The Fall River Community Development Agency held a public hearing on August 29, 2024, to gather views on impediments to fair housing choice, which will inform the city's 2025-2030 Consolidated Plan submission to HUD. TDA Consulting provided a presentation on federal and state fair housing protections, including protected classes, and the concept of fair housing choice, which emphasizes access to opportunities. The development of the Analysis of Impediments (AI) document involves data analysis, community outreach through surveys and stakeholder sessions, and the creation of action steps, with a draft expected in November for a 30-day public comment period. Public testimony highlighted several critical issues. Emanuel Fernandes, a retired veteran, shared a recent experience with a homeless veteran who struggled to find immediate shelter, challenging the city to provide rapid assistance. Taos Ferris, the city's Director of Veteran Services, corroborated these concerns, noting outdated housing data, a high number of homeless individuals, and the difficulty of housing veterans due to rising rents and public opposition to veteran housing developments. He advocated for the city to mandate affordable housing units in new construction. Christina DaCosta, Executive Director of South Coast Fair Housing, reported a significant increase in overt housing discrimination since the COVID-19 eviction moratorium lifted, disproportionately affecting people of color, those with limited English proficiency, disabilities, and families with children. Heidi Collins, Director of Programs at the Southeast Center for Independent Living (SKILL), detailed the severe housing crisis for individuals with disabilities, with 40% of their 550 clients needing housing support but only 11 securing it in the last year. She cited long waitlists (up to 10 years), issues like bug infestations in HUD-funded developments, and inaccessible 'accessible' units. An unnamed New Bedford resident and Commander of the Disabled American Veterans for New Bedford echoed the challenges for homeless veterans and criticized 40B housing guidelines for penalizing income increases. The meeting concluded with the chair acknowledging the issues and committing to addressing them, particularly for veterans.
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good evening uh tonight's public hearing is uh being scheduled to obtain the views of citizens public agencies and all other interested parties um on identification of impediments to fair housing choice to be used in the development of the city of fall River's analysis of impediments to fair housing choice we call it an AI um this document is a comprehensive evaluation of the city's housing economic and
0:29transportation conditions and public and private sector policies in order to ensure that all persons in the city are provided fair housing choices and opportunities um the AI to fair housing choice is being completed to meet requirements of the Housing and Community Development act and HUD regulations governing the preparation of the Consolidated plan the document will be part of the
0:562025 to 2030 Consolidated plan submiss the for of Community Development agency and its consultant TDA are developing an analysis of impediments for public review and comment the agencies consulted a wide range and variety of public and private service providers for profit and nonprofit entities and Community groups and organizations um the format of this public hearing will be to allow
1:23participants the opportunity to express their views and comments all of these comments together with any written statements received will be considered in the development of the analysis of impediment to fair housing choice to be submitted to HUD um I will turn the public hearing over to Jennifer and uh Katie from the TDA Consulting to make a brief presentation then I will take testimony from the public about fair
1:51housing Choice thank you okay so uh we're just going to go over some Basics about fair housing protections and this concept of fair housing choice that we that Mike just talked about um both of these concepts are covered in the analysis of impediments to fair housing planning document or the AI so we want folks to have a better understanding of what these concepts are about we're also
2:20going to talk about the HUD requirements and why we have to do this plan as a HUD requirement and then um we'll go to the public comments so fair housing protections are provided at the state the federal state and local levels in some cases at the local levels as well um we're going to talk more specifically about federal and state protections um these protections are based in laws that have been developed
2:47over decades through acts of legislation and court cases um and this AI is focusing on those protections under the law as they relate to housing so at the B basic level um fair housing says that it's illegal to discriminate in the sale or renting of housing including against individuals seeking a mortgage or housing assistance or in other housing related activities um most of our guidance comes from the
3:14Fair Housing Act which prohibits the Discrimination based on a series of characteristics and these characteristics are referred to as protected classes and these classes are race color national origin religion sex and that clud gender identity and sexual orientation familial status and disability there are other federal civil rights laws that um help to frame the protections as they relate to fair
3:42housing and they include things like the Civil Rights Act section 54 the Rehabilitation Act the Americans with Disability Act um and so we look at those laws as well um civil rights laws also require that agencies receiving money from HUD um make sure that there is a meaningful access to programs and activities for people with limited English proficiency and with disabilities so that we're
4:08making accommodations for folks that they can actively participate um as a recipient of federal funds the city does need to comply with fair housing laws and we're going to talk a little bit more about that in just a moment under the state law um there are similar protections as under the federal laws so the state and federal laws both prohibit discrimination in the sale and Rental of housing by Property Owners
4:35landlords property managers mortgage lenders real estate agents um and the state laws actually expand the protections beyond the federal laws to include uh ancestry genetic information marital status veteran or active military status age familial familial status is included in the federal definition and then also source of income and I'm going to show you a little chart here in just a moment that
