Illinois Housing Development Authority met Feb. 21.
Here is the minutes provided by the authority:
With a physical quorum consisting of Chairman Harris, Ms. Berg, Ms. Kotak, Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Morsch and Mr. Tornatore, Chairman Harris called the meeting to order at 11:51 p.m. Vice Chairperson Davis and Ms. Ramirez did not participate in the meeting.
Chairman Harris made a few remarks about the continued importance of board member education and made some general comments calling attention to breadth of the work accomplished by Strategic Planning and Reporting Department (SPAR).
Executive Director Faust and Chief of Staff Debbie Olson then introduced Mr. Alan Quick, Managing Director of the SPAR. Mr. Quick provided the board members with a power-point presentation that gave high level information and supplemental verbal presentation. He gave a brief chronologic summary of the creation and evolution of the SPAR department beginning with market analysis in 2012 through the transformation to SPAR of today. Mr. Quick stated SPAR’s mission as being “to enhance IHDA’s planning, funding, and decision-making via informed, transparent, and well- balanced analysis.” He outlined the many ways that SPAR touches Authority funding activity and stressed the need for impartial, diverse, and honest analysis as well as statewide representation.
Mr. Quick described the various groups within SPAR as being Compliance and Reporting, Housing Coordination (OHCS), Planning and Research, and Policy and Special Populations. Ms. Berg inquired about the types of compliance reporting that is done through SPAR and Mr. Hubbard inquired about how salaries are paid in SPAR. The compliance question was answered directly by Mr. Quick and interim CFO Tracy Grimm spoke briefly about the salary/billing aspect of SPAR’s function. Chief of Staff Debbie Olson then spoke about the breadth of knowledge in SPAR and stated that the department was often called upon to speak in State and National conferences as a leader in policy analysis as well as an innovator.
Mr. Quick then described the various partners that SPAR works with – including both internal and external partnerships. Ms. Kotak inquired about direct coordination of data with the City of Chicago and about different efforts to align with community groups. Some of these questions were answered by Mr. Quick in the form of a review of SPAR’s core activities summarizing the various high level activities the SPAR engages in. Under this portion of the presentation, Mr. Quick spoke in depth about the various research endeavors and analysis under way in SPAR – this touched upon SPAR’s use of publicly available data to analyze the state. Ms. Kotak had questions about what sort of data is being used and Mr. Quick explained that in general, data is chosen that covers all of Illinois. By default this data generally comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. Chairman Harris stated that the DePaul Institute for Housing Studies and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) utilize wonderful data and a brief discussion ensued with SPAR reiterating the need for Statewide data points for a Statewide mission.
Mr. Quick next discussed the various market metrics created and published by SPAR (Opportunity Areas, Affordability Risk Index, and Affordable Rental Unit Survey) and some of the board members asked some clarifying questions regarding data sets used to create these metrics and some of the methodologies behind them. Mr. Morsch asked some general questions about what the different metrics actually say about Illinois – specifically asking Mr. Quick for information on where he thought the metrics were guiding the state in terms of affordable housing need. Mr. Quick stated that through SPAR’s metrics areas of high need were quickly identified, but that the data sets don’t pick up on the qualitative aspects of housing need that should also be examined. Mr. Quick identified areas of low- investment and high continued need and stated that in these areas there needs to be a concerted effort to invest in infrastructure, business/economic development, food access, heath care, and education in addition to housing. Mr. Morsch thanked Mr. Quick for his answer and soon thereafter, at approximately 12:38 p.m., excused himself from the special meeting.
The presentation resumed with continuing conversation about database development, publication of maps and reporting that the SPAR department prepares.
Mr. Quick then discussed the various technical assistance endeavors that SPAR engages in – including a robust proactive revitalization program that provides direct assistance to developers looking to link with local planning and to communities looking to create real plans to address affordability.
Mr. Quick concluded the SPAR presentation and the special meeting was adjourned at 1:01 p.m. Chairman Harris stated that no action had been taken during the closed session.
https://www.ihda.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2020-04-IHDA-042-Minutes-Passed-Special-Meeting.pdf
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