Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
IF <br />INS/ <br />BOARD OF <br />DIRECTORS <br />Alan Lee <br />President <br />Gloria Beissinger <br />Treasurer <br />Gordon Merklein <br />Secretary <br />Jess Brandes <br />Cresha Cianciolo <br />Kathleen <br />Ferguson <br />Jennifer Ferris <br />Lisa Inman <br />Michelle Johnson <br />Jaimie Lee <br />Jim Merritt <br />Penny Rich <br />Maryann Toone <br />Jim Ward <br />Jonathan Weiler <br />Executive Director <br />Robert Dowling <br />C <br />Date: May 22, 2014 <br />To: Chapel Hill Town Council and Orange County Commissioners and the Orange <br />County HOME consortium <br />Copy: Roger Stancil, Michael Talbert and CHT board of directors <br />From: Robert Dowling, Community Home Trust <br />Re: Challenges that require action <br />In 2007, 1 addressed the Assembly of Governments about two challenges that <br />jeopardized the success of inclusionary housing. Those challenges were (i) long <br />term affordability of our homes, and (ii) longterm maintenance. <br />Since 2007, we have been chipping away at the maintenance issue and have made <br />great progress. However, the affordability problem is worse today than it was in <br />2007 due primarily to two factors: <br />1. HUD income limits for purchasers are lower today than they were in 2007 <br />2. The costs of owning one of our homes increases every year due to higher <br />home prices and higher HOA dues, property taxes and stewardship fees. <br />I have discussed these issues at both Town Council and County Commissioner <br />meetings in recent years, However, I am compelled to write this memo because <br />external circumstances continue to present risks to the long term success of <br />inclusionary housing. I believe it is my responsibility to alert you to these risks and <br />to offer mitigating solutions. <br />Specifically, the risks that jeopardize the programs are two: <br />1. Home Trust home buyers have limited access to first mortgage financing <br />2. Reduced federal subsidies, in conjunction with continued stagnant income <br />limits, make it increasingly difficult to resell some of our homes. <br />Mortgage financing for our buyers has been difficult in recent years, but the NC <br />Housing Finance Agency provided $5 million specifically for our buyers. This funding <br />has enabled us to sell most of the 38 homes we have sold this fiscal year. However <br />those funds will be exhausted in 2015 and we need to identify alternative sources of <br />mortgage funding. <br />Our ability to attract other lenders, such as SECU and Self Help, requires that we <br />allow these lenders to obtain the fee simple interest in the property in the event of <br />foreclosure. If we provide the fee simple interest as collateral, and we allow a home <br />to be foreclosed upon, we would lose it from our inventory entirely. <br />We recognize the risks of making this change, but the Home Trust board has <br />weighed those risks and approved the change in order to accommodate the <br />P.O. Box 307, Carrboro, NC 275 10 1 919-%7-1545 f <br />