4:58gives you the side by side comparison um state law also prohibits landlords from discriminating against families with children under six because a unit may contain lead so basically a landlord can't say that I think my house has lead so I don't want to rent to children they actually have to do something to Abate the lead so that they're not discriminating against families with small with small
5:22children so this is that side byby side chart that I mentioned um these are the different protected classes down the middle and you can see that there are the federal classes checked off on the left side and then on the right side shows the more expanded protections under state law so the other concept that we review in an AI is fair housing choice and you can kind of summarize fair housing
5:49Choice as the ability to access opportunity so um throughout history there have been different ways that um individuals have been denied access to housing opportunities of their choice and so we look at those kinds of factors um where we live matters because it allows us access to things like jobs and goods and services so can we get to a grocery store um can we get to Health Care Facilities what are the schools
6:19like in the places where there is affordable housing is that housing decent and safe housing um so all of these types of things are related to fair housing choice because housing is not just the dwelling unit that we live in but the the overall area and the access that we have to Opportunities based on where we live and so those are the the concepts that we look at in this planning
6:44document that we're doing so housing protections under the law as well as access to opportunities in housing um as I mentioned before HUD requires that all recipients of Hud funding affirmatively further fair housing and they actually to certify to that that they're going to do that exact thing and creating an analysis of impediments to fair housing and looking at what the challenges are
7:08around fair housing and then developing actions to respond to those challenges is one way that communities can demonstrate that they're affirmatively furthering fair housing and so that's the the purpose of this document to demonstrate that yes the city has looked at these challenges identified them and created an action plan for addressing the concerns um so that is the purpose and the HUD
7:35requirement so I wanted to just share a little bit about the approach that we have to developing the AI so we do data analysis so we look at data um coming from the US Census the American Community survey and other data sources that are relevant to um what's happening here in Fall River and we take a look at things like demographics housing cost burden um fair housing complaints um educational attainment
8:05Transportation commute times um lots of different factors that could affect access to opportunity and then we take that data and some of it we do map so that you can see it geographically so those things are going to be all part of the plan that is developed there's also a community outreach strategy uh there are survey questions in the current Consolidated plan survey so this city is
8:30running a survey to collect information on City needs through a survey on the Consolidated plan the Consolidated plan is a 5-year planning document that cities um counties state governments that receive money from HUD have to create every five years it's like a strategic plan it tells the community how they plan to spend the money so there's a survey out right now for that plan and there are are a series of fair
8:56housing questions in that survey um so f folks are encouraged to take the survey we're also we also had stakeholder sessions where different Community organizations came and shared their experiences with impediments to fair housing um and then we're holding this public meeting excuse um would you talk into the microphone sure I didn't even realize it was on sorry about that is that better
9:19it's much better okay thank you um and then finally once we get through this whole process of collecting information we'll create action steps at the cities we take to respond to the impediments that have been identified and then that plan once it's fully developed and the draft is ready will be publicized and available for public comment and there'll be a 30-day public comment period so
9:44the public is welcome to review the draft of the document and provide feedback on the things that we've identified as impediments as well as the actions that have been established to respond to those impediments and we're our plan is to have the document published in November sometime and then it'll be available for 30 days for public comment and then those comments are received and considered incorporated
10:08into the draft and then the draft is finalized and made ready for submission to HUD next spring um and so that is the end of my presentation and I think we're ready for comments awes thank you so much Jennifer um again uh the format of the public hearing tonight will be allow will will will be to allow participants the opportunity to express their views so we ask persons to sign in on a separate
10:37speaker sheet and uh I will call that uh those people up to um give their testimony um I just ask when you do come up here uh each speaker should State his or her name and address so tonight we have uh so far I had three people that have signed in um I'd like Emanuel Fernandes if he can to come up and uh give his
11:07testimony just speak into the microphone if you can and just uh state your name and and uh can you hear me okay um good evening my name is Emanuel Fernandes um lived in um Fall River since uh 19 99 at at 10006 Robison Street uh F River um I came here this evening because I recently heard about um um this meeting and I wanted to uh present to you um some information that I had just received
11:44yesterday I understand the the focus of what you're identifying here in terms of protection of certain class of individuals uh one of which is a veteran I want to identify that um I I was served in the Army Reserve National Guard for 33 years so I'm retired now thank service thank you sir um I uh I have been volunteering at the disabled American veterans and u i was confronted with a situation yesterday
12:21where a gentleman came in and he wanted me to assist him with filing a claim which which I did so um but while I was taking down his information um he indicated to me that he was homeless and uh that for me for the first time presented itself um so what I attempted to do was to get all this information sort of done up and sent in and then my first thing
12:49was to have him come over here to uh to City Hall and meet with the uh veteran service officer Doc and um I've met him before an outstanding individual and I know he he thinks very highly of the veteran community and wants to to assist the veteran Community uh equally uh when I showed up here unfortunately um uh he wasn't present but someone from his office was able to uh escort me down
