Minutes 10-06-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Pelissier said the BOCC is committed to maintaining the facilities for senior services, and has asked the County to create a plan regarding all the facility needs. Commissioner Price said she hopes there will be ongoing support for affordable housing for seniors. Commissioner Jacobs says he looks forward to discussing these items in a work session shortly. b. Affordable Housing Fund Criteria The Board considered establishing a process and criteria to fund affordable housing projects using the FY 2015-16 Affordable Housing appropriation. Audrey Spencer-Horsely, Orange County Housing, Human Rights, and Community Development Department Director, reviewed the following information: BACKGROUND: The FY 2015-16 Budget includes $1 million to fund affordable housing alternatives. The Budget states that the purpose of this fund is to acquire aggregate parcels, improve existing County-owned properties for future residential development to address displaced manufactured homes, as well as affordable housing alternatives. According to the Five Year Consolidated Plan and FY 2015 Action Plan, the most significant housing need in Orange County is affordable rental housing. The Plan states that 28.4% of renter households contribute 50% or more of annual income to housing costs while 7.7% of owner households contribute the same proportion. If the percentage of income dedicated to housing costs is reduced to 30%, the proportion of renter households dedicating at least that amount to housing increases to 44.1%. The Plan further concluded through interviews and surveys that the lack of quality, affordable housing for rent is the largest unmet housing need in Orange County. To address this need, staff is proposing to prioritize the use of the $1 million affordable housing fund to increase or, at a minimum, maintain the supply of affordable rental properties in the community. Eighty percent (80%) of the fund would be used for rental property projects and up to twenty percent (20%) could be applied to homeownership activities. This effort would represent the first phase of an affordable housing plan that will address additional housing needs and identify other opportunities. Under this model, the County would solicit proposals through a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process to purchase rental properties. The RFP would not limit the type of property that could be purchased. Properties could range from multi-family apartment units to manufactured homes. The properties would then be dedicated to housing individuals or families with annual incomes of fifty percent (50%) or less of the local median income for rental and up to eighty percent (80%) median income for homeownership. Funding priority would be given to rental projects. The proposals would allow the County to either fully fund or partially contribute to the purchase of affordable rental housing. However, the properties would be managed and maintained by another party under a lease agreement or other type of contract. A staff team would use the following grading criteria to evaluate proposals and recommend funding: 1. The property must include one or more rental or homeownership properties. 2. The properties must be available to individuals or families with annual incomes of 50% or less of the local median income for rental and up to 80% median income for homeownership.