Thank you very much.

Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming to this evening's meeting of the Housing and Urban Development Community Development Committee Thursday, July 9th.

And I'd like to call the meeting to order.

And with that, I'd like to start off with introductions on my left.

Good evening, Michelle Lara Citizen District Three.

Bob Winchester, Institutions.

Tracy Chandler, Citizen, District One.

Renita Bolin, District Six.

Scott is Bjornsson, District Two and Chair.

Daniel Jeffries, representing the Tulsa Planning Office.

Thank you all very much.

And thank you, everyone, for um coming out this evening.

And with that, we need a motion for approval of the minutes of March 31st, 2026 meeting.

I will move.

Thank you, Tracy.

Do I have a second?

I second.

Thank you.

All in favor?

No one opposed.

Great.

Thank you very much.

And our next business is election of new officers.

And for that, I would like to nominate Michelle Laura as chair.

Michelle, do you accept the nomination?

Yes, I accept the nomination.

Thank you.

Do we have anyone else?

No?

Do we have a second?

I second that nomination.

All in favor?

Aye.

Wonderful.

Michelle, you'll be our chair at the next meeting.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

And I believe we uh need a vice chair for which I'm willing to serve in that role.

Would you care to nominate?

I move to nominate Scott for chair.

Or vice chair, excuse me.

All in favor?

Aye.

Thank you very much.

And with that, we will start needs assessment presentation.

Good evening.

Uh Reese Williams with Grants Administration.

Hopefully, this shouldn't take too long.

Unfortunately, Derek has moved positions in the city, so you're back to me, guys.

So this is a short presentation on a 2027 um needs assessment public hearing.

Um I should probably start by reminding you guys that about, you know, twenty-four, eighteen months ago, we went through a lengthy consolidated plan, five-year planning process to develop the needs for the five-year plan.

Um, June 30th, that was the end of our first year.

So we don't have a lot of substantial data yet.

Uh reports year end reports are not due until the end of this month.

So and we just started year two.

Um, what you're probably gonna see is there's not a lot of changes between the needs that we substantiated for the five-year plan and what we're proposing to move forward into year three.

Um, we receive funds annually from HAD to carry out uh activities that primarily benefit lower moderate income people and individuals and households.

Uh the intent of that plan then, like I said, is to develop five-year goals and needs.

Um, there's a lot of things in there.

Economic development, your physical activities.

You know, it includes environmental community.

So, so like I said, it's a it's a lengthy process that we go through.

Then each year we update that five-year plan with an annual action plan.

So, like I said, we've just started the second year of our annual action plan.

Um, that annual action plan says hey, what we're gonna do with the money that we've received that year.

So, right now what we're working on here is developing those needs.

So in the fall, we'll go through an RFE process to then develop more projects for the next year starting, July 1st, 2027.

Yeah, yeah, we're in 2026, yeah, because it gone by too quick.

Uh so that'll be the third year.

Hopefully, like this time next year we'll have some sufficient data on years one and year two that we can kind of show hey, this is where we're moving along on these goals and these needs.

Um all this is outlined and I'll say the ordinance uh title twelve chapter eight.

If anybody's so wishes to want to read it, you can scan the QR code and it'll take you there.

Um after this hearing, uh we'll take into consideration any comments from the public and any written comments that were submitted before developing a priority needs statement that will be submitted to the main city council for approval.

That priority needs statement then will be included in our next year's request for proposals.

So our 2025-2029 priority needs that we developed during the plan.

There were nine priorities identified, they were affordable housing units, uh housing assistance, homeless services, neighborhood investments, assistance for people fleeing and experiencing domestic violence, mental health treatment, assistance for those with disabilities, services for low-income households to meet basic needs and job creation and employment opportunities.

I can tell you now, everybody understands you know we're currently in a massive cost of living crisis, so we haven't solved these problems, so they still all exist.

Um the 2026 goals that we developed from those priority needs were acquisition of new construction and affordable housing, uh rental housing rehabilitation, both rental and homeowner, uh homelessness services, housing for services with people with HIV aids.

That is specifically because we have a hopper grant which is targeted at that population, services for special populations, services for low-income populations, public infrastructure and facility improvements, clearance and demo, small business loans, and employment opportunities.

So just a timeline of the HED activities.

Um, like I said, our first year is just ended.

Uh we have now 90 days to submit a report.