13:21the hall um to another department that sort of dealt with homelessness and it was then that I found out um that if a person is homeless if a veteran is homeless and we try to execute uh any other plans I tried calling the New England um veterans homeless hotline um I spoke with them was able to submit an intake with them and uh they indicated to me that someone would eventually get in touch
13:55with this gentleman but the deal was is that they would get in touch with him at a later date so that individual was not getting um assistance that day he you know my my thing was he deserved or needed to rest his head on a bed that night and he was sleeping outside under a tarp and which made no sense to me so um luckily uh the office here at
14:26uh uh farv City Hall was able to go ahead and make some calls and luckily for us this individual was able to to to find a uh a bed at the veteran transition house in New bef the thing that got to me was that for the first time and and and this is it partly blamed on me is that I I thought that there was Provisions in place to assist a homeless veteran and
14:54getting immediately you know into a spot and unfortunately that wasn't the case so I challenge you to to go out there and and and prove me wrong and or put something in your report that deals immediately with rectifying a situation where someone who's in the protective category um is not um protected right because then they become uh um an issue uh that needs to be addressed and if if if nothing could be done
15:35immediately to assess that individual um then I think that I don't I don't think that's fair as a veteran and most veterans would fight tooth and nail to ensure that another veteran is taken care of and and that's what we do we take care of our own and it sad me um to be in a situation where I didn't know um that a person couldn't immediately uh be taken care of so on
16:12this end as far as I'm concerned I've always been the type of person that you can either sit and complain about something or you can identify what the problem is and come up with a solution so um I tried talking uh with Doc and and I'm and I'm trying to see whether or not we can get a collaboration with other veterans organizations here in in in in Fall River to hopefully do some
16:34fundraising so we can raise some money and maybe give out vouchers um for individuals to to go to hotels right I would ask that um within your report that you can identify that this is an issue and and and come up with a solution to this because if if agencies are not going to collaborate with one another and come up with you know quick solutions to address an individual who's homeless especially a veteran right and
17:07and this guy was a this guy was an 82nd Airborne um uh Soldier out of Fort Brag and and Har he was uh asking for help and I knew that that was hard for him right because um in order to understand understand the magnitude of that um most individuals that probably step out of Fort Brag won't ask for help and um and and he did and what killed me and which I'll never forget is when he
17:41secured uh placement he snapped to attention and he saluted me all right you know and I'm I'm saying to myself I said I said listen you don't have to salute me and and and it killed me it broke my heart because I said to myself something something should have been in place where where this guy you know shouldn't have had to react in that capacity so I'm I'm going to thank you
18:12for listening to me uh this evening I'm going to challenge you to please take this into consideration and and come up with a plan and work with whomever you need to you know and and it set aside whatever monies that can be set aside for vouchers or whatever um but I strongly feel that if a brother or sister veteran comes before anyone in the city of Far River that that person should
18:43immediately um be allowed to go to some place and lay their head for that for that evening pending them getting involved in Services right because you know cuz from what I gathered it was going to take between 3 to 4 days for soci worker to get involved and all this stuff to kind of come into play so uh with that I just want to say thank you very much for your
19:05for your time and I would hope that you please address this in your report thank you U Mr Fernandes um you know navigating homelessness is is a an issue in the city we're trying to make it easier um I'd like you to stay if you can for after the meeting um so that we can give you our information um through this whole process we've learned that that education is a big thing in the
19:31city um to educate people we do have um things in place my office the for Community Development agency works very well with um with the um veterans organizations so um if it was brought to my attention um or to the community development's attention that a homeless person uh is a veteran and they're homeless we would do whatever we need to do to make sure that there's a roof over
19:53that person's head immediately um uh we appreciate your service and you know all for all of the people that um are veterans we appreciate their service so um please stick around so we can um give you that information and with you volunteering um if you come across that again um a reach out to C to our agency and then to the um veterans department definitely will help and we'll make sure
20:19that that person is taken care of okay sure enough thank you sir um the next speaker uh to follow Emanuel is um I'm going to say this wrong name uh Taos Talos Taos we just call him doc um uh he is our veterans agent for the city um welcome this evening and uh thank you for being here and we'll let you uh give your comments as you said my name is Taos
20:51Ferris I am the city's director of veteran services um Mr Fernandez spoke to something uh just a moment ago uh and unfortunately I was not in the office in that exact moment when he came looking for services for that individual I was sitting in this meeting here uh getting educated um but it's it's not unheard of it's uh something that I frequently have run into since taking on the
21:20position um and I find that there are many many many things that that keep veterans from being housed uh uh I operate within certain parameters in my office I can only do so much uh so what we end up doing is reaching out to other communities like New Bedford because they do have the veterans transition house uh to assist us you know with housing some of our homeless veterans um
21:49there are a couple of things that I saw during the course of the I'll call them information sessions we went through here over the last two days one uh which is really important is the lack of the most updated information I understand you guys pull information from where you where you can uh and then also specifically inside of that the snapshot uh the one night or two nights of actually taking you know measure of
