Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Best Of | Grace Ruiz-Stepter Director, Housing and Community Development, City of Anaheim

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Best Of | Grace Ruiz-Stepter Director, Housing and Community Development, City of Anaheim · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is change Makers with Katie Gore finding the right
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: solutions for the affordable housing community.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: This week's change Maker is Grace Rui's stepter, the director
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: of Housing and Community Development for the City of Anaheim.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Grace is a highly accomplished housing programs executive with over
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: twenty years of experience overseeing federal and local initiatives to
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: provide affordable housing. Prior to joining Anaheim, Grace held leadership
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: roles managing housing programs at the Housing Authority of Los
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Angeles County. Grace, Welcome to change Makers, Good morning, and
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: thank you for having me excited to be here. I'm
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: glad you're here, and we have a wide variety of
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: topics that I want to cover. Let's just start talking
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: about the twenty years managing housing programs and maybe tell
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: us how you got started, what inspired you to choose
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: this path, and just kind of that general on ramp
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: into the industry.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Sure, sure, let my Let me start by apologizing and
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: saying that now it's it's as I was reflecting a
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: couple of last week, I had an all hands meeting
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: here with all my staff. It's actually getting closer to
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: thirty years.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: And right, that's great. And quite a journey.
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  Speaker 3: I've listened to some of your other guests, and I
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: think the one thing that I have in common with
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: them is I think we all share this kind of
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: a we fell into housing. Uh, we didn't choose it
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: as a maybe. As you know, some people say, I
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: want to go into medicine, I want to go into law.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Housing is just one of those careers that isn't prominently known,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: and so people don't intentionally pick it up. But once
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: you dip your toe into it and really and you
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: start to do some meaningful work, it really just grabs
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: a hold of you and it's and it becomes a
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: lifelong journey. And I think that is really resounds with me,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: and I think is the same as I would describe
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: my journey coming out of college.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: I actually my forethought was.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: That I wanted to do something in social work. And
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: so my first real grown up job, as we might
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: call it, was working as a case manager in the
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: south central Los Angeles area for a nonprofit that helped
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: pregnant and parenting teenage girls. And so as part of
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: that journey, my main task was really to help these
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: young ladies to find whatever it took to help them
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: really elevate from the position that they found themselves in
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: that required finding things like subsidized childcare, helping with in
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: some cases college applications, getting them into workforce training type
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: of programs, and within that realm of helping folks, housing
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: was one of the things that often reared its ugly
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: head as something that people needed. And so through that
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: experience is where I even came to know what housing was.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: It was the first time that I was introduced to
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: the housing choice vout your program, what it does, how
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: it assists people, and so I had to navigate help
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: my clients navigate that system. And so through that process,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: I learned a little bit about what housing was really
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: from a consumer point of view of helping my clients
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: to get on waiting lists, fill out applications, and then
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: really understanding what that weight process might look like.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Isn't it unique and just so uplifting that so many
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: people start this industry with truly wanting to help people. Absolutely,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I think that that people that stay in this journey
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: that is that's a common theme.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: I've met many professionals.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: One of the things that I did later in life,
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  Speaker 3: once I really became entrenched and started on a career
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: in a professional path that I joined a couple of
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: professional organizations here locally in California. I belonged to the
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: California Association of Housing Authorities at one point and served
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: as the statewide president. And I've also been involved now
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: for quite some time with NARROW, the National Association of
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: Housing and Redevelopment Officials, and that networking and the people
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: that I find there, that's the common bond. I think unilaterally,
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  Speaker 3: you find people that have dedicated their careers to this,
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  Speaker 3: even books who have retired and just.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Keep coming back.
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  Speaker 3: We often say, and I certainly believe that you know
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: we're at minting guards. We're extremely fortunate to be able
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: to provide for our families and a career that provides
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  Speaker 3: meaning every day for the work that we do. I'm
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: sure that you know there are other careers like that.
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  Speaker 3: But I think the uniqueness of housing is that we
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: know what the need is and we can see how
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: what we do everyday matters.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Before we get into the specifics about Anaheim, let's talk
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: about NARO. You mentioned your involvement there and you were
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: just recently sworn in as the National Chair for Community
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: and Revitalization congratulations on that, Thank you, Thank you. I'm
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  Speaker 2: super excited about serving the next two years. I've been
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: involved now for about This is my fourth term, and
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  Speaker 2: I started as an appointee for this Pacific Southwest Regional Chapter.
