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Commissioner Harris discussed with Mr. Erickson the amount of funding that was allocated to the program the previous year. Chairperson Mermelstein closed the meeting for agency presentations at 7:30 p.m. Commissioner Lopez asked Mr. Erickson about the status of several projects that had not yet used all of the funding that had been allocated for the current fiscal year. Commissioner Stark referred to page 5 of the agenda report and the information staff had provided pertaining to the availability of three additional BMR properties. He supported REACH's consideration of this alternative. Commissioner Stark indicated his concern for the City "writing blank checks" for REACH without a real estate contract in place for a specific property. He felt strongly that a specific purchase amount should be put in place and additional information provided for the Commission to consider once a specific home is identified. Commissioner Harris asked for a profile on Neighborhood Solutions and how people are able to obtain funds from this agency. Mr. Erickson advised that any homeowner who meets eligibility requirements as a low income household can apply for funds. Typically the need is for major repairs that affect public health and safety. The majority of users of the program are seniors, and approximately two thirds of those are mobile home residents. Commissioner Harris was informed by Mr. Erickson that the City has contracted with Neighborhood Solutions for approximately five years, and prior to that time the program was administered by Alameda County's Housing and Community Development office. Mr. Erickson further informed Commissioner Harris that one of the primary reasons for changing to Neighborhood Solutions was the agency's higher success rate in utilizing allocated funds in a timely manner and getting the funds into the community. Commissioner Casey discussed with Ms. Testa the staff recommendation to consider other BMR properties. Ms. Testa advised that a recent townhome purchase by REACH was serving the need, but she felt that the purchase of too many of such properties could be a problem due to the fact that these properties, although affordable, do not always meet REACH's preferred criteria. Norm Guest concurred that a property's location relative to community resources such as shopping and transportation was extremely important for their program to ensure that the clients would be well served. Commissioner Casey discussed the possibility of REACH being able to stretch the use of the funds they receive from the City by purchasing two townhome properties. Commissioner Hempill also discussed the relationship of funds versus the number of people that could be served. Page 3