Nina Burges

04/02/2017
Transcribed Interview # 1
Interviewer: First off, would you be able to explain the purpose of the Downtown Columbia Affordable
Housing Plan?

Weinstein: Right. So the plan that was passed was a compromise from a number of different parties in
order to push through, in my opinion, the best opportunity for the most housing. I had pushed for a solid
number at the high end of the range, closer to nine hundred or plus housing units. But what we came up
with was sort of a little bit more flexibility to allow even more than that, but a more set number lowered
down by including this live-where-you-work incentive program which would provide some level of
financial support and/or discounts, if you will, for people who lived in Downtown Columbia and worked
there as well. So the direct answer to your question about the purpose of the plan was to provide as broad
a spectrum of housing for various levels, as many as possible and some variety of different programs and
approaches to achieve those goals

Interviewer: Okay. Thank you. And, may I ask what organizations did you consult in the creation of this
plan and how did their input make their way into the plan?

Weinstein: Hm...My gosh, there were a number of organizations consulted. So, I personally talked with
obviously the Housing Commission or County Housing Department. Housing advocates, there are a
number of them in the community with differing names, more or less, similar missions to provide as
much affordable housing in the community as possible. So, you know, Housing Advocates of Howard
County; we met with PATH--People Acting Together in Howard-- Bridges to Housing Stability. So again,
there was a lot of folks who are committed to that issue here in Howard County, as well the developer,
who was the Howard Hughes Corporation. And then external folks who were part of the Columbia
Downtown Housing Corporation who have extensive experience in affordable housing,and then just
housing and development in general. So, it was a broad swathe of folks, and we try to grab pieces from
each of them to put to the--into the plan. Some were disappointed and wanted a set number based on
percentage and keep it simple, and there were some that were decided because there were some new,
innovative programs put in. So thats what you do when you talk with as many different groups, youre
bound to make some happy, some unhappy, but hopefully you do find something that everybody can find
to their liking.

Interviewer: Can you, if you remember, can you explain the specific role that PATH and Bridges to
Housing Stability had {in the legislative process of the Affordable Housing Plan for Downtown
Columbia}?

Weinstein: Yeah, just providing some of their constituents perspectives. BRIDGES, they had a little less
direct, other than their background and understanding the concerns of affordable housing in the
community. I think they were just interested in seeing a number that could help address that. PATH was
the same thing. They, you know, had some different ideas on how to make sure that there was as much
affordable housing in the downtown area as possible. If I remember correctly, their role was really to
continue the conversation and to express their desire to have as much as possible with their preference
again for a set percentage of all {housing} units, but I think they were willing to support a variety of
different options that got there. And then obviously, we still have to do the work, so we, you know, expect
that all those groups will be keeping an eye on us.

Interviewer: Okay. And can you describe some of the challenges that you encountered with the legislation
and implementation of the {Downtown Columbia Affordable Housing} plan?

Weinstein: Sure, yeah. Well, so, there were a lot. First and foremost, is Im the new member, right, and so,
this came up really within six or eight months of my being elected, so for me, it was brand new. I had paid
attention to some of the Downtown Columbia legislation that was passed back in 2010, but I had not clue
in on this. So all my colleagues had been living and breathing this for years leading up to the previous
legislation before it became apparent that the plan that had been put in place back then wasnt going to
yield the results that the county was hoping for. So that was a personal challenge, was getting up to speed
on all the history that went into it so it wasnt repeating the history of the things that didnt work
previously. The other challenges were--its a complex issue. We were doing a lot. Redeveloping the entire
downtown, finding the funding and building infrastructure and looking at housing and building an
economically viable and vibrant downtown, so many different moving parts. So there was no simple
solution. I believe we crafted something that was as simple as we could make it, given the circumstances.
And then the challenge was, because of all the different moving parts, how you capture it. You capture it
in legislation. You capture it in other agreements and so we did. We had a couple of different things. We
had legislation, we had a memorandum of understanding with the developer that put forward sort of the
additional things so theres a little bit more details that didnt make sense to put in legislation. So, yeah, so
thats where some of the challenges came is from the complexity of things that {inaudible}

Interviewer: Okay, and, could you explain how private organizations will be involved in the Low Income
Housing Tax Credit type housing?

