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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01052022 PACAB Laydown JaffaJanuary 5, 2022 67? �? 6 1 / D Brenda Ballou From: Bruce Jaffa <bruce@jaffaconstruction.com> Sent: Monday, January 3, 2022 7:22 PM To: Brenda Ballou; Christy Terry Subject: PACAB Employment Research Attachments: Seward employment and Growth Planning.docx; Seward Employment and Growth Planning Presenters.docx; How affordable housing gets built.docx; Seward Economic Growth Plan - 2013 - v BETA draft (2).pdf External Email: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Brenda, Attached is an outline I would like to get into the Agenda for discussion. I will ask for a motion to approve a plan to invite "presenters" to both Regular and Work sessions over the Jan/ Feb time with the hope we can generate a result for the Administration and Council in March. I have included a list of participants who have agreed to present a 5-10 minute status for their organization in regards to hiring problems they are facing. With a short Q&A to follow I assumed we could have 2 speakers per meeting for roughly 30 minutes total. I have spoken to all and received their willingness to participate in this time frame. Following Board action we can select pairs and issue regular invitations. I would include the outline either as I have written it or as revised so that all the speakers get a general idea of the game plan to form their remarks to the core of the problem. Yes I know and all agree Housing Housing is the elephant in the room but there is more to this problem than that. On the City's web page "Why Choose Seward" includes a list of amenities that should be reviewed for current accuracy as well I would like this to be available to PACAB for future discussion .http://www.cityofseward.us/buisness/economic-dewvelopment/why-choose-reward I am not sure that the 2013 Seward.Com Economic Growth Plan has been updated or if a different study is available but there are statistics and statements relevant to the current issue Bruce Jaffa Quality Control Manager 907-224-8002 907-240-0362 Mobile www.JaffaConstruction.com Seward Job Market, Growth and Planning PACAB January / February 2022 The following is only a preliminary outline with very broad industry descriptions. It is intended to form only a starter point of topics for discussion and review. Due to the urgent need, this review by PACAB will be at a very high level, intended to identify needs, problems, bottlenecks, or obstacles that might impede hiring or retention of needed employees in the Seward area. 1. Industries mostly effected with Permanent Positions a. Education i. AS LC ii. AVTEC iii. KPB Schools b. Retail Sales c. Health d. Corrections e. Government Services f. Longshore & Shipping g. Other 2. Industries mostly effected with Seasonal and Temporary positions a. Fisheries b. Tourism c. B&B and Hotels d. Construction e. Marine Repair f. Other 3. General category of positions a. Skilled Craft b. Unskilled c. Service Industry d. Professional 4. Current Sources of Recruitment a. Internet Search b. Transfers c. J1 Visa 1of21Page Seward Job Market, Growth and Planning PACAB January / February 2022 d. 1-116 Visa e. In State Hiring Agents f. Past worker lists g. Labor and Trade Unions h. Other 5. Impediments to Employee Prospects a. Housing i. Availability 1. Rent / Lease 2. Purchase 3. Employer provided ii. Cost 1. Property 2. Utilities a. Electric b. Water and Sewer c. Roads 3. Regulatory 4. Financing 5. Other b. Access to Amenities/ Lifestyle i. Health ii. Recreation iii. Education iv. Culture v. Transportation c. Cost of Living d. Training or added experience e. Other b. Solutions / Options 2of2IPage Seward Job Market, Growth and Planning PACAB January / February 2022 3of2IPage Seward Job Market, Growth and Planning PACAB January / February 2022 Presentations: Tim Jagielski, JAG Industries Tom Tougas, Hotel and Cruise Tara Reimer, ASLC Kathy LeCompte, AVTEC Larry Harmon, Harmon Construction Craig Ambrosiani, Seward Hospital Seward Fish Jena Peterson, Real Estate Sales and Management Henry Burns, Seward High school Ruth D'mico, USFS Aaron Plickat UA (Plumbers and Pipefitters) former President of Building Trades Longshore, IBEW, Operators, Carpenters, Piledrivers, Boilermakers/ Shipbuilders, Public Service Where names appear I have confirmed willingness to appear and present. Underlined names are still tentative. 1of21Page How affordable housing gets built What steps are involved in creating affordable housing? 