The Broward Housing Council (BHC) held its regular meeting on Friday, June 27, 2025, starting at 10:09 AM and adjourning at 11:19 AM. The meeting included the introduction of a new member, a presentation on the Continuum of Care and homelessness, approval of prior meeting minutes, council reports, appointment of a member to the Continuum of Care board, and planning for the annual fall workshop.
Ralph Stone (County Staff): Reported on the county's infill housing program in the Broward Municipal Services District (BMSD). Since 2010, nearly 100 vacant lots have been developed into homes for first-time homebuyers. The current cycle involves 12 lots awarded to three nonprofits (Habitat, minority builders, and Urban Council), each receiving four lots. Homes are 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 2-car garage, minimum 1,500 sq ft, with income limits up to 120% of area median income (AMI). A flood elevation change caused a year delay but was resolved. The program is expected to surpass 100 homes soon.
Patrice Paldino, Director of Broward County HOSS-D (Housing Options, Solutions, and Supports Division): Presented on the Continuum of Care (CoC) and homelessness. Key points:
Chair's Report (Christopher Krzemien): Announced that the Governor approved $50 million (not the expected $100 million) for the Hometown Heroes program, effective July 1, 2025, with eligibility narrowed to first responders, teachers, veterans, and healthcare workers.
Director's Report (Darby Delsalle): Provided updates on:
So good morning, everybody. It is ten oh nine. I'd like to call this June meeting of the Broward Housing Council to order. So can we go through with the roll call, please? Yes. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Um, Alex Almazar. Marcia Barry Smith. Maura Ballman. Michelle Collie. Luke Harrigan. Arnell Joyce. Chris Kresman. Mike Pearson. Nathan Pearl Mutter. Here. Ashley Rochet. Commissioner Rogers cannot join us today. She's out of town on county business. Um, Ralph Stone. Tanisha Taylor. We have a quorum. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, I'd like to start off this meeting with uh introduction of our new housing council members, which is quite exciting. Uh, first up, a recommendation from Dr. Ned Murray at FIU is Alex Almanzar. Welcome. Thank you for having me, everyone. I'm very excited to be here. I am the research coordinator at the FIU Metropolitan Center. Awesome. Thank you very much. Plus, I'll I'll say that Alex was a ghost author of the 10-year master plan. Fantastic. Thank you for your work. Great work. For those that don't know, Alex is here from FIU as a member that has technical housing experience. That being said, I do have uh Ralph who needs to uh run here. So I'm going to uh let Ralph do his presentation before we get into the continuum of care. Darby, remind me what you wanted me to report on, because I think I remember. That's a lot of pressure. If you don't remember, I'm out of here. No, no, no. The uh 12 lots that we were doing within the okay, sure. So uh coming out of the recession, this is going back to 2010. Uh the county had accumulated uh almost a hundred vacant lots in the the unincorporated area, which is called the the BMSD, the Broward Municipal Services District. And it was a drag on the neighborhood, obviously. So we decided to create a an infill housing program for first time home buyers, and we did I think the first tranche was around 20 houses, and I remember we contacted the property praiser's office and said, What kind of value can we put on these lots?