Loading...
Agenda 05/13/2008 Item #10D Agenda Item No. 10D May 13, 2008 Page 1 of 11 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners approye a reqnest from I HOPE, Inc., and authorize the disbursement of $13,000.00 from the Marco Island Affordable Housing Trust Fnnd, for payment of permitting and licensing fees related to the instaIlation of thirty six (36) FEMA trailers in the Immokalee area. OBJECTIVE: That the Board of County Commissioners (Board) approve the disbursement from the Marco Island Affordable Housing Trust Fund of $13,000.00 to I HOPE, Inc. to fund payment of permitting and licensing fees for thirty six (36) FEMA trailers to assist families affected by Hurricane Wilma. CONSIDERATIONS: In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma destroyed or severely damaged homes in the Immokalee area. Many non-profit agencies, as well as Collier County Goyernment, responded to assist those households adversely affected by the storm. Those efforts to assist the residents of the Immokalee area continue today. I HOPE, Inc. is Collier County's Long Term Disaster Recovery Team for the Immokalee area. Through its Executiye Director, Mr. Richard L. Heers, I HOPE, Inc. has successfully implemented a program to set up twenty eight (28) FEMA trailers to assist those in Inuookalee affected by Hurricane Wilma. Approval oftoday's request will allow for the installation of an additional thirty six (36) units. During discussion at the Board of County Commissioners meeting on February 13, 2007, under item 101, the Board requested that the units receiYing assistance be subj ect to a five (5) year re-sale restriction in order to maintain the affordability. Additionally, this provision insured that the units receiving assistance were not sold at a large profit shortly thereafter. I HOPE, Inc. committed to this requirement at that time and will continue to impose this restriction on these thirty six (36) new units. Based on prior Board guidance at the February 13,2007 meeting, I HOPE, Inc. has already sold 28 of the 36 new units requesting assistance today with the five year affordability period. The organization believes that the units will depreciate over the first five year because the homeowners will not own the land on which the unit is located. I HOPE, Inc. is conuoitted to maintaining the affordabi1ity of the 36 units for the next five years. FISCAL IMPACT: Approyal of this request will draw $13,000.00 from the Marco Island Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The City of Marco Island provides 10% of their annual collected building permit fees or $50,000.00, whicheyer is greater, to Collier County for the purpose of incorporating the City into the County's Housing Programs. There are sufficient funds to satisfY this request. GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMPACT: Approval of this request will allow the County to expand the affordable housing opportunities for its citizens and further the goals of the Housing Element of Collier County's Growth Management Plan. ~ LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS: The request lS legally sufficient for Board consideration and approyal. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: That the Board approves a request from I HOPE, Inc., and authorizes the disbursement of $13,000.00 from the Marco Island Affordable Housing Trust Fund, for Agenda Item No. 10D May 13, 2008 Page 2 of 11 payment of permitting and licensing fees related to the installation of thirty six (36) FEMA trailers in the lmmokalee area. PREPARED BY: Frank Ramsey, Housing Manager, Housing and Hwnan Services Agenda Item No. 10D May 13, 2008 Page 3 of 11 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, February 13, 2007 Item #lor RECOMMENDATION THAT THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS APPROVE A REQUEST FROM I HOPE, INC. OF COLLIER COUNTY TO FUND THE $10,000 PAYMENT OF PERMITTING FEES RELATED TO THE INSTALLATION OF THIRTY (30) FEMA TRAILERS IN THE IMMOKALEE AREA - APPROVED W/STIPULATIONS MR. MUDD: lor is l6D2. 16D2 is a recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners approve a request from I Hope, Inc., of Collier County to fund the $10,000 payment of permitting fees related to the installation 000 FEMA trailers in the lmmokalee area. The item was asked to be pulled to the regular agenda by Commissioner Fiala. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Commissioner Fiala? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Sure. What I just wanted to do was -- MR. MUDD: And Ms. Marcy Krumbine, will -- COMMISSIONER FIALA: I think this is a wonderful effort. I'm just solidly behind it. What I wanted to say is that I see that they're going to be selling these units then. Are they going to be selling them to investors who then will take it and do just as they've been doing in lmmokalee by having these substandard things and renting them out in pieces or not? MS. KRUMBINE: No, Commissioner. They have already prequalified the families that are going in, and these are families that have lost their homes during Hurricane Wilma, and they've already been qualified for legal status and they're all also below the poverty guidelines. So those are who are getting the homes, and they'll be fmancing them for 24 months to recoup the money that they've already put into it. COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's wonderful. Now, is there a way that you can make sure that after they buy this at a very, very reasonable price, they don't turn around and rent it to somebody else or rent it to a few people? Do you have any -- any -- CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Any ability? