Housing Trust Fund, Regular Meeting

1. 0:02person. Jeff is present online. Kelly is on her way. Um Seria cannot come tonight. Margaret I have not heard from. And we do have one vacancy. Um however, uh Randall uh Martin submitted his letter of interest. So, um, hopefully that will get approved this month and he can be with us in August. So, we do not [clears throat] >> and Michelle's here. We do not have a quorum tonight, but we don't need to vote on anything. It's just going to be more of a discussion following up some of the things we talked about last week. And I know Jeff has a heart out at 6:00 p.m. and Usha at 6. So, we'll be wrapping up pretty quick today. Cool. It's weird cuz I like if I turn my head to look at Jeff then the back of my head is [laughter] the camera. >> Yow. >> Yeah. Um >> really
2. 1:07I don't need to look at myself. I just >> Too bad. [laughter] >> Um okay. So starting with old business. Oh good. [laughter] here. Um, the two things I want to discuss today, I guess three things. We talked about doing more outreach and education. So, I want to talk about what types of questions we want to put on a survey. Um, we talked about some education things of like what we want people to learn from us or things we want like topics we want to cover. Um, I'm going to touch on tent writes like a workshop any like things you might want to cover there. And then I wanted to bring up again, I really liked your idea about like a Taste of Hudson event. So I want to bring that up again. So those are kind of the four things I wanted to cover tonight. Um and then because we have a small group today, we will do um a little bit of uh we'll work on the budget in August meeting. So tonight is just today's just some discussion about those things. Um
3. 2:09anything else anyone wants to add to the agenda or talk about tonight? Okay. So, first thing, starting with the survey, what what type of things do you guys most want to know or like what information do we most want to know from residents or also like beyond residents like who are we? You know what I mean? Like sometimes people who can't live here that you [clears throat] need to hear from. Um, >> you know, I think one one very important thing is to um find out number one, you know, how long have people lived here in Hudson >> and where did they come from? >> Mhm. >> You know, if they have a city mentality or just a country, you know. >> Yeah. >> I think that's important. >> Yeah. Um, and I think >> I think Yeah, Jack, go.
4. 3:14>> So, now we we need to know what people desire um what uh what they're looking for in terms of assistance. Mhm. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Like that. >> Sorry. Yeah. Sometimes you break out a little bit. So I think when you're closer we can hear you better. >> No. Still breaking. >> Does it sound like it? Hold on one second. >> Oh, that's better. Yeah, >> that was much better. >> That's okay. >> No, we can't hear you. >> Thank you.
5. 4:26I'd also like to talk to the hospital more and kind of understand, you know, like what jobs they have that they haven't been able to fill and like how does it relate to housing. And I think there's also an issue where like there's a mismatch between how much jobs pay and how much housing cost, right? >> And can you hear me now? Yes, we can. >> Sorry about that. >> Um, were you able to hear what I said? >> No, we um the last thing we heard you say was understanding what people desire in terms of assistance, >> right? Understanding what people desire in terms of assistance. for example, um you know, if they need home improvement assistance, if they need housing assistance, if they're looking for housing, um what what are some of their obstacles uh to those things or barriers that they'd like to overcome? Um you know, basically just to share with
6. 5:29us how we could impact their lives, how Okay. Um, Kelly, we are talking about things we want to learn on a survey. >> Okay. >> Regarding housing and people's needs. >> Nice. >> Yeah. Um, so we've got how long people lived here and like where they came from, what type of assistance they might need. Um, I'm interested in talking to some like larger employers and learning about like what wages they're paying and what jobs they're not able to fill and kind of understand some of those gaps. Um, yeah. And also, >> that's a good one too, Michelle, because then we can >> along with providing, you know, housing opportunities if possible. Mhm. >> Would we want to know like what type of
7. 6:34unit they're currently living in or like how many bedrooms and how many people in their household or something? >> Yeah, probably be good. And like is it what they want or would they rather Yeah. And I think also like how many people are renting who would want who would want to buy those in their price range and like what is that price range? Um, >> okay. >> So, yeah, if they're interested in home ownership, I guess that would be one of the >> obvious. And I guess also like um I I think it's Chris Brown and I have