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  Speaker 4: And mainly I think that because of.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: My dual role in Anaheim, I happen to have oversight
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: of both our Housing Choice Voutcher program in addition to
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: other non traditional roles for a Housing director, which is
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: all of our federal entitlement program, I run our workforce division,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: and I also oversee our affordable housing production. So in
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: many ways, my role here in Anaheim is community revitalization
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: using the tools that are available through the Housing Authority,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: but also tools that are available much broader.
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  Speaker 2: From a city perspective. And so the work of the
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: CR and D Committee is as we move forward for
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: the next two years, is really going to be about
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: really exploring how housing is more than just buildings or structure.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: It's about we look holistically at communities and I think
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: back to the Hope six programs, neighborhood improvement programs. That
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  Speaker 2: is really what we're doing.
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  Speaker 3: We're not just building affordable housing, We're attempting to do
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: things on a wholesale basis to uplift communities. A lot
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: of housing authorities are doing that independent of the funding
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  Speaker 3: that's coming from the state of the federal government. It's
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: the way we think, and so a lot of the
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: members on CR and D have expressed that they've expressed
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: desire to really elevate that messaging and to showcase the
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: things that we're doing, because in some ways, housing authorities
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: tend to be some of the nation's best kept secrets.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: We do a lot of terristic work, but it's not
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: as prominently known. So through crd AT, through NARO, we're
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: hoping to start a little bit out of time to
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: showcase all the work that's being done every single day
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: throughout the nation.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Those are some good key initiatives for the next few years.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: So that's something to be particularly excited about. And at
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: the recent NARROW convention in New Orleans, you were also
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: on a panel talking about affordable housing and some I
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: believe it was motel conversions. Why don't you go through
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: some of those conversations and give us an update because
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: it's a very interesting inclusion into the discussion for affordable housing.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: Yes, so I was thank you for bringing that up.
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  Speaker 3: I was on a panel with colleagues that I respect
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  Speaker 3: tremendously throughout California. Kit die Off from San Diego, the
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Shelters Your Firm, Sacramento.
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  Speaker 4: We were moderated.
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  Speaker 3: By Preston Prince up in Santa Clara Now and we
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: were talking about motel conversions, and the theme of our
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: panel was the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, And
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: the reason we named it that was that we really
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: wanted to be transparent about the pros and the cons
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: of what we're experiencing. So in California, motel conversions have
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: really become a very wave to attempt to bring affordable
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: housing online very quickly. And that's the result of the
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: fact that I think it's pretty broadly known that we
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: have quite a significant home population. I think the last
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: counts showed that roughly fifty percent of the nation's homeless
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: are in California, with a very high percentage of them
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  Speaker 3: being in the Southern California region, of which you know
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: where Orange County lays. You know, we're between Los Angeles
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  Speaker 3: and San Diego. And so about three years ago or so,
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: as a result of the state surplus, the governor put
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  Speaker 3: out a very innovative program called the Homekey program, which
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  Speaker 3: allowed for jurisdictions to apply directly to the state for
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: funds to acquire motels and quickly transform them into permanent
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  Speaker 3: support housing. And so many of us have taken advantage
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  Speaker 3: of that. We've applied to the state for homekeep funds
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  Speaker 3: and we've been on a mission to buy motels, work
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  Speaker 3: with our non profit partners. In some cases, some housing
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: authorities are developing themselves. In my case, I work with
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: nonprofit housing partners to bring those forward. But it's about
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: really going out to look at motels that are still
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: in reasonable working condition but can quickly provide housing for
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: folks that are on our streets today and so in
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  Speaker 3: the good, bad and the ugly. A lot of the
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  Speaker 3: conversation was about the fact that motels offer a really
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  Speaker 3: good opportunity to buy a product that is already online
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  Speaker 3: that offers a quick win in terms of maybe it
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: only needs some rehab and you can open the doors
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  Speaker 3: very quickly.
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  Speaker 4: That could be that sometimes.
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  Speaker 3: You have to you do have to be quite strategic
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  Speaker 3: about what you buy. Every motel isn't necessarily right for conversion,
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  Speaker 3: particularly into permanent support housing, because of the fact that
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: you always need some space for nonprofit on site service providers.