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, any ability to stop that from happening? MS. KRUMBINE: Well, within the 24 months that they're financing this, there will not be any -- they will not be able to sell the property. And then Mr. Rick Heers is here, and he's the executive director of! Hope. And through conversations with him, he and his board have also agreed to keep that affordable factor for several years. And would it be appropriate for him to answer any questions? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. I just wanted to make sure that even though it's kept affordable, if the -- if the people don't remain in it but rent it out, how -- you know, is there any limitations? How will you be sure that they don't then turn around on this place that they've bought and then rent it out to somebody else? MR. HEERS: My name is Rick Heers, for the record. I'm the Executive Director of Agenda Item No. 10D May 13. 2008 Page 4 of 11 I Hope, and it's a privilege to come before you to just address this issue briefly this afternoon. Weare -- we have forms, applications, that we are requiring that families sign that they list the family members who will be residing in these. For the first year that they are living in them, they will not even have to pay rent illlless they decide they want to begin a purchase price. They can live in it rent free but paying all of their utilities, maintenance fee and insurance fee. And before they are allowed to make a -- go into a contract to make a purchase, they also have to attend a home ownership class that is being provided free for us by the University of Florida Extension Office in lmmokalee. So we have the families' names listed and it is in the agreement that if they have other residents in that, then they will be evicted, and we have a long waiting list of other families who have already been qualified that also are eligible to take their place. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Great. And is there any monitoring that you do to make sure, other than them just telling you -- MR. HEERS: Oh, yes. We have a -- we have a partnership with the Collier COilllty Housing Authority landing -- Land Acquisition Incorporated that will have an inspector who will go in at least on a monthly basis and will inspect all of these sites. And I would just ask the board to also keep in mind that we already have gained funding for another 30 FEMA trailers. Once we've gotten through this first 30, we've been given, by one of our faith-based organizations, enough money to purchase another 30, and we're already working with landowners to develop their sites so that we can provide them with good housing units to put low-income families in them. And the park owners only want families. They -- that is part of their stipulations also. They do not want these to become places where we're stacking up people in them. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you. MR. HEERS: I might also just quickly throw in that we have been contacted by the Volunteer Florida and FEMA, and as we speak right now, another grant is being considered where we've been asked to actually take over all of the FEMA trailers that have been placed in Collier County during -- following Hurricane Wilma, which includes a nwnber in Naples, Chokoloskee, Everglades City, Copeland, as well as a nwnber in Immokalee. So we really -- we are wanting to provide continuing affordable housing for families. And we -- you had talked about the Amish. If I can just go back for a minute. We have been having Amish folks here for six weeks, and they'll be here for a couple of more weeks. And they have told me themselves that they have been all aroillld the COillltry helping after disasters, and they have never seen the wretched living conditions that they have seen while they've been in lmmokalee. And we are working toward rehabbing the ones that can be repaired, but there are a number ofthem that we are telling people that we're not going to pour 4- or 5,000 dollars into units that carmot be repaired. So we're not -- we are -- some of these are migrant housing, but most ofthem are not. They're year-roillld residents. And so we're looking at trying to go insert some more modem housing for some of the poor families in lmmokalee. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Great. Thank you. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Rick, it's important to note, too, that these homes have been built to the hurricane standards today and they're tied down in such a way that they're Agenda Item No. 10D May 13, 2008 Page 5 of 11 safe shelters for people to stay in. MR. HEERS: They are built according to the codes from 2004 on. And if! could also just throw in one more thing. You're talking about the farmers, Mr. Halas. I had one of the local large growers call me while I was on a break -- while you were on your break today and ask if I could meet with him tomorrow in a large delegation from McDonald's in Chicago, and they want -- they want to begin to pour some money into providing better housing for farm laborers, and they're going to meet with -- they have asked me to meet with them tomorrow morning. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Great. MR. HEERS: So that's one of the men that was at our meeting out at the Agriculture Extension Office, Commissioner. And so things are moving -- CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Last year, and we're not going to do this year, right? MR. HEERS: Yes. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Yeah, okay. I won't say any more. MR. HEERS: So, you know -- I also need to throw this in. I want to compliment county staff at the planning and zoning and permitting department. We're very green and new at this, and we've made a lot of -- we sturnbled over our own feet on a number of occasions, and when you've got people like Jamie French and Denton Baker and Cormac Giblin and Susan Golden, people that have taken us by the hand and have been very patient with us in persevering, it has really helped us. And next -- their next round of30 won't take us nearly as long as the first round of 30. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you. I make a motion to approve. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Second. And Commissioner Henning? COMMISSIONER HENNING: Was this fees -- these permit fees, were these county permit fees or are these state permit fees? MR. HEERS: These are COilllty permitting fees. MS. KRUMBINE: No, they're county -- they're county fees. COMMISSIONER HENNING: Okay. And they're going to probably inspect those after they -- MR. HEERS: Yes. That's where the -- the cost for doing all the inspections after we -- we've paid about -- we will have paid about $3,500 for the tie-downs, $500 for the trailers themselves. COMMISSIONER HENNING: Thank you. Well, I think you're going to have good luck down there, because I hear it's real slow, so you'll probably get that done in short order. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Good. Okay. Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yeah. It's still unclear to me what's going to happen with the $10,000. How do we get that back? Are these for-sale products or-- MS. KRUMBINE: Let me answer that. You're not going to. This is -- what we're doing here is we're actually partnering with a nonprofit agency, so this isn't a loan. This is a grant that we're giving to them. This is about 10 percent of the total cost of -- they've gotten all the rest of the money from private donations, so this is a 10 percent grant that we'd be Agenda Item NO.1 OD May 13, 2008 Page 6 of 11 giving to them so that they could pay the permitting fees. And that would be our partnership with this non-profit for them to further their services. COMMISSIONER COYLE: And these trailers are not going to be sold to anyone? MR. HEERS: Well, they will be sold to the owners, to the residents of those units after they have been in there a year and after they have made -- kept their agreement to have the restricted people in it, and -- COMMISSIONER COYLE: Okay. I'm an illlemployed person who is here illegal -- or here legally, and I can purchase one of these units if! meet the minimwn-- MR. HEERS: No, sir. COMMISSIONER COYLE: -- income? MR. HEERS: No, sir. The other qualification right now is that you also have to have had sustainable damage from Hurricane Wilma to your living quarters. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Okay. MR. HEERS: This is only for Hurricane Wilma. COMMISSIONER COYLE: I can do all that, okay, and so I qualifY and so I can purchase one of these. And in about three or four or five years from now, I sell it for $200,000. Now, are you telling me that I shouldn't have to pay that permitting fee out of my profits on that illlit? MS. KRUMBINE: Commissioner Coyle, these are FEMA trailers, and they're depreciating assets, so that in -- COMMISSIONER COYLE: Oh, give me a break. There are thousands of trailers in Collier County that are appraised at way over-- MS. KRUMBINE: And they're not FEMA trailers. COMMISSIONER COYLE: It doesn't make any difference. MS. KRUMBINE: And the other thing is that not all of these trailers are sitting on owned land, owner-occupied land. So it is just the unit itself. It's -- COMMISSIONER COYLE: It's not land. So I couldn't buy the land. I can only buy the unit? MS. KRUMBINE: Right. That is costing $500 today. COMMISSIONER COYLE: If! want to sell it, what do I sell it for? MR. HEERS: Whatever you can actually get out of it, sir. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yeah. MR. HEERS: And we would be willing to -- I talked to our board about this, and we'll be meeting in session later this week to make the fmal-- drop the final guidelines. We would be even willing to say that if they sell it, say, within a five-year period, that they will return to I Hope 50 percent of the purchase price. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Now, you're making sense, okay? Now I'll buy that. MR. HEERS: Because, see, we also ought to look at sustaining our work that they're doing -- COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yes, absolutely. MR. HEERS: -- because we're also talking about partnering for affordable housing after Wilma is through. COMMISSIONER COYLE: That's a perfect solution. COMMISSIONER HALAS: You've solved the problem. COMMISSIONER COYLE: That's a perfect solution. If you do that, I'm all for it. Agenda Item No. 10D May 13, 2008 Page 7 of 11 MR. HEERS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER COYLE: It's just that we've got to have something sustainable. I've seen too many times when people have flipped things and made a lot of money off it -- MR. HEERS: Oh, yes. COMMISSIONER COYLE: -- and they have had no obligation whatsoever to recover their own debts. So I'm very much concerned about just give-away programs -- MR. HEERS: And we are also. COMMISSIONER COYLE: -- without looking for sustainability in affordable houses. MR. HEERS: And if that is the sentiment of the board, our board I know would be very willing to -- we'd have to check with our attorney to make sure it's all legal, but I know Habitat for Humanity does a similar thing when they provide houses. COMMISSIONER COYLE: If you were to administer this on the same basis that Habitat for Hwnanity is doing it, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever providing you assistance to do this. MR. HEERS: Good, good. