202 Woodford Street, the site of a proposed affordable housing project in Woodfords Corner. The plan calls for renovating the parish hall next to the Woodfords Congregational Church and building a new structure in the parking lot. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

The Portland City Council approved loaning more than $942,000 from the city’s housing trust fund for an affordable housing project near Woodfords Corner on Monday night, but put off a vote on another development.

Community Housing of Maine, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, plans to build 84 units dedicated to residents 55 and older along Woodford Street near Woodfords Congregational Church. The group asked for a $942,000 loan from the city’s housing trust fund and $3.7 million in tax-increment financing over 30 years to help finance the development. The council unanimously approved the loan, with two amendments.

“We really need to spin plates to get housing built as soon as possible,” said Councilor Anna Bullett, who proposed the two amendments.

One, which reduced the interest rate on the loan from 3% to 0%, was approved in a 6 to 1 vote, with Councilor Kate Sykes opposed.

“While we should keep our eyes on the prize here for building more housing I don’t want to do that at the taxpayers’ expense,” Sykes said before the vote.

Bullett’s second amendment called for diverting 75%, rather than 50%, of tax revenues from tax-increment financing, meaning the developer would capture more revenue more quickly. Bullett said this would make it easier for the developer to build.

Tax-increment financing is a common funding source for affordable housing projects. Tax revenues from new development in specific parts of the city can be diverted back to developers or placed in special municipal development accounts to pay for projects outside of the city’s regular budget.

The council also approved the second amendment by a 6-1 vote, with Sykes again in opposition because she said she did not want to double down on a system that she called inefficient.

Bullett urged her colleagues to support both amendments, saying the process may not be perfect, but the need for housing is urgent.

“This is the mechanism we have right now to get something built,” she said.

The city’s Director of Housing and Economic Development Greg Watson said at the meeting that city staff supports the project.

Another proposed project in the East Bayside neighborhood did not go to a vote Monday night after Sykes voted against waiving the second read for the project. Waiving the second reading would have required seven votes, but only seven councilors were present (Councilors Roberto Rodriguez and Regina Phillips were absent).

The Portland Housing Development Corporation, the development arm of the city’s housing authority, had submitted a proposal to remove several old public housing buildings in the East Bayside neighborhood to make way for a new nonprofit development with a mix of housing types. The housing authority asked for $650,000 from the city’s housing fund and $1.5 million in tax-increment financing over a 30-year period to help finance the project.

Sykes previously said she would not support this project because she doesn’t like the financing approach the housing authority has taken. She wishes it would instead use housing bonds to build public housing, which she says the authority is uniquely positioned to do.

However, Brian Frost, director of Portland Housing Authority, said in an email before the meeting that only the state can issue bonds unless it shares that authority with local housing authorities, and that it’s not currently a funding option for the housing authority.

“The Legislature allocates all bond funding for affordable housing to Maine State Housing Authority.

MaineHousing is then the one to decide whether to share that bond allocation with others. Currently, we understand that MaineHousing intends to use all the bond allocation, and therefore is not planning to share that ability to bond with local housing authorities,” Frost wrote.

Discussion, public comment and a vote on the project will now be pushed to the council’s Aug. 19 meeting. During July and August, the council only meets once per month in longer double meetings.

APPOINTMENTS 

The council also confirmed two of City Manager Danielle West’s department head nominations, which were announced last week.

Kevin Kraft and Maggie McLoughlin were unanimously confirmed as director of planning and director of health and human services, respectively.

Kraft has served as interim director of planning since April and has worked in the department for nearly four years. He has played a major role in overseeing the second phase of the city’s ‘ReCode’ process. His salary was set at $127,151.

McLoughlin spent the last 10 years in a variety of senior management positions with Mercy Corps, a humanitarian aid organization that operates in regions that have undergone economic, environmental, social and political instability. Her salary was set at $150,282.

COUNCIL PROCEDURE

At the start of the council’s second meeting of the evening around 5:30 p.m., Joey Brunelle, a former city council candidate, handed out packets with a new proposal he said he hopes the council will consider.

The drafted rule change would require that agendas for City Council meetings and committee meetings be published at least five business days in advance.

“This effects everything you do from affordable housing to minimum wage, to everything,” Brunelle said during public comment. “There are many of us over here who want to help you do those things … we can’t do that if we don’t know what the heck is going on. This, I think helps establish a minimum standard for keeping the public informed. I hope I’ve at least started the conversation of giving you something to chew on.”