Agenda - 11-08-2018 2 - Proposed Guidelines for the New Orange County Local Rent Supplement Program (OC-LRSP)

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1 Attachment 1 PART I: OVERVIEW OF THE NEW ORANGE COUNTY LOCAL RENT SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM (OC-LRSP) A. OVERVIEW The Local Rent Supplement Program is a new rental subsidy program approved by the Orange County Board of County Commissioners on June 19, 2018 with an initial injection of capital in the amount of $100,000. The County’s HOME Consortium, the Local Government Affordable Housing Collaborative, is providing $114, 613 in FY 2018-2019 HOME funds for tenant-based rental assistance as leveraged funds to assist in the implementation of the OC-LRSP. The County will enter into an agreement with the Orange County Housing Authority (OCHA) to administer the new program. The OC-LRSP provides monthly rental subsidies that cover the difference between the rents that low-income families and individuals can afford to pay and the actual monthly cost of rent for the unit. The new program addresses one of the priority housing needs identified in Orange County’s FY 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan, as well as the recently released Affordable Housing Coalition’s 2018 Affordable Housing Summit Report. The new program is designed to complement the federally-funded Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program, which is administered by OCHA and will assist families and individuals who earn 50% or less of the Area median Income with priority going to those who are very low income (30% of AMI or less). The program promotes community-wide planning and strategic use of resources to address the jurisdiction’s unmet needs and to narrow the gap in benefits and services received by cost-burdened families. For the most part, and unless otherwise specified, OC-LRSP will follow the rules and regulations of the HCV Program. However, some of the differences between OC-LRSP and HCV Program are that OC-LRSP’s rental subsidies are not for housing outside a 10-mile radius of the County’s jurisdictional boundaries. Therefore the subsidies are not “portable” and are only available to Orange County residents. In addition, the preferences and priorities for the housing assistance are different than those specified in the HCV Program rules and regulations. Furthermore, the rental assistance may be administered as tenant-based and/or project-based. If project-based is utilized then an RFP will be released and proposals solicited from eligible landlords. In the future, OC-LRSP may be amended to include sponsor-based rental assistance as a methodology for incentivizing new affordable housing multi-family development. B. PURPOSE The purpose of the OC Local Rent Supplement Program (OC-LRSP) is to provide rental assistance in the form of a monthly rental subsidy to Homeless/At Risk of Homelessness persons and families, Senior/Disabled persons, and Victims of Domestic Violence who are at or below the fifty (50) percent of the Area Median Income limit. 3