Agenda - 04-09-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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8 1 currently under construction and the demand for homes by qualified families has consistently 2 exceeded demand. She noted that there are only seven lots left in Phoenix Place and Habitat 3 will soon be moving on to a 28 home subdivision in Efland Cheeks Township. She recognized 4 several home owners present who will be moving into Habitat Homes in the near future. She 5 concluded by saying that Habitat will be requesting 2013 home funds for second mortgages for 6 15 new homes. 7 Deborah Burton said she is building her home here in Hillsborough in partnership with 8 Habitat for Humanity and Orange County Schools. She thanked the Board for making this 9 possible and asked them to continue funding this year to make this possible for other families. 10 Robert Dowling, Executive Director of Community Home Trust (CHT), said CHT 11 implements inclusionary housing in Orange County and currently has 200 homes in its 12 inventory. He said the expectation is to sell an additional 25 homes in the next 6 months; many 13 of these homes will require public subsidies totaling more than $300,000, which is available 14 from HOME funds and other sources. He said there is a lot of turnover with townhomes and 15 condominiums, not single family homes. When these properties turn over, subsidies are lost. 16 He noted that median income has become flat but the costs of the homes increase, which 17 increases the need for subsidies. He said they will be coming to the Board of County 18 Commissioners to ask for HOME funds in the amount of$60,000. He noted that $40,000 will 19 be used to keep homes affordable and $20,000 will be for operating support. He said they could 20 never have done this with the support of local governments. He said that this is the most 21 difficult housing market he has seen. 22 Commissioner Dorosin said he is appreciative of all the work that has been done and he 23 echoed the comments from the retreat. He said this plan should likely be re-visited sooner than 24 2015 in light of changes mentioned. He said this is an opportune time to be thinking more 25 creatively. He said he has been haunted by the recent purchase of Abbey Court, which has 252 26 units and sold for $7 million. He said these were the most affordable units in Orange County 27 and now it looks as if the rent is going to be raised along with assessments. He said there is a 28 need to talk about different ways of doing things, including manufactured housing and he would 29 value advice from the professionals and the Affordable Housing Advisory Board. 30 Chair Jacobs noted that 1.3, page 32 talks about people not having indoor plumbing. 31 He questioned how much this count has been reduced and Tara Fikes said she would get him 32 that information. 33 Chair Jacobs said the Board heard on Friday that the Community Home Trust was 34 recruiting people from Durham County to move into unoccupied Orange County housing. 35 Robert Dowling said he is not aware of this. He said he wrote a memo to the Board of 36 County Commissioners asking for relief from some of the requirements if a home has not sold 37 after a certain number of days. He said there are so many properties on the market and it is 38 difficult to sell them, which puts a burden on CHT and makes the homeowners unhappy and 39 frustrated. He said the memo requests relief from hurdles to allow interested buyers, who don't 40 live or work here, to purchase the homes. 41 Chair Jacobs clarified that theoretically people outside of the county will be purchasing 42 the homes if the Board waives those hurdles and Robert Dowling said yes, after 90 days. 43 Commissioner McKee asked if there was any thought to transfer these homes to rental 44 properties, considering the number of homes on the market 45 Robert Dowling said there are several hurdles and CHT needs to stay focused on home 46 ownership not rentals. He said another issue is that special use permits that are approved by 47 local governments refer to home ownership, not rentals. He said if HOME funds are involved 48 then Orange County does have a say in some of the hurdles. 49 Commissioner McKee said they may have to start thinking out of the box.