Agenda - 10-14-1993 - C 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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have units with amenities for families with small children. One- and two-bedroom units comprise the majority of multi-family rental units in Orange County, and in fact, families have difficulty locating three bedroom or larger units even with a Section 8 voucher or certificate to make their rents affordable. Another gap in the rental market is the availability of single-room occupancy situations. No boarding houses or rooming houses exist in Orange County to provide transition from the homeless shelter or short-term housing for other special needs groups, such as battered women or persons recovering from substance abuse. As of August 1993, the Town of Chapel Hill reports 49 substandard units, the majority of which are in the Pine Knolls neighborhood. The determination of substandard units is based on a combination of inspections completed by Chapel Hill Building Inspectors, and by a windshield survey completed by the Chapel Hill Planning Department. The majority of units classified as substandard were found to have dilapidated roofs, or have been condemned by the Chapel Hill Inspections Department. County-wide, the 1990 Census reported 10% of all housing units as substandard, or 3, 610 units. Of these, only two (2) percent are considered not suitable for rehabilitation due to their extent of deterioration. Over one-third of all dwelling units in Orange County are more than thirty years old, but many of the rental units in the market have been built since 1960. Future production of rental housing that meets the needs of low-income families will be limited in southern Orange County by the availability of land that can be acquired at a price that will support the construction of affordable rental units. Within the urban services boundary for which public utilities are available or can be extended, very few parcels exist, and for those vacant parcels, the highest and best use is not low-income rental units. In addition, cost of development in southern Orange County is the highest in the Triangle, including the cost of meeting public policies that are intended to increase the quality of life. Even if Low Income Housing Tax Credits are used, units cannot be built and rented for affordable rents without some subsidized source of mortgage financing for at least a portion of the project costs. Further, with the large student population the market is more supportive of production of one- and two-bedroom units, rather than three-bedroom units needed by four-person families. Recent efforts by the Town of Chapel Hill to locate a suitable site for 24 new public housing units point to the limited available land in southern Orange County. After an extensive search, the site finally selected on Highway 86 north of Town required additional public investment in off-site utility extensions. These costs were not paid from the funds allocated by HUD to construct 5