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Okay. So here we are. We have a motion, we have a second. We had some discussion. Now, to that discussion we gave you some guidance. You'll take that guidance and include it in your sales as far as the resale value and recuperating some of the money to be able to put back out. Still they'll be able to make money to be able to apply towards a home that they'll be able to move up and use it for somebody else. Love it, did a wonderful job. Commissioner Coyle, once more, you did a great job of bringing us to this point. Didn't know where you were going. I thought for a minute you were off at the deep end. With that, no other -- don't see any lights on, so I'm going to call the question. All those in favor, indicate by saying aye. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER HENNING: Aye. CHAIRMAN COLETTA: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN COLETTA: The ayes have it, 5-0. And we're going to take a break. Agenda Item NO.1 OD May 13, 2008 Page 8 of 11 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, March 11,2008 Item #6A PUBLIC PETITION REQUEST BY RICHARD L. HEERS, I-HOPE, INe., TO DISCUSS REFUND OF PERMITTING/LICENSING COSTS - TO BE BROUGHT BACK AND PLACED ON A FUTURE BCC AGENDA - CONSENSUS Next item is 6 -- we're going into public petitions. The first public petition is a request by Richard Heers ofI-HOPE, Incorporated, to discuss the refund and permitting and licensing costs. MR. HEERS: Good morning, Commissioners. It's an honor, a privilege for me to be here today, again, to come before you on behalf of our commilllity. And before I present my actual request, I want to say what a pleasure it is, an honor, for me to see the way that you fo lks are -- have such a heart for our community on the outskirts of Collier County out in Immokalee. As I serve on the Board of Collier Health Services and seeing them recognized, and also serving with the CRA by your purview and appointment and see them on your agenda and knowing the things that, as I've lived there for the last] 8 years, that you have done for our community, it has truly been a wonderful opportunity for me to serve the community and actually to serve you as well. But today I come asking for your help -- CHAIRMAN HENNING: Your name for the record. MR. HEERS: Yes, I'm sorry. My name is Richard Heers. I'm the Executive Director ofI-HOPE. I would like to come and request your consideration as you did about a year ago when we came before this board, for the placement of our first 28 mobile homes that were provided for families who had been impacted by Hurricane Wilma on October 24, 2005. Those families are living in all of the trailers except for one right now, the mobile homes, and we have you to thank in part for that, because one of the things that you have done is to help us by providing an -- I guess I would call it an abatement or forgiveness of permitting fees that were covered under an affordable housing department fund that provides for -- to help families who are oflow income be able to own their own home by helping us pay their permitting fees. We were given, by this board, $10,000 to offset the permitting fees for those 28 mobile homes. To date we have spent about $8,500 of that money, and we are coming to ask that -- as we set up another 36 mobile homes, that we're asking for an additional $ I 3,000 -- that's a high estimate but I wanted to make sure we would have all of our expenses covered because each of the permitting fees for the different mobile homes cost a -- varying amounts. We've not only received the benefit of your funds, but we've also received wonderful support from the staffing at Collier building department. They have gone -- bent over backwards to assist us with our permitting costs, permitting directions, and assisting us in providing affordable homes. Agenda Item No. 10D May 13, 2008 Page 9 of 11 If you will notice on your brochure that you received that, on the back of it, that it lists over a -- nearly a million and a half dollars that has been received to help provide repairs for over 350 homes and also replacement homes for 64 families in Immokalee. And this couldn't have been done without the help and the assistance of our county officials. And so we would ask that you, once again, help us keep the costs down for the families by enabling us to use this resource to be able to pay for these permitting costs of these mobile homes. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Questions, comments by the Board of County Commissioners? Commissioner Coletta, then Commissioner Coyle, Commissioner Halas. