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(9:04 AM) Ms. Vittitoe and Ms. Morgan arrived at the meeting, followed about a minute later by Mr. <br />Mathes. <br />(9:00 AM) ON MOTION BY Commissioner Solari, SECONDED BY Mr. Slater, the <br />committee voted to unanimously approve (10-0) the AHAC 2020 Incentives Review <br />and Recommendation Report. <br />Consideration of Revised IRC Local Housing Assistance Plan for Fiscal Years 2021-22, 2022-23, <br />and 2023-24 (B. Schutt) <br />(9:12 AM) Mr. Schutt next briefed the committee on the proposed Local Housing Assistance Plan (LHAP) <br />for Fiscal Years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24. (See Attachment 2 for the details of Mr. Schutt's <br />presentation.) Mr. Slater, proposed that the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) seek other funding <br />outside of the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP), noting that the state routinely "sweeps" these <br />funds to fill other budget needs. Mr. Mathes questioned the prescribed waiting period between <br />applications, the project cost limits, and the number of opportunities to apply for benefits, observing that <br />one could put together potential combinations of these that would seem to either treat applicants unjustly <br />or undermine previous program investments. <br />(9:42 AM) Ms. Morgan departed the meeting. <br />(9:42 AM) Mr. Myers asked about "essential service personnel," wondering if the definition only applied <br />to credentialled healthcare workers. Formulating an example case, he asserted that many people who <br />might not be considered essential healthcare workers, such as hospital kitchen employees and cleaning <br />staff, would in fact be the only healthcare workers that qualified for SHIP. Mr. Mathes expressed concern <br />that a system might be created that bypassed "very low income" applicants in favor of "low income" <br />applicants that meet the definition of essential service personnel. Mr. Schutt, however, pointed out that <br />while the term is defined in the document, such data is not currently used in prioritizing applications. <br />Chairperson Price noted that she was not sensing a consensus about adding an applicant's status as <br />"essential service personnel" as a criterion for adjusting the order of execution, remarking that the most <br />critical differentiator is typically the order in which applications are received. Mr. Mathes suggested that <br />essential utility and public works government employees be specifically added to the definition. <br />(10:03 AM) Chairperson Price then returned to the prescribed waiting period between applications, the <br />project cost limits, and the number of opportunities to apply for benefits; she particularly questioned the <br />wisdom of limiting SHIP support to two events in a resident's lifetime. Mr. Mathes concurred, specifying <br />that some residents have lived in Fellsmere for over 70 years, and in that time would certainly require <br />more than one home rehabilitation. Mr. Slater expressed dislike for rules that set absolute limits, instead <br />advocating for more leeway in decision-making. Commissioner Solari favored a ten-year waiting period, <br />but no limitations on the number of applications in a person's lifetime or the number of rehabilitations <br />associated with a particular home. <br />(10:14 AM) Chairperson Price lamented those potential situations where a resident in serious need of <br />funding could be skipped over in favor of another who had not previously applied. In response to similar <br />questions from several AHAC members, Mr. Schutt advised that the county does have a "pool" of needy <br />residents, since there are more applicants than funds available; he explained that emergency applications <br />(collapsing roofs, for example) are considered separately and are funded first. <br />(9:00 AM) ON MOTION BY Mr. Mathes, seconded by Mr. Myers, the committee voted <br />to unanimously approve (9-0) the changes to the Local Housing Assistance Plan for <br />214 <br />