January 16, 2025 Board Meeting Minutes

REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Elkhart Housing Authority
January 16, 2025

The Board of Commissioners for the Housing Authority, City of Elkhart, met in regular attendance at 4:30 p.m, on Thursday, January 16, 2025.

Board Members Present: Willie Brown, Kristen Smole, Loria Mayes, Dan Boecher, Helenia Robinson, and Cynthia Billings

Board Members Present Via Dial-In: None.

Staff members Present: Angelia Washington, Erik Mathavan, Todd Fielder, Julie Stebbins, Alicia Kimble, Nekisha Roberson, Danielle Gilbert, Tiphany Travet, Stephanie McMorris, Olesia Melnyk, and Morgan Gibson-Day.

Harris Law Firm Attorney Present: Nick Snow via dial-in.

Audience Members Present: Lt. Wayne Bias, Community Police Liaison: Adrian Riley, Helen Dunbar, Charlotte Martin, Theresa Davis, Sharon Remy, Marvin Ross, Tammy Hensley, Anthony Paul, George Bode, and Dave L.

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• Audience Concerns:
  None.
  
  
• Approval of Minutes
  
  
  • Exhibit A - Approval of Meeting Minutes - December 19, 2024, Regular Meeting
    All commissioners present voted to approve the December 19, 2024, meeting minutes.
    
    
• Approval of Vouchers
  
  
  • Exhibit B - Approval of Vouchers - December 19, 2024
    All commissioners present voted to approve the December 19, 2024, vouchers.
    
    
• Executive Director's Report
  
  
  • Exhibit C - Executive Director's Report
    
    
    • Human Resources:
      Angelia reported one new hire, Rebecca Dugger, Interim Intake Specialist, and one ended employment, Tasha Andrews.
      
      
    • Comprehensive Improvements:
      
      
      • Scattered Sites:
        The company, Protect Environmental, tested each of the units for radon. concentration. Lab returned this far are below the designated EPA action level. Three units remain to be tested.
        
        
      • Riverside Terrace:
        R. Yoder completed work on the kitchen cabinet upgrade project.
        The company, Protect Environmental, tested the premises for radon concentration. Lab results returned are below the designated EPA action level.
        
        
      • Washington Gardens:
        No work at this time.
        
        
      • Waterfall High-Rise:
        Schwartz Electric continued work on the fire panel upgrade project; specifically, they commenced testing of the new fire panel, annunciator, and accompanying devices.
        
        The company, Protect Environmental, tested the premises for radon concentration. Lab results returned are below the designated EPA action level.
        
        
      • Rosedale High-Rise:
        The company, Protect Environmental, tested the premises for radon concentration. Lab results are pending.
        
        
      • COCC:
        No work during this time.
        
        
    • Housing Choice Voucher Program:
      Angelia reported for the month of December, 57 Annual Certifications were completed, 56 Interim Certifications Completed, 3 Unit transfers, 11 New Admissions and Absorbed Incoming Portabilities, 4 End of Participations, 2 Applications Remaining in Process, 682 Lease Ups on the last day of December and 92% Lease-Up Percentage.
      
      
    • Family Self Sufficiency Programs:
      Angelia reported the Family Self Sufficiency program is currently serving 52 participants of which 31 participants are currently employed, 3 participants are attending college, 6 participants are disabled or unable to work, 15 participants are currently earning escrow, $5,445 earned in escrow funds in December, and $170,888.63 total current escrow balance.
      
      
    • Public Housing:
      Angelia reported Rosedale's Occupancy rate for the month of December is 93%, Washington Gardens Occupancy rate for the month of December is 98%, Waterfall Occupancy rate for the month of December is 99%, Scattered-Sites Occupancy rate for the month of December is 100% and Riverside's Occupancy rate for the month of December is 99%. Angelia went on to say Public Housing's overall Occupancy rate for the month of December is 98%. She also stated that public housing received 153 applications, mailed 70 orientation letters, processed 36 applications, approved three applications, denied six applications, and no applications were withdrawn. We received no homeless applications, and three application(s) were approved and waiting for an available unit. Angelia reported there were nine new admissions and five move-outs in December.
      
      
    • Maintenance:
      Angelia reported that five move-outs were received and four were completed, nine emergency requests were received and completed, 601 tenant requests were received, and 596 were completed; and there were 24 annual inspections received and 22 completed, totaling 631 completed work orders.
      