1. Creating a Development Strategy (information gathering) 2. Finding a site 3. Predevelopment and site assessment 4. Developing a Request for Proposals (RFP)&selecting a developer 5. Constructions` 6. Occupancy and ongoing operations* 7. The municipality's ongoing role.... A version of this post originally appeared on Red in. Financing affordable housing isn't easy. Our new interactive tool shows that without subsidies, which can be hard to come by, it's virtually impossible for developers to build homes that are affordable to low- or extremely low income families. That's because lenders loan money for housing development based on the property's expected income, and when rents are set to affordable levels, there's a huge gap between the money needed to build and the money lenders and investors provide. Yet, new affordable apartment buildings --albeit not enough of them —are built. So how do those developers do it? The primary source of development funding is the Low -Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), a federal tax credit administered by state agencies. Most affordable housing that gets built receives an allocation of tax credits. (You'll see in our simulation that the LIHTC tax credits are the default for 100-unit buildings.) To receive tax credits, a proposed development must dedicate at least either 20 percent of its apartments to people who earn less than half of the area median income or 40 percent of its apartments to people who earn less than 60 percent of area median income. To be affordable, the rent for those apartments must be no more than 30 percent of the target income level. In practice, most properties dedicate most or all of the units to affordable use. Yet, even if a proposal meets these conditions, tax credits aren't guaranteed. States allocate tax credits through a competitive process that varies by state and in most places has many more applications than available credits. And even if you get the tax credit, as our tool shows, it's not enough. This is where developers have to get even more creative. Most affordable housing financing deals involve a mortgage, tax credits, and two or three other sources of money. It's not uncommon, however, for developers to rely on upward of 20 financing sources as they try to fill the gap between what it costs to build affordable housing and the money they have available. Some of that money comes from federal block grants like the HOME Investment Partnerships Program or the Community Development Block Grant Program. Some of it comes from foundations, local trust funds, or state housing trust funds. Sometimes states or localities will give developers relief from their property taxes. There are also tax credits for clean energy or for using a historic building. In rural areas, the US Department of Agriculture sometimes subsidizes affordable housing. And then there's rental assistance: the promise of federal rental assistance can make a big difference in the development stage because developers can confidently tell lenders and investors that they will have renters and those renters will be able to pay (because the government is actually paying much of the rent). Rental assistance allows developers to serve lower -income renters while still ensuring necessary revenue to operate the property and pay debt service. Still, only about one in four people with low enough income to qualify for housing assistance actually receives it. The problem with this multitude of funding sources ---besides the fact that funds are limited ---is the lack of standardization. Most of these tax credits and subsidies are awarded through competitive processes, but those processes often run on different timelines and require different applications. And if you need even three or four funding sources beyond the LIHTC to move forward with a proposed apartment building, winning one grant but having to wait six months for another can be fatal to the project. (Some states, such as Massachusetts and Minnesota, coordinate the state run grant and tax credit programs to mitigate this problem). Funders also change what they want to fund. For example, Illinois recently prioritized housing in areas of opportunity in awarding grants to affordable housing developers. This year, however, they've added priorities for projects that help with community revitalization. Changing allocation year to year is mostly good from a public policy perspective, because it means public dollars flow to highest need. But shifting priorities can pose a challenge to developers looking to build affordable housing, because acquiring land, planning a development, and applying for funds is a multiyear process. Given that developers must rely on many sources —sometimes as many as 29—beyond a mortgage loan and the LIHTC tax credit to build affordable housing, it's important for states to consider ways to better coordinate the variety of grants and tax relief opportunities available, and it's important for all levels of government to ensure there are enough subsidy funds available to meet the need. Developers must overcome many obstacles, such as permitting, land acquisition, and gaining community support. Governments should take steps to make sure closing the financing gap is not the obstacle that dooms development. The Assisted Housing Initiative is a project of the Urban Institute, made possible by support from HAI Group, to provide fact -based analysis about public and assisted housing. The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization and retains independent and exclusive control over substance and quality of any Assisted Housing Initiative products. The views expressed in this and other Assisted Housing Initiative commentaries are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute or HAI Group. Ethan Handelman is vice president for policy and advocacy at the National Housing Conference. He serves on the board of Housing Unlimited, a nonprofit in Montgomery County, Maryland. Illustration by Christina Baird/Urban Institute