DHC, Board of Commissioners
Detroit Housing Commission
Housing
Remote
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Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Detroit - MI Documenters Team
Note-taking by
Shannon Mackie
DHC reports “phenomenal” and collaborative relationship with the city and a popular paid community advocates program for residents. However, resident representatives from Parkside describe a more contentious relationship with DHC. A meeting between DHC and resident reps is schedu
Live reporting by
Carole Hawke
DHC reports “phenomenal” relationship with the city and successful community advocates program for residents. However, resident representatives from Parkside describe a more contentious relationship with DHC. A meeting between DHC and resident reps is scheduled for July 31.
Carole Hawke
@hawke48223
Good morning! :) I will be live-tweeting for the meeting of the Detroit Housing Commission Board of Commissioners for DETdocumenters @DetDocumenters media partners: @BridgeDet313 @chalkbeatDET @freep @metrotimes @michigan_public @media_outlier @PlanetDetroit @wdet @wxyzdetroit.
08:46 AM Jul 25, 2024 CDT
According to their website, DHC provides “quality affordable housing in a safe living environment for low and moderate- income persons throughout the Detroit Metropolitan area. As the largest public housing agency in Michigan, we continue to be a catalyst for change.”
Meeting starts at 10:00. Board packet available from Detroit Documenters at
detroit.documenters.org/documents/july…
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, email documenters@outliermedia.org with "Correction Request" subject line.
Notes, twitter threads, and transcripts from previous meetings can be found at
detroit.documenters.org/reporting/?age…
Meeting is starting, 10:05. Three commissioners (Seybert, Williams, Bailer) present, two (Cowan and Hosey) absent. Agenda approved.
There will be two public comment sessions-- the first on agenda items, and the second on items not on the agenda.
Three virtual commenters have wanted to speak, but they have all been stopped because they want to make comments on things which are not agenda action items. They have been told to make comments around 11:45.
Resolution 3246 regarding write-offs for tenant account receivables. Some tenants move out without paying, etc., so their outstanding payments haven't been collected and need to be written off.
A commissioner (?) requesting an agenda item to track numbers of vacancies, how much in receivables, not including Covid numbers. The amount in receivables is unacceptably high. Need to have an accurate reflection of what is owed, what has been done about this, to clear out.
Resolution 3246 passed, moving on to 3247. This is request to renew liability insurance for commission. Increase of 7.3% from last year. Last year's increase was 3.2%. Premiums are going up overall in the industry. Resolution approved.
Resolution 3248 to approve MOU with city of Detroit to house up to 36 homeless individuals or families. Have increased number to 100. Families/ individuals experiencing homelessness jump the waitlist. Could be housed anywhere across the portfolio.
Using smartsheets to track which units are available, where they are available. Know where people are at in waitlist pipeline. Pull down numbers about 1,000 at a time, contact people, give them 10 days to respond, if don't respond or say they don't need housing, remove from list.
What if someone doesn't need housing due to homelessness right now but then conditions change? Can they be returned to their place in line? A: We are not proactive in asking this question, but if people reach back out and ask, we do have resources.
Resolution 3249 about contract with Continental Management for Parkside II and IV. Commissioners asked some questions of the representative who overviewed work in different communities. Resolution passed.
Reno Cavanaugh Law Firm on phone for discussion of Woodbridge Estates subordinate mortgage loan. This did not require any board approval but was just a report.
Collective bargaining with AFSCME update. Meeting on Monday and expected that agreement will be reached.
Overview of page 64 of board packet regarding indicators for how DHC is doing. Problems with occupancy and vacancy-- leaving about $4 million on the table. Have applied for a few grants-- $10 million applied for recently to make capital upgrades to bring units back online.
Currently can only take units offline which are going under contract (?). This is 33, but it will be around 130 more units. The grants would allow money to be spent. Grant money from federal govt.
Looking to identify land outside Smith Homes in Brightmoor owned by Land Bank (for development)?
Q: How is the relationship working with the city? A: There have been some historic misconceptions about disagreement between DHC and city, but it's currently good.
Worked with city on Gardenview 200 project initiated in May. This is great. Our stuff is getting through the planning dept. Feels like we are one team.
