TITLE: Title
Community Home Trust Interlocal Agreement
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is for the Board to consider authorizing the Town Manager to execute an Interlocal Agreement with the Towns of Chapel Hill and Hillsborough and Orange County regarding the Community Home Trust.
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DEPARTMENT: Manager's Office
INFORMATION:
Background
· In 1990, the Town, along with Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Orange County, created the Orange Community Housing Corporation (OCHC) to create affordable housing opportunities in Orange County.
· The Towns and the County have annually provided operating support to the organization since its inception.
· In 1998 the Towns and County recommended that OCHC staff the newly created community land trust, later renamed the Community Home Trust.
· A key function of the Community Home Trust is to manage affordable housing units created through the Town's Inclusionary Zoning ordinance.
Context with Key Issues
· The Community Home Trust has requested that the elected boards consider entering into an interlocal agreement to:
o Clarify the responsibilities of the Towns, Orange County, and the Community Home Trust; and
o Provide a formula for allocating operating funds for the organization.
· At the November 2014 Assembly of Governments meeting, the elected officials were briefed on the progress of developing an interlocal agreement regarding the Community Home Trust. Staff reported that each partner would return to their respective boards with a draft of an agreement.
· The staffs have worked with the Community Home Trust staff to draft the attached agreement. Key components of the agreement include:
o Reinforcement that the County and the Towns are committed to creating successful affordable housing opportunities in Orange County;
o Acknowledgement and agreement that the Community Home Trust's programs serve households earning up to 115% of the area median income;
o Annual review of the agreement during the annual budget cycle by the Board of Aldermen and the elected boards of all of the partners;
o Continuing to appoint of a representative from each jurisdiction to the Community Home Trust board of directors (Section III.B)
o Identification of responsibilities of the Community Home Trust (Section III.C), and the partner jurisdictions (Section III.D);
o Agreement on an annual funding formula based on the ratio of Community Home Trust homes to the total number of the organization's homes (Section III.D.3);
o Agreement to allow Community Home Trust to provide an unrestricted fee simple deed of trust to lenders of Home Trust homes. In short, if a home is foreclosed upon, the Town's and County agree to cancel all affordability restrictions recorded against the property. This would increase the lending options to buyers. (Section III.D.5a.);
o Agreement that homes subsidized by local funds or Town Community Development funds may be resold to households earning up to 115% of the area median income without repaying the funds (Section III.D.5.b); and
o Agreement that homes could be sold out of the Community Home Trust inventory upon approval of the Town Manager (Section III.D.5.c).
· Since the agreement would be reviewed annually, the staffs from each jurisdiction would continue to work with the Community Home Trust to evaluate the funding formula and the current model for homeownership. If identified, we would share alternative models with the Council for consideration.
· The draft Interlocal Agreement would support Goal 1.1 of the Town's Affordable Housing Goals and Strategies.
o Goal 1.1: Increase the number of homeownership units that are permanently affordable in Carrboro.
FISCAL & STAFF IMPACT: Based on the proposed formula, the Town's Fiscal Year 2015-16 contribution to the Community Home Trust would be $64,000. This is a $29,000 increase from the Town's FY 2014-15 contribution of $35,000.
RECOMMENDATION:r Town staff recommends the Board of Aldermen consider adopting the attached resolution authorizing the Town Manager to execute the Interlocal Agreement with the Towns of Chapel Hill and Hillsborough and Orange County regarding the Community Home Trust.