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ARDEN HILLS CITY COLINCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 13,2025 <br />provided the equity components those cities implemented, as examples. He added information <br />about the staff-time used. There was lot of back-and-forth communication with properties. There <br />were 20-30 applicants. Only ten were approved. He is bringing this forward to discuss if Council <br />would like to implement an equity component. <br />Councilmember Rousseau asked about the ten that were approved. She said Roseville have 80% <br />up to $8,000 or 50% up to $5,000. She asked what the metrics were in Arden Hills. <br />Director of Public Works/City Engineer Swearingen said we didn't have an equity component. <br />It was a 50Yo match, up to $5,000. Most, if not all of them met that maximum amount. <br />Councilmember Rousseau asked if we knew the value of the houses? <br />Director of Public Works/City Engineer Swearingen said that information was not tracked or <br />requested. <br />Councilmember Holden said the neighborhoods where the approvals were, were older homes in <br />older neighborhoods. She said the equity piece doesn't add anything. Making sure the INI isn't <br />leaking into the ground is just as important as not being able to give the money away. We had 20- <br />30 applications with ten being approved and still used up all the money. Barely, but we used it. <br />There was one person hanging on. They put the application in and then they don't get you the <br />information that is requested. It's a game that can be played by people. For us, it's best to get the <br />INI done. If you can see on a TV screen that the pipe is broken, we want it fixed. There are a lot <br />of people that can't afford the minimum cost of over $10,000. She doesn't think it's right that we <br />have income tax forms. We're asking for trouble for having private personal information. <br />Director of Public Works/City Engineer Swearingen said the consequence of having an equity <br />component is that allows a single property to consume alarge portion of that allotment. We don't <br />have a lot, relative to other cities. <br />Mayor Grant asked if we could base it on house value instead of AMI. <br />Councilmember Monson said that is what Roseville did. <br />Mayor Grant said they say 80% AMI affordable home ownership cost. If you own your home, <br />do they take the value times what the current mortgage would be and figure out how much you <br />have to make? He would say base it on the median home value in Arden Hills. Anyone below gets <br />80o%, up to $10,000 or 60Yo, up to $8,000. <br />Councilmember Rousseau said that sounds good initially. She would like to know if we are <br />pushing some applicants out. She wonders if there is an area where there is a concentration where <br />maybe 30% of average households. She thinks that would be beneficial rather than having the <br />hard line be the median household value. <br />Mayor Grant said people who are retired can control their income more so than someone who's <br />working. That's the reason for him suggesting median home value. <br />Councilmember Holden doesn't think there should be an equity component. There's only <br />$40,000. We were able to give ten residents S5,000 each, or whatever 50olo was. Therefore, they <br />l3