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Orange County Section Eight Housing Voucher Choice Program Status Report Background The Section 8 Housing Choice Vcucher Program is a federally funded rental assistance program administered by public housing authorities (PHAs) or other government agencies. The programs' primary purpose is to provide rental assistance to low-income families with affordable decent, safe, and sanitary housing. Tenants take the vcucher and use it to rent homes in the private market.. Families interested in the program apply to a local housing authority or other government agency for a Section 8 tenant-based voucher- a voucher that "stays" with the tenant. Currently, Section 8 helps more than 1.4 million househclds in the United States by paying private landlords the difference between what the hcusehold can afford and the rent for the unit„ In Orange County, the program is administered by the Orange County Housing and Community Development Department and serves approximately 623 families countywide. The administering housing authority ar government agency is also responsible for inspecting the selected housing unit to make sure it complies with the Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Hcusing Quality Standards and ensuring that the rent charged is reasonable for the local housing market, The fallowing information provides summary information regarding the current status of the Section 8 Program in Orange County, Funding Capacity The IJ.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides funding for the Section 8 Program. The approved Section 8 budget for Fiscal Year 2005-2006 is $4,164,334. Given HUD's funding scheme, this amount allows us to fund approximately 623 vouchers, however, that number is subject to decrease in order to keep actual expenses in line with current revenue. Increasing rental rates and the bedroom composition of our participants our actual costs are being monitored closely to ensure that actual program expenses do not exceed budget authority. Thus, the total number of units financed by the program may be reduced in the coming months. Current Program Characteristics ~ Approximately 245 property owners (ease property to 615 on average. ~ Of the 623 units, 599 are designated as tenant based vouchers and 24 vouchers are designated as project based vouchers for the Club Nova Apartments only. ~ The majority of the rental units are in the Carrboro/Chapel hill area (Southern Orange County). ~ Racial family composition: approx.. 63% African-American; 36% Caucasian; 1 Other. ~ Most non-elderly heads of households are working families, ~ Most families lease two-bedroom units.