Minutes 01-31-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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earn $14.17 per hour. With the higher average housing cost in Orange County, that figure would be $16.13 per hour. She explained several HUD programs that focus on assistance with rental housing: the Section 8 voucher program administered by the County: and the low-rent conventional public housing program administered by the Town of Chapel Hill. Those two programs involve nearly 1,000 units of housing. There are also have about 14 apartment complexes throughout Orange County that were built using various forms of federal funding — most are in Chapel Hill and Carrboro and 5 of those are designated for the senior population. Tara Fikes said that is not enough - there is an acute need for rental housing in our community. Most apartment construction in the last few years has been at the luxury level that the average worker is not able to afford. Commissioners and staff discussed the child care subsidy waiting list. Nancy Coston said they started the wait list about 20 and did not take anyone off it for a year and a half. She said they finally received some federal dollars after the State decided what their budget would be so they could take some people off the list by September. Then the federal shutdown happened, and not only could we not take people off the list, they were threatening not to pay the folks already on. Now DSS is working to clear the wait list. When they have a stale waiting list, people's circumstances change as time passes and the clearing of the list can be misleading. She said that if you don't clear the wait list at least once a year (by sending letters out to applicants), it can become an almost unworkable situation. Commissioner Dorosin referred to the list of services provided to low-income families that was included as Attachment 4c at page 126. He noted that a lot of these are based on state and federal funding administered by the County. He is interested in knowing where Orange County can put their own resources to address these issues. Child care subsidies are a great example. Do we need a county-funded Section 8 type housing program or county funded public housing, He is looking for real targeted ways that Orange County can address these issues and make an impact. He said that we ought to be able to find a way to get to the 5,000 kids who are living in severe poverty in this county. Nancy Coston said that for people at the brink, more funding for child care subsidies, rental housing assistance, and occasional emergency assistance would stabilize a number of families. She noted the challenge of sustaining people in decent, affordable housing where they have sufficient income to keep paying the rent. Tara Fikes added that what they hear in the community is about the need for funds for more rental assistance. She suggested that they consider providing incentives for the private market to provide affordable housing units. Chair Jacobs said that he would like us to do some creative thinking about creating rental opportunities for people. He noted the tendency for landlords to consider people in Section 8 housing as stigmatized — perhaps it would seem to be more benign if they were working through Orange County. He said he was struck in discussions with the school systems by how many kids are in free or reduced lunch programs. Chair Jacobs said that a starting place might be programs that worked that no longer have funding. He said that he wonders why we stopped Wheels for Work. Nancy Coston said that several years ago, DSS was obliged to make an $800,000 cut in their