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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: November 4, 2010 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. (o - b <br />SUBJECT: Orange County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program - FY <br />2010 Scattered Site Housing Rehabilitation Program - $400,000 <br />DEPARTMENT: Housing, Human Rights, and <br />Community Development <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) Yes <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Resolution <br />Application Summary <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Tara L. Fikes, 919-245-2490 <br />PURPOSE: To receive public comments regarding a proposed FY 2010 Housing Rehabilitation <br />Program Application and approve a resolution authorizing the submission of the formal <br />application document on November 15, 2010 and authorize the Chair to sign the application <br />document on behalf of the Board. <br />BACKGROUND: The County was recently notified by the N.C. Department of Commerce - <br />Division of Community Assistance of the award of $400,000 in Scattered Site Housing <br />Rehabilitation funds under the FY 2010 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) <br />Program. These grants are no longer competitive, and each interested county in North Carolina <br />is scheduled to receive an allocation every three years to provide housing rehabilitation funds <br />for the county and the municipalities within the county. Orange County received $400,000 in <br />housing rehabilitation funds in 2001, 2004 and 2007. These grant funds must be used to <br />repair substandard housing occupied by low-income families in the Towns of Carrboro and <br />Hillsborough as well as the unincorporated areas of Orange County. These funds may not be <br />used in the Town of Chapel Hill since it receives Community Development Block Grant funding <br />directly from HUD. In prior years, these funds have repaired approximately 36 dwelling units in <br />the County. <br />Families with incomes at or below 50% of area median income that own and occupy <br />deteriorated housing are eligible to participate in the program. For the purpose of this program, <br />deteriorated housing are dwelling units that that have existing housing code violations including <br />houses that lack indoor plumbing. <br />In order to receive this funding, the County must conduct two public hearings. The first hearing <br />was held at the Board's October 5, 2010 regular meeting and provided an opportunity for public <br />comments prior to developing an application. After the hearing, County staff discussed this <br />program with Carrboro and Hillsborough members of the Orange County HOME Review <br />Committee on October 14, 2010. That committee agreed that this program would continue to <br />be an extension of the current HOME funded Housing Rehabilitation Program; thus the same <br />waiting list and program eligibility guidelines would be used for both programs. Further, the <br />