Agenda - 05-09-2000-1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange County, NC 5 Consolidated Plan for 2000-2005 Executive Summary Background Located in North Carolina, Orange County includes not only the towns of Carrboro and Hillsborough, but also Chapel Hill, the home of the largest campus of the State university. The presence of university students, more affluent. and transient than other county residents, has created an imbalance in terms of housing and community development needs. Orange County must, therefore, concentrate its efforts on serving a strong urban community and rural areas as well. The important housing issues in Orange County have not changed. The high cost of homeownership has left many families out of the housing market or sent them to surrounding counties to buy homes and commute into Orange County for work. The rental market, inflated by the ability of UNC-CH students able to pay higher rents, is beyond the means of families with incomes below 50°Io of the area median. For families in need of three or more bedrooms, very little housing stock exists. The number of women and children staying at the homeless shelter continues to increase dramatically, and transition from the shelter into permanent housing in Orange County is nearly impossible since no transitional housing exists. Housing for special interest groups such as the elderly, persons that are developmentally disabled, and persons with alcohol or drug addiction, is limited in Orange County. Action Plan The Consolidated Plan for Orange County has a total budget of nearly $1.1 million, of which $4db,000 comes from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and $536,550 from HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME) funds (with $98,550 in applicant match). Citizen Participation Development of the Consolidated Plan for Orange County was undertaken by a staff working group that included a representative from each participating jurisdiction. Three public hearings were held prior to plan development. The first hearing was held in Chapel Hill on January 31, 2000 during a regularly scheduled meeting of the Chapel Hill Town Council. The second hearing was held on February 29, 2000 during a regularly scheduled meeting of the Orange County Boazd of Commissioners. Both hearings were advertised in local newspaper -The Chapel Hill Herald and notices were distributed via the U.S. mail to local non-profit organizations, neighborhood groups, and other interested citizens. A third public hearing was held on March 29, 2000 after formulation of the action plan for CDBG Entitlement funding for the Town of Chapel Hill and preliminary development of the HOME Investment Partnership Program funding for the Orange County HOME Consortium. Again, groups were notified of the hearings by newspaper advertisements and the mailing of notices. The Draft Plan was available for review at the Chapel Hill Public Library and the Orange County Public Library during the public comment period April 14 -May 15, 2000.