Good evening.

I'd like to call to order the meeting of the Metropolitan Economic Development Committee.

And I would like uh my fellow counselors, starting at my far left, uh, to um introduce themselves.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, Nick Roberts, District Four.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair Brienne Delaney, District Two.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Jesse Brown, District Thirteen.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Brian Mowra, District 25.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh Ron Gibson, District Eight.

Thank you, Chairman Andy Nielsen, District 14.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, John Barth for presenting District 7.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Kristen Jones, District 18.

Thank you, Chairman Osley, Counselor Jared Evans, representing District 17.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman Le Roy Robinson, representing District 1.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman, Maggie Lewis.

Thank you all.

Uh Bob O'Cellin.

And um first item on our agenda is proposal number thirty-six, which appoints Linda Osborne to the Greater Virginia Avenue Corridor Economic Improvement Board.

Is she present this evening?

Appointment.

Maybe we got rescheduled to our next uh schedule hearing point possibly.

Very good.

Do you have consent?

Yes, and we will uh reschedule proposal number thirty-six uh to next month's MEDC meeting.

Proposal number thirty-seven twenty twenty-six appoints Rory Babb to the uh Woodruff Place Economic Improvement Board.

Mr.

Babb Hello.

Yes.

We'd like to hear from you and and tell us your thoughts and why you'd like to serve.

Yeah, um, so yeah, my name is Rory Babb.

Uh so I've been living in Woodruff Place for uh a little over ten years now.

Um very involved in the neighborhood, have helped uh with the neighborhood infrastructure, the fountains, the street lights, um, and I would like to be on the board to kind of continue uh the evolution of just kind of supporting my neighborhood and um kind of taking care of where I live, where I'm my family uh is growing continuing to grow each day.

So very good.

Thank you.

Are there questions or comments from members of the committee?

Councilor Brown.

Thank Mr.

Chair, just want to say thank you, Mr.

Babb for stepping up and being willing to serve.

Absolutely.

Very good.

Any additional comments?

All right, is there a motion?

So move.

All those in favor.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Well, Mr.

Babb, it sounds like or looks like we will be um uh moving you forward to the full council uh with a due pass recommendation.

Thank you for your willingness to serve.

Thank you.

Very good.

This next item on our agenda is proposal number thirty-eight, which approves the amounts, locations, and programmatic operation of certain projects to be funded from community development grant funds.

Who's here to speak on that?

Hi, I am hi, I'm Beth Neville, and I'm the administrator of community investments with the Department of Metropolitan Development.

Um, I am currently working to get the presentation pulled up on the screens, and I'm not sure if you're not a good idea.

Yeah, and if it's not working, I believe you all have printouts of the presentation that you can follow along.

Um, if that makes things a little bit easier for you.

Who is it?

Oh, my mistake, okay.

Perfect, thank you very much.

All right, I appreciate all your patience this evening as we dealt with some technological quirks.

Um, my name is Beth Neville, like I said, and I'm the administrator of community and investments with the Department of Metropolitan Development.

I'm joined tonight by a few members of my team who manage the grant programs uh that we'll be discussing tonight.

Council proposal thirty-eight is seeking the approval of the amounts, locations, and use of community development grant funds.

So before we get into the specifics of Council Proposal 38 and the annual action plan, I wanted to take a step back and give you all some context for what my team does.

We are responsible for the management and oversight of numerous programs related to affordable housing, community development, and homelessness.

This includes the grant funding that's part of Council Proposal 38, as well as the Continuum of Care Grant, the Local Housing Trust Fund, the payment in lieu of taxes program, new market tax credits, Section 108, and some COVID-specific resources as well.

The grant programs that we're focused on tonight are the Home Investment Partnership Program, the Community Development Block Grant Program, the Emergency Solutions Grant, and the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program.

The amounts for these programs is determined by the federal budget and a formula defined by HUD.

It's important to keep in mind that these grant programs come with a variety of complex federal regulations, and they must be carried out on a reimbursement basis.

So unlike traditional philanthropic grant resources, which can be provided on the front end of a project, our partners must incur an expense and submit to our team for review and reimbursement.

And then I also want to note, with the exception of HOPWA, which we'll get into the details in a few slides, these programs are open to organizations and neighborhoods throughout our community.

We cannot fund projects located in Speedway, Beechgrove, Lawrence, and Southport, but otherwise any geography within Indianapolis is eligible.

The proposal before you tonight includes those four programs, which are just a few pieces within the affordable housing spectrum.

There are a variety of other programs and funding sources related to affordable housing, some of which are managed by DMD, but others are external.

There are projects happening throughout the city that are incentivized through the payment loo of taxes program.

They may be ARPA funded or low-income housing tax credit funded, but those are not included in the proposal before you tonight.

So again, tonight we're just discussing home, CDBG, ESG, and HOPWA.

So as a quick overview of some of those federal grants, the home program can be used for the creation and rehabilitation of affordable rental and home ownership opportunities.

It can be used for down payment assistance and tenant-based rental assistance, and we receive about $4 million annually in home.

Through this program, we're able to fund affordable rental projects like Park Side at Tarkington, permanent supportive housing projects for people exiting homelessness like HANA Commons, and affordable homeownership opportunities through our community-based partners.

The CDBG program is our most flexible funding source and is focused on benefiting low-income households and low-income neighborhoods.

We primarily use it for affordable rental and homeownership opportunities, but it's also used for homeowner repair, public facilities like community centers, demolition and unsafe structures, economic development, and job training for youth and high barrier adults.

We typically receive about $9 million annually in CDBG funding, and we're able to fund projects like the Canal Topath extension, food access projects like CLIO's Bodega, historic rehabilitation projects like Tinker Flats, and affordable housing opportunities again through our community-based partners.