8. 7:42talked about this a lot. It's really hard to understand demand from people who aren't in the area who want to be here. Um, and I know like we have we have big market studies from the companies that do the larger housing developments, but it's not always granular to understand, you know, who wants to live in Hudson, but, you know, move to Athens or Albany or Texas or awesome. Well, you know, just for information, you know, the new housing unit that's up the street. >> Yeah. >> How many apartments are taken? How many are vacant? >> You know, >> I don't know the exact number, but >> I could get the >> I think it was about half. You talking about Seventh Street? >> Yeah. know that more
9. 8:46>> about a month ago. >> And I do think that speaks to like we see these like market rate rents and like I think market rate is totally wrong because >> like I don't think most people actually can pay that. But then they're saying that's what the market rate is. And like now we have proof like you know that market rate is way too high from what people can actually afford. >> Especially considering so many grants were given to that building. >> Not no they didn't get the grants. No. Um it was they got the like the pilot from the IDA but they didn't get state funding. >> The pilot wasn't a lot of money. >> No it was mostly like developers equity. >> Yeah. [snorts] And that's part of the thing, too. They get a lot of grants that they make that funds more affordable, but now they're just not getting any rent, [clears throat and laughter] >> right? >> So, >> they speak at the IDA. I missed the IDA this week.
10. 9:47>> I thought you spoke last month >> or two months ago. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Might have been two months ago. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else in terms of a survey? And I guess also like people have seen these surveys and everyone is like surveyed out and do you guys think it's better to have when we first started the housing trust fund like Seria and Kaen did a lot of um like informal conversations with people and like taking notes and more of like quality over quantity in terms of conversations. And I kind of think something like that like thinking more about trying I think that combination of like trying to see who might you who might catch this spawn but also some longer form is beautiful. What do you guys think? >> We worked he had access. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> But it is summer like there's like waterfront Wednesdays and there are some opportunities coming up in the next few weeks to
11. 10:51>> you know gathering spaces. >> Yeah. So that's you could do both. >> Yeah. Okay. Um Okay. Then that's like kind of what we want to learn from people. And the next thing is what do we want to like communicate in terms of when we say outreach? Like what message or information are we trying to get across to people that we think people either misunderstand or don't quite understand? You said you want what what what you want to ask them what they want. >> Sure. We were talking about doing more outreach in terms of like kind of like housing education and I guess like specifically what do we want people to learn or know or what misconceptions do
12. 11:55we want to clear up? >> Uh I guess from the trust perspective like what kind of services we can we do provide or can provide. where we are, what we're not get involved and provide uh information to us so that we can be effective or assist us to be effective. >> Okay. >> But maybe also like a list of other ser like >> Yeah. >> categories of needs. >> Yeah. like if you're having issues with rent or if you're having issues with maintenance. >> I think there is a lot of information like scattered across. >> Yeah, that's true. And yeah, I think the
13. 13:08kind of going back to like I was saying earlier, I do think there's a lot of misunderstanding of like when we're saying like affordable housing or people housing, I think a lot of people don't understand that like the median wage in Columbia County um cannot pay pay for the median in rent or housing costs and like just that [clears throat] the fact that the market is so out of whack means that so many people are struggling. Yeah. Also just I don't know if this is even appropriate but I think a lot about like why landlords feel the need to charge higher. I don't know if there's like a math or way to like show like you can afford your home in Hudson without >> charging higher rent. >> Yeah, >> I know that's kind of like aggressive, but it just seems like >> the math isn't mapping. So, >> right. >> Like even >> Yeah, I don't know. >> Yeah, Rebecca Wolf was like talked about
14. 14:10that a lot like how to show that like landlords could make a what? Make a living and not a She had some dreams like a living out a killing or something like that. >> Yeah, they can they can certainly they can certainly rent to uh housing choice voucher recipients. That's a guaranteed monthly income. >> Yeah, they should they [laughter] should that should be a thing. Yeah, >> we have numbers. >> So, you're having an issue in finding enough willing landlords, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. In fact, just as an aside, they go folks go to our website and click on we have like a landlord tab which um says