Weinstein: So the-- the Housing Commission, which during this whole time, we had a major change in
how the county does housing. We have one director who was both the commission director and the
Housing Department Director, if you will, so the government and sort of the non-government, or partial
government entity. During this period, we separated them, right. So, the nongovernment entity, the non-
profit entity, is now going to be primarily responsible. Other non-profits include Downtown Columbia
Housing Corporation, which is set up as a non-profit in helping to guide the redevelopment of downtown,
so they have their own board, as well. So theyll all be, going forward, keeping an eye on and working
directly with. So the Housing Commission will be working directly with developing the affordable
housing units. And then the other organizations that are involved, theyll be sort of watch dogs on the
whole process to make sure that we are fulfilling the goals that we set.

Interviewer: Okay. And the money in the Gap Financing Fund, will that be used for non-profit
organizations to help develop housing?

Weinstein: Im not sure what youre referring to as the Gap Fund. Theres some money that well be
collecting from the, yeah. And it will, if I can remember correctly, there will be a couple things. One of
the key things will be that there will be some funding there for the Sliward work program, which would
deal with first lamps, months down payments will provide discounts for housing for folks who live and
work in the downtown Columbia area. Theres financing that will be dollars that well be collecting that
will go toward schools, school expansion, school construction. Theyll be some other dollars committed
by the developer to help with public safety and building a new fire station and buying new equipment.
And then-- And then, theres dollars that we would collect for every unit of market rate, full priced units,
that are built toward the construction of affordable units. So theres a variety of different things, and
theres the TIF financing which was to help with the construction of the infrastructure. We fought for the
developer and the developer pays back through taxes the whole thing.

Interviewer: And, may I ask what will be done to the units that the tenants have left for the new units?

Weinstein: So, if somebody moves into an affordable unit and then they leave?

Interviewer: Well no, there are units that are already built and the tenants are already living in, yes?

Weinstein: No, theres not very much built already. There are some units--a couple of buildings that are
already built that were not covered under this agreement so this is for everything being built starting from
this point.

Interviewer: But the units-- there will be like old units that will have to be renovated.

Weinstein: No.

Interviewer: No?

Weinstein: Nope.

Interviewer: No? Okay.

Weinstein: No, its all new construction.

Interviewer: Its all new construction. So the plan isnt being used for--so that way you can give the older
units in Columbia that are not a part of the plan, but are already existing, there wont be--?

Weinstein: No. Those are--I mean if those are already affordable units now, then theyre already in a
program theyll remain in that program. So it doesnt upset the existing downtown housing stock, it adds
to it. And its a very specific geographic area in downtown, where right now theres no, except for those
two apartment buildings around, one thats been built, one thats in the process of being built around the
mall. Those are the only two part of the Downtown Renovations that was already in progress or
completed before we came up with these deals. So yeah, no other (inaudible). Theres a hope that some of
the money can be generated to help existing housing stock and provide--there are other existing programs
that maybe we can fund with the Downtown Development, Redevelopment, that help people renovate
existing homes (inaudible) homes in adjacent areas. I have to go back to see if that remained in the MOU
or not. MOUs pretty straightforward, actually. That and if you dont have a copy of that Jessie or Gary
can give you one. That outlines some of the things that didnt fall into legislation but are basically
agreements that we have with the developer, concessions basically, monetary or other concessions. I
mean, everything including, theyre going to plant some ten thousand trees or something like that. So that
is part of this development. Theyre going to do certain things to address some of the concerns that
various folks in the community have.

Interviewer: Alright. I dont think I have any more questions. Yeah, I think were done.

Weinstein: Well, if--as you listen back on this if you have any more questions you know where to find me.

Interviewer: Okay. Thank you so much.

Reflection
I conducted an interview with Councilman Jon Weinstein of the Howard County Council. He
represents District one of Howard County with includes the cities of Columbia, Ellicott City and Elkridge.
He provided information on the affordable housing plan being implemented in Downtown Columbia.
Councilman Weinstein stated that the Downtown Columbia affordable housing plan intends to provide the
most amount of housing using incentives and financing strategies such as Tax-Increment Financing and
live-work incentives. Mr. Weinstein explains the organizations involved in the creation, implementation,
and continuation of the Downtown Columbia Affordable Housing Plan such as PATH and Bridges to
Housing Stability, which lead me to discover that the government creates nonprofit organizations in order
to manage projects that it is leading, such as Downtown Columbia. If I were to change any aspect of this
interview, I would have asked more questions specific to my topic. I think my questions failed to relate to
my research topic in part because it was difficult for me to create questions that believed the Councilman
would be able to answer. Overall, the interview went well and I look forward to doing more.