So home and CDBG are more focused on development and construction, while ESG and HOPWA are more focused on providing high-quality services to our most vulnerable residents.

The ESG program can be used to assist households who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

These funds are primarily used for emergency shelter operations, rapid rehousing, street outreach, and homelessness prevention.

This is one of our smaller grants, and we only receive about $800,000 annually in ESG from HUD.

And these grants work within the broader homelessness response system within our community.

And then finally, the HOPWA program.

It is unique within our portfolio.

The other grants only serve households and projects within the city limits of Indianapolis, but HOPWA statutorily actually has a service area that includes the surrounding counties like Boone, Brown, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Madison, Morgan, Putnam, and Shelby counties.

And this is a unique funding source that can be used for rental assistance, mortgage assistance, and housing stability services for individuals and households who are impacted by an HIV or AIDS diagnosis.

And we typically receive about a little bit over $2 million annually in HOPWA.

So when we say affordable housing, for our programs, this refers to households who are at or below 80% of the area median income.

So currently for a household of one, someone has to make below $62,000 to qualify for our programs.

And a family of four would need to make less than $88,550.

And so there's kind of two components to affordable housing: the folks who access these services and then the rent limits that are set by HUD.

So it is both income-qualified households and the rents that are affordable to those households.

So HUD requires that we go through a number of different processes in order to be eligible to even receive these funds as a city.

The first concept to be aware of is our five-year consolidated plan.

As the name implies, we are required to complete this every five years, and it involves community engagement to determine our funding priorities.

So we brought this to you all last year for approval, and it will last through 2029.

The second concept is our annual action plan.

So this serves as that annual update to the five-year consolidated plan and includes the projects that will help us work towards those goals identified in the consolidated plan.

And the 2026 annual action plan is what's before you tonight.

Finally, in order to develop this annual action plan, we host a number of competitive funding application rounds.

And these include both internal and external non-conflicted review committee members to come to those funding decisions.

And it is through those competitive processes that projects are selected.

And so we host an application round each year in the late summer and early fall.

I did want to highlight a few of our accomplishments from our programs.

So this data is actually from our 2024 program year.

Our HUD program year is a little bit different from the city's fiscal year.

So the our HUD program year runs from April 1st until March 31st of each year.

So we're actually technically still in our 2025 program year today.

So this data is from our 2024 program year, and in that program year, we engaged over 700 adults and 359 youth in job training services.

We created 43 new affordable homeownership opportunities.

We developed or rehabbed 195 affordable rental units, and 62 of those were permanent supportive housing units for households exiting homelessness.

We also provided 463 low-income households with an HIV or AIDS diagnosis with rental assistance.

We provided 370 households homelessness prevention services, which helps them avoid entering the homelessness system entirely.

We engaged 409 neighbors experiencing homelessness through street outreach and provided 581 people with overnight shelter.

This is not all-encompassing, but wanted to give you a sense of the work that we do and the scale with which our partners are able to carry out this work.

I also wanted to highlight some of our recent success of the city's essential home repair program.

Our team completed repairs on 50 homes in 2025, including 29 emergency repairs.

The dots in green on the map are completed projects, while the dots in gray are currently in progress.

And the average cost of these repairs is about 14,500.

I want to point out that our program is focused really on making comprehensive investments to help stabilize a unit over the long term.

We also focus on addressing health hazards like radon and lead-based paint.

So you can really think of our program not only as helping individual homeowners, but also making investments into the long-term viability of the housing stock within our city.

Another major accomplishment of 2025 was that we brought on a new team to help build our capacity to responding to lead-based paint hazards.

That team will be preparing to apply for a large lead hazard reduction grant from HUD, which would bring new resources to our community to help remove lead-based paint from homes in our community.

And we are really excited that late last year you all allocated an additional $2 million to this program.

Last year we will we were able to scale up, and in 2025, like I said, we completed 50 or repairs on 50 homes, and that includes multiple repairs within individual units.

Right now we have more than double this number of units in our pipeline and are excited to reach even more households in 2026 than we did in 2025.

So we want to thank the council for this additional funding to add to the program, which allows us to expand what we're doing and respond quickly in emergency situations.

Finally, I also want to highlight some of the work that our grant teams have done over the last year.

In 2025, our team really focused on streamlining processes and reducing barriers for new organizations interested in applying for these funds.

We revised our application process and introduced a simpler letter of intent or LOI process where interested groups could send us their project ideas in advance, and we could use that information to determine eligibility on the front end so that these groups would not have to spend a bunch of time putting together an application, which can be pretty robust.

We also created an online application instead of historically having email submissions.

We extended the application window for applicants and lined up our timelines to have shared due dates.

Our team hosted in-person trainings and an application information session, and we also hosted quarterly project sponsor roundtables, and we regularly meet with prospective applicants outside of application cycles to provide technical assistance and talk through different grant requirements.

So thanks to these updates, we saw an increase in the number of interested organizations.

For context, in 2024, we received 33 applications for home and CDBG funding.

In 2025, we received 54 LOIs for home and CDBG funding.

So we know that there is a need for affordable housing throughout our city, and we're looking at our processes to see how we can reduce as many barriers as possible.

So that application process is what led us to the recommendations before you tonight in the 2026 action plan.

For the home and CDBG development of affordable housing application, we set our priorities based on both neighborhood factors as well as project specific factors.

So neighborhood factors included things like proximity to transit or multimodal transportation like trails, greenways, and bike lanes.

We also prioritize locations without existing affordable housing, and then also proximity to neighborhood amenities like schools, health care, and grocery stores.

