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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAWHC 2024-02-07 draft 1 Dryden Affordable and Workforce Housing Committee DRAFT Minutes for Feb. 7, 2024 Meeting Via Zoom Making Dryden hospitable & affordable for working families Attendance: Martha Robertson; Ray Burger; Craig Anderson; Dillon Shults, and Chuck Geisler; Chris�na Dravis, Mike Murphy and Miles McCarty could not atend. Note: next meeting is on March 6, (2 pm) or possibly sooner. Agenda: 1. January minutes approval 2. February guest: Holly Hutchison, Sustainable Finger Lakes MH heat pump project 3. Continuing conversation on funds, Chuck’s one-pager to CCE, and TC Recovery funding Jan. minutes approved. 1. Holly Hutchinson, Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX) • Background in organizing and program management, most recently directed a 6-year, federally- funded project for appren�ceships in Rochester area. • Now: Coordinator FLCF + Coordinator MH Pilot Project SFLX has 3 affordable housing programs: funds to LMI families for home energy upgrades • FLCF: since 2010, $ from community, covers en�re Finger Lakes Region (90) • CEEP: launched 2023, $ from NYSERDA in city and town of Ithaca (goal 100 renters) • MH Pilot Project: launched 2023, $ from TCRF, covers To. Co. (goal 50 MH owners) Pilot details-  Award from Tompkins County Community Recovery Fund: $532,000  Funds heat pumps installa�on + electrical upgrades (up to $5500 for heat pump, $2000 for electric). Ave. award/MH~$8,000.  Designed to be stacked with other incen�ves (NYSERDA Empower +, NYSEG, OTDA, NPA Zone, FLCF)  Home is required to meet NYSERDA envelope standards (ACH and R values); NYSERDA Empower+ funds used for this. 2  Eligibility: LMI (300% Fed poverty rate), live in Tompkins, own home (primary residence) Current Stats that describe Pilot Progress (Holly does this ½ �me) • People who contacted her: 62 • People whom she reached for intro phone call: 54 • People whose homes she visited: 33 • Home where work was completed upgrades: 12 (2 in Dryden+who got insula�on only) • Number of homes in progress: Possibly 10. • OOP costs range from $0-$10,000 (for extra work requested by homeowner) Average OOP is 9% Marke�ng/Outreach has taken many forms, which she’s happy to share. Contractor Partners: MH Project: Halco, Simply Home Performance, Zero Dra�, NP Partner and in Dryden add CAPCO and Cozy Basements; if insula�on is needed, EMPOWER+ money is used first. Mobile home belly work only; up to $8000 available for insula�on. If contractor says mobile home isn’t sound enough for upgrade, then fall back to replacement. Lesson Learned: • Primarily related to ASHP installs in MH’s (amps, ducted vs. mini split, natural gas, etc..) • Issues with weatheriza�on: o workforce capacity can be scarce (to complete work in 18 mo.) o Some electrical services needed to be upgraded (of concern to MHP owners) o spray foam chemical odor persists during day of applica�on • Much value from weatheriza�on during power outages, even if doesn’t lead to ASHP. • Marke�ng essen�al. Ini�al out-reach to establish rela�ons with county and town clerks, as well as Jay Franklin. Sent blurbs to towns to publicize and had ar�cle in Tompkins Weekly, and on the list serves. Used door hangers. Tompkins County Health sent no�ces to park owners who put it out to MH residents. Also used Aging Services Network, food pantries, CCE, etc. Q&A: **How complex is administra�on of mul�ple funding sources? Answer: not hard. Contractors do the work to manage & receive reimbursement. **Intake/recruitment? See her stats. She reaches out with phone calls to establish eligibility. Follows up with home visit, and then survey of home issues, involving owners. Then gives MH owner a list of cer�fied contractors and owner chooses. Owner calls contractor and home energy audit follows, some�mes with discouraging delays by contractor. Contractor develops work plan intended to show $ benefits. If family agrees, contractor applies to SFLX. Gay 3 Nicholson and Holly develop spreadsheet to evaluate proposals; if approved, contractor begins work, and payment is made upon comple�on. ** What happens if she doesn’t complete all 50 homes? May ask for no cost extension. Devo�ng nearly full-�me now in order to complete the project by December. **Are seniors a good target? Yes, because they have more �me to devote to the whole process. **Follow-up: Holly hasn’t had �me to follow up with all of the homes she ini�ally visited; focuses on those who signed up for contractors. About to do another push and to ask par�cipa�ng families how the program is working for them. ** Problems? U�lity bills might be higher in the short run going from natural gas to electric. Conversion from propane or oil means a savings, so a beter “sell.” 2. Chuck’s One-Pager to CCE [Chuck’s zoom not working so he can’t elaborate or handle ques�ons.] Dillon covers, saying the one-pager is a good compila�on. Weatheriza�on a good way to use/spread any funds we raise. Karim Beers is likely to commit $50,000 to our MH weatheriza�on from his Clean Energy Hub Funds. EMPOWER+ (NYSERDA funds) gives up to $10,000 per LMI household. How much of this is available from NYS (not sure)? Who would do the actual work? How do we find MH applicants? Need a trained energy navigator to do the work (or INHS)? Dillon conferred with Delia Yarrow at INHS (Director of Lending) who believes more federal money is coming, though it may have new strings atached. Poten�ally INHS could be involved. Note that INHS is currently contracted with Dryden to do $500,000 worth of home rehab (CDBG grant) on 13 to 15 homes over the next two years. The administra�ve cost will be $65,000. Thoma is doing a $500,000 CDBG contract with the village of Dryden (??). Were are we to go forward with mobile home weatheriza�on, how could we be more effec�ve? Going door-to-door and seeking help from successful MH owners to talk to their neighbors. Jay Franklin has a comprehensive list of mobile home owners. County funding? What would this be used for? Individual MH owners have to apply for EMPOWER $. Town can’t apply on their behalf and distribute the money. [Note: Hailley Deliesle reported a�er today’s mee�ng that the Community Recovery Fund was a one-time effort using ARP funding the to County. So Eliot Benman must have been referring to other county funds.] Add-On Maters Jason's email about ADU funding. Problems with NOFA (not clear and addi�onal two weeks is an adequate to gather data on viable candidates). Grants are not big enough to build new units. 4 Funds could work to upgrade noncompliant units but who wants to admit that they are noncompliant? Ray thinks the town may apply anyway just to get in the queue and learn the ropes for the next round in 2025. Pro -Housing Community status. Mike Murphy no�fied us that the village was awarded this – – a nice honor indeed. It may turn out that Governor Hochul will require all communi�es seeking New York State funding to have this status. Leverage for ac�on (wouldn’t apply to federal funds). Tim Cuty at Park Grove. Martha is talking with him on Friday about land in the village. They broke ground on 1061 Dryden Rd. project. Ray is pleased with this working rela�onship. Gay Nicholson (SFLX): Martha will reach out to her to explore the possibility of Gay joining us in a later Housing Commitee mee�ng and further informing us about the mobile home work Holly is leading. We need more answers to ques�ons that have come up. Minutes transcribed by Chuck from Martha’s note. Correc�ons & edits welcome. .