorts] >> Okay. I just have a couple of quick updates. Um one is I just wanted to acknowledge uh we started a newsletter on the off week of meetings. I did not send one out in June because we had the special meeting. So, because the newsletter I understood it as taking the place of two meetings. When we had the two meetings, I didn't send one. So, you can keep an eye out for that at the end of July. Those will be starting on the months where we have only one meeting. Um and then the retreat the retreat date we have held is August 19th. We're still working on confirming a place. I'm currently looking at about 10:00 to 4:00, so most most of the day for the that retreat. Um so you should have a calendar hold already in your inboxes. Um and then also keep an eye out. I'm looking at sending out a short survey on HRA experience sometime in the next week or so um to have some information going into that retreat as well. So keep an eye out in your emails for that. Um and then the last thing I'll say is just I believe Commissioner Moua wanted to uh say a few words and give an update tonight as well. >> Okay. Let me see this. Can you hear me okay? Well, I um actually have to make a declaration this evening um based on um something I'm doing with through the city >> [clears throat] >> um through the um guidance of our administrator Sarah and the attorney um >> [clears throat] >> I need to make a declaration based on um Minnesota statute which um oversees one of the programs that we have that I've actually applied for. And so my statement basically is that um in order to comply with it, I have to make a a record of the fact that I have applied for a rehab loan through the city. Um been 3 years. Three different times I've had to reapply for this. Um so I'm hoping that it will finally, you know, take hold. Um and given that that has to be on the record um I think this satisfies the statute that the state has. The other thing I wanted to make sure that people who are listening and happen to hear this uh by no means have I received any special privilege. I can tell you for a fact that um I've jumped through more obstacles and hoops than I think are warranted, but you know, there it is. It it, so I think that besides um to cover what I needed to cover in the public announcement. I don't know if this is something that's been done in the past for other folks who have applied, but it was just brought to me 2 weeks ago and and I've been dealing with this for 3 years, so I'm I was a little taken aback that I didn't know beforehand. So. >> Commissioners, if I may. Can you all hear me? This is Shavon Tollifson from Kennedy & Graven? >> Yes. >> I'm sitting in for Rachel Tierney today. Um I just wanted to um capstone that comment with the the statutory citations for the record. So, the statutory citations citations are Minnesota Statutes 471.87 and 471.88. >> Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Wooden. All right. Commissioner Wooden? >> Thank you, Chair. Um I have something I have a question. Um so it has come to my attention uh just by doing a search for like 9030 Park for those homes that we um were involved with um I guess for clarity I just may not remember. But the basements are not completed. And I'm they're not finished. And I guess I'm a little taken back by that myself just because when we're talking affordable housing, now we're asking people to complete a basement that I just I just think funding-wise that can be tough for um affordability. So, I guess I might have missed the memo on that. Um and then my other question is just kind of on the property tax basis. Um are they being is their property taxes being based on the the lot and the house? I just want to know if there's any difference in property taxation on these properties versus um any other property in Bloomington. Um I just wanted some clarity. Like I said, I guess for me it was just one of those that was a little it was just a little disheartening to know that the basements weren't completed just because that can become a pretty high cost and it is a a very important space, I feel like for these properties, so. >> Yes, Sharon Commissioners, I will double-check with our partners on this, but I believe that the unfin- finished basement was always intended. They do not need to invest in finishing the basement. They can use it in its unfinished state, however they would like to use it. So, that's not a requirement that they would put funds into improving that portion of the home. Um and then as far as property taxes go, again I'll verify my information, but I I do believe that the property taxes are calculated based on the market value of the home, but I do believe that that is taken into account when they're selecting a family and setting the monthly payments. Um so, I can get more information on what that looks like. >> I appreciate that. Yeah, cuz when I was looking at it, it's like it was looking like a $60,000 down payment and then they would be at a $1,300 monthly payment. So, I just was a little taken back by that and questioning that affordability myself um with that big of a down payment. >> Yeah, Sharon Commissioners, one other thing I'll note is that oftentimes um especially for our partners Habitat and Homes Within Reach, they are the down payment is significant and so often they'll work with down payment partners in order to be able to secure down payment assistance, especially for a program that's tailored towards first-time home buyers. Um so, there would be multiple levels of assistance to go towards being able to to meet that level of affordability. >> Perfect, thanks. If you can just get that clarity for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you. >> All right. Um well, we have reached the end of our meeting and the end of our agenda. So, may I have a motion to adjourn the Tuesday, July what, 14th, sorry, HRA meeting. >> So moved. >> Moved by Commissioner Hookem. >> Second. >> And second by Commissioner Carter. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Motion passes 6 to 0. Thank you.