A report is due to HED, uh a consolidated annual performance and evaluation report or KPED as it's more commonly known, is due to HED on the 28th of September.

So we're waiting for year-end reports from all our sub recipients to show you know what what their goals were and what they what they actually achieved.

Uh we're right here now as a year has just begun, and we're having our needs assessment for 2027.

Uh as I said, the we'll have a public hearing on OKA on September 10th, and then the request for proposal will start this whole process all over again.

Um, and that'll start sometime in September and end in April when the City Council approves the final recommendations.

Uh currently our plan is our plan was submitted to HUD for year two.

Um we have been told it has been approved because we didn't receive any confirmation from them.

Uh they have 45 days from the date that we submit the plan to approve the plan.

We have yet to receive any confirmation from them, although we did receive an email recently that said yes, if it's not approved after 45 days, there's automatically approved.

But in the HED system, it still shows us pending review, and we do not have grant agreements yet for uh for this year.

So until we have grant agreements from HED, we cannot execute any sub recipient agreements, so everything's kind of on hold for year two at the moment.

Rahith, can I ask you is that has that normally happened in the past as far as that kind of delay or um I think sometimes what happens is like the city's fiscal year is July one and the federal fiscal year is October one.

And sometimes we see this delay and we tend to get them maybe a little bit closer to the start, like maybe August September.

So it's not uncommon that it's not uncommon for us to not have a grant agreement.

What is strange is the fact that a plan hasn't been approved.

Because usually we get our plan approved within the 45 day process um and then we just sit and wait.

They the Oklahoma field office which sends out like they have to wait on had HQ in DC to send out the grant agreements and that can't be done until the plan is approved.

So we're not a hundred percent sure what the delay is we're not the only ones that so I don't think it's unique to City of Telstra I think it's um I think this is a cause and effect of a lot of the people are left HUD and the the cut in of all the stuff there that we are now seeing that people we actually needed those people to get things done.

Thank you.

So how many days has it been um I have forty five days was up June nineteenth I think.

So yeah so we are substantially behind um getting our plan approved but like I said we we have an email from HUD from Rocklow field office that confirms that the plan if it wasn't approved we would have received notification saying it wasn't approved so it is automatically approved after 45 days.

There's nothing in there that I could say that would jump out and be like no this is why we didn't approve it.

It's you know we're funding the same projects that we have for a long time so I'm not sure um like I said last year with our grant agreements there was um there were several addendums added to our grant agreements regarding like Immigration and abortion and and all these things you know we can't serve people that are not that citizens but then had provided no guidance on how we were to do that you know for example you know we fund street outreach for homelessness so how people who are homeless who don't have any identification are able to prove that they are legal residents you know I think there was a grand sweep in don't do this without any foresight into how we could actually implement it and it's been a year and we've received zero guidance.

So um yeah.

Would the outstanding grant agreements be related to funding that has already gone through the budgetary process.

Okay so we already know that the money is has been allocated.

Correct yeah okay yeah the appropriations have been put in place so that the money is there um every year I find it very strange because it's a formula grant and they tweak that formula but you would think well you know how much you you put that amount into the formula and it spits out and says boom this is how much everybody's getting um so we actually know how much we get in so that is out um but we just don't have a grant agreement so they they did they did all that so we were able to go through the city's appropriations process and all those projects were added into the but into the budget so that was passed and we have all the money in place to execute agreements we just don't have a grant agreement from HUDs for us to be able to and as we tell our sub recipients you know they we don't think there's gonna be a problem with our plan and they can start spending money and the effective date will be July 1 because that's the start of our program year like we can reimburse back to July 1 but they're obviously spending at their own risk in the off chance that something does get disapproved for I don't think that's gonna be the case.

So we've received the funds we have not received the funds but they the formula, so the CPD allocations have been posted.

So they've done that process, which so that's what's that's what's kind of odd to me is like they know how much everybody's getting and plans have been submitted, yet we still don't have grant agreements.

Yeah, the funds got approved through the federal budgeting process.

Right.

I'm just wondering if we don't have the approved agreement, at what point do we receive the funds?

Right.

That's um so we have to because we re we reimbursement basis, so we never we never get the funds up front.

So we just get a grant agreement saying, hey, you know, the federal government is on the hook to reimburse us this amount and it gets put into HUDs on online portal and we fund the projects, and then monthly we uh shore up and say, right, this is what we spent this month, and we do a draw from the federal government.

Thank you for that clarification.