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  Speaker 3: So there are some hotels that may be too small
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  Speaker 3: or maybe just have not seen the kind of upkeep
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  Speaker 3: that one would want over the years, and so perhaps
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: the investment would require a complete teardown, so they it
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: would take much more time to bring online and maybe
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: more financial resources that we really want. And those are
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: things that I think as housing authorities we've had to
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: get smart about in terms of really assessing properties for
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: those things. You know, how large are the units. Some
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  Speaker 3: motel rooms may be too small, and that's a function
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  Speaker 3: of they're intended for temporary days. But when you're converting
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  Speaker 3: a motel to somebody's potential long term home, you know,
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  Speaker 3: things like storage kitchenettes, where do I go out to
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  Speaker 3: take a mental break from a small room? That meaning
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  Speaker 3: the amenities that might be either already available or built
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  Speaker 3: into a motel, and all of those things are both
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: opportunities and challenges. We've covered some pools in order to
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: create community buildings and add some landscaping to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that a motel becomes viable long term.
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  Speaker 4: And then the ugly really.
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  Speaker 3: Is just that, you know, sometimes sometimes even after our
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: due diligence, we get in there, we find out that
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  Speaker 3: there's some things, either structurally or otherwise that we didn't
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: quite anticipate, and so then we're blowing out our budgets
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  Speaker 3: and we're having to figure that out. But the one
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  Speaker 3: thing that I think that we've all learned unilatterally is
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: you know, it is definitely an opportunity when methodically thought out,
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  Speaker 3: with careful attention to social services, and then understanding that
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  Speaker 3: because the units are small, you have to create spaces
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: for people to come out and connect with each other,
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: to have you know, place to mentally download and when
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  Speaker 3: all of that is a place, it could really be
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  Speaker 3: a great opportunity. And so in Anaheim we've been doing
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: it for some time. I'd like to take a minute
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  Speaker 3: to actually toute our horn and that we are working
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: with our planning department.
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  Speaker 4: We actually have adopted.
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  Speaker 3: A local militaire orness ahead of the home key program,
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: working with our planning department, which set the stage for us.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: To be able to do this very quick. Meaning motels
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: are normally of commercial property, so.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: In most cities you have to go through a land
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: use change and that could take time and money. So
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: working with our planning Department. We had already set the
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: landscape for being able to do that quickly. The beauty
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: of the home key program at the state level was
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: that that was incorporated into the money that was given
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: to jurisdictions was a lot of state deregulation that could
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: be applied at the local level to get this going
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: very quickly. So it has been a new foray for us,
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: a lot of learning and something that we continue to
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: use as one of our tools in the toolbox for
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: breaking forth permanent support of housing as quickly as we can.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: This is a very creative inclusion at solving the affordability crisis.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: And I like how you guys are addressing everything from
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: zoning to infrastructure sustainability and property reuse. I'm curious are
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: there other regular litory issues You mentioned the zoning, but
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: as far as if you're putting subsidy into the units,
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: are you seeing any kind of waivers that you have
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: to get for compliance or any of the other pieces
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: that you've had to package with these deals.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Well, certainly you know attention to eighty eight, we have
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: had to convert several units into more adaptable not are
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: particularly some of our older buildings, but we're not waving
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: that we're actually making those adjustments and that's creating some costs,
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: which still is the right thing to do. We have
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: worked with our fire department on some accessibility issues and
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: just uh being more adaptable in how.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: We move forward. So I think, you know, from a
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: land use perspective, I think allowing from the use to
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: go from commercial to residential is probably the largest land
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: use hurdles. But then there are other city departments, you know,
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: to ensure that that.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Doesn't become an obstacle. One of the luxuries I have
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: here as the City of Anaheim is that I'm also
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: a department head, So the fire department, the police department,
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: and what have you. Those conversations are really needed and
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: they're necessary. I was unaware that actually one of the
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: properties that we bought, it was already being used as
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: to facto affordable housing, but our fire department was being
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: called there quite often or drug issues, and so they
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: were actually one of my biggest cheerleaders when I bought
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: the property. And but one of the things they insisted
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: on was the property management be available and open to
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: communication with them, which often happens in affordable housing regardless.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: So I wouldn't consider that necessarily a barrier, but an
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: opportunity to bridge with the apartments that are already coming
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: to these properties. Our police department was coming to some
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: of our properties, the motels that we bought, and so
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: that partnership has really strengthen management on site and just
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: the security, because sometimes there could be community opposition to
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: these types of developments.
