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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: June 26, 2007 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. <br />SUBJECT: Orange County Housing Bond Program Policy Amendment <br />DEPARTMENT: Housing/Community Dev. PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Letter from Robert Dowling, INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Orange Community Housing & Land Trust Tara L. Fikes, 245-2490 <br />PURPOSE: To consider a proposed amendment to the Orange County Housing Bond Policy <br />from the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust organization. <br />BACKGROUND: The Board of County Commissioners received the attached letter from Robert <br />Dowling, Executive Director of Orange Community Housing and Land Trust (OCHLT), <br />requesting a modification in the County Bond Program Policy provision that requires program <br />beneficiaries to live or work in Orange County for one year prior to receiving public subsidy for <br />first-time home purchases. OCHLT cited recent difficulty in reselling Land Trust homes to <br />families that meet this requirement as the reason for the request. <br />The Orange County Affordable Housing Advisory Board (ARAB) has reviewed and fully <br />discussed this request, including talking with Robert Dowling, and would like to recommend the <br />following proposed amendment to the Orange County Housing Bond Program Policy. <br />Amendment <br />For resale of Land Trust properties only, the following residency requirements apply. <br />1. For the first 120 days, buyers must have lived or worked in Orange County for one (1) <br />year. <br />2. After 120 days on the market unsold, properties may be sold to buyers that have lived <br />or worked in Orange County for six months. <br />3. If the property remains on the market for an additional 120-day period, then consider <br />utilizing available public funding to provide subsidy at a level that will allow buyers at <br />lower income levels that have lived or worked in Orange County for six months to <br />qualify to purchase the home. <br />Additionally, OCHLT should be encouraged to actively educate local realtors regarding the land <br />trust model to include discussion of appreciation formula in an effort to increase interest in the <br />land trust model in the general real estate market. All education efforts should be reported to <br />the County upon completion. <br />As additional information, OCHLT also made this request to the HOME Program Review <br />Committee recently. That committee agreed to the following modification. <br />