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3 <br /> SUMMARY <br /> CONSOLIDATED PLAN FOR ORANGE COUNTY <br /> Including the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough <br /> INTRODUCTION <br /> The important issues in Orange County have not changed. The high <br /> cost of homeownership has left many families out of the housing <br /> market or sent them to surrounding counties to buy homes and <br /> commute into Orange County for work. The rental market, inflated <br /> by the ability of UNC-CH students able to pay higher rents, is <br /> beyond the means of families with incomes below 50% of the area <br /> median. For families in need of three or more bedrooms, very <br /> little housing stock exists. The number of women and children <br /> staying at the homeless shelter continues to increase dramatically, <br /> and transition from the shelter into permanent housing in Orange <br /> County is nearly impossible since no transitional housing exists. <br /> Housing for special interest groups such as the elderly, persons <br /> that are developmentally disabled, and persons with alcohol or drug <br /> addiction, is limited in Orange County. <br /> Over the years. the affordable housing needs of Orange County have <br /> been studied from many points of view and reported in these <br /> documents: Orange County Low and Moderate Income Housing Task <br /> Force Report (September, 1987) , Public Private Partnership <br /> Affordable Housing Task Force (May, 1989) , Chapel Hill <br /> Comprehensive Plan (June, 1989) , and Carrboro Housing Report (May, <br /> 1990) . Additionally, the Public Private Partnership has sponsored <br /> two Housing Summits entitled "Why Housing Costs So Much" on October <br /> 29, 1992 and May 5, 1993 to challenge the community to participate <br /> in helping solve Orange County' s affordable housing needs. Further <br /> a 1994 Housing Bond Planning Group was convened to explore the <br /> development of a housing bond referendum in Chapel Hill. These <br /> reports, summit and planning group proceedings serve as the basis <br /> for this Consolidated Plan. <br /> In 1995, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) <br /> requires jurisdictions to submit a Consolidated Plan which is a <br /> comprehensive annual report for four (4) formula grant programs : <br /> Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) ; HOME Investment <br /> Partnership Program (HOME) ; Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) and <br /> Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) . The Town of <br /> Chapel Hill is an entitlement recipient of CDBG funds and the <br /> Orange County HOME Consortium is a participating jurisdiction for <br /> HOME funds . The following plan seeks to further the statutory <br /> goals of these two programs through a collaborative process whereby <br /> a community establishes a unified vision of community development <br /> actions to address identified needs. <br />