The meeting convened at 5:10. Muldoon moved to approve the agenda; seconded by Howell; carried by unanimous vote. Jasso moved to approve the minutes of March 21; seconded by Walden; carried by unanimous vote.

OFFICER'S REPORT/CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Kahoun reported on recent Council actions, including approval of an application for funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank for the Emergency Repair Loan program, approval of using the unexpected excess Federal funds for house moving and NFC, a recommendation that NFC be the sole lender for the Housing Services public housing sales.

POLK COUNTY HOUSING TRUST FUND. Jayne Jochem gave a presentation on the recent activities of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund. She distributed an annual report and statistical information and discussed the Fund's five programs. So far, 1002 units of affordable housing have been assisted by the Fund, the majority of which are occupied by people whose income is 50% or less of the median income. Jochem said with more workplaces being located outside of Des Moines city limits, the suburbs are very concerned that low income people might move there and need affordable housing and social services provided by the City government, and the Housing Trust Fund will be able to help with providing affordable housing.

Muldoon asked how many units had been provided for owner-occupation; Jochem said about one out of five units financed so far. The majority were rentals - multi-family, transitional housing, efficiencies, and special needs. She referred to a chart showing leveraging the Fund had done and Dozier asked that the chart be provided to the Board.

Hogate said it appeared that the HTF provided housing for a lower income group than the NFC and provided units faster than CDBG and HOME dollars could.

DEMONSTRATION OF CITY WEB SITE FEATURES. Rick Dressler, Community Development Planning Technician, gave the Board a demonstration of the City's new and improved website, and showed them where to obtain neighborhood association information, the Board's minutes and agendas, as well as those of all City boards and commissions; Council agendas and communications, etc.

CONTRACT SALES SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT. Kahoun replayed a portion of the City Council meeting where CCI had asked contract sales homebuyers to recount their "horror stories," and reported on the committee's activities. There are several undesirable impacts of the practice of buying homes on contract:

Dodge said there were other problems with contract buying – buyer protection requirements often did not apply, like termite inspection requirements, seller disclosures on items like roofs and furnaces, and rules for foreclosure procedures. If problems developed, the burden of proof was on the buyer, and few in that position could afford attorneys. Dodge said the subcommittee was looking into regulations developed by other cities to find ideas to improve the situation in Des Moines. He said state law does not forbid a city from imposing inspection requirements on houses sold on contract, but it would increase inspectors' workloads dramatically. Walden said clear title was also a problem in this type of sale – she knew of a house with six people claiming ownership.

Pulliam said sellers may not be intentionally taking advantage of buyers – they may not know what they are doing. He said it was up to the buyer to get expert advice and inspections before signing anything. Dodge said more people would seek conventional sales if it wasn't for the inspection and title search costs, and for the time it took to get to closing. Howell said credit issues were often the reason people took this more risky approach. Her employer Bankers' Trust worked with CCI to offer contract buyers conventional mortgages and got no takers. Dodge agreed, saying often people didn't even try for conventional financing first before buying on contract.

The Board discussed ordinances prohibiting owners from selling a public nuisance without curing the defects, classes to increase awareness of the risks involved in buying with this method, outreach to immigrants. Neiderbach said the subcommittee would work further on its recommendations, and the state was doing a study on predatory lending. She said the subcommittee's look at frequently-sold properties showed (unsurprisingly) that a large percentage of contract sales were in distressed neighborhoods, and a large number of properties which were formerly rentals were being sold on contract, which strengthened the contention that landlords were using this method to avoid rental regulations and pick up the downpayments.

The committee also looked at properties that had escalated in price at least $20,000 and compared their permit records. Only three had permits for work that might explain that kind of increase in value. The committee concluded that either rehabbing was being done without permits (possible but unlikely) or the rehabs were only a little cosmetic work and it was just price-gouging. Such practices have an effect on the residential real estate market as a whole.

Dozier named several companies who were selling houses this way, and said even pawnshops were doing it. She said the committee discussed asking Polk County to not sale tax-seized properties to habitual violators, but found there is no list of violators kept except by zoning. She said a change needed to be made so Polk County could develop and use such a list. Neiderbach said the subcommittee would be checking out regulations used by the city of Davenport to impose inspections on frequently-sold houses.

Eric Chamberlain and Linda Glover of CCI said they often talk with victims who were unaware what they were getting into when they bought on contract. They have found insurance that only covers the seller's interests, high interest rates and balloon payments. When the balloon is not paid, the contract is void, but people keep making their payments and think they are owning the house. CCI found that Hispanic people are often targeted. Glover said particularly in the King/Irving neighborhood, landlords having houses which have been inspected and expensive repairs required are telling their renters they must buy or move in 30 days. This isn't enough time to move, so the renters buy and then are stuck with a house needing a lot of repair.

Volm asked if anyone had discussed this with the various immigrant service organizations. CCI said they had not, as they did not have multi-lingual staff. Dodge said NFC tried approaching the Hispanic community through one of the churches.

Kahoun said Des Moines wasn't the only city dealing with this issue, and the committee needed to keep meeting to develop recommendations. She said other partners need to be brought in for their input. She said if a recommendation is made to impose inspections, more inspectors would probably have to be financed with CDBG, so the Board should think about whether they wanted to add an RFP to this year's Consolidated Plan.

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT. Kahoun reported that the 1999 CHDO HOME funds were allocated to Neighborhood Housing Services. This agency needed to have the funds committed to rehab projects by March 30, 2001 or City would have to return the $160,000 to HUD. Therefor Community Development staff made the administrative decision to transfer the funding to another housing nonprofit, Community Housing Development Corporation and they will carry out the home rehabs.

Kahoun reminded the Board to RSVP for the Boards and Commissions Appreciation Dinner, and offered May 30 as the date for the Neighborhood Night meeting at the Botanical Center. The Board discussed plans for the event. Dozier asked that NDC be included. Muldoon volunteered to go to Des Moines Neighbors and encourage their members to attend.

COMMITTEE/REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS. None

OTHER BUSINESS. None

The meeting adjourned at 7:09 p.m.

Jerry Overman, Secretary