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Home My WebLink About2024-06-18 Advisory Committee on Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Human Rights Minutes ACREIHR Advisory Committee of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Human Rights Minutes for the Tuesday, June 18, 2024 Meeting 6:OOp � Council Chambers Members Present: Chair Liana Fellis, Vice Chair Katie Brydon Members not present: Member Julie Davis, Member Theron Letterlough, Student Rep. Rebecca Jones, Student Rep. Evelyn Marasco, Member Jason Canniff, Member Melissa Bulcholz, Member Andre Chasse, Member Kathryn Robinson, Member Gabrielle Wiley City of Bangor staff and guests present: City Manager, Debbie Laurie; Community and Economic Development Director, Anne Krieg; Sarah Kirk, Project Manager at HR&A; Sophie Danish, Analyst at HR&A Call to Order Call to order at 5:30pm Introduction of advisory board members and city members present Minutes • No quorum; unable to approve meeting minutes • Will need to approve meeting minutes at August meeting Education Bangor Housing Study • City of Bangor working with HR&A Consultants on the Housing Production Plan • Will be used to determine: what kind of housing do we need, what do we have, what is missing? • HR&A will share the status of the project and provide feedback and ideas • Overview of the Affordable Housing Market Goals: • Housing strategies • Housing Transitions • Assessment of supply and demand Current phase of the project: understanding residential demand and market analysis Evaluating: housing supply, supportive housing, rental affordability, housing quality, aging in place, access to opportunities and home ownership Supply challenges include: • Limited housing for those with no income • Aging population • Limited turnover for folks looking to downsize • High construction costs What challenges do renters face? • Almost all renters at the Area Median Income spend the majority of their income on rent • Bangor is losing low and moderate income households • Rents are growing faster in Bangor than the region Recommendation: why is Bangor losing low and moderate income households? Is this based on cost displacement because of rising housing costs or are people choosing to leave the community? HR&A doesn't look into the "why," but this is an important part of this conversation i Advisory Committee of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Human Rights Minutes for the Tuesday, June 18, 2024 Meeting 6:OOp � Council Chambers Homeownership: • Over 54% are middle aged adults (36—64 years) • 46% of homeownership are white and 17% are Black Who is impacted by low quality housing? How do you account for racial equity in housing? • Develop partnership and relationships with community to ensure people in racial groups that are historically experiencing barriers to homeownership are aware of the resources that are available • Campaign and awareness building What to do with the old buildings? • If we find that housing quality is the issue, HR&A will bring in the code enforcers, etc. to evaluate the issues and what needs to be done? • Assistance to owners and loans to property owners for renters to make these buildings useable. • Question: what's the environmental impact of not repurposing old, unused buildings? o The city has a structure to review vacant and placarded buildings; the city works to evaluate when the buildings are available based on tax requirements, etc. o City Council has dramatically increased the fees for vacant properties for folks who own vacant properties starting at $500 and increasing by $500 every six months up to $4k every six months that vacant property owners are fined Are HOA fees accounted for? • Not at this time; needs to be kept in mind for the communities in zoned communities for manufactured homes. • Are there restrictions on the type of home regardless of the zones? o The state statute has changed within the last two weeks; these changes will allow mobile home in any zone and no longer restricted to mobile home parks Status of the project: • Phase Two. HR&A has collected data; now in the process of communicating and relationship building with stake-holders and community members • Next update in August Rental Registry Pilot Program • The city is piloting a registry process to better collect data on what is available for renters • Need better communication about available resources with the landlords (ex. block grant can be used for heat pumps, etc. and many landlords don't need this) • More landlords are able to access the block grant and resources than they previously thought, all thanks in part to the open communication • While many landlords don't want to register, when they do, they find there are many more resources available to them than previously