That's helpful.

Yes.

Can I ask um what does the RFP process look like?

I see September through April is that monthly meetings, um, not necessarily.

So we uh we require to have three mandatory grant meetings.

So they'll be they'll be posted for everyone on our mailing list and we'll post that out through social media.

Um so anybody who wants to apply for a grant for next year has to come to their meeting.

But um, I should clarify this organizations, not individuals, we don't do individual grants.

Sometimes we get individual show up to those meetings.

So this is for nonprofit organizations that want to apply.

Um that'll take place September time, we'll release the RFP.

The RFP is usually due then sometime in in October.

Then we go through a series of recruiting reviewers.

Uh we like we have to put an ordinance, have four separate reviewers that are one person from grants administration and four other people review the applications.

We aggregate all those scores and then in early 2026 we'll have some meetings to go through recommendations.

So it's just a lengthy process because we have to backdate from May 15th when the plan is due.

Um then we said the city council put ordinance have until the second Thursday in April, so we have to keep going back from all those dates to allow like we have to get 45 days for applications to be submitted.

So that's what kind of makes it a lengthy process.

How long does an organization have to be in existence before they can receive funds?

As long as they're registered 501c3.

Um now we do an organizational capacity review.

Um like we we look at the organization and make sure you know they what we believe federal grants are not for everybody.

Um, you know, they take a lot to administer, so like you have to have an organizational capacity to be able to do that.

So that's something that grants administration does every year.

We look at those organizations and we provide that information onto the committee, you know, and that's that's everybody that's that's established, you know, organizations as well, you know.

If there's been deficiencies, we let you guys know.

Um so yeah, there's no there's no time frame as long as they are registered 501c3.

And the capacity.

And they have capacity, correct.

Any further questions?

No.

Then we need a motion and a vote.

Um, just so there's our contact information just in case um, you know, people can, you know, always submit input to grants administration um on needs.

We do have before you go into the public hearing, we did get two written comments submitted.

Um was uh one was related to housing stability needs for families with young children, children under five years old, um and funding those and making sure you know where where you have families that are below the federal poverty guideline, like looking at that where there's children in the house and the five years old and the other was related to continued funding for transportation services for low-income people to access health services.

So, just wanted to put that out there that we did receive both of those would fall under the current goals and needs that we have.

You said there was contact information.

Yeah, so if anybody wants to call them talking grounds administration, there's a there's a there's our info.

I mean, they can email us, they can call us if they want to send us a letter, they can, but I recommend that they email is probably the quickest way to get a response.

So, so if we're done, we need a motion to enter the program year twenty seven priority needs public hearing.

I saw move.

Do I have a second?

My second.

All in favor?

I great.

We are now in public hearing.

Do we have any speakers?

Rose?

Yeah, it's Rose.

Hello, everyone.

Um good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about the 2027 plan.

As I was uh making my notes, I thought for over two decades, I've had the privilege of working with the city of Tulsa, people like you and the community to advocate for economic development, job creation, and employment opportunities enabled by small businesses and the loans that uh are available through the community development block grant program and other resources.

And tonight I continue to do the same.

I continue to support and request and advocate for continued investment in small businesses, particularly in low-income communities, because you all know that strong local businesses are essential to building strong neighborhoods.

Small companies do far more than sell products and services.

They create jobs close to where people live.

Starting to build wealth, they fill vacant storefronts and create commercial corridors as well as bring back to life commercial corridors.

We've seen all of this happen with the support of CDBG over the years and as indicated in the current plan.

Goods and services are important to local residents that are provided through small businesses.

The big guys don't show up in little neighborhoods while keeping money circulating within the local economy.

All of you know entrepreneurs, small business owners, and you know they have the talent, determination, and vision to succeed, uh, especially with a little help, but they often face barriers that have little to do with quality of uh ideas, but due to limited access to capital and underinvestment that limit um promising businesses from getting started and growing.

So we've been able to address those barriers with the support of plans like this over the years, and um we're not asking for special treatment, we're just uh attempting to ensure that the opportunity for business ownership is available to anyone who desires to go down that path.

Uh we also know that supporting small businesses is a smart investment for government and taxpayers.

Successful businesses create jobs, increase uh the sales tax base, the tax base in general, reduce vacancies, and encourage additional private investment.

Every loan that has been funded through um plans in the past have leveraged additional funding, and so we are able to multiply the impact of community development block grant funds in communities really across across Tulsa.

