Minutes 12-15-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Spencer Horsley if this need is being reviewed and if there are any policies that may be written moving forward. Commissioner Jacobs said this may no longer be an issue, but he would like to know. He suggested doing some outreach in these areas to assess the current status. Audrey Spencer Horsley noted his comments. PUBLIC COMMENT: Robert Dowling, Executive Director of Community Home Trust, said he was reviewing older information, as they are currently moving their offices, and he reviewed many of the accomplishments of the Community Housing Trust. He said many mistakes have been made over the years. He noted four main themes: how much need there continues to be for affordable housing, how much money is needed, how difficult it is to resolve issues and how easy it is to spend money inefficiently. He said we are in a vexing business and as they move forward with their strategic planning, there are better and worse uses of HOME funding. He asked the Board to try to focus its efforts on what is feasible to get done with limited resources. He said there are other assets in the County, and he encouraged the Board to make use of all of them: non-profits, for profits, school governments, etc. Eviva Scully, School Social Worker, asked if the criteria to identify someone as extremely low wealth could be clarified. Audrey Spencer Horsley said the national standard of affordable housing is HUD's definition: 30% of one's income is considered as affordable. She said extreme low income is based on the county's median income, and 80% would be considered moderate income, 50% would be considered low income, and 30% of the county's median income would be considered extremely low income. She said the poverty line is also another benchmark. Mark Marcoplos said there are a lot of unknowns regarding poverty conditions in Orange County, and information is needed. He said since there is not a large amount of HOME funding, perhaps it may be valuable to fund a position to go around and look at and investigate these issues. Susan Levy's via email: Dear Orange County Commissioners, I regret that I am unable to attend tonight's public hearing due to a prior commitment, but I would like to offer the following comments on the use of HOME 2016-17 HOME funds, and ask that they be entered into the record. HOME funding continues to be a critical factor in Habitat's home and community building efforts throughout Orange County. To date, Habitat has provided affordable homeownership for 270 families in Orange County, and used HOME funds to leverage millions of dollars in private funding for the majority of those 270 homes. Today, in part because of HOME funding, • 50 families call Phoenix Place home. We completed this subdivision of green certified home in the Rogers Road community in 2014. • The Fairview community has seen a rise in its homeownership rate and a reduction in its crime rate with the addition of 50 Habitat homes, • 9 homes have been completed in Tinnin Woods, our subdivision in Efland-Cheeks Township, and another 10 are under construction. This year, we are requesting approximately $285,000 in HOME funding for two projects. 1. $165,000 in second mortgages for the final 11 homes in Tinnin Woods. The funds will be used as second mortgages for Habitat homebuyers, and will have a long-term positive impact on the lives of the eleven families. Owning a home has