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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-IURANI-2019-11-08 1 108 E. Green St. Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 274-6565 MINUTES ITHACA URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY (IURA) NEIGHBORHOOD INVESTMENT COMMITTEE (NIC) 8:30 A.M., Friday, November 8, 2019 Third Floor Conference Room, City Hall, Ithaca, NY In attendance: Karl Graham, Chair; Tracy Farrell, Teresa Halpert. Excused: Fernando de Aragón; Paulette Manos. Staff: Anisa Mendizabal; Nels Bohn. Guest(s): Sue Chaffee, Immigrant Services Program and Renee Spear, Executive Director, Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga. I. Call to Order The Chair called the meeting to order at 8:36 a.m. II. Changes/Additions to Agenda The Chair indicated Agenda items would be reordered if needed to accommodate the presenter. III. Public Comment None. IV. Review of Minutes – October 2019 Moved by Farrell, seconded by Halpert. Approved 3-0. V. New Business A. Update and Discussion – 2019 Project #16 –Immigrant Services Program (ISP) with Sue Chaffee, Program Director, and Renee Spear, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga (CCTT) The Committee was particularly interested in learning more about the NYS Office for New Americans (ONA) grant that ISP received in 2019. Chaffee reported that ISP has just finished the second quarter of that grant. The ONA Grant requires that ISP provide services which involve a legal component. ISP has so far completed 50 citizenship applications for adults and for children of naturalized parents. ISP has monthly legal consultations with two immigration attorneys. In addition to these services, Ms. Chaffee gave a sense of the myriad and varied needs of those she serves, along with the complex learning and steps involved for ISP in trying to meet those needs. Examples include: Special immigrant juvenile status court proceedings; aiding three people with family ties in Ithaca who were detained at the 2 southern border; financial literacy; domestic violence; forms and documentation of all kinds; connection to translation needed for complex cases; working with other area service providers to adapt presentations to the language needs of immigrant groups, and more. Requirements for citizenship have changed rapidly in the past few years. For example, a common form required of those applying for citizenship has grown from two pages to twenty-five pages. In addition, there is now a much heavier burden on LMI immigrants who wish to sponsor family members. New requirements (one currently under court- ordered injuction) include mandatory insurance coverage of the immigrating family member from Day 1 in the U.S.; transcripts from all schools attended; and an extreme increase in fees (for example, citizenship certificates for children of green-card holding parents have increased from $600 to $1170. ISP used to be able to pay $300, or half, of the fee, but new total cost puts this certificate out of reach for most everyone served). The greater the burden on those immigrating, the greater the burden on agencies helping them, and the harder it is to maintain a grant like ONA which requires service providers to serve large numbers of people. Ms. Chaffee stated that ISP has helped almost all of Ithaca’s Keren and Burmese population. Graham asked if Cornell’s Law School provides any services to the local immigrant population. Answer: Cornell Law takes a few cases per year. The Committee wondered about the working relationship with Cornell, and Chaffee acknowledged that at times ISP and Cornell are at cross-purposes in terms of ISP meeting the requirements of the ONA grant. This has been difficult and frustrating, especially considering ISP’s continuing services to Cornell’s immigrant population for services that fall outside of what Cornell provides. Chaffee would like the two organizations to work more collaboratively. Asked about Ithaca College, Chaffee indicated that IC does not have the same level of need as Cornell. The ONA grant is a one year grant with an opportunity to review for one more year. In order to maximize ISP’s ability to meet the numbers required, they have been doing intensive outreach (radio and bus advertisement campaigns) and hired a member of the Keren community (and former recipient of ISP services) to do outreach, which has been invaluable. ISP works with sponsors of numerous other IURA-funded programs to extend the services provided through their program and to help immigrants get settled and working in Ithaca. B. Action Item – Resolution - 2018 Acon Plan Authorize Assignment to Cayuga Fl ats, LLC from INHS of Loan Funding to the Cayuga Flats Project (2018 Project #7 & CD-RLF #45) Bohn discussed details relating to the proposed resolution. Committee members wanted to know about the LLC. Did INHS do this with the Breckenridge development? Bohn: Yes, 3 and also, with Stone Quarry. They’ve done this different ways. Nonprofits can’t take advantage of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, so there has to be a for-profit entity created. INHS creates an LLC, which will own the project, then there is Cayuga Flats INC (to De Aragón’s point). Bohn further explained that when INHS comes to IURA during the Action Plan application phase, they don’t know whether they will get the LIHTC funding, so therefore they don’t have an LLC set up, or have a name for the LLC, and so on. Those pieces are put into place after the LIHTC application has been approved. A Committee member asked: Are there tax abatements? Answer: Not automatically. The project will be taxable because INHS (a nonprofit) will convey ownership to the LLC (a for-profit entity). In sum, IURA provided the funding to INHS. As the project sponsor, INHS may assign it to the LLC, however, this resolution documents the process explicitly, which will be helpful as time goes by— staff often refer to past resolutions for detail about past projects, and they can also be helpful during monitoring. Bohn departed at 9:52 a.m. 2018 Acon Plan Authorie Assignment to Cayuga Fl ats, LLC from INHS Of Loan Funding to the Cayuga Flats Project (2018 Project #7 & CD-RLF #45) WHEREAS, the IURA approved a total of $228,662 in CDBG and HOME loan assistance to Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. (INHS) for the Cayuga Flats project (formerly known as INHS Scattered Site Preservation Phase 2) to reconstruct or rehabilitate 29 rental housing units at the following locations: • 203-209 Elm Street • 111 W. Clinton Street • 406 S. Plain Street • 227 S. Geneva Street502 W. State Street, (Project) and WHEREAS, $128,662 in CDBG loan funding issued to INHS in 2017 has been expended to support predevelopment expenses for the project and $100,000 in HOME CHDO set-aside funding is earmarked for the project in the 2018 Action Plan, and WHEREAS, INHS has been allocated Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to financially assist the project that requires establishment of a for-profit ownership entity to take advantage of tax credits, and WHEREAS, INHS proposes to create Cayuga Flats, LLC, a for-profit entity to own the Cayuga Flats project, and WHEREAS, the sole managing member of Cayuga Flats, LLC will be a wholly owned subsidiary of INHS, thereby satisfying HOME CHDO set-aside requirements that the rental housing project is “sponsored” and effectively controlled by the CHDO, and WHEREAS, INHS requests assignment of the CDBG loan and HOME funding award from INHS to 4 Cayuga Flats, LLC, and WHEREAS, at their October 11, 2019 meeting the Neighborhood Investment Committee reviewed this matter and recommended the following action; now, therefore be it RESOLVED, that the IURA hereby approves assignment of the CDBG loan and HOME funding award for the Cayuga Flats project (formerly known as INHS Scattered Site Preservation Phase 2) from INHS to Cayuga Flats, LLC, and be it further RESOLVED, that the IURA Chair is hereby authorized, subject to review by IURA legal counsel, to execute an amended CDBG loan agreement and a new HOME loan agreement to implement this resolution. Graham motioned to approve; Farrell seconded. Carried 3-0. VI. Other Business A. IURA Grant Summary Neighbor to Neighbor is expected to need an extension due to ongoing organizational transition to the fiscal umbrella of Cornell’s Center for Transformative Action. FLIC seems to be doing well identifying in-City beneficiaries. B. Staff Report Mendizabal updated Committee on outreach efforts. VII. Motion to Adjourn Meeting adjourned by consensus at 10:03 am.