Agenda - 08-19-2008- 6c - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: August 19, 2008 Action Agen a Item No. SUBJECT: Housing Bond Pro ram -Eno Haven DEPARTMENT: Housing/Community Dev. PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): Location Map Project Proforma INFORMATION CONTACT: Tara L. Fikes, 245-2490 Gary Humphreys, 245-2450 Robert Jessup, 919/755-1800 PURPOSE: To consider approval of the issuance of a portion of the remaining authorized housing bonds as taxable bonds for the proposed Eno Haven multi-family rental complex. BACKGROUND: On June 5, 2008, the BOCC awarded $1,000,000 in housing bond funds to TBLF Eno Haven LLC to assist in the construction of a 76-unit multi-family rental complex in Hillsborough to be known as Eno Haven, contingent upon the award of Low Income Housing Tax Credits by the N.C. Housing Finance Agency. Eno Haven, hereinafter referred to as the "Project", will provide much needed rental housing for low-income elderly and disabled individuals in the community. This Project, should it receive tax credits, will be the first tax- credit rental project for low income elderly and disabled individuals in northern Orange County. This bond award was designated to come from proceeds of the issuance of affordable housing financing scheduled to occur early in 2009. The County's voters approved these bonds in 2001 to provide funds "to pay the capital costs of providing housing for the benefit of persons of low and moderate income." As stated earlier, the developer of the Project is also seeking additional financial assistance for the development from the Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) Program, a federal program that provides income tax credits for affordable housing projects. Thus, a tax credit application for this Project has been submitted to the N.C. Housing Finance Agency which has the legal responsibility to review applications and allocate credits. As background, the LIHTC Program treats projects differently depending on whether the project includes any financing derived from tax-exempt bonds. Projects that include financing from tax- exempt bonds generally qualify for a lower level of credits. The theory behind this distinction is that projects that benefit from tax-exempt bond financing have already received some federal subsidy, even if indirectly, and that subsidy should be taken into account in determining the tax credits to be made available. In this case, however, even though proceeds from the County's general obligation bond do not represent a federal subsidy, the low qualification level is still applicable since the County would be providing tax-exempt bond financing to the Project.