22:18who's out on the street uh I think not only does the number of people you guys captured in that Snapshot not really paint a full picture um but just the overall information that was being provided over the course of the information sessions the rent amounts severely outdated they're about twice the number that you have listed uh so that is that is something that really needs to be looked at um I'm not going
22:42to speak to the actual total number of homeless folks in the city um that is you know a battle that'll be ongoing for whoever knows how long um but to kind of back up what Mr Fernandes is talking about uh one of my t as the veteran service officer for the city of Far River is to be an advocate for the veterans of this city uh and I find that extremely
23:07difficult to do at times um for multitude of different reasons but I'm not just the veteran service officer I also live in this city I live on the south end um and the homeless people that kind of Traverse the neighborhoods at night while you're attempting to sleep are quite a high number just just being honest about it it's quite a high number and there are many things that kind of feed into why there
23:34are so many homeless folks here in the city but I'll give you a snapshot of one of my days 8:30 a.m. phone call from a 80-year-old surviving spouse her husband passed away within the last year benefits are cut she is no longer able to afford the mortgage at her home facing homeless 76-year-old surviving spouse husband passed away benefits are cut she is no longer able to afford the rent at her
24:08place because her place was recently sold to someone that is not from Fall River that now owns that property and has doubled the rent so no longer is $900 going to cut it mother of two surviving spouse same situation income does not cover the raising rent after property's been turned over to a new own Vietnam AA veteran disabled benefits don't cover the new amount of the new rent in his
24:40area that's just a snapshot of half the morning when you add in the other factors that that deal in helping people become homeless you can never Overlook hunger Hunger is a major part of what also goes into homelessness Bristol County is on the very top of the list with food disparity the veterans association of Bristo County over on Pine Street has a number increased seeing folks from across the county not
25:12just here in Fall River we'll say from April until this month that number has gone from about 420 something people servic in the month at the food pantry to almost 800 that's individuals and families you coup with the fact that the public is allowed to fight back against anyone that may have attempted to put together veteran housing in any particular neighborhood which I do believe is some sort of discrimination
25:41if I'm not wrong um that would mean it would be the local Administration and legislation's job to fight against that discrimination to make sure that that came to fruition but that is not what happened and then I'm not speaking against the administration or the legislature just speaking to the facts we have to put a concerted effort together to find a way to put as Mr Fernandez said the money that is
26:14necessary to figure out a way to match or do better than our sister city New Bedford with the veteran transitions house over there I know they have a private partner that you know assisted them in making that come to fruition but that does not mean that we cannot do the same old mills old schools old buildings there are opportunities even if that means knocking the building down to the ground
26:41and starting a new there are opportunities so as an advocate for the veterans in this city I implore any and everybody that's involved with making decisions on what is considered fair market housing that is not marketable by the way the prices are not marketable the incomes in the area do not support the rents nor the mortgages that go along with what is called Market housing we
27:08need to do better and I say we because I also work for the city um but again I'm also a resident so the people that I'm helping are also my neighbors and that sits differently with me having been on the street and know what it's like to go hungry then sleep in your car and then have your car taken and have to sleep wherever you can is demoralizing when you've been a useful adult your entire
27:36life anybody that does anything near what I do on a day-to-day basis knows that right now the majority of the people that we are attempting to house or help in any way for the most part have been useful adults the entirety of their life but the current situation that we have presented in front of us with a lack of supply and a whole lot of demand is making for tougher times than we
28:00actually can deal with so we have to find a way not only as Leaders city workers as veterans we all got to come together and find a way I'm not sure what that looks like at this moment I know what my plan is to attempt to you know try to help rectify the situation but in order to make that happen we have to be steadfast and understanding that just because somebody wants to come into
28:22Fall River and build if we're not going to hold their feet to the fire and say hey yeah you can build but give me this number of lowincome apartments or lwi income condos we have to take accountability on our side to make sure that we reduce the number of people that are on the street and reduce the number of people that are at risk of homelessness by taking measure of our own
28:48stock and if we're not willing to do that then are we here for the citizens of the city are we here for the veterans I'm not going to do a deep dive into other things that need to be said said or that don't need to be said I'm going to make it simple we have to work together and somebody has to stand up and put their foot down and say yes you
29:05can build but you have to give us affordable lowincome housing in the process you got eight units I need two you got 100 units I need 20 if we're not willing to do those things this will not get better I come from a city where it is not getting better I've been connected to this city for almost 25 years and all I've seen was that number continue to increase
29:32over the course of the last 25 years in that manner We are failing as the new veterans officer though I intend to not fail I am going to rub some people the wrong way I know that and I go in the door knowing that but in order to get stuff done as a leader sometimes you got to make other people uncomfortable but you also have to be willing to admit when you failed