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: With.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Neighboring communities feeling like, well, I'm okay with it when
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: it's a motel and somebody is just stopping by. But
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: now you're converting and you're bringing in an element. You know,
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: one of the things that most people in the affordable
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: housing world knows that we're constantly dealing with the not
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: in my backyard syndrome. But the inclusion of the police
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: and the fire department as key partners, advising what was
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: already happening on the site and how inserting professional management
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: services and their presence and their partnership without how all
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: of that really helps to elevate and improve the conditions
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: that might have been at the motel. All of those
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: are things that, if done correctly, can really help the
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: process move quicker, because that's one of the things that
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: can be a challenge is community opposition. The Homekeey program
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: from the state does have a much shorter community outreach requirement,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: but nonetheless, I think as housing authorities and as cities
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: and as neighbors to of course, we do want that
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: community community input. We want it to be while we
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: see so. Regardless of whether or not the community input
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: process some of our funding sources have been minimized, we
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: still do it quite extensive. You've been talking about a
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: lot of inner governmental relations here and really emphasizing the
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: importance of how housing providers have to work with city
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: offices and different areas that are sometimes non traditional. Do
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: you have other examples you want to share of how
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: you've had to partner to benefit housing programs.
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: Certainly and other arenas.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: We just opened up one of our latest affordable housing developments,
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: it's called Phenomore Place. Once again here with our Planning department,
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: you know, we're working with trying to be innovation, use
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: some innovation, and have our affordable housing developments be more serve,
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: more community serving. The Planning Department did work with us
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: so that we were able to insert a medical clinic,
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: a child garden, a guidance center, and a head start
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: program into one of our newest developments in a way
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: that really is non intrusive to our ur editing units.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: So through that partnership, they helped us with writing a
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: local ordnance that is all about inserting what we call
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: auxiliary facing community benefits within our affordable housing developments. Previously
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: that would not have been allowed because it was mixing
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: up residential and commercial uses. But that understanding of just
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: that affordable housing could be many things really helped that
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: partnership come to fruition. And so now that neighborhood, which
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: is an impacted neighborhood, has the benefit of a neighboring
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: local serving It's smaller, but nonetheless a clinic from one
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: of our local medical providers where you could do regular checkups.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: The Child Guidance Center is really a mental health counseling
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: institute for children. They have a large presence in Anaheim
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: but did not have a clinic, and I'm sorry, they
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: had a large presidence in Orange County but didn't have
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: one in Anaheim. So this really was something that we
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: were super excited to break forward and the head start
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: program there that helps our residents on site. The building
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: is one hundred and two units of text credits. So
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: by definition, we do have a lot of working families there,
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: but it's in an impacted neighborhood right outside of our stadium.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: So bringing up all of that really was something we
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: were excited about.
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: And so it was.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: Both our planning department, it was our fired department wanting
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: to you know, being okay and be flexible with saying okay,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: we'll work with you on how we review the uses
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: and the emergency exits and all of the other requirements
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: given the fact that you have blended uses here. Uh,
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: the fire department actually was a significant partner just to
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: get us to the finish line.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: In terms of when we needed to have things ready
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: for the property to be leased.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: There was a couple of fire inspections that needed to
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: really be done in an expedited manner, and because of
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: that partnership, they went out every day, sometimes twice a
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: day to get us to that finish line. So it's
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: some of those intangibles. Another property that we have, we
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: had some sewer constraints and so had to work with
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: our public works department to really work through that find
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: alternative solutions that were both cost effective, safe and again
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: because we are we have the benefit of those partnerships.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: They're partners that are willing to help work with us
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: on how to find solutions. I know I hear stories
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: sometimes and other jurisdictions where that relationship isn't there. Who
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: had cost time and money, both for the housing authority
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: and whether you're the developer yourself or whether you're using
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: a nonprofit developer as your partner. But those relationships are
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: just key. I think circling back to them to let
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: them know what was produced, to take them along the way,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: for how they were helpful, helping them to see the mission.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: I think much like we and affordable Housing were drawn
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: into the mission and the ability to help folks. You know,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: sometimes people who in our planning departments, in our public
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: works department, they don't see the fruits of their labor
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: all the way to the end, and so us being
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: able to share this is what we build and this
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: is who we built it for, really does help to
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: create those partnerships. Those are great examples of synergy and
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: it paints a picture of how things really should work.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: Grace.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: Prior to moving to Anaheim, you served in leadership positions
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: with the Housing Authority of Los Angeles County for those
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: less familiar with Anaheim. It is situated roughly twenty miles
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: south of the city of Los Angeles. So, given your
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: previous experience in La A region facing considerable housing challenges,
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: are you observing similar housing affordability issues and shortages there
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: in Anaheim?