considered o The city is making funds and resources available to landlords so that they can be conforming to code What percentage of landlords have filed the paperwork to be on the rental registry? z Advisory Committee of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Human Rights Minutes for the Tuesday, June 18, 2024 Meeting 6:OOp � Council Chambers • It is still in the approval process; approved by the City Council last week. Will finalize the application asap and roll out later this summer • The biggest goal will be information sharing and sharing incentives with the landlords How do all of these projects interact? • HR&A doing an evaluation of the housing stock in Bangor to see what's in the market • What's available and what is missing, etc. • Then the city can use that information to inform the rental registry and how to incentive landlords • The revaluation is a two year project Assessor and Revaluation: Thursday at 6pm on Zoom FAQ, resources, etc. available to help inform the citizens of Bangor ACREIHR Accessibility Sub-Committee Meeting with Bangor Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Bangor Partnership:June 11, 2024 ACREIHR Members Present: Liana Fellis, Kathryn Robinson, and Katie Brydon ChamberStaff Present: Deb Neuman, President; Shelley Sund, Director of Marketing & Events; Shelly Reilly, Director of Programs;JR Mitchell, Director of Membership &Sales. Downtown Bangor Partnership Staff Present: Betsy Lundy, Executive Director Meeting Notes Overview: • Review of ACREIHR foundation, history, and development of the accessibility subcommittee • Review of the Chamber goals and responsibilities • Review of Downtown Bangor Partnership (DBP) areas of interest and support recommendations Ideas and Recommendations 1. Identify the needs of downtown businesses for accessibility and connect those businesses with available funds • Ex.: for buildings that have barriers to entry or accommodations that need to be made to the physical structure, connect the shop owners with available resources, like CBDG funds • Create a connection for business owners who cannot fund the repairs or changes with those who can fund the projects- act as the go-between and 'bridge' 2. Develop a city resource guide for citizens and business owners • Make and share connections • Create/build a guide that the city can use to connect business leaders with resources or citizens with safe/accessible shopping spaces; this can be pushed out by the Chamber and DBP 3. Self-Evaluation Tool for City Business • Recommended that ACREIHR create an online 'test' that businesses can take to determine their accessibility. If they score a certain number, they can receive a badge from the city as an "Accessibility-Friendly" business • It can also extend to Autism-Friendly, Recovery-Friendly, etc. • Who can help ACREIHR create the test?What are the right questions to ask? • The committee would need to develop a list of resources to help businesses get a passing score if they are lacking in certain areas 4. Create a series of social media graphics that highlight data, stats, info, etc. on accessibility.This can include often missed or forgotten ways to think about accessibility.These stats can be pushed out online by the City, Chamber, DBP, etc. awareness about disability, accessibility, etc. 5. Choose a month and use available funds to hang banners throughout the city for the month.The banners can point people to our committee to visit our site or attend meetings to learn more. 3 Advisory Committee of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Human Rights Minutes for the Tuesday, June 18, 2024 Meeting 6:OOp � Council Chambers 6. Develop more awareness about what the Adv. Committee does, including goals, accomplishments, partnerships, ideas, etc.This site could act as a funnel to garner feedback and ideas from Bangor citizens. What's Next? • Determine what the committee thinks is the priority • Assign responsibilities and deadlines • Provide updates and requests for information sharing with the Chamber and DBP PRIDE Table Need commitment for the table from 12p—2pm • Andre can help set up the table • Katie has the resources to share on the table City Manager Updates • Cooling stations available in the city for the week o Five stations in the city with water, AC, etc. o Check the city website for the stations • First bathrooms will be installed on Thursday,June 20 o Cascade Park and Broad Street o Cultural Commission is working to make the space a place for public art o Request from meeting participant Doug Dunbar to add a bathroom near the Hope House • Elder Abuse Presentation from 9a—12p at the Gracie Theater • Friday,June 21: Bar Stories being shown at the Gracie Theater, reception at 5pm,film at 6pm • Events: AARP.org/ME Next Meeting: August 27 at 6:OOp 4