Affordable Housing: Monitoring and Compliance

Monitoring of compliance with Affordable Housing regulations has been inconsistent and often inadequate. Roh nert Park Response: Disagree, in part. When the State dissolved redevelopment agencies in 2011, Rohnert Park lost its most important tool to incentivize the development of deed- restricted affordable housing and retain sufficient staffing to conduct robust monitoring. As a result, there were about seven years during which CityJed monitoring was inconsistent. ln 2019, Rohnert Park added a Housing Administrator position, whose responsibilities include administering and monitoring the affordable housing program throughout the City. At the time of this response, there are 13 projects in Rohnert Park with deed-restricted affordable rental units, consisting of a total of 717 affordable units. Of these, 9 projects (consisting of 665 units) also have regulatory agreements with at least one other State or Federal housing agency who conduct robust monitoring, including regular on-site inspections. (These State and Federal housing agencies include the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee or "TCAC" and Housing and Urban Development or "HUD.") This leaves only 4 projects (consisting of 52 units) for which Rohnert Park is the only housing body conducting regular compliance monitoring. While city-led monitoring of these projects was inconsistent between 2Ol2 and 2019, the State and Federal agencies responsible for monitoring 93% of the affordable units in Rohnert Park continued to complete robust monitoring, per their regulations. The Grand Jury Report does not reference or acknowledge the compliance monitoring that these agencies perform. ln 2020, Rohnert Park conducted a robust compliance monitoring of all affordable housing projects which included completion of detailed worksheets and provision of substantial supporting documents included a current rent roll, current insurance with the city named as co-insured, and copies ofthe documents used to verify income of those living in the affordable units (e.g., W9, social security statements, etc.)Although this monitoring was not conducted on-site due to constraints related to COVID-19, with the volume and type of back-up documentation required ofthe projeas, it would be very difficult to falsify documents. Since then, Rohnert Park has continued to work to develop and improve its policies and procedures for compliance monitoring, and has contracted with City Data Services, a developer of a cloud-based software for housing compliance monitoring. The City Data Services software build-out for Rohnert Park should be completed in the next few months. Not only will this software system streamline compliance monitorinS, it will also allow property owners and managers to view, access and enter information directly into the database - and interface with city's monitorin8 team. Table 3 of the Grand Jury report indicates that Rohnert Park has no dedicated monitoring personnel, which is untrue. While it may not have one full-time individual Revised June 2022 Response to Grand Jury Report Form dedicated exclusively to monitoring, the Housing Administrator, supplemented by consultant resources, performs monitoring activities-

The use of self-reported data in monitoring is the accepted norm. Rohnert Park Response: Disagree, in part. While this may have been true in the past for properties where the affordability covenants rest with the City, this is not true of monitoring performed by TCAC and HUD, both of which conduct regular on-site l monitoring in addition to desktop monitoring. As noted in response to Finding above, 93% ofthe deed-restricted affordable units in Rohnert Park are also monitored by a State or Federal agency, which conducts onsite monitoring. As noted in the response to Finding 1, Rohnert Park's recent monitoring effort included substantial review of back-up documentation and Rohnert Park plans to conduct on-site compliance monitoring of projects for whom the city is the only oversight agency in Fiscal Year 202712023.

On-site (in-person) monitoring beyond that required by law is rare due to insufficient personnel, budgetary Iimitations, and relatively low incentives. Rohnert Park Response: Disagree, in part. Please see responses to Findings F1 and F2.

The Community Development Commission has informational documents and policies to provide upfront training in the monitorinB process. Rohnert Park Res onse: Rohnert Park agrees with this finding, with the following clarification. Although the City is not familiar with the specific informational documents and policies referenced, the County does maintain webpages with current area median income limits, rent limits and utility allowance schedule - which the City refers affordable housing property managers and owners to.

There is limited or no standardized training in Affordable Housing compliance regulations for developers and managers of inclusionary housing within the nine Cities. Rohnert Park Response: Disagree, in part. Most jurisdictions, Rohnert Park included, have detailed affordability covenants with developers and/or managers of inclusionary housing which outline the requirements and compliance expectations of the project. Additionally, Rohnert Park staff and consultants have provided substantialtechnical assistance to developers and managers of inclusionary housing projects to ensure they understand the compliance parameters.

The property titles of Affordable single-family houses have not always been flagged as deed restricted. Roh nert Park Response: Disagree. All affordable ownership units in Rohnert Park are currently administered and stewarded by the Housing Land Trust of Sonoma County (HLT), who ensures that all units are flagged as deed restricted. HLT owns the land each home sits on, making it impossible for a home to re-sell without HLT'S express permission. This ensures that units remain affordable not just for initial homeowner, but in perpetuity. Prior to working with HLT on the City's affordable ownership program, the City had six deed-restricted low-income homeownership units built in the Centreville development. 2022 Revised June Response to Grand Jury Report Form These were built and occupied between 2OO-1 and 2008 during the Great Recession. While all units were flagged as deed restricted, several of the homes were lost due to foreclosure and, as a result, were removed from the City's affordable ownership stock. There are two units currently remaining of those originally sold, both of which are now in the HLT program.

The majority ofthe housing representatives the Grand Jury interviewed felt that there is not enough staff within their departments to make anyone a full-time compliance monitor. Rohnert Park Response: Agree with the following clarification. While staff agree that there is insufficient staffing to make anyone a "full-time compliance monitor," this may not be necessary to accomplish the monitoring activity. Strategic use of staff time, consultant resources and TCAC and HUD monitoring work can ensure robust compliance monitoring and assistance without dedicating a single "full-time compliance monitor/'. Response to Recommendations