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County Administrator's Report 9. 2.
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| BCC Regular Meeting |
Discussion |
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| RECOMMENDATION: |
Recommendation Concerning Local Government Contribution Application for SAIL Financing through Florida Housing Finance Corporation - Clara Long, Interim Neighborhood & Human Services Department Director
That the Board take the following action concerning the Local Government Contribution Application for SAIL Financing through Florida Housing Finance Corporation:
A. Support the provision of a local government contribution, in the amount of $37,500, for multi-family developments applying for State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) Financing through Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) under RFA 2020-208;
B. Approve the local Application Form and timelines; and
C. Support the provision of an additional $100,000 for developments providing homeless or special needs set aside units.
[Funding: Fund 120/SHIP and/or Fund 124/Affordable Housing] |
| BACKGROUND: |
Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) will be opening a competitive Request For Applications (RFA) for multifamily developments interested in State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) funding. RFA 2020-208 SAIL Financing for the Construction of Workforce Housing is expected to be issued on February 24, 2020, with a deadline to FHFC of March 30, 2020. Though the draft RFA is currently not available, it is anticipated that a local government contribution of $37,500 will be required as in the past.
The Board approved a process for review of Applications applying for FHFC funding that would require the local Government Contribution Form, which was approved on May 4, 2017. The Application provided with this Recommendation is being updated to include current FHFC RFA information and deadlines. Staff is proposing submission of local Application by February 14, 2020, in order to place the item on the March 5, 2020, Board Agenda. The Application has also been updated to include the 2019 Racially and Ethnically Concentrated Areas of Poverty (RECAP) area, which is census tract 16 in District 3. As part of the process approved by the Board, no developments will be approved in RECAP areas. It should be noted that FHFC prohibits Applications for developments within one mile of newly approved FHFC developments, which will prohibit development of units near Lucas Creek at 7815 Lilac Lane and Brownsville Manor on West DeSoto Street.
Staff is again proposing the provision of an additional $100,000, in addition to the minimum local government contribution, to encourage the set aside of two units in developments for a homeless or formerly homeless individual or household or a special needs household as an optional election by the developer. If funding is awarded by FHFC, the developer proposing the homeless set aside would be required to receive referrals from Opening Doors Northwest Florida as the local Continuum of Care (COC) for the units and execute an agreement or memorandum of understanding with Opening Doors in addition to the agreement that will be executed with the County. The units must be reserved for extremely low income households and the rent limit cannot exceed the 30% rent limits based on bedroom size. Provision of a homeless or special needs set aside enables the County to help meet SHIP mandated extremely low income and special needs set asides, as well as help provide the COC support in its competitive HUD COC funding application by showing that the area is seeking to provide units for homeless households transitioning out of supportive housing.
Documents related to RFA 2020-208 SAIL Financing for the Construction of Workforce Housing is available online here |
| BUDGETARY IMPACT: |
The statewide housing tax credit application process through Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) is extremely competitive, so there is no guarantee of any project being funded in Escambia County as developments are competing for funds across the state. Given the funding that FHFC shows available for each RFA, probably only two workforce developments will be funded statewide under this RFA.
Fund 120/SHIP and/or Fund 124/Escambia Affordable Housing funds will only be provided in the event that a development is awarded financing through FHFC during this application cycle. Applications will be brought to the March 5, 2020, Board meeting for review and approval for the local government contribution. |
| LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS/SIGN-OFF: |
| N/A |
| PERSONNEL: |
| N/A |
| POLICY/REQUIREMENT FOR BOARD ACTION: |
| Review of the application process, including proposed changes, must be approved by the Board. Potential funding commitments must be reviewed and approved by the Board. |
| IMPLEMENTATION/COORDINATION: |
| The Neighborhood Enterprise Division will post the application online and will review applications with the support of other County departments including Development Services. |
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