29:55and right now we are failing miserably and it's not okay I thank you for the help you offered today for the individual that relocating to this area that needed a place for him and his mother with you know serious medical condition um but again you got a snapshot of what I deal with every single day that's just one instance before I made it to the 10:00 session this morning I dealt with another
30:22individual veteran Marine 16 years at a job do shuttered no longer with an income I got to get him housed I got to get him some money in his pocket he can't file unemployment because when you go to the unemployment office they hand you a telephone even though there's a building full of people walking around so I asked him for that number and I called that number and you
30:47know what I got a whole lot of options and buttons to push and still waited and waited and waited for a 60-s something year old Marine veteran I can only begin to explain to you his frustration I can't use the words how is he supposed to get help the vabc over at Pine Street is doing everything that they can the veterans Kitchen on Wednesday they're feeding as many people as they can we
31:14can feed everybody in the world but if we can't put them up somewhere we're failing this is not just a Fall River problem it's a problem in New Bedford it's a problem in t so much so the vsos have started talking talking and and putting chatter together about trying to figure out a way we can buy a hotel we have to do something citizens also have to do something it is unsatisfactory for
31:42citizens to come together in in a consorted effort to turn down any place that would house veterans in any manner that is unsatisfactory veterans have lived died and sweated and bled for this country and for this city 4,000 of them live here in the city of Far River and it is not okay to turn them down when it comes to building something that should easily be set aside just for them thank you for your
32:15time thank you very much um you know I can't speak for the city on a whole but I can speak for the Community Development agency and I know we ourselves have been very very committed to Veterans um I know it doesn't help the current situation in terms of uh the amount of units but um we've developed over the years tumra Street uh units we've developed units on um Bradford Avenue and we've also developed handicap
32:42units on Eastern Avenue that had a direct preference for um for uh veterans so um we're always always try to be dedicated to those um uh we just put together um on uh an application to the CPC board for uh units on Thomas Street that would have a Veterans Preference on it also so um I thank you for your talking I see you got back to the table so we'll let
33:11you talk again if you'd like but um I just want to let you know that um uh you know at CDA um we will do everything possible we put together a street Outreach team we put together a fast team for our homelessness um there is no reason why any veteran should be out in the cold um it is our duty and our goal to make sure that that they're all taken
33:37care of you know so um I appreciate your hard work too you know thank you for that statement and please anybody that's sitting here I'm I work alongside you not against you correct I I agree um you spoke to tumia street so I I promise you I was about to sit down um when I moved back to this city that's where I moved to spouse two kids on tum Street if you
34:03know this city you wouldn't smile about that no kid the street is not safe oh it's a it's it's so that is one of my biggest pet peeves with when people attempt to house veterans the very first place they attempt to house them is in the worst crime areas in that in that City in that municipality in that county what what have you Far River is a microcosm of the rest of the United
34:28States okay when I first faced homelessness I wasn't in the Northeast I was in the Southeast um and I I got to a point where I was able to get on my feet enough to attempt to get assistance and that assistance came in the form of a program called HUD Vash and if you're not aware of what the program is clearly partly has to do with HUD but basically it's it's Section 8 for for veterans
34:56basically um and one of the things that that really really bothered me was the idea of a person that is shown again their entire entirety of their adult life that they can be a useful working helpful individual that somehow fell upon hard times and it's trying to build back up you have this HUD Vash program which I'm pretty sure is in operation here in the area and you stick veterans that are
35:23attempting to better themselves in the work areas you can possibly find that's not okay already on edge at all times from your service and you stick me in a high crime area and I have to worry about my family's safety every moment of the day and then something stupid happens right outside my home or someone attempts to break in my home because it's a high crime area I stand up from
35:53my home and my family and I'm the one that gets prosecuted the system is broken well hopefully we can fix it yeah um our next speaker is Christina deons um she is from South Coast fair housing I'm glad that she was with us today um she can give us a little uh background of what she does and uh where her organization is thanks um my name is Christina daona I'm the executive director of South Coast
36:33fair housing we are a nonprofit Fair Housing Organization um our mission is to eliminate housing discrimination and increase Equal Housing opportunities for everyone um we serve the uh all of Southeastern Massachusetts the cape and islands and the state of Rhode Island and our closest office to fall river is in New Bedford um we will though if somebody needs to can't travel to New Bedford we will meet with them um
37:02at their home or in their neighborhood um whatever works for them um so the way the work that we do is to um so we kind of work to achieve our mission in a few different ways one way is through education and Outreach right so we um will do a range of presentations we'll try to get the word out about what the fair housing laws are and what people's rights and obligations are are under those
37:28laws um we have information on our website and our social media um so you can find us that way and um we also uh investigate and advocate for people who have experienced or may experience housing discrimination so one of the things that we do that's unique and I believe we're still the only um nonprofit organization doing this in our region is um fair housing test which is like secret shopping but for housing
38:00discrimination um so that's one of the tools that we use to try to identify um whether or not discriminatory practices are happening in the housing market um and then we're also available to sort of look at policy issues and um try to improve um policies to kind of try to break down um systems and practices that are in place that prevent um uh certain members of our of our communities from having equal access to