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: Thank you for that question.
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: You know, in Anaheim our challenges are probably very similar
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: to some of our other urban cores and that there's
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: just simply not enough affordable housing. You know, our rents
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: have not kept pace with wages, and therefore it's really
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: created this pressure point on affordable housing for us to
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: produce as many units as pop and as an expedited
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: manner as we as we possibly can. My work here
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: in Anaheim right now is really about setting the stage
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: for the next ten years in terms of having an
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: active pipeline with realistic numbers, identifying where that money is
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: going to come from.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: I mean California.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: Once upon a time, Anaheim was a very robust redevelopment agency.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: We had set up portions of our city that had
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: seen some blight and invested and so as a result
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: of that, we were we had a decent amount of
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: text increment money coming back to our redevelopment agency, and
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: under state law, thirty percent of that was coming to housing,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: and the thirty percent was because we had extended how.
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Long our redevelopment areas would.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: Be in existence, so that that kicked off something like
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: seventeen million dollars of housing investment every single year. That
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: went went and went away in twenty eleven as a
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: result of some state lawsuits between redevelopment agencies in the city.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: So the last several years have really been about how
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: do we find other money to keep us innovating and
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: building at the pace that we were building prior or
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: during the redevelopment days. And so the state has come
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: forward with a couple of funding sources, nowhere near what
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: redevelopment was, but.
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: We're still thankful for it, in the form of a
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: tax on fee rather on recordings of changes and properties,
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: which now is starting to kick off some money.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: So that's one source of many.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: Obviously, we take advantage of the light Tech program, probably
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: like every other large housing authority in our state and
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: in the nation, but.
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: We're also looking to how do we create local funds.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: We happen to be parked in a place where there
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: is a large amusement park, a couple of sports teams
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: and what have you, and now some larger Ford Diamond
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: hotel products, and they are we are all in conversations
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: about how does this economic engine that you know, Anaheim
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: is so blessed with, how do we now use and
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: harness the energy of all of these big engines to
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: also help with affordable housing. So those conversations are very
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: promising and we're in the very early discussions are around,
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: you know, how do we form a local housing trust fund,
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: which I know exists in many jurisdictions, And so we're
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: certainly won't be recreating the world, will be borrowing ideas
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: from other folks, I think, but the number of stakeholders
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: at the table who want to be a part of it,
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: who and who may be willing to contribute, maybe a
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: little bit more unique, and it's something that we're really
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: looking to take full advantage. We really keeping an eye
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: also on emerging needs throughout California.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: I think a lot of us have really paid a
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: lot of attention to the fact that homelessness is a
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: real issue for us.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: We can't ignore it. We really need to be about
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: trying to solve that. But sometimes when you have a
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: crisis of this nature. There's a bit of a temptation
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: to take your eye off the ball of other things,
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: just because homelessness is such a great issue and requires
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: all hands on deck, but other things that we really
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: need to pay attention to. In our paying attention to
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: is affectionately known as the silver tsunami.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: We know that folks that are.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: Retiring and now that retirement check isn't enough to keep
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: up with rent. So really trying to get into the
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: space of trying to come up with some creative ideas
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: about how we help seniors stay in place, whether that
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: be in a rental situation or even in a home
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: ownership situation. We are we are finding seniors that are
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: struggling even when they're homeowners. Are there several categories that
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: you're actually seeing the need is or is it just
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: sort of all over the place. We have a need
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: in almost every spectrum of housing. Young folks who've gone
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: to college, you know, done all the right things, Cannon
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: afford to own a home in California. So that's one
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: piece of the pie that we are trying to come
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: up with solutions for. We have what we call our
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: missing middle, which is those folks that are working and
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: still struggling to pay rent. Those are populations that we
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: care about and we're trying to come up with tools for.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: But I think the ones that we're critically aware of
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: and working a little bit more feverishly around is that
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: senior population. So here in Anaheim, we have created a
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: new program called our Senior Safety Net Program, hobbling together