Every thriving business becomes a part of a stronger local economy and a more vibrant community when there is support.

So when we invest in entrepreneurs, we invest in people who are willing to take risks, uh create opportunities for others, and believe in the future of their neighborhoods.

That investment pays dividends for years and years to come through growth, increased opportunity, and stronger communities for generations.

We know that every business that starts and attempts to grow does not succeed.

But our track record demonstrates that without the support that small businesses get who face those barriers to economic opportunity, the growth and the um job creation that has occurred in the small business community would not exist.

Oftentimes entrepreneurship and small business ownership are the first pathways out of poverty.

And this is not just true to Tulsa.

This is uh true across the country.

Small companies are known for creating more jobs than the larger ones in aggregate.

They're known for creating most of the new technologies.

And they're known for hiring local, they're known to be the first employer for those first-time job seekers.

So although large relocations and large company recruitment dominate headlines, you probably read one this morning, the city of Tulsa has long been known for supporting small businesses through loans and technical assistance.

For decades, plans like this have been a primary source with great success.

And so while every priority identified in the consolidated plan and in the current action plan is critical, every priority is critical.

I still urge you to continue supporting priorities, policies, and investments that help small businesses start, grow, and succeed as engines of grassroots economic development in Tulsa.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joseph.

Rose?

Yes.

I have a quick question.

I've been curious about this.

These are funds that go out for economic development.

You mentioned that they go out as loans.

Yes.

And those loans, I would presume are repaid in some form or fashion over time.

Yes.

What is the loss ratio on that?

Well, our goal is 15%.

Last year we were at about 12%.

So we have a pretty, well, a reasonable loss rate based on our work as a community development financial institution.

And even though losses exist, the banker in the room would tell you that collections never stop.

Just because a loan is officially been put into default or even charged off, collections continue.

Last thing I'll say is where a home is involved, if the business owner owns a property, we do put a lien on those properties.

And when that mortgage is paid in full, TEDC is typically at least the second to get paid behind the first mortgage holder.

Okay.

So then those funds that come back, are those recycled into future loans so that you have a revolving fund of sorts that you're able to reuse?

Exactly.

So if I may ask this question because I'm just curious about, you know, there are ebbs and flows in perceived problems within communities.

Yes.

And right now it seems as though an emphasis is being placed upon the homelessness situation and the cost of living challenges that people are facing at the moment.

Would it be reasonable to presume then that at least for a period of time there's there are funds still coming in and building up through the repayment of previous grants which have been made to your organization, such that you'd be in a position to weather if some of those funds are redirected towards some of these initiatives around the housing situation?

Correct.

We could weather uh that kind of storm.

And in fact, I came in today with a uh a small check for the grants team because uh program income funds are deposited into an interest-bearing account, and we were remit that interest on those funds back to the city, and I think they remit them back to Treasury.

And so uh yes, uh the answer is we can weather the weather the storm.

We have been working to diversify sources of funding over the two decades I've been with Tulsa.

What's unique about uh CDBG is it is specific to Tulsa.

It is focused on low-income job creation and supporting businesses that are in low-income census tracts and within the city of Tulsa as long as a number of jobs are created for low and moderate income individuals who are residents of Tulsa.

Our other funding does not, it's not specific to Tulsa, and so it is available uh beyond the boundaries of Tulsa.

The other thing I will say is next year, our plan is to work with some of the uh rapid rehousing organizations to bring those people who have moved from homelessness into um rooftops uh an opportunity to occupy the jobs that our new businesses are creating.

And so we're trying to meet uh the city where the needs are, and we know that having a home and no job if they're capable of working, um, is not a long-term solution.

And so the businesses that we help are the ones that uh will be expected and requested to hire people who are moving uh through the rapid rehousing programs.

That sounds like a wonderful initiative, giving people uh an ability to contribute, support themselves, and a sense of purpose in their life at that point.

Absolutely great great to hear that you're doing that.

Yes, is that it?

Any other questions?

Okay, all right, thank you all.

Do we have any other speakers?

Yeah, our next speaker is Brent Isaacs.

Good evening.

I'm Brent Isaacs from the Mental Health Association Oklahoma, and I wanted to address uh the committee this evening in the public hearing about the importance of preservation of existing affordable housing.

Um I know that there has been a lot of emphasis placed on net new units because the need is so great, but at the same time, we cannot allow existing units, many of which are naturally occurring affordable housing.