Page 66 of board packet is Follow-Up Items. Still waiting on some external answers on some of these things, but overviewed status.
Q: Are there resident councils at sites? A: Tried in 2021 and 2022 with a third party to get resident councils. This was a failure, so moved to community advocates. This has worked well at Parkside, Smith Homes, another site. Pay them a stipend.
Think that community advocates work better because it is not hierarchical as resident councils are with president, vice president, etc.
Moving to finance report: June 30th is fiscal year end. There were a lot of unusual payouts in last year. This has added up to YTD loss for dept. These were 'once-in-a-lifetime' events which required payouts. No details given.
Real estate development report. A lot of repairs had to be done (which accounts for a lot of the costs alluded to by finance committee).
Got a 98.5% score on inspections, following a lot of the bad scores from prior. Pre-inspectors now know what to look for, so this is helping general managers to know what to order and repair.
Q: Is there a difference in inspections between what DHC must do and what the private market must do? A: Trying to get more efficient at documenting inspections so that compliance is more streamlined and DHC can spend more time on residents' needs and less on paperwork.
Former resident of Parkside speaking first. Giving overview of events and activities at Parkside.
Resident rep from Parkside speaking. Wants to make board aware that had a recent meeting with DHC. Gave an agenda, but DHC did not follow the agenda, instead hijacked meeting, causing residents to feel disrespected and ignored.
Community advocate pushed on them in place of resident council. They have formed and organized resident council and want this body to be recognized as representatives of residents. Feels unfair.
Next speaker is advisor to representatives who were appointed for process of redevelopment. When started, several advisors to resident representatives. Was told that they would be included in correspondences.
Yet, resident reps have told them that emails have come through which advisors have not received. Problems with resident representatives not given keys to access offices for them to do their work. Also disregard of advisors.
But not included. How can she advise when not kept in the loop? This speaker trying to train residents in tech to assist them with work.
Next speaker representing Councilmember Mary Waters office. Will be sending an email with a question about MSHDA no longer accepting housing vouchers. What is status of Housing Choice Voucher Program? Did DHC also receive these cuts. Will this affect waiting list?
How many people on waiting list and how many units available? Also want list of all units, how many vacancies, when expected to be filled. When will waiting list be opened? And what community outreach will be done to market this? Will send a memo to DHC with these questions.
No more comments, so moving to follow-up on questions from comments. First asking about the Parkside issue. Need to ask a few questions of legal team, and will respond at the next meeting.
Outstanding question about office space, office keys, office hours which were not provided to the resident representatives at Parkside. There is a meeting scheduled for July 31st between DHC and resident reps. DHC is ready to listen to resident reps.
DHC responding that office is open M-F, 9-5 for Parkside residents. It has laptops, pens, et. However, DHC did not want to give out keys for the office. And this has been a misunderstanding/ challenge because many resident reps work during day and can't come 9-5.
Need to come to an understanding with resident reps. This office is also for them, so it needs to be accessible to them, even if they work during the day.
Q: What is the process for reaching out to residents so that they know whom to contact when they have needs during big development projects? There is a lot of transition going on. We need to have a good and comprehensive plan for resident engagement.
One additional commenter shared that her car was broken into 4 times in 2 years at Parkside. There need to be additional safety measures. What are the plans for this? More greenlights? What else? It's a $500 deductible with each break-in.
Response: Will work with new management company. There is a 7-step process which the management company must undertake to address safety and security.
This concludes my coverage of the Detroit Housing Commission Board meeting. For more information, including transcripts of the meeting, go to
detroit.documenters.org/reporting/
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, email documenters@outliermedia.org with "Correction Request" subject line.
Attachments
Agency Information
Detroit Housing Commission
In 1933, the City of Detroit established the Detroit Housing Commission (“DHC”) under the Michigan Housing Facilities Act. Throughout the DHC’s 75 year history, our mission has been to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing for the low and moderate-income people that we serve. DHC is the largest owner of rental housing in the City of Detroit (“City”), providing approximately 4,000 housing units for seniors and families.
Documents
No documents available