38:30housing I will kind of add I think um you know I think what I've been at the all the meetings that have happened over the last couple of days and you know I think um obviously I think what everyone is sort of experiencing and has reflected is that there is just simply a shortage of housing period and a shortage of affordable housing for people who already live in Fall River and and are
38:57simply trying to stay here um and I think what we see as an organization certainly we have seen I would say since the eviction moratorium lifted um after covid our volume of calls tripled um and it has stayed steady on Pace with that on on that pace since and the nature of the calls that we have received across our service area but including Fall River right um the nature the kind of discrimination has
39:28become more overt and open and um it has been more challenging to uh to to actually obtain solid results for our clients and I think part of a huge factor in that is because of the housing market and the shortage of housing absolutely leads to more discrimination and it results in um certain people being more likely to be affected by the shortage of housing um so certainly people of color people
40:06with limited English proficiency people with disabilities families with children just to name a few um who will not only be more impacted by a shortage of housing in in and of itself but then also more impacted by discrimination that tends to increase when there's shortages of housing so um you know we are available um if anyone feels like they need to reach out to us they feel like they've experienced discrimination
40:33they can contact us um our website is at South Coast fairh housing.org um and I think that covers everything so thank you so much cool thank you so much um that's who I have as as who signed in as a speaker does anybody else want to speak does um Mr Hornsby come on R re Reverend Hornsby come down please there were two things that James coins
41:15residents residents 260 Lake Avenue uh currently a bridge priest at St Luke's Episcopal Church where I've served since 1966 of in the Niagara neighborhood I'm also a member of the CPC committee um in order I wanted to underline something that I think has been looked ahead looked at but it has to do with minorities and access to housing and I was sure that I someone else would say it
41:57um I don't know who's behind me but everyone in front of me looks like me and if regardless of where we see the information the overwhelming evidence is that white people have more money than people of color so that when we are when rents increase and when people of color move into our City disproportionately rental increases become a more of a burden to people of color who are more likely to be poorer
42:59and so we have an enormous need for housing but that will handle this in various ways um the other item that I wanted to mention was the CPC committee um would hear the uh your request next month if you made an emergency application are you so planning I hope tonight we tonight we're we're talking about fair housing um Reverend I'll talk about um uh an emergency application for the CPC with you
43:44directly okay okay fine I just there's a lot more that goes into it than what I want to speak out I'm not saying that I'm necessarily in favor of your application I think it should be heard quickly is what I do think um that's it oh yes just a I heard about the meeting this afternoon and finally found out where it was around 4:30 um our church is U diverse we we didn't know about
44:25it or maybe you could try to let diverse agencies and churches and other places know about this kind of meeting in in the future we will take that in the advisement I thought you would thank you we did advertise this meeting just so everybody knows because understand can't put you used to be able to cover that put something in the Herald news and everyone would see it I tell everybody go to the Harold but
44:57also go to the city's website it'll have all all the information on the city's website of of what meetings are going to happen and stuff like that so just so you know but we will reach out to you guys in in the future by the way I didn't see anything on the Community Development website about the meeting today it was there now maybe it was there and I didn't see it but no big
45:20deal you're here we're glad to have you yes please come on down yes I didn't get signed in yeah no problem just listen just give us your name and and uh address good evening thank you for having me uh my name is Heidi Collins um I live at 230 Bey street I'm a homeowner I've been in advocate for over 25 years um I currently hold a position as a director of programs at the southeast Center for
45:49Independent Living we're right here on Troy street right your neighbors and so um I'm here today as the independent living Center we serve individuals with disabilities all disabilities all ages um including elders and we have 10 Independent Living centers throughout Massachusetts and all of us are charted through the state as um Independent Living centers to provide five core services so we provide information
46:15referral skills training peer counseling uh advocacy a lot of advocacy especially around housing and nursing home transition and prevention uh we're charted with all also with the mission of choice and giving people with disabilities a choice to live in the community with the services and supports that they need to be independent and getting them out of nursing homes is one specific area that we know is a
46:41challenge but um we we work with them on trying to get them back into the community and the housing shortage I have never seen it as as a uh born and raised in Far River I have never seen the housing crisis as large as I've seen in the last especially since Co um it's only you know increased each and every year um as an independent living center housing is not one of our five core Services
47:07however when you're serving people with disabilities and they're in need of affordable safe fair housing they come to us for supports in uh services that they need this last state fiscal year from SE uh 71 2023 till June 30th we served 5 50 individuals with disabilities of that number 40% of them came to us for supports for housing so we're serving a large population of people in need of housing affordable and
47:41accessible housing of that 40% um we had 146 consumers that are in need of subsidized housing 11 obtained housing in that year which is probably because they've already were in a weit list um that's just a snapshot of a year we have consumers that are on the weight list for four five years that are still with us and upwards to probably 10 years and so of that we also know that we have a