If you've heard the term NOAA, that's what I'm referring to, to go dark, and our organization very much wants to continue to be involved in the affordable housing space, uh, but we need funding to continue to do that on a regular basis.

Um we serve are extremely low income people that if we did not provide them housing would be out on the street, and as a result, the rents are low.

Our incomes are low, and so our margins are tight.

So we would urge you to really continue to prioritize the rehabilitation of existing housing, affordable housing for rent, um, through rehabilitation.

Any questions or comments?

I would presume that your organization's already aware of this initiative that uh Ms.

Washington spoke of.

We are aware.

Wonderful.

No, no further questions, comments.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Any more speakers?

No.

No.

So if we have no further speakers, I need a motion and a vote to exit the program year 27 priority needs public hearing.

I said move to exit.

Do I have a second?

Second.

All in favor?

Any opposed?

Nope.

So with that, we're open for comments from the committee.

If we have no comments, I just went want to express and been on the committee for some time, but we know how much energy goes into the group of people who make presentations to the to staff and the work that goes through those, that effort, and that's always valued, I think at a very practical level when those when the programs are reviewed and funds, the limited amount of funds are available, and that allocation of those, but that that time that's invested to let us work towards that is very much appreciated.

I just wanted to mention about um mental health.

As I was preparing for this meeting, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, I was shocked to see that Oklahoma has the highest rate of domestic violence.

That just boggles my mind.

And in the United States, in the United States, I think it says something like 49% with regards to women.

And the second shocker was the number of men that experienced domestic violence.

I think it was like about 47 45 to 47%.

So what we're going to do about all that.

So that's what I'm concerned about that we need to be figuring out what to do with that.

And mental health, I know plays a major role in all that and the lack of education with regards to financial literacy and this sort of thing.

So we need to be proactive and finding solutions and not just sit here shaking our ears about it.

We need that I said we just need to be proactive with regards to that.

So that's it.

Thank you.

I wanted to add my little two cents too.

I just wanted to express my appreciation for the folks that are out here in our community doing the work.

Also just kind of highlighting the importance of the collaboration and the communication that you all have.

I know that we all have our plans and our strategies, and so being able to communicate those with one another so that we're able to leverage those funds and really maximize those funds for the people here in Tulsa.

So I appreciate y'all for doing that, and I appreciate y'all for just kind of keeping an ear to the ground and just hearing about what the work that other people are doing.

It's important to kind of coexist and co uh co-create some of these initiatives.

So I just wanted to express that.

One last thing.

I was at a meeting uh a few years ago, and one of the things that they said was if a community does have not have a non-predatory lending institution in it, it is doomed to remain in poverty.

So we need to look into that as well, like credit unions in neighborhoods.

So I'm working on that.

So with that, I'd like to again thank everyone who has come out.

I was very pleased to hear about the collaboration efforts that uh TEDC is working on to help get the people who have been exiting the homelessness situation uh more productively employed within our society because that is very important.

Give people a hand up and a path forward so that they can you know feel a sense of pride and accomplishment and eventually be self-supporting.

That's um a challenging transition for people to make on another issue related to that, which is much longer term in nature, but since we brought up things around financial literacy as well as access to capital, I do wish to take this moment to remind everybody that if you have a child, someone under the age of 18, to be sure to open up an account for them at TrumpAccounts.gov.

There are many philanthropists around our country who are donating money to go into these accounts so your child could potentially receive funding from one of those contributions, and if you have a newborn child born within this uh four-year window, they will also receive a thousand dollars from the federal government.

So do take advantage of that.

Get a little seed money for your children so that when they become adults, they have a little bit of capital with which to start and hopefully learn a little bit about how to manage that money along the way so that they can be good stewards.

And as far as local banks, there are local banks um that have been making a footprint up in uh some of our more challenged neighborhoods, particularly I'd like to mention Regent Bank that I know has a uh banking location that they opened up right up there near uh the food market.

I can't recall the exact name of Fresh Oasis Oasis, OASIS, Fresh Market.

Um I recall seeing that they had opened up a branch up in that area uh to try and make sure that they're serving that part of town.

So want to thank the people who are making the investment and trying to try to lift up all parts of our community.

So if we have nothing else, I think we need to adjourn.

Anyone, any further comments?

Yes.

Motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Seconded.

All in favor, we're adjourned.

Thank you.