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: funding from different sources to pay for case manageagement to
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: pay for short term instances up to five thousand dollars
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: maybe falling behind with rent, either because of a medical
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: bill or some other unforeseen circumstances. So that is in
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: essence and addiction diversion type of a program, because sometimes
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: that's enough to keep somebody stable. But within that continuing
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: also using the resources that come to us from our
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: home program to stand up a tenant based rental assistance
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: program that will help seniors gain access to rent assistance
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: for twenty four months while we help them to figure
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: out whether we can transition them into the Section eight program,
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: or maybe one of our project base about your Buildings
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: or a text credit buildings, or maybe family steps in
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: or roommate situation works out a whole multitude of things
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: that could happen. But I think to your question right now,
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: the population that we're laser focused in in addition to
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: the homeless is our seniors, because we're seeing that the
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: demographics show that the greatest, the largest demographic of homeless
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: that is increasing is that as our senior population.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: What kind of numbers are we talking about within that
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: senior population or projections over the next you know, one year,
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: five year, ten year terms. Have you guys done studies
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: to give an indication.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: I don't have precise numbers on that.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: I know that our last point in time count showed
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: a ten to fifteen percent increase in our homeless population
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: at the age demographic that was fifty five. Yeah, And
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: the adadotal information that I have, which is really what's
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: causing uh, you know, the sets of urgency within us
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: is that we do run a local shelter three hundred
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: and twenty five beds. That's our Annahon specific shelter, and
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: then regionally there's a county shelter of about the same
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: amount of beds, and our neighboring city has another shelter
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: similar so combined about a thousand beds of shelter. And
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: when we get together and we talk. As service providers.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: We are routinely talking to each other about the fact
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: that we are seeing people who are older. And when
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: I mean older, I'm talking about fifty.
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: I'm not talking fifties.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: So we're talking about seventy and eighty showing up at
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: our shelters and in some cases and wheelchairs.
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: And what have you.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: So while the data is emerging and shortainly, our next
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: point in time count will and will really probably be
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: the most informative in terms of what that increase looks like.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: We are seeing it every day in our shelters. It's
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: so concerning to kind of hear this. I think you
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: called it the silver tsunami. Do you have access to
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: land and builders and nonprofits and you know or are
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: you guys doing all of that yourself?
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: So land is scarce, we are largely built out, which
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: is why something like a motel conversion ordnance and money
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: for hotels is such a promising model because you can
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: take things that we can, you can repurpose what's there.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: So partly we've been focused on housing our homeless with
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: permanent housing, but motels can potentially offer a model also
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: for some of our seniors. That are that are aging
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: in place, as long as there is room to create
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: some community space for for the socialization and maybe for
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: bringing on the services on site. So we're certainly looking
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: at motels as an option for this population as well.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: The housing Authority has when we can we have we
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: do assemble land. We do owns about five or six
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: parcels that have been acquired over time, and we do
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: actively engage in assembling land to make sure that it's viable.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: And so some things both quicker than others because we're
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: we're waiting on willing to make that larger I here
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: in Anaheim, we're not our We don't develop ourselves. We
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: use nonprofit partners, and so our nonprofit partners certainly are
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: quite innovative and often bring us sites that they believe
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: may be useful, whether it be for our seniors, for
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: our families, whatever need we have. But there is quite
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: a landscape of nonprofit developers in Orange County, but really
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: up and down the southern California area that understand the
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: need of the regions and are helping us to identify opportunities.
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: You have such an oppressive array of things that you're
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: doing everything from homeless response care to development, to managing
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: several federal programs and doing it so well. When I
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: was reading your bio and your information, there was one
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: particular thing that stood out to me amongst all of
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: the accomplishments, but this was a unique one. Talking about
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: some fraud prevention programs that you've created. Do you mind
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: sharing some.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: Of those practices because it's sort of that ugly I
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: think you mentioned it, and it's not something that always
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: we're willing to talk about, but it sounds like you
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: guys have done some great initiatives here and I want
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: to share that with our larger audience.