On the project specific factor side of things, we really prioritize permanent supportive housing for households exiting homelessness, as well as projects that have more units available for lower income households and a variety of bedroom counts.

So we are especially interested in three and four bedroom units for families.

This slide provides a summary of the proposed 2026 action plan budget.

In 2026, we're planning on allocating approximately 21 million dollars.

As we've done in prior years, this includes rollover from past year as well as our expected 2026 award amounts from HUD.

This is based on anticipated award amounts.

We actually, as a reminder, we do not know the actual amounts that we will receive from HUD until HUD issues that grant award.

But we must move forward with our planning process in order to be eligible to receive these funds each year.

So as you can see, the vast majority of funding is going towards affordable rental and home ownership opportunities.

And this is a little bit more of a visual representation on this slide.

So the dark blue on the right is the amount of funding going towards affordable housing initiatives at 49%.

6% is going towards homelessness services, and I want to note that this is separate from the largest source of homelessness assistance funding that we receive.

That's the continuum of care grant.

The funding source before you tonight is complementary to that funding source, which is a separate $15 million pool.

14% of our funding is planned for essential home repair, 11% is planned for housing opportunities for persons with AIDS, about 4% for job training and youth employment, about 1% for demolition and brownfield remediation, about 4% plan for a Section 108 payment on prior year infrastructure work, 10% plan for city admin, and about 1% plan for nonprofit operating costs outside of the program delivery that's already included in those contracts.

On this map, you can see the distribution of all of our projects since 2016.

The stars on there, it's kind of hard for folks in the audience to see, but hopefully your maps are a little bit bigger.

But the stars include the projects that are for the 2026 action plan.

The red dots are all of the projects since 2016.

And I also want to note that this does not include certain programs that are available countywide, like our home repair program, affordable mortgage products, down payment assistance, job training, youth employment, all of those are available countywide.

And this map also does not include ESG or HOPWA.

This is just those development grants.

So in order to meet the federal requirements for the 2026 action plan and receive these funds from HUD, we released a draft of our action plan for public comment on January 15th.

That public comment period will end on February 12th, and then we will submit to HUD for final approval as soon as we're allowed.

So our team has to wait until those award amounts from HUD are finalized, and then we can submit.

So we will be opening up our application round for 2027 funding this summer.

So any organizations that are interested in applying can keep an eye out for that LOI sometime, probably in July.

So with that, I would like to thank you all for your time this evening.

Um you can use the QR code, and that will link to our website where you can learn more about our grant programs and sign up for our email announcements.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions from the committee.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

Uh comments or questions from uh counselors.

Please.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh just a quick question.

So in previous years, uh at the after this slide, we would get a summary of proposed activity.

So you have the the big buckets, but it was more of a spreadsheet with like the specific projects.

Is that available for 26?

Yes, yeah.

Um that should be in attachment A on the council proposal, but if that was not um included or something along those lines, I can absolutely send that and circulate that around.

Um thank you, Mr.

Chairman, and thank you for your presentation.

Um, Counselor Cahill somewhat and um asked my question, but then also just in comparison, uh, how does the Hopwa dollars compare to last year?

Is that a decrease?

Just curious.

So we generally budget pretty conservatively and assume that we will receive a decrease each year in all of our grants.

Um historically, Hopwa has actually been the grant that has increased over time when the other grant programs decrease.

Um it is a program that is well supported by HUD and is definitely one that we anticipate, like I said, we budget for conservatively, and then if we have additional resources, we allocate to those partners.

Thank you.

Counselor Delaney.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um I don't know if you have a list of the funding sources for each one of these grants that you're doing, what state fund, federal fund, local tax source.

I'd be really interested to know, you know, the origin of the money and how how we're how it's coming into the city.

Yeah, so are you asking for each of the individual projects, kind of the other funding sources that bring those projects to life?

Sure.

I just know some of its federal funds.

I'm interested in like the flow of money, like how much is coming in from the federal government for these programs, how much is coming in from the state and and essentially like where it's going.

So thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

So we um as part of our underwriting process during the application phase, our team looks into all of the different funding going into these construction projects as well as the social service projects to see make sure that this project can actually get to the finish line, that it has enough resources going towards it while also not um over subsidizing projects either.

Um so that's part of our underwriting process, and so we can definitely provide that information to you for each specific project, what other funds are leveraged, what other funds are matched when it comes to these HUD dollars.

Council Gibson, I think you had your Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

My question was long lines of uh councilwoman Delaney.

Uh what's going on in Washington uh uh uh I guess how uh certain are we uh are we on the funding from from Washington uh I know like with any napalys housing authority, they they they've taken a major hit from from from what's going on in Washington.

So how confident that we will get the kind of funding we think we would get from Washington.

Yeah, we actually got really good news last week.

Um so it looks like all of these programs will at minimum remain the same federally next year.

Um so we feel really good about these federal entitlement grants.

Um and then we also apply for the COC program, and so that application has been submitted and we're waiting to hear from HUD on that program as well.

Um so at this point in time it looks like things are gonna be business as usual come 2026 at the federal level for these grants specifically.

That's encouraging.

Uh one other question, Mr.

Chairman.

Um I look at the budget line item for demolition brownfields, that demolition or brownfield or brownfields that has to be included in the process for the demolition.

Um it could be demolition or brownfield remediation, and so those kind of come up at an ad hoc basis where if there is a need that arises during our 2026 program year, this pool of funds gives us the opportunity to move quickly as opposed to having to go through a full amendment process, which can take many, many months to get HUD's approval, if that makes sense.

And could that demolition be for a potential development for affordable housing?

Yes, yeah.

So that could be a pre-development cost for an affordable housing project, absolutely.

