The State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Affordable Housing Advisory Committee met on Tuesday at the Historic Thomas Center in Gainesville, aiming to review how to allocate $1.6 million in affordable housing funds.
Despite the planned agenda, the committee did not proceed with official scoring or evaluations, citing concerns over understanding of criteria and a desire for more deliberation.
“This is a challenging agenda, but we’re going to get through it,” said Mary Lou Hildreth, SHIP’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee vice-chair, who has served for three terms.
Notice of available funding was first posted on Jan. 6, 2025. According to Housing and Community Development staff, 21 applications were initially submitted, five of which were incomplete and three of which were ruled ineligible.
The $1.6 million includes $1 million from the city’s general fund and $600,000 from the SHIP program, divided into three funding categories: new rental, rehabilitation, and homeownership.
“There’s not a deadline to get this to the City Commission,” said James Ingle, commissioner at-large, explaining that the committee has flexibility in its timeline, although the goal of the meeting was to submit evaluations. Evaluations for each of the remaining proposals are now due March 25, allowing members more time to review and score applications.
Committee members expressed hesitation about diving into evaluations without further discussion. “I’m very hesitant about scoring things tonight,” said Hildreth. “I think it is arbitrary.”
City staff have already developed their own funding recommendations, which the advisory committee is not privy to. Those staff suggestions may be presented alongside those of SHIP’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee at a later date.
Because the program aims to serve multiple housing needs, no single project can be awarded the entire $1.6 million. Three projects requested the sum.
While the committee did approve minutes from previous meetings, members ultimately deferred official scoring of applications. They will reconvene to finalize their evaluations before forwarding any recommendations to the Gainesville City Commission at the April 25 meeting.