7.1. HRSR 01-07-2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Are the funds derived from a levy? Or are they Federal dollars? The city of New Hope budgets for the amount to fund the program. Most of the loans we administer are revolving, so as we get payments, we put it right back into the program. Our funds are from our Housing Rehab Fund, so neither. Our Housing Rehab Fund is funded from a fee which is 1/8 of 1% of the balance on city issued bonds. Our program has no federal money. Our revolving loan fund was originally set up with a loan of $2.5 million from the City to HRA. The HRA used its levy to pay back the loan. Loan was paid back to City about 15 years ago. The city of Brooklyn Center buys down the interest rate of the MHFA fix up loan. They buy down is paid through a TIF district housing fund. Yes these are levy dollars. Federal dollars are used in other housing programs administered by Hennepin County. We use available increment from a housing TIF district. Because we use TIF, we limit the household income to 110% of area median income. Coon Rapids is very unique in that most of the dollars we spend on home improvement programs are not traditional government-based funding sources. In the 1970’s, Coon Rapids was made aware of funding from ExxonMobil Oil – they were offering low interest mortgages to communities during a time when interest rates were extremely high. Coon Rapids became involved with this program and as the mortgages got paid back, the City was the beneficiary of those funds as long as they were to be used for housing related programs/activities. This has since funded a majority of our home improvement programs and is overseen by what we now call the Coon Rapids Home Improvement Foundation (which was until just last week called the Coon Rapids Mortgage Assistance Foundation). Our HRA (levy) does also contribute about $100,000 each year towards our Home for Generations II program and we also get an annual allocation of CDBG funds that we have used for deferred loans for lower income households. Anoka County now administers those funds for us. If you levy, how much do you budget for the program each year? We just extended our contract with CEE, and have allocated $80,000 to cover the next three years. Our revolving loan fund is self-sustaining.The city contributes $25,000. In 2019 MHFA will match our funds. $100,000 per year. It's a revolving loan fund.N/A Again, our HRA annually contributes $100,000 towards our Home for Generations II program. This allocation pays for the grants and building permit rebates for that program. The loans and architectural consultations through this program are funded through the Coon Rapids Mortgage Assistance Foundation. Is there anything you wish they did differently?No. They have been great to work with.Not at this time. We are actually exploring some new programs for 2019 and are working with CEE on the development of those programs. One thing I appreciate about CEE is they are always willing to adapt and change programs and if any questions come up they are very responsive and they are also willing to ask questions of the city if a situation is unclear as to whether a project qualifies or if a homeowner wants to "appeal" to the city for something. No, I have a great working relationship with CEE. They have very little staff turnover, so I have worked with some of them for 20 years now. Overall, the switch to CEE Brooklyn Center made has resulted in more loans being closed and improved communication. The cost of administering the loan programs is reasonable. The customer service experience is excellent. The staff is very friendly, knowledgeable and always available for consultation. I have not experienced something negative from CEE. Not so far Is this question referring to CEE? The only thing I can think of is loan servicing – but they started servicing their own loans in 2018 and are starting to offer loan servicing to the various city-funded programs in 2019. Do you know of any other organizations out there that offer the same service? We also rely on Hennepin County as a resource for residents calling for assistance. Of course, they have their own programs. I don't know of any other 3rd party group such as CEE that would administer housing programs for cities. I think Neighbor Works does similar lending. I just became aware of them because they have a down payment assistance program in Woodbury that we were researching. No. GMHC used to provide these same services, but I just don't think they could compete with CEE, so quit offering the service in 2017. I believe Crystal and Richfield run the same program as Brooklyn Center CEE. Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) provides the same service as well. No CEE’s main competitor had been GMMHC’s Housing Resource Centers but they closed down last fall. Beyond that, some Neighborhood Housing Service offices offer loan program administration I believe, and some counties may be open to it as well. Beyond that, I don’t know of any off hand. If there is anything else you would like to share, I would greatly appreciate it. As I said before, we've had a really good relationship with CEE and are actually meeting today to talk about new programs with them. We are actually going to start having CEE be the loan servicer on new loans as well, so we are looking forward to that changes. Well, we do have an excellent relationship with CEE that dates back to 2009. Presently, CEE is administering three of our programs. Two of the programs are funded by the EDA Levy and the other one is funded through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines - Iowa. CEE is a non-profit organization that does great work in the community overall. Their energy efficiency program is great for neighborhoods and businesses. I think you will be happy to partner with CEE for home improvement loan programs. The attached flyer may be helpful