48:13shortage of Housing and we're seeing an increase in mental health I'm seeing that of the nine and I have nine Independent Living coordinators that work on housing whether their consumers are coming out of Nursing Home or they're uh facing evictions because landlords are selling property and home uh new landlords are uh kicking them out now they have increase in no fault evictions no fault evictions also impact
48:40their ability to fine housing because it doesn't really tell uh new landlords that they're applying for housing what does that no fault eviction really look like uh and it doesn't give them a really a good snapshot of that no faal eviction so we're trying to mitigate all of these obstacles for individuals and also keep them patient as we're waiting for them to get housed um the other issue I wanted to
49:04mention in this uh report is that um the the highest group of household income Falls below the 30% of the Ami which is the exact population that we're serving so it's really um a very um lowincome constituency that we're serving they're on SSI SSDI and they can't compete with the housing market what's occurring right now with the rents a lot of landlords are asking for um applicants
49:32to have three times the income to cover the rent that's not the population that we're seeing and it's really become um a really dire situation for a lot of our consumers I just heard uh yesterday um we have a cons we have consumers that have in subsidized housing so to deal with this whole fair housing choice and and opportunity we have consumers that are coming out of nursing homes going into housing
49:57and they're in need of inhome services whether it's hom making Services PCA services to address their ADL needs and when you have um funding that's coming in from HUD for some of these developments and there's bug infestation that's occurring and they're not addressing that issue it now impacts the medical conditions of people that are in need of PCA and homemaking services and because we just heard about
50:25that that's going to be an issue that we're going to be addressing with the uh with the fair housing and making sure that there's some uh you know some um mitigation happening on that piece um the other issue that I wanted to address is that the fair housing Choice opportunity does not exist for the individuals that we serving it's just getting harder and harder for people to get access to Affordable and accessible
50:52I mentioned earlier at the stakeholder meeting and I did send you that report the housing Navigator which I don't know if everybody's familiar with the housing Navigator but it's a hub of where um there's resources that you can find apartments um in Massachusetts and there's a housing Navigator report that was issued for all the IL Center regions on the number of units that are available in the region
51:15based on that specific um Independent Living Center in our region in the Southeastern uh area there's 464 units and I just told you that some of just our consumers are looking for affordable units let alone all the other social service providers or individuals that are trying to help people find housing so there's definitely a disparity on the the uh amount of housing that you know is available to um individuals with
51:43disabilities and you know it's it's really causing a a backlog on uh the weight list for um people that are trying to get into affordable and accessible housing I also shared earlier that we had a G that was homebound we deal with a lot of people that are homebound that are may be on second and third floor apartments and they're just waiting to try to get into accessible or uh first floor apartments and those we
52:09know don't always exist and this gentleman got um up on the list Finly for housing which was in a federal development he was placed in a a first floor unit with a which which was considered they thought accessibility and a lot of Education needs to happen with um the housing developments that are placing people into accessible units because this gentleman is in a wheelchair so he was unable to still get
52:36out of his unit even though he was on a first floor what was supposedly considered an accessible unit and he still couldn't get out of his unit he had to Advocate with his staff person that works at skill and after several months they were finally able to push the housing authority to finally get a new door uh place so that this gentleman will have all access to all opportunities if he wants to leave for
53:00the day if he gets public transit he's able to get out of his unit now because of this door that was placed to me that's absurd you're putting a an individual in a wheelchair in a first floor unit but yet he can't get out of the doors his door to his unit he was able to get out but he couldn't get out of the main door so it was a problem
53:20that we had to Advocate a lot for for this particular consumer and thankfully we have staff to be able to do that but we can't keep up with the demands of you know with housing applications we have a wait list of about eight weeks from when somebody comes to us to even be seen by a staff person they're required to come to a housing Workshop to hear about all the rules around housing what's
53:42available what they could apply to what we do for services we don't have a magic wand we tell them right up front we don't have housing that we can place you in but we can help you with these applications and is a 8 we at least wait list before they can get a assigned to to a staff person nine staff people to deal with all of the housing applications is just not enough time um
54:05an effort to be um to keep put people through the system uh very quickly so I thank you and I hope as you're developing your plan um if you want any additional input from skill we definitely we did send out Reverend Hornsby we did send out uh a flyer to all of our social service providers and consumers uh in area about this hearing uh hoping that you know people would come out because that's how important
54:32housing is to us and to our community that we took it upon ourselves to develop a flyer from your info put it in our e newss also we put it on our Facebook and we had people sharing it with the hope that people you know could come out or at least you know submit testimony in the uh in the timeline because it's an investment that we feel is very important and the calls that we get in
54:57and the calls that my staff share with me each and every day on the dire needs that people that are you know without medication because you know they can't get access because maybe they're homeless or maybe they're staying in a motel and all of their income is going into motels and they really can't afford to stay in these hotels we've also seen an increase in elders elders that are
