Agenda 01-18-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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7 1 comments during the public comment period (November 16 — December 1, 2021) to Erika 2 Brandt, Community Development Manager, by email (ebrandt@orangecountync.gov), by mail 3 (PO Box 8181, Hillsborough, NC 27278) or by telephone (919-245-4331). 4 5 Erika Brandt, Housing and Community Development Manager, reviewed the background 6 information for the item. She said HOME is a federal block grant program from the Department 7 of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that allocates funds to communities across the 8 country based on a formula that looks at population and other factors. She said Orange County 9 is a consortium of the county and towns, and is the entity that receives the HOME funds. She 10 said the Local Government Affordable Housing Collaborative is made up of one elected official 11 from each jurisdiction in the consortium. She said this group makes funding recommendations 12 on how the consortium should award HOME funds. She said recommendations go before each 13 of the governing boards of the four jurisdictions for approval. She said the CAPER is an annual 14 report that talks about how the consortium allocated HOME funds from a given program year, 15 and how funds were actually dispersed in that program year. She said even though the 16 program year aligns with the county's fiscal year, the actual timeline for dispersing those funds 17 spans a lot longer than a year. She said it is common for an agency to receive funds during a 18 program year but not spend them until a year or more later. She said typically agencies apply 19 for HOME funds well before they are needed, in order to plan in advance. She reviewed the 20 executive summary from the evening's agenda packet. 21 Commissioner Fowler asked if CASA kept the same allocation for the nine units for 22 people with disabilities. 23 Erika Brandt said she can look into that and get back to her. 24 Commissioner Richards asked what happens to returned funds. 25 Erika Brandt said the funds are put back to the pot and added to the 2021 pot of funds. 26 She said this is the first year there was enough funding to fully fund all requests. 27 Commissioner Richards clarified that those funds are not part of this report. 28 Erika Brandt said that is correct, that award was just made last fiscal year and this report 29 is from the previous year. 30 Commissioner Richards asked if the funds have been dispersed. 31 Erika Brandt said no the funds have not been dispersed, but the award went to Habitat 32 for homeownership assistance, but they are still drawing down funds for past fiscal years. 33 Commissioner Richards asked if other organizations can apply for the funds. 34 Erika Brandt said yes organizations did apply and the funds were awarded to Habitat. 35 Commissioner Hamilton asked if project-based vouchers could be explained. 36 Erika Brandt said the Housing Authority administers the Section 8 Housing Choice 37 Voucher Program, which has always been tenant-based in past. She said project-based 38 vouchers are going to be for rental subsidies that are tied to a particular unit rather than a 39 tenant. She said this will be more similar to public housing or any kind of affordable subsidized 40 housing where the unit is subsidized and the renter can live there if they apply and qualify. 41 Commissioner Greene said CASA applied for low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) 42 status and was not successful, so then applied for HOME money and tried again for LIHTC and 43 was awarded. She said because they knew that was their goal, they were strictly following 44 federal guidelines for percentages of units that have to be affordable to different levels of 45 people, and she does not think the allocation of units will change. 46 Chair Price asked if there is a time limit for when the projects need to be completed. 47 Erika Brandt said the funds have to be expended within five years of the funds being 48 committed, which is not the same date as when the county awards them. She said the 49 commitment happens after an environmental review is done, if one needs to be done for a 50 project, and once the development agreement is signed. She said this typically happens around 51 one year after the award is made, and thus funds are typically spent within six years.