City presents housing needs after May tornado; task force estimates thousands at risk this winter

City officials told the Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee that the May tornado worsened pre-existing housing instability in the impacted neighborhoods and that an immediate, coordinated response is required to prevent a large wave of winter displacement.

Noel Pfeffer, executive director of the Community Development Administration and co-lead of the city's housing recovery task force, said FEMA data show 11,420 households applied for assistance; after accounting for undercounts he estimated the true universe is closer to 14,000 households, representing about 30,000 people. "There was a crisis before the crisis," Pfeffer said, noting vacancy and low median sales prices in the affected area before the tornado.

Pfeffer and Dylan Holliam, the task force co-lead, said the task force's analysis shows roughly 5,000 homes require habitability repairs, about 2,600 homes are uninhabitable, and roughly 500 people were reported homeless at the time of the FEMA application. They said FEMA has provided about $23.5 million in housing assistance so far and that continued temporary housing assistance from FEMA has reached only a small fraction of eligible people; Pfeffer said FEMA had awarded continued temporary housing assistance to 74 individuals as of the night before the presentation.

The task force presented six recovery buckets and preliminary cost estimates the city is tracking: rapid rehousing (deposits and rental assistance), shelter (mass shelter and noncongregate hoteling), home repair for owner-occupants, rapid housing production and vacant-unit turns, resettlement support (including down-payment assistance and reconstruction), and long-term housing production and neighborhood transformation. Pfeffer said the city's minimum, conservative estimate across those categories exceeds $500 million and could be higher given the scale of property damage and market conditions in the impacted area.

Key figures presented to the committee included: - FEMA applicants: 11,420 households (city-adjusted estimate ~14,000 households, ~30,000 people) — Noel Pfeffer. - Estimated uninhabitable homes: about 5,000 needing repairs; about 2,600 currently uninhabitable — Noel Pfeffer. - Vacant-unit inventory collected by city and partners: over 700 vacant units citywide; average rent about $1,300, fewer than 50 units under $1,000 — Noel Pfeffer. - Rapid-rehousing placeholder: serving roughly 1,750 households for 12 months would cost about $35 million — task force estimate. - Home repair (owner-occupied) conservative need: $250 million for more than 2,000 households; city proposed staging $25 million of home repair spending as an urgent 12-month target given contractor capacity — Noel Pfeffer/Dylan Holliam. - Stabilization pipeline: 458 properties currently in pipeline for tarping/board-up; a separate set of 35 projects represent ~$4 million of committed CDBG/ARPA funds in CDA's immediate pipeline.

Officials described current funding and commitments: FEMA has provided housing assistance of roughly $23.5 million; the city has used about $3 million in CDBG for hoteling (supporting roughly 248 households to date), and noted ARPA-funded home-repair appropriations totaling $15 million, of which the city estimates roughly $12 million has been spent or committed and $1 million was set aside specifically for tornado recovery. Pfeffer said other ARPA and local funds have been targeted to housing production and vacant-unit turns, and that some ARPA-funded contracts can be amended or repurposed within federal rules.

Committee members pressed staff on how quickly funds could be put to work before winter. Pfeffer and Holliam said some actions could move fast if staff use methods such as sole-source procurement under public exigency, contract amendments and bridge funding to capitalize award letters. They described an emerging partnership with the Community Foundation to provide bridge financing or loan guarantees so developers or community groups can begin unit turns or shelter operations immediately while awaiting city payments.

The committee asked for a follow-up briefing on ARPA expenditures and a more detailed operational plan showing how the city would deploy funds and contracts quickly; city staff agreed to return with that information. Members emphasized the winter timeline and the need for concrete operational steps, with several committee members requesting a return presentation focused on timing, match funding and the mechanics to get money out the door in weeks rather than months.

No formal committee votes were taken on funding; the presentation was informational and committee members requested further briefings and an ARPA expenditure update.