And what is the competitive process for that?

For the demolition.

Um we have a small pool set aside for DMD in case there is a specific community need.

Um otherwise, it could apply through our July application round.

So if there's a community-based group that has a long-standing um blighted property within their community, they could apply through that process um for funding in 2027.

Thank you.

Good.

Uh Council Nielsen.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh thank you for being here.

Um I had a question on the homeowner repair program.

So um on slide 12, you said you complete a repairs at 50 homes.

Do you know about how many people that was?

I don't have that offhand, but I can definitely get that data.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Um, and as a as a follow-up, I know when so in the spring fiscal we provided the two million dollars for the program.

And I know one of the the pieces of concern, I think on our end was that, and obviously please correct me if I'm wrong, is that the federal program requires that a lien be placed on the household that's receiving the services?

So uh, and part of the reason of providing some you know clean, flexible local dollars was to obviously expand the program, but they get kind of around that that the requirement.

So, how has the is the department put this two extra two million?

I know in your budget it was at like two point eight.

So I guess how much of the two point eight is uh rollover of the two million that we appropriated, and then how are those two million dollars being used kind of given those concerns?

Yeah, so I think there are a couple different points to that.

Um first thing I do want to clarify is that DMD is carrying out the program consistently between um local dollars and C D BG dollars.

So if you are a homeowner, you go through the same application process, you go through the same income qualification process to make sure that homeowners are qualified and that you're up to date on your property taxes.

And part of that too is that to protect the city's investment in the unit, we do place that um 30-year forgivable mortgage on the property so that if the city is making this investment of $15,000, the very next year you're not gonna sell your house and and make a profit on that.

Um it is based on the net sale proceeds.

So if somebody is not making a profit on the sale of their home, that is forgiven.

So we are really only recouping if somebody is making a profit on the sale of their home and selling within that 30-year period, and that is one way that we can recycle these dollars, whether it be CDBG or local dollars for long-term sustainability, recognizing that um to uh a pass point that federally CDBG has been declining over many decades, and so we just want to make sure that this is a resource available to our community long term.

So I know that was one point I wanted to clarify was that we do have that same process, regardless of if you receive CDBG or if you receive local dollars, you get the same program and you get the same experience going through.

That being said, the local dollars do give us a lot more flexibility to respond to emergency repairs quickly.

And we know that in the winter time, if it takes 90 days, that is not going to help you get a furnace when it is this cold out.

And so the local dollars let us respond within days to fix that furnace as opposed to months with the HUD dollars.

So we've really been prioritizing it so that the HUD dollars are for those lead-based paint repairs that can be pretty large and comprehensive, as well as more of the the kind of standard repairs, if that makes sense.

Um we have um we we are trying to treat all clients within our pipeline so that they have the same experience going through the process, if that makes sense.

Please.

Thank you, Chairman.

Um is the 30-year forgivable mortgage on all program all products that are provided in the plan?

The 30-year forgivable mortgage is applicable to all homeowner repair projects.

And that was the other piece of the state.

Okay.

And then their home is their only source of being able to pass down any kind of wealth to their I mean their heirs.

So I just I I under I recognize the position that the city is in on this, but it it seems a little targeted that for for again for households who really have no other option and they're utilizing this program.

I mean, you're talking about 80% below AMI for these programs.

I I just am st I'm just struggling with that, that we would choose to collect on someone who would be in that situation.

And so I I really don't think that's the intent of the two million dollars candidly that we gave the department because we were specifically concerned about this exact piece, and so um I'm really worried about that, because I think that's kind of antithetical to what we were trying to accomplish.

Um I don't know what I don't know what response you have there, but that's it's a little concerning.

Yeah, and I think that has been uh it has been an ongoing conversation with community partners as well as um policymakers for many many years on how to structure this essential program.

Um I think if it gives any sort of peace of mind, we only would collect if somebody sells their home and they sell their home for a profit.

It's also a something that could be assumed by an heir.

So if they are staying in that house, we are not collecting on that mortgage.

Um so I think that's an important piece to keep in mind as well is that this is not something that we are proactively going after.

It is not structured like a traditional mortgage where there are monthly payments.

Um it is deferred zero percent interest only upon the transfer of the property.

And so at the point with which the repair is made, uh are the homes assessed?

They are not.

How are you how are you how are you calculating the gain then?

Um so it would be based on what they owe on their first mortgage, their first mortgage lender.

Okay, and then anything that would be left over or not, that would be the net sale proceeds.

So it would be based on how much is owed to that first mortgage lender minus anybody else who's in line in front of us, we are almost always in very, very last position when it came comes to that mortgage product.

Um and if at that point there are no proceeds, then it's completely forgiven.

So if an individual or family owns the house outright, that means if they if the house was sold at any point in time in 30-year period, that proceeds would be recoverable.

Yes.

Okay.

I think you see there that's where the problem is.

Right.

Because that just again, we're not offering that if we provide an individual with an affordable housing unit, but we are on kind of the deepest level of need in our housing spectrum.

Um, and we know that keeping individuals in the home that they're in is the most surefire, sure way that we can keep the unit affordable.

So I I just I think this is gonna be need for further conversation on this because I just don't think that this meets the mandate of what we did in the spring fiscal.

I but colleagues, I encourage us to just to get back to work on this a little bit.

So thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Very good.

Chairman Barth.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Just a quick question on the recent accomplishments when the 24 program year, looking at the adults and youth engaged in job training services.

Do we have the next step beyond that being engaged in job training services as one step by getting employment after that?

Do we know if they have employment and then maintain it after that?

Yeah, we can get that data, absolutely.

Um for I'm assuming you're in most interested in the adult as opposed to the youth.

