Minutes 04-08-2025-Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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18 Travis Myren cautioned that the measures should be controllable by the county. Commissioner McKee asked if the first step would be to isolate down to county only rather than county and towns. Travis Myren said they can control what the county invests in affordable housing. Commissioner McKee asked how much of the housing gap is in the county and how much is in the towns. He said that 9,000 does not seem realistic either and he would like to know what number they need to contribute for affordable housing and what that might cost. Travis Myren said they would get an estimate to the Board. Vice-Chair Hamilton said the amount of housing in the county is determined by the market and developers. She said the Board is not the major driver of housing in the county. She said it makes sense to think about what the county has control over when creating performance measures. She said the "how" is not in the measures. She said that will come in the budget, and they will have hard decisions to make. She said that the measures lay out what the Board would like, but some of them may not happen. Commissioner Portie-Ascott said that when revising the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, the Board is creating the conditions that lead to housing. She said that with the funding the county has, could the county do more than 10 units a year. Commissioner Fowler said she also worked alongside with the development of the performance measures and item one was looking at what they can achieve as the county. She said they were looking into if there were ways for developers to go more efficiently through the development planning phases. Commissioner Carter clarified that the housing gap described by Commissioner Portie- Ascott is for owners and renters making less than 50% of AMI. Vice-Chair Hamilton said even with the land use plan, there is always tension between open land and housing. She said what is nice is all of the stuff is coming together but the reality is that it will not be easy to address that number, and they have to be realistic about that. Commissioner Greene said one way to fund affordable housing is through the CIP and through money through a competitive process that goes to non-profits. She said they are spreading their funding across multiple units. She said this sounds like it is housing 100% funded by Orange County and she is not sure if they have ever done that because it would involve building their own housing. She said that the housing gap described by Commissioner Carter and Commissioner Portie-Ascott would need to be in the municipalities because of the support services they would need access to. Commissioner McKee said what he struggles with is the projected borrowing over the next ten years. He said the scale of payback went up to $74 million a year and that number is 1/3 of the current budget. He said he has a hard time incorporating that reality into what they know they need. He said that regardless of what it is, that payment comes off the top. Chair Bedford said she thinks the current projections in the CIP are doable, but they also need to focus on the rehabbing and keeping the existing units. She said this needs to be flagged. Commissioner McKee said that there are people from other states who can purchase larger properties and pay less in taxes when coming to Orange County. Commissioner Portie-Ascott said for performance measure 2, there are people in the community who do not feel welcome when accessing cold weather cots. Travis Myren said he would look into that. Caitlin Fenhagen asked if the cold weather cot issues were at IFC or with the county site. Commissioner Portie-Ascott said she thought it was at the IFC. Caitlin Fenhagen said that they have heard comments about the IFC cold weather cots and that they have discussed the issue with IFC. She said they have spoken with IFC about those concerns, and they are hopeful they will see change. Slide #17