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Sarah Harris, AON Housing, introduced herself to the Council and described her work experience in the metro <br /> area. <br /> Ari Parritz, Managing Partner of Afton Park, introduced himself to the Council and described his work <br /> experience in the metro area. <br /> Johnny Opara, JO Companies, introduced himself to the Council and described his work experience in the <br /> metro area. <br /> Bill Richards, Cushman Wakefield Development Advisory Practice, introduced himself to the Council and <br /> described his work experience in the metro area. <br /> Ms. Bennett asked Mr. Richards where New Brighton fits in the marketplace and what are some of the recent <br /> trends that should be taken into consideration to prepare for development in the community. <br /> Mr. Richards explained there are two things that drive development, this being job growth and change. He <br /> reported this was a tremendous time for change due to the pandemic. He commented on the speed and <br /> magnitude of the changes that have occurred in the past year and how this has changed how people interact <br /> with their clients. He discussed how the demand for office space would change going forward and noted there <br /> has been a shift in power to the workforce because they have proven they can work from home. He stated this <br /> has led business owners to pursue short term leases because of the uncertainty. He indicated this also meant <br /> people were commuting less. He reported the changes were not over. He encouraged the Council to <br /> understand that changes would continue to occur going forward noting this would impact the need for real <br /> estate. <br /> Ms. Harris added that housing wants to be bigger with more dedicated spaces for offices, but this does not <br /> mean that the people who need affordable housing can afford to pay for bigger spaces. She explained as a <br /> community this will have to be wrestled with. <br /> Ms. Bennett requested further comment on the demand for affordable housing in the metro area. <br /> Ms. Harris reported AON was formed in the mid 1980's and currently owns and operates 6,000 units of <br /> affordable housing. She noted half has been built or acquired in the past three years. She commented on how <br /> important it was to support and protect affordable and naturally occurring affordable (NOA) housing. She <br /> discussed the cost to construct affordable housing noting it was more cost effective to preserve what we have <br /> than to replace affordable housing with new construction. She noted the Midwest had a stable housing market. <br /> She commented on how quickly properties were changing hands and being upgraded which meant more and <br /> more units were no longer affordable. She noted she was working to have predetermined pools of funds in <br /> place to assist with acquiring and renovating properties to keep affordable housing in place. She explained <br /> 20% of the residents in New Brighton were paying more for housing than they should be which leads to a cost <br /> burden for these residents. She discussed how important it was to compete on rents in order to keep them <br /> affordable. In addition, units have to continue to be updated while still remaining affordable. She then <br /> discussed what the City can do to assist with reaching these goals which included pooling funds for affordable <br /> housing and identifying properties that could be set aside for affordable housing. <br /> Ms. Bennett asked if any other panelists had comments regarding affordable housing. <br /> Mr. Parritz discussed what happens when a private buyer purchases a NOA property that needs improvements <br /> and how this impacts rental rates. He estimated rental rates increase by 15% when this occurs which was a <br />