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Approval of Recommended Funding from the Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund
PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND: The purpose of this item is for the Town Council to consider the Housing and Human Services Advisory Commission’s (HHSAC) funding recommendations for four applications to the Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund (AHSRF).
The FY2026-2027 AHSRF appropriation is $755,156. Of that, $426,204 is committed to recurring expenses and services, including Inter-Faith Council for Social Service (IFC) emergency shelter services, leaving $328,952 available for affordable housing applications.
In the October 2026 application period, the Town received four requests from affordable housing nonprofits totaling $710,039, more than twice the available funds (Attachment D). To get the most out of limited dollars, the HHSAC evaluated each request on the number of units acquired or preserved, household incomes served, and the project leverage ratio (Attachment C). The HHSAC recommends the following (Attachment B).
• Preserving Home requested $200,000 to repair and weatherize 12-14 homes owned by low-income households. Recommended for $150,000.
• Community Home Trust requested $40,000 to acquire one home for affordable homeownership. Recommended for full funding.
• CASA requested $125,000 to repair and rehabilitate 18 Club Nova apartments. Decision is deferred until additional information is received.
• EMPOWERment requested $345,039 to acquire one home for affordable rental housing. Not recommended. The request had the highest cost per unit and lowest leverage ratio of the four applications.
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Department
DEPARTMENT: Housing and Community Services
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Fiscal and Staff Impact
FISCAL AND STAFF IMPACT: The recommended awards total $190,000 ($40,000 to Community Home Trust and $150,000 to Preserving Home), leaving $138,952 available to consider the deferred CASA application and future funding rounds. There is no additional budgetary or staff impact.
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Community Impact
COMMUNITY IMPACT:
CHT: One naturally occurring affordable housing unit will be preserved through the land trust model - a 99-year ground lease that requires equity sharing in order to maintain permanent affordability. The home will be available for purchase by a household earning no more than 80% AMI.
Preserving Home: Weatherization and related critical repairs will be conducted on 12-14 homes owned by low-income Carrboro households. Current applicants (7) are mostly concentrated in Rocky Brook. This project expands these services to a manufactured home community that also may face barriers to accessing repair resources.
CASA: No impact at this time; rehabilitation and repairs to 18 rental apartments are underway.
EMPOWERment: At this time, the home remains part of Self Help’s “land bank” and is leased to one tenant. Additional funding sources are needed to support EMPOWERment’s purchase of the home.
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Climate Impact
CLIMATE IMPACT: 12-14 Carrboro homes will receive energy audits and assessments for building-envelope repairs. Based on the assessment, the homes will receive weatherization, repairs, and other energy-efficiency measures that reduce energy burdens, decrease utility costs for low and moderate-income homeowners, and reduce the carbon footprint of homes in Carrboro.
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