Okay.

Yeah, we can absolutely get that.

Um our partner on that is employee ND, um, and they often serve the highest barrier clients.

Um they have other funding sources that can pay for services provided to folks who uh register for selected service, and CDBG is really flexible in that it can serve folks any of any level.

Um so we can absolutely get the job retention data as well, um, as well as the training.

Yeah.

I I think someone else asked my original question, but just to piggyback off our counselor Nielsen.

So I I know these grants are extremely important, but also I think it's equally important to understand like a lot of work went into uh drafting this language, ensuring that the dollars were spent in a certain manner.

So just curious if this did not pass this evening, what would that do to your timeline?

And again, not wanting to hurt any of those agencies, but specifically, like I know the folks in that are receiving funding for the Hoppo dollars, like they've already been hit extremely hard with what's happening at the federal level.

So just curious uh again, what would happen if we did not pass this out of committee this evening?

Yes, so I do want to clarify the local dollars are completely separate from this.

So this would just be allocating additional CDBG dollars to the program.

Um and I do want to clarify too, anything related to health is a grant.

So anything lead-based paint, anything radon related, all of that is uh free to homeowners who participate.

Uh leader Maurer.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Counselor Nielsen got me thinking when in his line of question, and my question for you is these repairs that you're providing to folks, and then they're signing a 30-year agreement on this.

How many of these repairs are actually a 30-year life on the repair?

I mean, I'm thinking uh roof doesn't have a 30-year, a 30-year lifespan, water heater certainly doesn't, air airs, air conditioning unit doesn't.

What actually does anything actually have a 30-year life or yeah, I mean I think it's really very specific to the individual repairs.

A lot of the work we do is also stabilizing a foundation.

Um if we are removing lead from a house, that is a permanent fix, as well as um radon mitigation systems, those require ongoing maintenance, but that is a more permanent fix to your point.

Um I think that this is one that um when the city is making an investment into a unit, making sure that those households are not then turning around and flipping the property, I think is to make sure that we are not unintentionally incentivizing neighborhood change in a similar way.

So we want to be sure that we are investing in the long-term stability of these neighborhoods as well.

Yeah, I can appreciate that.

And I I guess I'm similar concern to Councillor Nielsen is that the 30 years seems a bit much for some of these items.

We might be, I mean, uh foundation repair, lead paint, I get that that's obviously gonna be something that's gonna be long term, well over 30 years.

However, some of these items I feel like if we're doing a roof or a water heater AC unit, whatever it may be, it that's that's not a 30-year life and on the product, and they're gonna potentially be replacing it a second time in that 30 years that they're honed in on you too.

So um just maybe I agree with Counselor Nielsen, that's something we look at.

I don't I don't disagree that we there needs to be some sort of you know agreement they're gonna not just turn around and flip it because we're not trying to incentivize somebody just coming in and flipping homes and getting the city to pay for it, but um Council Nielsen brought up a good point, so thank you for your your answer.

Thank you.

Counselor Brown.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um team.

Um turn out any other improvements that you highlighted noticeable.

District.

I just want to say thank you on behalf of the district 13.

And it's rare that District 13 says to say thank you.

Um I did want to ask, I I believe it was late in the year in 2024 at Purdue Polytechnic High School uh in Englewood, actually, where there was a federal convening of different agencies.

And at that convening, uh they mentioned that Indianapolis was the largest municipality in the country that did not yet have the lead hazard reduction capacity building grants.

Um at that point, you know, as much as the federal government can ever do this, they were basically like we promise you you'll get a ton of free money.

Um but to Counselor Gibson's point, I know things have changed in the Federal Government.

Do we have a pretty strong feeling that we're going to get substantial amounts of money thanks to your setting up that team?

Yeah, so that is um a really helpful insight.

I had not actually been able to attend that, so I'm glad to hear that.

Um so we applied for the lead hazard reduction capacity building grant.

Um HUD released this as a new program in the last couple of years, recognizing the complexity that comes along with a lead hazard reduction grant.

So we have that grant now, and we have a three-year period to kind of build our capacity, build the systems, the standard operating procedures and the team to then be able to apply for that grant.

At this point, we feel pretty confident that that office within HUD is gonna be around and that this is going to be uh a bipartisan supported program given that it impacts rural, urban, everybody has lead-based paint within their communities.

And so I think um that team is actively working to get the the program set up and we we're feeling good about our competitiveness in the future.

All right, thank you very much.

And then just a final point, and I'll uh preface this by saying I'm fighting off a head cold um and so maybe just missing something.

But I actually wanted to speak in favor of the forgivable uh 30-year mortgage because I think that the only way we can actually uh achieve truly long-term affordable housing is by decommodifying housing.

And I've seen all over the place in District 13 people who received you know grants, home grants, et cetera, to create new affordable housing, who not because there were predators who are you know just like twirling their mustache planning evil, but just when you have an incentive, you're like, oh, I could make a hundred thousand dollars selling my house and just moving someplace, and times are hard right now, people are gonna take you up on that.

And now all that federal money went to now what is a market rate house until the end of time.

And so we've just you know, I mean, if we want to give a hundred thousand dollars to random constituents, sure, I guess that's a cool program, but it doesn't seem to actually achieve the goal of affordable housing.

I know I bought my house in 2008 thanks to a 15-year um, it wasn't forgivable, uh, but it was just a uh 0% interest, 10% mortgage.

Uh, and so I was 22 years old and and bought the house I still live in today, changed my life, despite the fact that I had to pay that money back because you know, uh like I understand, yes, some of these repairs won't last forever, but if I'm a homeowner today and I need a new HVAC system, I don't 10 years from now, it's not like I didn't need that HVAC system for 10 years, and it still costs what it cost.

