Orange County NC Website
~:~.~ <br />housing choice. The magnitude of the housing production and rehabilitation challenge <br />facing the community calls for collaboration with other agencies and related <br />organizations that may bring needed development services and/or other resource for this <br />effort. Thus Chapel Hill should continue to encourage the full cooperation and active <br />involvement of these groups to generate and maintain significant volumes of affordable <br />housing. " <br />This project has already received approval from the Town of Chapel Hill and Orange County <br />to receive Community Development Block Grant funds, Chapel Hill Housing Trust Fund <br />monies, HOME funding, and Orange County Affordable Housing Bond funding to help <br />cover the costs of purchasing the land, designing the project, and building the infrastructure. <br />Clearly, the Town is already a partner with Habitat for Humanity in the development of this <br />site for affordable housing. The rezoning of the parcel to allow for higher density will <br />maximize the use of public funds and contribute to the generation of more housing for the <br />hardest to serve households, those with incomes below 50% of the area median. <br />Strate~y 7A-1 also states that: <br />"affordable housing initiatives should address the need to assist residents of publicly <br />assisted housing in making the permanent housing and self-suj~ciency. " <br />HHOC has actively recruited public housing residents as applicants, and has successfully <br />worked with public housing residents to overcome the barriers to homeownership. HHOC <br />will continue its efforts to move families out of public housing and into homes of their own <br />in this proposed new affordable housing development. <br />Strate~y 7A-2 calls for providing: <br />"incentives for housing providers to develop affordable housing. " <br />5trategy 7A-2 further states: <br />"Funding limitations hinder the Town's ability to fully meet local affordable housing <br />needs on its own, particularly in the field of new housing productions. As a result, private <br />housing developers are looking at as key partners in addressing this problem. Effective <br />incentives are needed to encou~°age developers to assist in achieving the Town's <br />affordable housing goals and objectives, including full integration of affordable housing <br />units into the community. Such incentives should compensate developers who produce, <br />maintain or rehabilitate lower-cost, affordable housing units that meet the Town's <br />standards. " <br />One very important element of Strategy 7A-2 mentions: <br />"Some traditional development standards, such as minimum lot size, may be reduced or <br />eliminated entirely when dealing with single family home development under the R-SS-C <br />Zoning District. In addition, the use of innovative techniques should be explored and <br />encouraged, not only because such techniques can generate significantly lower-cost <br />housing that is affordable to moderate and low income families, but also because of the <br />