Agenda - 04-01-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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In addition to high market rents, very few apartment complexes have units with amenities for families with small children. One- and two - bedroom units comprise the majority of multifamily rental units in Orange County, and in fact, families have difficulty locating 3- bedroom 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. Among the rental units available, the Town of Chapel Hill reports only 2.4% substandard units, or approximately 350 units. Countywide, the 1980 Census reported 9.8% of all housing units as substandard, or nearly 4000 units. 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 district for which public utilities are available or can be extended, very few parcels are available, 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 using the Low Income Housing Tax Credits, units cannot be built and rented for allowable 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 the public housing, and had to be paid from other Town sources. A Low Income Housing Tax Credit project would be difficult to develop with high off -site costs of utility extensions without substantial local subsidy to complement the Tax Credits. 11