And so uh anyway, to me it makes perfect sense, and and I do support it as is, so thank you.

Additional comments.

Uh Council Nielsen.

Thank you, Chairman.

Um I I appreciate uh the the dialogue on this issue.

Um I think Leader Maori uh kind of got at it a little bit better than I did with lining up useful life of repair to maybe the forgivable part.

And I think uh a point that our call uh colleagues should know is there are other providers who do this and do not require a lien as a recipient in order to receive these funds, and we're not seeing these homes continuously flip.

So I'm sensitive to uh what Councilor Brown has said, but just wanted to be sure to emphasize that there are other providers that go even deeper to a lower level of AMI that do not have this lien component to it, and so um I do appreciate the leaders um I think time getting my position a little bit tighter, which is being able to at least at the bare minimum line up the useful life of a repair, having been someone who's gone out and worked on some of these repairs, like oftentimes it is throwing on an extra set of paint or repairing some boards and doing some of those other things that I don't believe have a 30-year useful life, and I just disagree should be recoverable by the city um after they reach their useful life.

But um, thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Additional comments.

I have a few questions myself.

What are the number of units that we have in line right now with the additional two million dollars that have been um provided?

Specifically for home repair?

Yes.

Um so we have about 1.5 million in the pipeline.

Um in terms of the number of projects that have been approved, so they are income qualified uh to not yet complete in our system is 184.

And that's as of last week, so it may have changed a little bit.

What would our capacity be if there were additional funds that were secured?

We would, I think struggle the most with contractor capacity right now.

Um we have issued an RFQ for um contractors who want to be part of this program.

Um and one of the biggest challenges is finding those led certified contractors, and that's part of that capacity building grant, is making sure that we have enough contractors who can carry out this work.

I think there is absolutely a need within the community, and our team could absolutely deliver and and be able to provide these essential repair services to homeowners in need.

Um I think the winter time is particularly busy for our team.

Um we do the most emergencies this time of year.

But then during the summer, too, if somebody's sewer lateral collapses or something like that, that's another way that we can move really quickly with local dollars to be able to address community needs.

Um if you could just estimate what do you think our capacity could be, given the contractors that we currently work with, what number would we be looking at?

In terms of number of households to be able to be served in 2026?

Yes.

Who if you need time, uh maybe we can you can send something uh to the to the committee.

If you don't mind if we can take a look at that, yeah.

I am curious because there is a great deal of effort uh to raise additional funds for this uh for this work.

Uh there's a great need in so many of our uh neighborhoods.

And before our our our our cup runneth over, we would like to know what the the rim of that cup looks like.

If you follow me.

Yeah.

Um and then just based on earlier conversations this you know at the meeting this evening, I know that we do have certain requirements on the federal, you know, on the federal uh dollars.

Uh but I think this uh keeping that all the same is really by practice.

It's not it's not a requirement.

Is that correct?

With the 30-year-old, that is correct.

So I I think um, you know, I've I've spoken with a number of of uh residents in my in my district about this over the course of the last few months and have asked why many have not applied.

And they have said, in the majority, that it's a disincentive.

And I know I have spoken with the director about this over the course of the last few months.

And while I understand it, I too am concerned about the 30-year component on repairs of things that have a shorter lifespan.

So I think that there is an opportunity for all of us to have a discussion amongst you know a council members and with your staff to look at either the scrapping of that for the two million or a reduction in number.

Because when I hear constituents say that it is a disincentive, that I don't want something on my house for 30 years.

You know, I'm I'm 75 years old, I'm 80 years old.

Um it it it's very meaningful.

So I think there is room for us to have a discussion on what makes sense and what best practices there are across this country on products such as this.

So I just wanted to put that um uh in front of you all uh before we go on.

Are there any additional comments from counselors?

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh I would ask to abstain from this vote tonight for conflict interests.

Thank you.

Very good, thank you.

All right, counselors.

Before we open the floor to public comment, we would like to remind committee members and the public of a few ground rules so everyone can have a fair chance to speak and be heard.

It is important that we each observe the following rules.

First, each speaker will be limited to two minutes.

Second, any public comment must reasonably relate to the agenda item under consideration.

Third, speakers who stray away from the item under consideration or become unduly repetitious may be asked to move on to their next point or conclude their comments.

Finally, attendees who cause disruptions that prevent the committee from proceeding through tonight's agenda in a reasonably efficient manner will be removed.

Please remember that some types of threatening speech or enticement to violence are not protected by the First Amendment at all.

We will deal with those issues if they come up.

First, we have Belinda Drake.

Or I can wait.

If you don't mind, then uh Ms.

Drake, if if we can get through this proposal in the next one, and then I'll Okay, very good.

Please feel Votar.

Chairman Osley, uh, esteemed members of the council.

My name is Phil Votal, and I am the acting director at Near North Development Corporation.

Uh for more than 40 years, uh community development corporations have used Federal home and C D B G subsidies to make affordable housing projects possible in Indianapolis.

And we do really appreciate the relationship and the partnership we have with the city staff at DMD.

And they help they help make our job easier and they share our mission in doing affordable housing in in urban neighborhoods.

Just as an example of one of one of the kinds of projects that we've done with federal funding over the years.

We had 19 new units that we built for uh first-time home buyers.

We used $161,000 in, I think it was CDBG subsidy, and that made those units affordable to the buyers who were less than 80% area median income.

And they matched that funding with two and a half million dollars in mortgages.

That project also brought in over $600,000 in private funding that was also part of the project.

And that all happened in the Crown Hill neighborhood.

