5.0 HRSR 12-01-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

From: mayorer@q.com To: ruth.simmons@state.mn.us Subject: comments on Minnesota Housing NSP Fund Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:38:25 +0000 Ruth Simmons, Minnesota Housing 400 Sibley St., Suite 300 St. Paul, MN 55101 Dear Ms. Simmons, Thank you for your presentation at the meeting, sponsored by Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, in Otsego Friday afternoon. The City of Elk River is excited about the opportunity to acquire some, much needed, funds to assist in stabilizing our neighborhoods that have been extremely affected by mortgage foreclosures and abandonment. Many of our neighborhoods have been detrimentally impacted by the 148 foreclosures experienced in the city through September 6, 2008. With the need so great and wide-spread, we will be carefully strategizing what to include in our application in order to get the optimum positive impact. Please accept this email as my comments on the draft Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) Action Plan. The major concern is the very tight application deadline currently in place. The City of Elk River first received notice of eligibility for these funds November 14, 2008. We have limited staff in place to work on making application. We are exploring contracting with an experienced non-profit housing administrator but even then the city will be required to provide significant staff time in order to meet the January 17 deadline. We are very interested in making the best application possible in order to be successful in acquiring funding and also putting together a program that will best serve the needs in the city. I agree with Greater Minnesota Housing Fund's suggestion that communities be allowed to indicate an intent to apply by January 17, 2009 with full applications due by April 17, 2009. Also, the current plan to collapse non-awarded funds into one pool would definitely put second-round applications from Greater Minnesota communities at a disadvantage compared to Metro applications. Even though Greater Minnesota has 35 percent of all foreclosures in 2008 in the state, only 20 percent of the NSP money is currently allocated to Greater Minnesota communities. if non-awarded funds from Greater Minnesota are pooled and awarded on a state-wide basis, that percentage would fall further below 20 percent. Again, I agree with Greater Minnesota Housing Fund's suggestion that the non- awarded funds be put into two pools -Greater Minnesota and Metro. Then after an initial re-application period of two to three months, any funds left could be pooled into one state-wide fund. Also, the City of Elk River, which is Energy City, MN, is interested in a greater emphasis on green rehabilitation standards as criteria for NSP awards. Since the industry has established a significant link between green design and housing operation affordability, including a bonus for projects with green design components would be appropriate. I appreciate this opportunity to make comment and look forward to working with you further as we proceed through the NSP application process. Sincerely, Stephanie Klinzing, Mayor of City of Elk River