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Mr. Mudd, this fund that we used before, it's an affordable housing fund? MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Is there money in the affordable housing fund to be able to cover this? MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. This is -- if my memory serves me correctly, that we used the monies -- each municipality pays affordable housing fees to the COilllty to make sure that they're still-- could still be applicants and recipients of SHIP money and CDBG money. And there's some money -- and the money that we used before in this particular project was from the -- was from the participation of Marco Island. And yes, there is money in that particular fund this year from the same source, sir. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I hope my fellow commissioners will agree with me that this is an item that should be brought back for a future meeting. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yeah. I would support bringing it back. But when you bring it back, I would like to get an answer of why you're holding title for only five years. You're giving someone a $50,000 mobile home for $5,000, and you're holding title for only five years. We require that these things be held in an affordable housing category for a lot longer than five years, So I'm not sure I would agree to it on that basis. So I would suggest when you bring it back, that we resolve this of how long it is going to be retained as affordable housing. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: I have the same concerns as Commissioner Coyle does -- has in regards to, what happens after five years? What happens with the homes or the trailers in this case? I hope that we don't end up with a problem where they become in disrepair and then it causes blight to the neighborhood. So those are some questions I need to have answered. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yeah. I heard the same thing on one-on-one with the county manager. So there seems like there's enough support on here to bring it back with additional answers to our questions. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yep. CHAIRMAN HENNING: That is the consensus of the board and the direction. Thank you for being with us today. MR. HEERS: You're welcome. MR. MUDD: And Mr. Heers, I'll get with you and set the date up, okay. _F,j~12:0B 21:36 Ben Starling, III P.02 Agenda Item No. 10D May 13, 2008 Page 10 of 11 Reauest to Soeak under PublIC Petition Please pnnt Name: Rich~ L Heers. Executtve Director" HOPE Inc. Address: P.O. Box 777 Immokalee. f-l34143 Phone: 239-229-9970 (ceUI. 239-651-3889 (office) 239-657-4524 (home I Date at the Boartf Meetina vou 'Him to soeak: March 11 2008 Must circle yes or no: Is this sUbject matter under litigation at this time? ~/N" Is this subject Il1att8r an ongoing Code Enforcement case? ~ I,.., Note: If either answer Is "yes", the Board will hear the item but will have no discussion regarding the item after it is presented. Please explain in detail the reason vou are reauestina to speak (attach additional paae if necessarvl- As the executive director of I HOPE. Inc.. I have -illted very much the wlllinaness of the Bee last vear to grant our organization a refund of the oennittina fees UD to $10.000.00 out of the Marco ISland Affordable Housing Fund (we hlId to _ iII"OUnd n.ooo.oo in Mttina lID the first 28 rnoIJile homes.) We now have 36 additional mobile homes to set UD on lIDDrOVec! I~ in InvnokaIee. and are reQuestina UD to $13.000.00 from the same fund to be able to pay for De. mllttlnallicenslna costs to make the mobile homes more affordable for these Hurricane W11ml1 victims.. As requested. we are maintaining our name on the titles for 5 veanI after Durchase to assure all that the new owners are not simPlv bYino to make a larae Profit from these $50.000.00 mobile homes that they wUlI be Durchesina for about $5.000.00. which is the lIDOI'OIimate c:ost of set up, Please 9lCDlain in detail the action YOU are aSkinc the Commission to lake {attach additional oaoe if necessarvl:-arant us coveraoe for coveraoe of cermiltina fees. C'\coCUM,,-,"""""1l.OCI'LS>-1I' _........___R__."'m_,_ZOOll_.-_torm._ Page ] of ] Agenda Item No. 10D May 13, 2008 Page 11 of 11 COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Item Number: Item Summary: 10D This item to be heard at 10:30 a.m. Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners approve a request from I HOPE, Inc., and authorize the disbursement of $13,000.00 from the Marco Island Affordable Housing Trust Fund. for payment of permitting and licensing fees related to the installation of thirty six (36) FEMA trailers in the Immokalee area. (Marcy Krumbine, Housing and Human Services Director) Meeting Date: 5/13/2008 900:00 AM Prepared By Frank Ramsey SHIP Program Coordinator Date Public Services Housing and Human Services 4/25/200810:29:28 AM Approved By Marcy Krumbine Director Date Public Services Housing & Human Services 4/25/2008 10:49 AM Approved By Marla Ramsey Public Services Administrator Date Public Services Public Services Admin. 4/29/200811 :58 AM Approved By OMB Coordinator OMB Coordinator Date County Manager's Office Office of Management & Budget 4/29/20083:15 PM Approved By Sherry Pryor Management & Budget Analyst Date County Manager's Office Office of Management & Budget 4/29/20085:05 PM Approved By James V. Mudd County Manager Date Board of County Commissioners County Manager's Office 5/1/20083:42 PM file://C:\AgendaTestIExportll 07 -May%20] 3,%2020081 I 0.%20COUNTY%20MANAGER%... 5/7/2008