Also wanted to talk about uh a CDBG project that uh we're pleased to have developed a pilot program using CDBG to assist uh landlords who house low to moderate income renters to make repairs to keep their properties uh affordable to those renters and and there is an affordability period with those funds as well.

And uh I just want to say none of these developments or none of the projects that we do in urban Indianapolis would be possible without the federal fund, specifically home and CDBG.

Thank you for your time.

Very good, thank you very much.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to try to respond to them.

Very good.

Any questions?

Mr.

Voto.

All right, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Yes.

Next we have Emmy Heidelbrand.

Good evening.

I am Emmy Hildebrand.

I'm the CEO of HVAF of Indiana, helping veterans and families.

For more than 30 years, we've been providing housing, hope, and self-sufficiency to veterans facing homelessness here in Indianapolis.

I'm here tonight in support of the 2026 action plan, specifically the assistance that it provides to homeless service providers like HVAF.

We serve nearly 1,400 veterans annually in our housing, employment, and basic needs assistance programs.

And the emergency solutions grant fills an important gap in funding for veterans, especially the National Guard and Reserve, who are not entitled to federal assistance if they become homeless.

We use this grant to provide rapid rehousing assistance, so we work with veterans who are literally homeless here on the streets of Indianapolis.

We find them a safe and affordable apartment and provide time-limited rental assistance to stabilize that family.

So thank you for your support of the work that we are doing.

Um the emergency solutions grant, as I said, fills a critical gap.

It has contributed to a 70 percent reduction in veteran homelessness over the last 10 years.

So it's very important to agencies like HVAF.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Any comments from counselors?

Very good.

Uh Millie Kennedy.

Good evening.

My name is Malayle Kennedy, and I'm executive director of Genesar at Free Clinics.

Uh I'm proud to be here as a recommended recipient of the emergency solutions grant funding.

And thank you to the community investments team for your leadership and for recognizing uh programs that stabilize some of our community's most vulnerable residents.

Uh Genesaret's Health Recovery Homes, and we have three, um, are designated emergency shelters that provide medical respite care for individuals experiencing homelessness, and who are also too ill to recover on the streets or in traditional shelters, but no longer require hospitalization.

Clients stay an average of 60 days during which they receive safe place to heal, medication support, uh care coordination, and intensive case management services that previous them for success.

The need for this level of care continues to rise, and the unprecedented demand for medical respite services underscores both the growing medical need and the complexity of the population we serve.

And it's critical roles like these that we play in preventing hospital readmissions and supporting the systems-wide efficiencies.

ESG funding is budget relieving and essential to sustaining the work that we do.

These dollars offset overhead expenses, including utilities, and support the direct services and the time that our registered nurses and caseworkers provide daily uh to stabilize and guide our residents.

Um I respectfully urge you all to um support the community investment fund recommendations.

Um this ensures that medically fragile neighbors have the opportunity to recover with dignity while strengthening the health and housing systems our entire community depends on.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Any comments from counselors?

All right.

Additional comments.

Okay.

Fellow counselors.

Councillor Gibson.

Mr.

Chairman, I move that we send proposal number 38 to the full council for final adoption.

Second.

All those in favor, please signify by aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right, that motion carries.

Thank you.

The next item on agenda is proposal number 39, which amends chapters 740, 741, and 742 of the code pertaining to flood control, stormwater management, and the well field secondary district of the consolidated zoning and subdivision control ordinance.

Who's here to speak on that?

Hello, Mr.

Chairman Shannon Norman from the Department of Metropolitan Development, Principal Planner for Ordinances and Code Revision.

Welcome.

I appreciate it because I think that ordinance amendments are kind of dense.

I put my obligatory slide in for all of the alphabet soup that is to come between the federal, state, and local agencies.

I do apologize.

So tonight I'm here to talk to you about proposed amendments to Indie Rezone, which is the consolidated zoning and subdivision ordinance for Indianapolis Marion County.

General Ordinance Proposal 39 specifically deals with flood control districts, stormwater management, and well fields as related to the well field secondary district.

Again, a lot of alphabet soup, but I hope you can use the presentation as a guide to understand some of those things as we go through.

So the facts of the case in this in terms of this amendment are very simple.

All of the amendments being proposed through this legislation have been prompted by regulatory changes.

Departments like the business and neighborhood services and DPW work with DMD to make sure that any time we have a structured permit with a state or federal agency, we continue to update the ordinance, the zoning ordinance to reflect those changes in the revised code as well.

And many of you on this committee have heard the changes to the flood control prevention ordinance in 2024, and this seeks to mirror some of those changes and to sort of decouple what was once just part of the zoning ordinance is now part of the revised code.

Indy rezone works in sync with federal and state regulations.

When these regulations change, we may need to change the zoning ordinance to do two things to prevent or to mitigate any conflict with what is written in those permits that the city has applied for and been awarded.

So what guided these proposed amendments?

We started working on this in 2024 because the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services sought to create a standalone ordinance to address flood control and prevention.

The updated FEMA guidelines, the Federal Emergency Management Associate Agency, excuse me, prompted us to think about floodplains in terms of what permitting looks like versus what just development standards looks like.

And as I said, you will remember that the revised code was updated to add chapter 565 in 2024.

In the same vein, the Depubli Department of Public Works recently updated the city's stormwater design and construction specifications manual per guidance from IDEM.

And in doing so, in updating the permit, it was necessary to look at the zoning ordinance and make sure that the language either mirrored or uh carved a space uh for these regulations for stormwater design and construction in the subdivision ordinance.

And also recent updates from EPA and IDEM regarding injection wells prompted updating of the well-filled secondary district to make sure that our uh well-filled district language actually met up with with what is required from the federal government was an increasingly important issue through our well-field review with uh the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services and our technically qualified person, which is also uh in the zoning ordinance.

