Committee discusses down-payment assistance and next steps; council liaison to attend January meeting

Members of the Prescott City workforce housing committee identified down-payment assistance as a potential near-term program while the third-party housing plan remains pending.

"There—s some things that we can do," Mike Phan said, proposing down-payment assistance as a —low-hanging— item that can be structured so funds return to the city when homes are later sold. Staff said the program would likely be administered through the city—s HR functions and that the HR director could be invited to brief the committee on program design and administration.

Members also discussed other items that could proceed without waiting for the full consultant plan, including educational pamphlets and outreach events. One member said private businesses can quantify hiring- and training-related costs and offered to help with private-sector estimates of turnover costs.

Staff announced four new council members are in onboarding and introduced the incoming council liaison, Councilman Patrick Grady, who plans to attend the January meeting and share his municipal economic and community development background.

Next steps: staff will invite HR to a future meeting to discuss down-payment-assistance administration, consolidate a priority list for —low-hanging— items, and introduce Councilman Patrick Grady at the January meeting.