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Commissioners form ad hoc committee to score housing-millage applications; debate prioritizes deeper affordability
Summary
With the housing-millage portal open through 2025-07-03, Director Mary Balkema recommended forming an ad hoc committee to score applications in July; commissioners agreed to an ad hoc approach and debated giving heavier scoring to projects with deeper affordability for seniors and very-low-income households.
Director Mary Balkema told the Committee of the Whole that the housing-millage application portal is open for the 2025 cycle and closes on July 3, 2025, and recommended the board form an ad hoc committee to score applications during July and present recommendations in August.
Balkema described three funding categories — multifamily, creative and supportive services — and said staff will provide standardized scoring sheets and all applications to committee members after the portal closes. She requested that any applicant questions be routed to staff so that responses remain consistent and fair across applicants.
Several commissioners volunteered to participate in an ad hoc scoring committee, and the chair noted broad participation. Commissioners Ray, Wheeler, Morales, Hepler and Mazer were listed in the meeting as participants; the board agreed by consensus to proceed with an ad hoc committee to conduct scoring during July.
Commissioner Morales raised concerns that the prior scoring matrix did not sufficiently prioritize the deepest affordability levels and urged that projects offering 30%–40% AMI units, and options for elderly households on fixed incomes, receive heavier weight in the scoring process. Morales said many lower-income units fill quickly and argued the board should reward projects that provide more deeply affordable units and are willing to accept vouchers.
Balkema and staff noted an under-construction Mount Zion project that will use vouchers to maintain affordability and confirmed the board has approximately $2,000,000 available for this funding cycle. Staff said they will distribute scoring materials when the portal closes and asked commissioners to forward any direct applicant inquiries to staff to maintain fairness.
Commissioners asked for transparency in scoring and were assured they will receive scoring matrices for every category. The ad hoc committee approach is intended to streamline review while keeping the full board informed and preserving a consistent process for applicants.