15. 15:14uh HCP and you know asking landlords to become partners with the housing authority and the advantages of the >> Okay. I will say I was on your website recently and it looks good. You guys have done a lot of updates and stuff. >> You're welcome. Um Okay. Okay. Anything else? I think that's good. >> Okay. Um, so Kelly, just to frame today, we don't have quorum. We're just doing a quick meeting to kind of get a little more detailed things we discussed last meeting. >> Okay. >> Um, in terms of moving forward with some like outreach events and education and then we're going to work on the budget next month. >> Okay. Um so that was talking about survey and outreach. Um the next thing was um kind of preparing like a tenants rights forum. Um and just thinking about what questions or issues would we want to cover and like what are things that are kind of thorny that people want to
16. 16:18know but it can be tough to talk about. Um because I think sometimes if people don't want to bring things up themselves like it's you know if I were to bring them up right for example like then or something then they can feel more comfortable. >> We can discuss >> uh one of them being like you know in terms of rent increases and things of that nature. But one thing that would be of assistance is if we can just go through a tenants rights uh guide like [clears throat] guides that we have um and just just just share that that information with them and literally go through with them and educate them on what tenant rights are, what tenant rights they have and whats or >> uh advocates they can contact for assistance. uh you know basically so they'll know what what can be done and what what should be done what shouldn't
17. 17:22be done. >> Mhm. >> And I think having next >> that might be a good basis to start. >> Yeah. And yeah I think a lot of people still don't quite understand how they can use good cause for their benefit. >> Yeah. That's like a like a [groaning] document. It's not something >> I'm sorry, Jack. Can you you just broke a little bit? Can you repeat that, please? >> I said it's it's a good document because it's not something that's written by the housing authority. It's like just a used tenants tenant rights document. Mhm. >> What do you say the tenants can know? >> Okay. >> I feel like one thorny thing is like if somebody owes rent or owes background
18. 18:25but something breaks. >> That's one thing that I feel like people are like afraid to report maintenance if they still owe rent. Just like that's a very specific thing. But I don't Yeah, >> that that's a that's a huge issue because it it's counterproductive, right? They live in poor conditions. Well, now the landlord gets even more upset, but now they want them out because they haven't reported that they have a leak and the unit is being destroyed. So, everybody loses, >> right? But basically, just that like they can't evict you for reporting that you can sell rent. So, like that kind of right or that's like a sticky one. I feel like [snorts] um okay so last time we tried to do like a we we we did a tenants rights workshop was on Zoom and we have very low attendance and I know that also the county has their like their forum um it's kind of the same people seem to
19. 19:26attend. So what are good ways to get more people to attend or come Food. Food. [laughter] >> I didn't I didn't want to be the one to say it, but fortunately that is a >> that on Zoom. >> No, you can Well, you can eat on Zoom, [laughter] but >> No, it's free food. >> Yeah, free food. >> Not just food. It's free food. >> Yeah. Um food. Okay. >> You could offer some prizes. I don't know. you know, a backpack filled with food. >> We could have like tenants rights bingo or something or like some kind of game that interacts with what we're trying to teach. >> That's a good idea. >> That's fun. >> Yeah. >> Uh and then like a prize. I mean, people love prizes. >> Good idea.
20. 20:26>> That is a good idea. >> Like a Shopright gift card or something. There's Universal. Um, we did like rolling grosser gift card raffles. Um, like the first housing trust fund event we did. Um, I like that idea like a interactive thing you could think of. Yeah. >> Um, and also I just feel like central location walkable is good. >> So like the Spark building or even outside. I mean, I don't know if we can get it together before water Wednesdays, but I feel like that's just like nice. There's so much going on, right? >> I also I hate social media and have no skill set with it, but I also was like I really should be to make little clips of just like videos or something of like, you know, things that people can like interact with and see quickly of. I think that's if it's sharable, too. Um, but I it's not my skill set.
