Agenda - 04-07-2015 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 1 Department has programs to address some of these, but the process is often too slow to 2 accommodate the needs. He gave examples of situations to support the existence of this issue. 3 4 Robert Reda is the President of Habitat for Humanity of Orange County. He said the 5 demand for Habitat homes will continue to rise, and one way Habitat is preparing to meet those 6 needs is by acquiring land. He noted the future agenda item regarding a lot donation from the 7 County. He hopes the County will be open to future donations of other properties that are 8 suitable for affordable housing. He said Habitat for Humanity's site committee has identified a 9 number of possible building lots, and Habitat will continue to raise funds for purchase of these 10 lots, but local government funding will also be needed. He said Habitat is a member of the 11 Affordable Housing Coalition, which is chaired by Habitat's Executive Director, Susan Levy. He 12 said the coalition has successfully advocated for the Town of Chapel Hill to have an ongoing 13 source of local funding for affordable housing. He said the County will also be asked to develop 14 a sustainable source for funding. He said Habitat also has an exterior repair program, which is 15 supported by the County through its outside agency grant. He said there is still a significant 16 unmet need among low income residents, especially the elderly, and he hopes the consolidated 17 plan will address this. He thanked the Board for their support. 18 19 The following written statement was submitted via email: 20 FROM: Mary Jean Seyda, COO of CASA, 21 Chair of the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness 22 DATE: February 20, 2015 23 RE: Public Comment on the FY 2015-2019 Orange County Consolidated Housing 24 Plan & 2015-2016 HOME Investment Partnership funds 25 26 Research shows that Extremely Low Income Households (ELI) have the greatest need for 27 rental housing. These are individuals and families whose income is at or below 30% of the 28 median. In Orange County these community members have incomes that range from $0- 29 $13,800 for a single individual, $19,700 for a family of 4. Federal housing assistance including 30 Public Housing Authority units and Housing Choice Vouchers, is aimed at this group. "But 31 unlike most other safety net programs, federal low income housing assistance is not an 32 entitlement. Everyone who is eligible for it does not receive it. These programs only reach 33 about 23% of income eligible households, because they are not funded at a high enough level 34 to serve all eligible households." (National Low Income Housing Coalition, The Alignment 35 Project, http://niihc.org/library/research/alignment, 2014) 36 37 According to the Urban Institute (http://urban.org/housingaffordabilityl in Orange County 38 • For every 100 ELI renter households, there are only 25 affordable and available rental 39 units. 40 • There are 6,270 ELI renter households 41 • There are 1,564 affordable and available rental units 42 • We need 4,706 affordable units to close this gap. 43 We advocate that funding be prioritized for community members who are ELI, may be 44 homeless, and/or have a disability. These are not three disparate groups; these three 45 characteristics are intrinsically linked. According to the Technical Assistance Collaborative 46 Priced Out 2012, persons with disabilities remain the poorest households in our communities: 47 "The average annual income of a single individual receiving SSI payments was $8,714— equal 48 to only 19.2% of the national median income for a one-person household and almost 22% 49 below the 2012 federal poverty level." According to Orange County's 2014 Point-in-Time Count, 50 nearly half of the persons who are homeless in our county reported having a disability. As we