Agenda - 05-19-20; 6-a - Eviction Diversion Program and Approval of Budget Amendment #9-A

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4 Referred by various Orange County Departments and local service providers (e.g., Aging, Health/Family Success Alliance, Criminal Justice Resource and Social Services, Community Empowerment Fund, Interfaith Council, Compass Center, etc.) *Preference will be given to applicants earning under 50% ofAMl The Towns and County streamlined application and policies in April so that all Orange County residents can be assessed through the Housing Helpline process, which uses a research-based Coordinated Assessment process to connect people with community resources. One of these resources is the Towns' and County's Emergency Housing Assistance. Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro each have funds for emergency housing assistance. Prior to the coordination of these funds, access to the separate funds was not systematized, resident requests were not tracked across the County/system, and eligibility for each fund was disparate. Now, there is a coordinated intake system for requests and eligibility criteria are streamlined. Before streamlining, there were instances of residents not being eligible for Town funds, so the County would cover these costs. OCHCD is currently working on a reimbursement process with the Towns for eligible costs incurred from residents residing within the respective Town's jurisdiction. The amount incurred from each jurisdiction is recorded and tracked. The fund offers one-time assistance per household, and there is a funding maximum of $2,000 per household. The average amount of assistance the fund provides is $1,170, so the additional $130k allocation could serve approximately 110 people. The average amount of assistance requested has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus far, OCHCD has not had anyone request assistance for a second time. However, this could become more common as issues with affordability and job security are ongoing. While the fund can keep someone from eviction for now, that person may not be able to afford their dwelling six months from now depending on employment, rent stability of the current housing, and other factors. However, keeping an eviction off someone's record is a powerful way to help them access housing in the future, as an eviction record can bar people from housing for years into the future. The need for ongoing flexible housing assistance is great. Based on the current data on cost- burdened renters, there are more than 12,000 Orange County residents in need of rental subsidy to keep their income to rent ratio affordable. OCHCD, in partnership with the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness (and through initial staffing support from DSS), is providing case management to eligible Orange County residents in need of ongoing rent assistance through the County's Housing Help Rapid Re- Housing program, which provides rent assistance and case management for roughly 20-25 Orange County residents. OCHCD is also leveraging the Housing Choice Voucher program by implementing existing Orange County Housing Authority preferences for people experiencing homelessness and people impacted by natural disaster (to include the pandemic) to obtain longer term rent assistance through a Housing Choice Voucher, and hopes to issue 75-130 additional vouchers in 2020. All of these programs will work in tandem with the Eviction Diversion Program to help address the growing need, exacerbated by this pandemic, for affordable housing in the County. There are additional potential CARES Act allocations that can help replenish the fund to include Emergency Solutions Grant funding and Community Development Block Grant funding from the Town of Chapel Hill.