21. 21:33Um, but maybe it I'm sure other people have created that stuff and we could like try and have people share it out or something like as part of this like bingo thing or something. >> Totally. Um, >> okay. These are good ideas. I know Jack, you got five minutes. >> Yeah. If it is a social media thing like 30 days of or like something where it's like once a day and you keep it going >> like a challenge a challenge or just like information every fact every day or I don't know. >> Okay. >> Maybe a sports event. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Volleyball. Lords versus T. [laughter] >> I'm just kidding. [laughter] Um, you know that >> Yeah. Um,
22. 22:40okay. That would be fun. Okay. And then is there anything I think what's the trickiest thing for me at these events is when there's gaps in what we can help people with. And so the big gap is like having actual legal representation or like because a lot of this like stuff is on the tenant to kind of oppose the landlord a lot or try to exercise their rights. And that's one of the things where it gets really tricky to like try and empower people, but then be like, "Okay, but also you're kind of on your own." And so I want to kind of think that through more before >> Well, if there are basic things, couldn't there be a handbook, >> a tenants, legal handbook? >> Yeah, there is. Um I just think it's hard when it's like, okay, that is it. But then how do you say to your landlord like >> you're violating this, you know, when you're on your own?
23. 23:43>> The law library is very helpful. >> So maybe even clue people in cuz I had been a law I brought a lawsuit recently on the election election stuff >> and it's really not hard. >> Yeah. >> So I I learned how to actually do it. I mean, but then you got to be prepared to present yourself at a hearing and you got to, you know, there's a very definite set of steps. I mean, you can't have a hearing, you can't appeal something that what didn't come up in the hearing. You can't introduce something new on an appeal. >> Yeah. So you got to actually cover the bases in your initial, >> you know, well, they had an order to show cause or or or notice or stop. What is it called? Anyway, um so there there are things you can be educated on. You can let them know that Laura the law library, the county building >> Mhm. >> is there to help them. She's very helpful.
24. 24:46>> Okay. you could, you know, uh we could go to the Albany Law School. You know, there might be students who >> Oh, yeah. Would [clears throat] you know would offer I mean, it's a big school, the Albany Law School. >> Yeah. And they have that um like pro bono. >> Mhm. >> Are any of the local orgs still offering it like >> Greater Hudson or anything? >> No. Um, we've had a lot of trouble getting attorneys who work in this area. Um, >> right. But a student, >> yeah, >> is a different uh situation, >> right? >> Right. >> They not [clears throat] may they may not be allowed to do it either. I mean, it's kind of locked up unless you go proay, which means you're bringing it yourself. >> I mean, we're not talking about like actual representation. We're talking just about giving information. >> Information. Yeah. >> That's right. >> Yeah. >> Right. Um, okay. I think this is a good place to start. >> I think Jeffrey has three minutes.
25. 25:49>> Okay. Um, just letting you know, Jeffrey, I think 3 minutes >> appreciate it. >> Um, I think this is a good place to to go. When do you guys think that when's a good time to target something like this? Because summer is like people are away but also people are often less busy. [clears throat] So like >> the summer is the best time. >> Yeah. Summer is fall is busy. >> Yeah. So maybe targeting like end of August or something. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I think so. >> Okay. >> Is this on or is this going to be physical? >> Wow. Not that there's food. It's bad. >> Um, okay. >> Maybe that could be coordinated with a taste of Hudson. >> Yeah. >> Uh-huh. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. I'm like also thinking about some kind of like I don't know passport thing
26. 26:53of like different >> vendors, you know, or business have different pieces of information or something. >> Like say you paid a dollar for the passport. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And then you could go around to all the different >> and they would stamp it when you came here. >> Yeah. >> Oh, that's cool. >> Yeah. >> Um that's cool. Okay. I think we covered all that. Um then then I was just going to say so next steps is I was gonna kind of put this together and kind of propose some um I don't know potential dates or venues for this and ways to distribute the survey and then in August we'll go over the budget. Um that's all I had. Um anything else that you guys want to discuss tonight? No. Okay. Um, Jeff, >> I was saying not for me. >> Okay. Um, any public comment? >> No,
27. 27:55>> I'm good. >> Online. >> Okay, Jeff, [clears throat] you want to call the meeting to a close? >> It is 6:00 p.m. and motion to adjourn. >> Okay. Favor. Yes. Okay. Thank you all. Have a lovely evening.

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