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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFY 2021 Budget Presentation (Housing Agency) Revisedwww.kauai.gov 4444 Rice Street Suite 330 • Līhu‘e, Hawai‘i 96766 • (808) 241-4444 (b) • (808) 241-5118 (f) An Equal Opportunity Employer KAUA‘I COUNTY HOUSING AGENCY THE COUNTY OF KAUA‘I DEREK S. K. KAWAKAMI, MAYOR MICHAEL A. DAHILIG, MANAGING DIRECTOR ADAM P. ROVERSI HOUSING DIRECTOR FY2021 Housing Agency Budget Report REVISED REVISED Salary and Wages Benefits Utilities Vehicle/Equip, Lease Operations Fund: HOUSING REVOLVING FUND FY 2020 FY 2021 $ + / - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4,350,001 5,190,001 840,000 4,350,001 5,190,001 840,000 % + /- 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 19.3% 19.3% FY 2020 Operating Budget FY 2021 Operating Budget •Salary and Wages •Benefits •Utilities •Vehicle/Equip, Lease •Operations FY 2020 and FY 2021 Comparison Salary and Wages Benefits Utilities Vehicle/Equip, Leas e •Salary and Wages •Benefits •Utilitie s •Vehicle/Equip, Lease •Operations Operations II FY 2020 11 FY 2021 MAJOR CHANGES AND/OR VARIANCES IN OPERATIONS BUDGET The “Operations” portion of the Housing Agency’s Budget is effectively unchanged from FY 2020. Personnel expenses have increased by 17.9%, or $129,630. 77%, or $95,022, of the increased personnel expense is the result of negotiated HGEA salary adjustments approved by Council. Beyond this negotiated salary increase, the remaining personnel expense increase is due to the funding of a previously vacant and $1 funded Clerk Position within our Section 8 Division in the amount of $34,608. OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES We have two operational goals for FY2021 that are directly tied to our budget asks. First, our current housing development model is almost entirely dependent on federal grants and tax credits for project financing. Our dependency on these funding sources imposes a requirement that any housing units developed can only serve very-low income individuals and households. While we intend to continue serving this low income segment of our community, we also have a significant housing crisis among the “gap” group of families that earn too much to qualify for federally subsidized housing but still cannot access market rate homes. Accordingly, we are requesting a significant increase in funding for the County Housing Development Fund, which will allow us to begin to creatively develop housing without the strings and red tape attached to federal funded projects. Second, we have a relatively short lived opportunity to take advantage of $1.5 million in additional federal funding for our rental assistance program. If we are unable to ramp up our rental assistance program within the next year to utilize this additional funding we risk losing it. Accordingly, we have asked for general fund dollars to hire an additional clerk for our rental assistance division to help increase our ability to process and issue additional rental assistance to be underwritten by this newly available federal funding. TOP 3 OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM FY 2020 First, our housing development milestones in FY2020 include: 1) breaking ground on the 53-unit Pua Loke Street affordable rental project and the neighboring 22-unit Kealaula at Pua Loke supportive housing project in Lihue, which will provide both low cost housing and supportive social services to families transitioning out of homelessness; 2) breaking ground on the 35-unit Waimea Huakai affordable rental project; and 3) completing the 134-unit Koa’e Workforce Housing Project in Koloa. Together these projects amount to 244 new affordable housing units for Kaua‘i. Second, after more than 5 years of task forces and studies, the Housing Agency, Housing Chair Kuali’i, and Council Chair Kaneshiro, proposed substantive amendments to Ordinance 860, the County Housing Policy, which we believe will help kick start the development of higher density infill development in our town core areas, helping to meet our island’s need for affordable workforce housing while achieving the development goals of the 2020 General Plan. Lastly, after more than a decade of planning, we opened the doors of the Adolescent Treatment and Healing Center, finally providing an on-island resource for the treatment of adolescents with substance abuse and mental health disorders through both residential and outpatient treatment options. REVISED