So these guiding regulations, as I mentioned, we have a flood control secondary district, or some people may know it as an overlay.

This secondary district establishes uh rules for developing in a flood control area.

Um at present, it also regulates permitting for those areas, but as we know, BNS through their floodplain administrator actually administers those permits.

So decoupling it from the zoning ordinance only makes sense because we now have actual regulations in the revised code to handle that permitting.

The same thing is true with the well field secondary district.

EPA says standards uh that must be met in the permitting process in the review process, and we simply are amending the ordinance so it doesn't stand in the way of fully realizing those technical reviews that aren't necessarily done by planners and DMD, but our colleagues in BNS.

And then again, the stormwater management standards, as the council heard last year, there was a complete um fiscal analysis done for the changes in the stormwater construction and specifications manual detailing the effects of those changes uh potentially to homeowners or to uh businesses that had to comply with federal regulations, and in doing so that document was approved for the Department of Public Works.

So one of the things we sought to do during the process of revising the ordinance uh was work with our sister agencies, BNS and DPW, and also a consultant to make sure that when we were creating the zoning portion of this, um we actually had language uh that mirrored and synced up with the 2025 permits, which is very important to us.

Um so there were a lot of questions asked.

MDC gave us a lot of great questions.

Uh we were able to answer, and I provided those to you ahead of time with the packet.

We've also had a public comment period open um since December the third to capture anything that may come in from folks, and that was reflected in the packet as well.

Um the main thing I think was this took a village to explain the technical aspects, uh, folks from engineering firms, uh, DPW gave us a lot of great support on understanding what these changes could mean to the work that DPW and BNS do uh along with rezoning petitions or variance petitions.

So it was very important to make sure that we had all of our I's dotted and Ts crossed in that process.

So uh we are here before you tonight uh with the digest of those changes which you received in your packet um for a full hearing on questions you may have, things that may be different from other uh regulatory bodies.

I'm happy to talk to you about that.

But um, we hope to answer those questions for this committee and uh move forward this evening to the full council.

With that, I'll take any questions.

Thank you very much.

Other questions.

Uh Chairman Barth.

Thank you.

Thank you, Shannon.

Um all the supplemental material you provided is very detailed, and I appreciate that.

Just um at the highest possible level, we're just coming in line with other requirements.

Is that is that accurate?

100%.

That is accurate.

Um I was gonna say just very briefly uh getting those permits from EPA, um, IDEM FEMA requires timely audits for the city, and all of these uh proposed ordinance revisions were results of those audits.

So at the highest level, we want to comply with state and federal regulations and then on a city level create a uh a parity of similarity amongst the language of all of our regulatory documents, um, and I believe this accomplishes that.

My um the biggest issue I have regarding flooding is in Rocky Ripple, which I've been uh working on for quite a long time.

Um looking through here, it doesn't seem like that would affect that project.

Is that correct?

I don't believe so.

I don't believe that anything that is currently in the pipeline would be affected by these changes.

This would be from adoption forward.

Okay.

So again, it's about compliance.

It's about uh being able to participate in the national flood insurance program, those things moving forward.

But I don't believe that it would affect a project that is currently in the pipe.

Okay, I'm I'm not a technical expert on some of these matters, but just looking through it, it doesn't appear that it would be.

And just my biggest concern when it comes to any changes regarding um flight controls that it would further delay um any planning in Rocky Ripple.

So it seems like that's fine, so thank you.

Very good.

Additional comments from counselors.

Before we open the floor to public comment, we would like to remind committee members and public of a few ground rules so everyone can have a fair chance to speak and be heard.

It is important that we observe each of the following rules.

First, each speaker will be limited to two minutes.

Second, any public comment must reasonably relate to the agenda item under consideration.

Third, speakers who stray away from items under consideration or become unduly repetitious may be asked to move on to their next point or conclude their comments.

Finally, attendees who cause disruptions that prevent the committee from proceeding through tonight's agenda in a reasonably efficient manner will be removed.

Please remember that some types of threatening speech or enticement to violence are not protected by the First Amendment at all.

We will deal with those issues if they come up.

Yeah.

All right.

Um again, my name is Belinda Drake, and I'm a community leader in Center Township.

And I again appreciate the opportunity just to say a few words today, and I promise to be brief.

Thank you all for the opportunity to have served five terms on the Board of Business and Neighborhood Services.

It has been a true honor to serve our city, and I'm grateful for the trust that you all placed in me.

As I step down today, um, I'm proud that our work stayed grounded in fairness, responsive service, and accountability that showed up in code enforcement, including highways and grass.

It may seem small, but we all know it improves safety, protects property values, and helps our neighbors neighbors feel cared for.

I also want to take a moment to thank uh Dr.

I'm Director uh Brands, who's not here today, but some of her colleagues are in the entire BNS team for their professionalism, responsiveness, and commitment to good government has been uh truly a pleasure working alongside each of you.

While I am stepping down from this role today, I do want to say that I remain committed to the city of Indianapolis and to supporting safe neighborhoods, strong consumer protections, and a city government that works for everyone.

Thank you all again for the opportunity to be of service.

Thank you very much, Ms.

Drake, for your service.

Any additional comments?

Okay, Gina Miller.

Joel Bowling.

All right, very good.

Well additional comments from counselors, Senator President.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

I move proposal number 39 to the full council that do pass recommendation.

All right.

Motion's been properly moved and seconded.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Nay.

Very good.

Uh motion carries.

Um is there any additional business for this evening?

All right, hearing none, may I have a motion to adjourn?

All right, all thank you very much.