Agenda - 09-01-20; 8-a - Minutes

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I Assistance is available to households in Orange County that (1) earn no more than 60% of the 2 area median income (AMI)*, (2) can demonstrate urgent need for housing assistance, and (3) 3 do not have adequate savings to cover their housing costs. 4 5 To be referred for assistance, households must either: 6 • Be assessed through Coordinated Entry as at risk of or currently experiencing 7 homelessness and who have identified safe, decent, and affordable housing OR 8 • Referred by various Orange County Departments and local service providers (e.g., 9 Aging, Health/Family Success Alliance, Criminal Justice Resource and Social Services, 10 Community Empowerment Fund, Interfaith Council, Compass Center, etc.) 11 12 *Preference will be given to applicants earning under 50% of AMI 13 14 The Towns and County streamlined application and policies in April so that all Orange County 15 residents can be assessed through the Housing Helpline process, which uses a research-based 16 Coordinated Assessment process to connect people with community resources. One of these 17 resources is the Towns' and County's Emergency Housing Assistance. Hillsborough, Chapel 18 Hill, and Carrboro each have funds for emergency housing assistance. Prior to the coordination 19 of these funds, access to the separate funds was not systematized, resident requests were not 20 tracked across the County/system, and eligibility for each fund was disparate. Now, there is a 21 coordinated intake system for requests and eligibility criteria are streamlined. Before 22 streamlining, there were instances of residents not being eligible for Town funds living in the 23 Towns'jurisdictions, so the County would cover these costs. OCHCD has established a 24 reimbursement process with the Towns for eligible costs incurred from residents residing within 25 the respective Town's jurisdiction. The amount incurred from each jurisdiction is recorded and 26 tracked. This has been a fully collaborative effort between Town and County staff with the goal 27 of lowering barriers and increasing access to emergency housing assistance funds. 28 29 The fund offers one-time assistance per household, and there is a funding maximum of $2,000 30 per household. The average amount of assistance the fund provides is $1,297, so the additional 31 $130k allocation could serve approximately 100 people. Thus far, OCHCD has only had one 32 person to request assistance for a second time. However, this could become more common as 33 issues with affordability and job security are ongoing. While the emergency housing assistance 34 can keep someone from eviction for now, that person may not be able to afford their dwelling 35 six months from now depending on employment, rent stability of the current housing, and other 36 factors. However, keeping an eviction off someone's record is a powerful way to help them 37 access housing in the future, as an eviction record can bar people from housing for years into 38 the future. 39 40 The need for ongoing flexible housing assistance is great. Based on the current data on cost- 41 burdened renters, there are more than 12,000 Orange County residents in need of rental 42 subsidy to keep their income to rent ratio affordable. 43 44 OCHCD, in partnership with the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness (and 45 through initial staffing support from DSS), is providing case management to eligible Orange 46 County residents in need of ongoing rent assistance through the County's Housing Help Rapid 47 Re-Housing program, which provides rent assistance and case management for roughly 20-25 48 Orange County residents. OCHCD is also leveraging the Housing Choice Voucher program by 49 implementing existing Orange County Housing Authority preferences for people experiencing 50 homelessness and people impacted by natural disaster (to include the pandemic) to obtain 51 longer term rent assistance through a Housing Choice Voucher. This month OCHCD began 52 mailing HCV applications to people meeting the preference definitions with the goal of issuing