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Public Comment for 03.14.22 work session from CAPNM Board of DirectorsAimee Brunckhorst From: Cassidy Kipp <ckipp@capnwmt.org> Sent: Friday, March 11, 2022 5:01 PM To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment Subject: EXTERNAL Public Comment for 03.14.22 work session Good Afternoon, On February 71" 2022 we sat in the City Council chambers as Mayor Johnson spoke of bringing social service providers together to provide information about local services. Specifically Mayor Johnson called upon Ms. Kipp and Community Action Partnership (CAPNM) to be part of this process. Imagine our surprise when we were notified on March 81" that Community Action Partnership would not be invited to speak during the work session. Instead field office representatives for State Senators would be presenting and possibly an out of area HUD representative. At CAPNM our primary mission is to improve lives and strengthen communities. We currently own four low income apartment complexes (100 units) in Flathead County, with administrative roles in two additional low-income family complexes (88 units). We utilize low-income housing tax credits, HOME funds, HUD funds and USDA Rural Development to make these projects viable. Along with the apartments, last year CAPNM helped 100 different households in Flathead County obtain or maintain housing, served 40 Veteran Households with permanent housing programs and 189 households in the Flathead on Section 8. We have also been able to provide a significant amount of financial assistance to the Abbie Shelter/ Flathead Warming Center/ Samaritan House/ Sunburst Village to assist with the provision of temporary housing services in Kalispell. With all due respect, we are unable to understand why we would not have a more defined role in this conversation since this is a significant area of our operations. It feels a bit dismissive to have our expertise relegated to the public comment period versus being brought in for discussion as we understood Mayor Johnson to request. We are deeply invested in housing and housing related programming. Year after year we have demonstrated a high level of performance. Our agency has received the highest marks from HUD for our programs and operations (as in our program monitor from Denver gave us the highest marks of any agency he had reviewed in 20 years). In 2016 we were the top field agency for the State of Montana from Department of Commerce for innovative and trailblazing programmatic success with Section 8. This year we were selected as one of two programs in a multi -state region to be highlighted as having an innovative institutional release housing program we designed/ implemented in Kalispell. We have been invited to present at the Region 8 Community Action Partnership conference about this project in July. People feel like what we are doing could be replicated in other communities. We would like to share more about this. The concern right now is twofold. First, while we have tremendous respect for staff with both Senator Tester and Senator Daines office, they do not know what the local landscape looks like in terms of day-to-day issues nor are they familiar with the programmatic successes or barriers, reconciling federal mandates with local resource availability, etc. As the largest housing service provider in town it seems reasonable and appropriate that CAPNM would have a more meaningful opportunity share insights/ information. Second, on two occasions in the past month we have been told by the City that they may need to pursue our funding in order to establish a housing authority. This implies that the City feels we are not performing adequately, which again is quite confusing given our annual outcome tracking and feedback from state/ federal/ private monitoring reports. To complicate it further, it appears that City leadership may not be completely familiar with what a Housing Authority does and how they function in the State of Montana. Section 8 is the largest program associated with a Housing Authority and it operates as a fee for service program with no lump sum allocation of funding. If people can't find a private landlord to participate in Section 8, then they can't use the program and the agency does not receive the fee for service. For many, many years this program lost money because of the staffing expenses needed to operate; CAPNM covers the difference. We would like to discuss how the biggest barrier with our housing programs is lack of local housing inventory that meet program requirements and leads to an underutilization of Section 8 (this is taking place in other areas of Montana as well). Again, we know the nuances of the local market and local populations, specifically how our community matches up with the federal or state requirements/ limitations. CAPNM has now purchased 17 new rental units to help address the housing crisis with rents well below market rate. We do hope that the City will work with us, as we explore the feasibility of long-term placement and pursue a permanent location for this project. It is not a new endeavor or project model, there are already around 40 of these units in operation in the valley. It is entirely feasible, but when we initiated this conversation with City staff it felt like we were stymied. We sincerely hope that the City will work with us as we do everything within our power to help make a dent in this big issue impacting our community. We are not idly waiting for the City to make the situation better, we are asking for equal time to discuss what is working, where there are barriers and to present an accurate snapshots of what is happening. Respectfully, Community Action Partnership Board of Directors This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. if you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete this email from your system.