TITLE: Title
Funding Recommendations from The Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund Fiscal Year 2018-19
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is for the Board of Aldermen to consider recommended funding for three nonprofit affordable housing applications for FY18-19 and one application for FY19-20 which was historically funded through the Human Services Commission.
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DEPARTMENT: Manager’s Office
CONTACT INFORMATION: Anne-Marie Vanaman, Management Assistant, 919-918-7321, amvanaman@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:amvanaman@townofcarrboro.org>; Rebecca Buzzard, Project Manager, 919-918-7438, rbuzzard@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:rbuzzard@townofcarrboro.org>
INFORMATION: On March 5, 2019, the Board of Aldermen approved the pilot application process for the Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund.
<https://carrboro.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3875185&GUID=B29FF1CD-DC0B-4627-B6E8-0DDCC1205A46&Options=&Search>In the first application cycle of the pilot process (April 1, 2019), a total of seven requests were received. Three requests (two for rental deposits and one for urgent repair) fell under the $5,000 and below threshold and were approved by the Town Manager. The remaining requests were forwarded to the Affordable Housing Advisory Commission (AHAC) for review and scoring.
The Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund has $54,018 remaining to fund requests through June 30, 2019. This amount is not sufficient to fully fund all three FY18-19 requests in full.
One of these requests was an anticipated application from Community Home Trust (CHT). On January 15, 2019, the Board of Alderman voted to approve a recommended $30,000 of a $50,000 request to CHT to support operating reserves for The Landings with the expectation that CHT would apply for the remaining $20,000 through the Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund application process.
<https://carrboro.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3834175&GUID=CB445C1E-255D-4AE3-BBA9-51DCA6B7AB78&Options=&Search>On April 17, 2019, the AHAC discussed the requests and voted to make the following FY18-19 funding recommendations:
1. Reserve $5,000 for deposit assistance or critical repairs which may arise before June 30.
2. Fully fund a request from Habitat for Humanity of Orange County of $7,626 to provide urgent repairs for a home on 1801 North Greensboro Street in Carrboro.
3. Fully fund a request from Empowerment of $35,000 to acquire an apartment on 124 Fidelity Street, Unit 12, which will add one rental unit to Carrboro’s affordable housing stock.
4. Partially fund a request from CHT for The Landing’s operating reserves with the unallocated balance of the Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund, $6,392. The AHAC encourages CHT to apply for the balance of their $20,000 request in the next fiscal year’s first application cycle (October 1, 2019).
The AHAC reasoned that deposit assistance can determine whether a family is housed or homeless; therefore, reserves are needed for unforeseen requests arising before June 30.
Regarding the applications, there was concern that the critical repair and acquisition projects may not come to fruition without full funding and noted that the CHT application stated that their request, while critical, was not as time-sensitive.
The AHAC passed this recommendation with a vote of five in favor. One member was absent for the vote, and another voted against. This member was opposed to funding CHT at less than 50% of the request in consideration of how critical The Landings is as a rental community for the very-low to low-income.
This recommendation can be found in Attachment A.
In addition, the AHAC recommended to fully fund an application from Empowerment of $16,000 in support of their affordable rental management program in FY 2019-2020. This application was historically funded through the Human Services Commission. Due to a miscommunication, Empowerment submitted this request to Human Services although all housing related applications should now come though the Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund. Funds for this application will not be made available to Empowerment until after the Town of Carrboro FY19-20 budget has been approved, and after July 1, 2019.
This recommendation can be found in Attachment B.
A summary of the funding requests can be found in Attachment C and full applications in Attachment D.
FISCAL & STAFF IMPACT: Recommended funding allocations for FY18-19 total $49,018 which will be drawn from the Town’s Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund. This will leave a Fund balance of $5,000 for unforeseen deposit assistance or small urgent repair requests for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The FY19-20 funding recommendation of $16,000 will be drawn from the FY19-20 Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund which will have an allocation for former Human Services grants.
RECOMMENDATION:r Staff recommends the Board consider approving the funding allocations. A resolution for approval is provided in Attachment E.