P-0320 - Impact Fee Reimbursement Policy for Affordable Housing 03-04-1998-9a

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8 9. ITEMS FOR DECISION -REGULAR AGENDA • a. Impact Fee Reimbursement Policv The Board considered approval of a revised impact fee reimbursement policy for housing development agencies. John Link gave an overview of the information in the agenda. Tara Fikes outlined the changes in this policy. Geoffrey Gledhill made reference to the pros and cons as listed in the agenda and expanded on several of these. Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Carey made suggestions for changes. These are incorporated into the policy as stated below in these minutes. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Carey to approve the Impact Fee Reimbursement Policy for Affordable Housing as stated below: IMPACT FEE REIMBURSEMENT POLICY CONCERNING AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS Guiding Principles for the Policv Reimbursements made under this policy must satisfy the public purpose requirement for spending County money. 2. All reimbursements are made subject to budgetary constraints, and are limited solely to the County's annual appropriations for reimbursement. Thus there is no entitlement to these reimbursements even for projects that qualify. Eligibility Criteria: 1. Reimbursements will onl _ y be made to 501(c)(3) non profit organizations which (1) develop affordable housing to be owner-occupied by first-time homebuyers with incomes at or below 80% of the HUD published area median income for the Raleigh-Dufiam-Chapel Hill, North Carolina MSA, or (2) develop affordable rental housing for persons with incomes at or below 60% of the HUD published area median income for the Raleigh/Dufiam -Chapel Hill, North Carolina MSA. 2. Affordable Housing is defined as (1) owner-occupied housing which can be purchased for no more than 2.5 times annual family income, or (2) rental housing for which the occupant pays no more than 30% of gross income for all housing costs, including utilities. 3. An organization requesting impact fee reimbursement must certify in writing that, for owner-occupied housing, it will remain affordable to the anticipated beneficiary or beneficiaries for a period of a minimum of twenty (20) years or longer if required by applicable HUD policy. For rental housing, the certification period is ninety-nine (99) years. The rental housing certification must be secured by a "deed covenant," requiring repayment to Orange County of the impact fee if the rental housing does not remain affordable during the period of affordability, which covenant will be further secured by a note and deed of trust. Evidence must be provided that agency and/or program guidelines are in place to assure affordability compliance. Procedure: i An organization requesting impact fee reimbursement must anticipate reimbursement needs for a given fiscal year and submit a request for fee reimbursement at the time for submission of the County's annual budget, non-departmental funding requests. Further, at no time should an organization presume impact fee reimbursement, and in particular, presume a lump sum reimbursement payment or total reimbursement