Approved Minutes of August 28, 2024

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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 28,2024 Connections to Community Support Committee Dr. Stuebe provided the update for the Connections to Community Support Committee. She shared that the committee had heard from Blake Rosser, Director of the Housing Department, about what is already being done to address housing in the county and that there is a lot of work being done. She commented that one thing that she noticed was that much of the work was focused on keeping people in crisis housed without a lot of emphasis on long-term solutions, and that the group had brainstormed some ideas for ways to address affordable housing availability in the long term, including changes in zoning policies, reinvestment in public housing programs, mobile home cooperatives, land trusts, and universal basic income. Dr. Stuebe concluded by saying that Mr. Rosser mentioned that in his opinion the biggest need is for mental health support and wraparound services, as many people experiencing homelessness struggle with their mental health to the point that they cannot sustain housing without additional mental health support. Mr. Whitaker added that it was great to get perspective on both short- and long-term issues, and that it seems short term and emergency issues are largely taking precedence, which is lamentable but understandable. In response to Dr. Stuebe's question about the new comprehensive plan/land use policy, Commissioner Fowler mentioned that a policy allowing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) was recently passed to help increase the accessibility of housing and smaller housing, and that they are looking into ways to increase housing more naturally. She shared that much of the funding for eviction diversion was previously provided by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, though the BOCC is continuing to prioritize this as best they can. She added that wraparound services are often hard to provide because so many services are siloed. In response to Mr. Bagby's comment about tiny homes as a possible solution, Commissioner Fowler mentioned that Orange County has previously funded the tiny home organization Pee Wee Homes. Mr. Bagby shared that prior to this committee meeting, he'd been under the impression that the housing situation was really bad in Orange County, but he now believes that things are trending in the right direction. Commissioner Fowler agreed that there is progress, but that there isn't enough funding to meet the demand. Mr. Whitaker commented that most housing resources seem to focus on getting people into rental housing, which is inherently less stable than homeownership. Commissioner Fowler mentioned two resources focused on homeownership, which are the Community Home Trust and Habitat for Humanity. Dr. Rodgers mentioned that it's important to ask, "affordable for whom?" when it comes to affordable housing. She said that this is especially true for homeownership, and that many young people are saying that renting is the only option despite the high cost of rent and the comparative instability, as the cost of a down payment and home repairs are not accessible to them. Dr. Royce shared that she'd recently read a viewpoint by Aaron Nelson called "Healthy Schools Demand More Housing," which discussed how housing problems in a community lead to a cascade effect of schools struggling, teachers being unable to afford to live locally, and less S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agendas &Abstracts\2024 Agenda and Abstracts/ August Page 3