      
    • Financials and Write-Offs:
      Rick Schwartz asked the commissioners if they had looked at the financial documents that he emailed to them, They stated that they had. Rick said that there were drawdowns in December for capital fund operations and also the CFP administration funds. He said that there was a significant change in the year-to-date profit and losses in operations as of December 31, 2024. He said that the EHA still has a very healthy reserve, and now the year-to-date loss looks much better compared to November's year-to-date loss. Commissioner Boecher asked Rick if he had the figure handy for the November loss. Rick said it would be in the first section on the second line, -851,000. Commissioner Boecher agreed that this was a significant improvement. Rick said that the bottom line shows the comparison year-to-date for December for years 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23.
      
      
• Old Business:
  
  
  • Head start
    Angelia stated that she reported previously that Head Start had to temporarily close its doors due to staffing issues, but they were able to reopen at the beginning of the school year. She said that she was just notified that they will be permanently closing their doors due to staffing issues. She said that she wanted to make the board aware and that the EHA would find another way to utilize the space. She said that Head Start stated that they plan to take the playground with them, and she asked if they would leave the playground equipment for our public housing youth. She said that she was told that Head Start may need to take their equipment with them due to funding. Commissioner Smole asked if there was a way commissioners could support the Head Start children transitioning to Hawthorne. She asked if the EHA was helping financially with Head Start. Angelia said no, Head Start was federally funded. She said that the EHA can survey to see if there is a need in the community. Commissioner Robinson asked how many children had been displaced and if they had rerouted them to a different Head Start or if those children were sitting at home now. Angelia asked Commissioner Robinson if she could get back to her with that information. Commissioner Robinson said yes. Commissioner Brown stated that with the Community Foundation pushing their Building Stronger Brains initiative for that age group, if it is a circumstance dealing with finances, we could reach out to them, and they would be on board. Angelia said that the EHA would conduct a needs assessment and would go from there.
    
    
• New Business:
  
  
  • Updated Attendance Policy
    Angelia stated that she included a draft of the updated attendance policy in the board packet for the board's review. She asked if they could discuss it at the next meeting to see if there are any revisions needed to the policy that was drafted by Harris Law firm. She said that the existing policy is outdated and could be confusing to some employees. Commissioner Brown agreed to table the discussion until next month.
    
    
  • HAP Funding
    Angelia stated that included in this month's board packet is a letter from HUD official Richard J. Monocchio, who is the principal deputy assistant secretary. She said that the funding is ending under the new administration, and this letter is to notify housing authorities so that they can manage and monitor their housing choice voucher funding. She further stated that they also requested that housing authorities use their two-year tool, which is a tool used to go in and add different variables to see how many vouchers housing authorities have leased up, how much funding they can sustain, and whether or not they can continue to lease up the number of vouchers that they have been leasing up. She said that HUD made several recommendations, including no longer issuing vouchers. She said that once the voucher holder moves off the program, they may recommend that we no longer issue that voucher. Commissioner Boecher asked if this was just guidance from HUD telling us that there may be a change. Angelia said yes, HUD is saying that funding may not be guaranteed. She said that HCV/Section 8 used to be a program that was consistently funded and stable. She informed the commissioners that the EHA will continue to keep an eye on the funding situation and advocate when we can for continuous funding.
    
    Attorney Snow added that he believes that HUD is saying that they do not know what is going to happen either because the House has one version of this funding scheme on its docket and the Senate has another version. He said that if you have two versions of a bill in the House and the Senate, they have to work something out to determine what will be the final product, and they have not done that yet. He said that HUD is trying to tell us that there will be some sort of change. He further stated that he agrees with Angelia about monitoring and also not trying anything revolutionary or groundbreaking with the way that the EHA deals with housing choice vouchers because it may not be known what funding will be available. Commissioner Smole asked Attorney Snow if he had seen the legislation. Attorney Snow said that he had not, he said that it had been a while since he looked at something in Congress on a federal level, but he could try to research it. He said that there may be some progress before the next board meeting, and he would be able to give a better report on it. Commissioner Smole stated that she would look it up and send it to commissioners if she could find it, and if not, she would let Attorney Snow know.
    
    
• Handouts:
  
  
  • EDEP Graduation Announcement
    Angelia stated that she wanted to let the board know that she completed her Executive Director Education Program certification through Rutgers's University. She said that she was happy to have commissioners Brown and Boecher there for her graduation. Commissioner Brown stated that Angelia did a great job, and he was proud of her.
    
    
• Adjournment
  Commissioner Willie Brown, without any objections, declared the January 16, 2025, Board of Commissioners' meeting adjourned at 5:00 P.M.

Signed February 20, 2025
Willie Brown, Commissioner
Angelia Washington, Executive Director