55:20being forced out of their homes they've been in their homes for 20 30 years now landlords are selling the prod property and now they have nowhere to go so we we partner with uh Bristol Elders as um an aging service access point and if it's not an elder and they get a referral they send them to us but if it's an if it's an elder because they don't primarily work on housing we help those
55:42Elders apply for housing so we're constantly trying to collaborate with everybody in the community to try to put in the same applications that everyone else is trying to submit and the weight list is just significantly longer for people at this uh juncture so um I thank you for you know this opportunity to share and and hope that the disability community and the elder population is not forgotten in any plan
56:06because we feel that it's a population that just cannot keep up with the the high demand of housing I appreciate it I thank you for coming down and giving your testimony um is there anybody that else that would like to speak that didn't sign in speak now or forever hold your peace you you want to come on down please please State uh your name and address just for the record I'm I'm
56:34actually not a Fall River uh resident I am a New Bedford resident however my daughter does live here um it has been my housing is a big thing even for veterans and uh and that's one of our biggest things because we got the vetan transition house in New Bedford but that is can only be so much um I've had veterans come into my office as I am the current commander of the disabled
57:02American veterans for the City of New Bedford um in the region uh District our district is District Seven so it covers Paul River all the way down to provinc toown now they come in the house and I had a veteran come into the office homeless hungry and scared there's nobody to call where did you come from Paul River who do I call on Paul River Community Development all right and I
57:29have called them and and got well all right well have them come down and see us or this that and that thing um but also uh I also was late um and it revised with with fair housing um and quick story um my ex wife right had a 40b apartment right her stress level had subsided she had a roof over her head for her and her children and then she started making more
58:03money then all of a sudden was out of the guidelines of a 40b and was told either pay more money or get out well unfortunately she had to leave right it's stuff like that that that's happening to Citizen uh within your municipality and within mine that is that they're just getting boxed out it's not fair you know uh at least with veteran housing we have an opportunity to transition them into more uh whether
58:38or not be through a home loan guarantee if available then there's you got to do credit and this that and the other thing um so it is tasking to do now I don't know what Fall River has for veteran housing uh or even housing for people that truly need it and whatnot but something's got to be done I mean if if there's a standard operating procedure if a veteran walks through my door and
59:07says I'm homeless hungry and scared where do I go I should be able to pick up the phone to to to the development people or to veteran transition housing and say I have a veteran that's sleeping in the woods tonight do you got any space and nine times out of 10 I'm hearing no and don't have it you know um and you can convert uh even City buildings into transitional housing and within probably
59:396 to8 months they could be moving up to the next level given the right guidance now what I've seen at the bth over new bpit they got it pretty wrapped but you know that's their program I can only go with with what I know and what my program is but yeah at da we I can show people how to use home loan guarantees build up credits and this that the other thing and do I want to
1:00:05extend it to Fall River absolutely my daughter lives here my daughter has friends here I have friends here you know it's a matter of veterans it because I've always been if if you take veterans they'll come back for everybody else that's what we do we're soldiers that's what we do you know we try to help out as much as we can but if there's no help for them then we're already stopped because
1:00:30the the the stress the anxiety the PTSD it's real as real as can be and when you when I come home in 99 I had no house no job lived in the woods scared as anything finally I said to the VA you promised me things help me they did because I was willing to get the help now a lot of these we can we can have as much housing as we want these people are not ready
1:00:59to accept the help then I just don't know you know what I mean and that and and I just want that to be known that you know things like that the 40b if you you get into a position where you can breathe a little and then when you finally do and start to try to make it it's the rug is ripped up underneath you you know you know that's got to change the guidelines for
1:01:2940b need to increase you know you can't make a certain amount of money go over that by $1 and say oh well now your $1,700 a month apartment is now $2,400 because you don't follow that 40b anymore you know and then six months later that same person loses their job now they're back to qualified for 40b but you got to start the process over again like complete over waiting L um I've known people that been waiting
1:02:01vouchers for 14 years to get housing and then all of a sudden within the last two years there's nothing left so do we build more housing put more holes on the ground or do we can we take some some either like the Armory or or things that the city owns that aren't really being used for anything other than you know it being there convert those into to housing and have organizations run them uh like uh you
1:02:39know um Paul buddy of mine Paul Hebert I don't know if you know who he is he does housing too so and it's just you know that's my my piece really it is it's just the the 40b guidelines need to increase to allow these people to make enough money to afford a substantial amount of rent because right now rents are is equal to a mortgage and there ain't enough houses to go around single family multiple
1:03:10families they're just done you know and I just would like to see that you know it's been my thing if you take care of once demographic like veterans the rest they'll go and help the rest of them that's what we do so thank you very much I I really appreciate it is there anybody that would like anybody else that would like to talk no no no okay well at this moment
1:03:38I'd like to close our public hearing you don't have anything else jennif so have a good evening thank Youk you