July 2024 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes / By

Attendees:

  • Elke Davidson
  • Paula Collins
  • Annie Godfrey
  • Gail Bell
  • Tim Sass
  • Beate Sass
  • Martha Haythorn
  • Catherine Carter

DeKalb Update

  • Presenters: Elke Davidson and Paula Collins – DeKalb County Coalition representatives
  • New CEO and three of the seven commissioners (districts 3, 4, 7) will be new
  • Elke and Paula have been working to elevate affordable housing in the county (started conversations in Oct. 2023), especially in the primary elections. 
    • Identified other groups in DeKalb who are working on affordable housing and identified some of the gaps
    • Late November 2023 identified issues that need to be addressed
      • Relationship between cities and counties needs healing (we can’t solve this, but belief is that there is a path forward)
      • Understand executive (i.e., budget) vs. legislative (i.e., policy) tensions
      • Understand operations vs. strategies
    • By March 2024 realized
      • DeKalb needs a housing strategy/plan
      • Need community engagement
      • County needs to spend local dollars vs. only using state and national funds as they have in the past
    • May/June 2024 elevated affordable housing in the election:
      • May held affordable starter home event with House ATL 
      • June held event with DeKalb county CEOs and commissioners that were in the run-off election – affordable housing was the focus. Received good media coverage including AJC, 11 Alive, and usual suspects like Decaturish
      • Published two op-eds in Decaturish
    • There was a shift in the affordable housing discussion when Michelle Long-Spears became chair of PECS (Planning, Economic Development, and Community Services). Larry Johnson was the prior chair and didn’t move anything forward. Long-Spears spoke at the May House ATL event. Ted Terry attended as well and was excited about moving affordable housing initiatives forward.
    • Late May 2024  Long-Spears had a meeting with Elke and Paula. Priorities identified
      • Streamline development approval process – getting new developments approved is a huge lift for developers
      • Confirmed that a housing plan was needed
      • Confirmed that county must spend their own dollars (aka – needs some skin in the game)
    • Week of July 22, 2024 Board of Commissioners had a meeting
      • Resolution 2024-0814 regarding funding to create a housing plan. Was deferred until August 27, 2024  meeting
      • Walk-on agenda item: resolution to create a DeKalb County housing trust fund. Deferred to PECS for two weeks.
    • July 31, 2024, 8:30-10:30 am at Frontline Response on Gresham Road Holding meeting with interested parties (non-profit developers, affordable housing advocates, and others in the space). It is anticipated that this will be the first of a number of such meetings. 

Better Living Together Update

    • The Coalition is partnering with Better Living Together to raise awareness around the need for inclusionary, affordable housing for people with disabilities (intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and physical disabilities). When affordable housing is discussed this population must be included in the conversation. To date, this rarely if ever happens. Housing that is accessible to people with disabilities is important for everyone, not just those with the disability, including:
      • Family members with a disability – imagine not being able to celebrate a family member’s birthday because you have mobility issues that prevent you from climbing stairs to your family member’s apartment. 
      • Aging community members – wouldn’t it be nice to be able to age in place even if you are in a wheelchair? This isn’t possible for many of our seniors because their apartments don’t follow universal design standards.
    • Updates from Better Living Together (note: there are several opportunities to get involved with the various BLT efforts)
      • Housing – Since the City adopted the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, all new developments must have 10% of the units set aside for those of moderate income. There are two large developments on the horizon which will generate about 70+ “affordable units” between the two. The developers are responsible for filling those units through their leasing office. Note that the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance states that to be eligible an individual must have sufficient income so they are not spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. This would outright disqualify most individuals with IDD. BLT has contacted Pope and Land who is the developer that will be developing the baby Kroger site. BLT also requested that Andrea introduce them to Ben Yorker from Northwood Raven who is developing the site on E College. 
  • The Coalition will work with BLT to further these efforts.
    • Creation of a Disability Advisory Council – Andrea was in favor but said it would be best for the City to partner with a local nonprofit that has staff and experience working in the disability world. One advantage working with a nonprofit is that they could apply for grants to fund initiatives. The City being a governmental entity, would not be eligible. Also, Andrea alluded to the fact that budget-wise, the city is stretched very thinly. Although the City would have staff members on the advisory board, perhaps they don’t have the bandwidth to organize and sustain it. What was decided was that BLT would do a deep dive on how disability advisory councils in other cities are set up and function, and then meet again in early fall to discuss our proposed plan for Decatur. During the Coalition meeting we discussed 
      • Keeping the advisory committee an informal group working outside the formal City channels. 
      • Important for this council to meet quarterly with the commissioners.
      • BLT is looking for someone to lead this effort. If you are interested, please contact Beate Sass, co-founder of BLT, at beatesass@comcast.net.
    • Employment – City of Decatur HR has created one part time position for a receptionist at Legacy Park. They are finalizing the details and will reach out to Briggs and Associates once they are ready to partner with Briggs to fill the position. They view this as an opportunity to assess the success of employing an individual with an IDD. Andrea strongly suggested that someone present to the Decatur Business Association about creating internships for the DHS students and also employment opportunities for adults with Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). 
      • BLT is looking for someone from BLT or the Coalition to lead this charge. If you are interested, please contact Beate Sass, co-founder of BLT, at beatesass@comcast.net.
    • Education – Andrea liked the idea of having a regular article in the Decatur Focus about various disability related topics. This would help educate the community members about people with disabilities and the vital role they play in our community.  Martha Moore wrote a piece that is in the July issue. Andrea also agreed that staff would benefit from being educated about best practices as it relates to hiring and working with those with disabilities. She was given a brochure from Spectrum Autism. They will provide 2 free hours of education to entities and also have free on-line tutorials. https://spectrumautism.org/education/skip-webinars/. 
      • Carrie Sjogren will be leading the Best Buddies effort. Best Buddies Fosters one-to-one friendships between middle school and high school students with and without IDD, in which they share interests, experiences, and activities.The goal of this initiative is to work with the Best Buddies to advocate for and educate the community about people with disabilities.
      • If you would like to join this committee, please reach out to Carrie at cweinberg123@gmail.com.