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Sure, So that stems from my career path.
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: You know, when I.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: Initially started, my first foray into housing was through the
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: Section eight program. I was a caseworker, so I think
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: when you're trained to do eligibility, to collect data income
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: and really look at it with an attention of helping
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: people but also to ensure that we're being good store
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: to the public's money. And so that was the initial
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: start of it. But I happened to have been around
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: long and where I remember the introduction of the EIB system.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: The Enterprise Income Verification system, and what a revolution that
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: was right, and I was at the La County Housing Authority,
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: which is a pretty sizable agency, and we decided that
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: we would let everybody know through very simplistic type of
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: messaging that hey, you know, these electronic computer matches are
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: coming online and so you may be hearing from us,
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: hopefully not, but you know what, we may need to
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: work on some of that. And I think our matches
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: that came back in the EiV days of where we
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: had discrepancies was in the thousands, some small, some large,
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: and so it was such a bohemoth that we had
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: to really strategize about, Okay, how much matters, what's the
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: real really the big numbers, and.
• 34:57
  Speaker 4: How do we approach that.
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: Happened to be there when we were thinking through that,
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: it was it was put on my lap to develop
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: a team to really come up with the.
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: With strategies for all of that.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: And so that's that has stayed with me that you know,
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: some of the things that come up as discrepancies, there's
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: an explanation to it, and so you approach the family
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: with dignity and respect and you just have the conversation
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: and then that gets resolved. But then there are these
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: other things that really and truly are. They're fraudulent activity.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: There's just no other way to describe them.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: And they advent of the ei V kind of I
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: think open the eyes of many of us. So the
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: fact that you know, as we come from a place
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: of help that sometimes you know, there there's some folks
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: that are working a little harder to maybe not be
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: as transparent as we would like them to be. And
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: so that really became the start for setting up fraud
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: prevention programs that have that have carried with me through
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: my various assignments, you know, Memphis and Memphis now in Adaheim,
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: and it really is about looking at a file, holistically,
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: collecting the data, letting the data tell the story, and
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: then working with the family to work through that. You know,
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: we have enjoyed a partnership here once again with the
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: Anaheim Police Department where the police department will help to
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: follow up on big cases, big fraud cases that our
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: staff hasn't covered. From the perspective of trying to recover
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: some money that is difficult. We've only been successful in
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: recovery in the cases where things have been quite substantial,
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: maybe going back about a decade, substantial would have meant
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: something in the vicinity of thirty thousand dollars or more
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: now because everybody is so busy, including courts, it has
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: to be more than fifty thousand for our deed to
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: take that and prosecute that. Thankfully, there's not a lot
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: of that. I think now that people understand that there
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: is computer matching or what have you, people are more
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: forthcoming about their their information. The place that's been a
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: little bit of a challenge for us certainly has been well,
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: I guess it's the gig economy, the ubers.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: The uber heats and what.
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: Have you, where people are making some money and they're
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: not always forthcoming with that, and we find that usually
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: through bank accounts. You know, we don't want to we
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: don't try to micromanage folks, but there's a way to
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: look at bank account statements pretty quickly and see that
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: things are money's coming in and out in an unexplained manner,
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: and so there may be many somewhere else, and so
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: we're not afraid to ask those questions. So that's that's
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: really how we're handling those things.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: It has been great talking with you here, and as
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: we wrap up, is there anything else you want to
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: bring forward on the good things you guys are doing
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: over in Anaheim.
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: No, yeah, I thank you for the time.
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: It isn't always we don't always make time to talk
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: about all the great things that we're doing. And I
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: and I thank you for standing up a platform where
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: we are able to talk about these things and hopefully,
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: you know, the gain an audience that understands that there's
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: a lot of people working really hard to try to
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: make an impact on some pretty big issues. Completely agree,
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: it has been a pleasure having you here, and thank
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: you so much for taking the time.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for listening to change Makers with Katie Gore.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: To find out more about Katie, go to quad L
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: dot com. That's quad e L dot com. This has
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: been a production of Forbes Books Radio