On August 22, 2017, Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) opened its competitive Request For Applications (RFA) 2017-107 Financing for the Construction of Workforce Housing. This funding will provide State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) and 4% housing tax credits with tax exempt bonds or Multifamily Mortgage Revenue bonds (MMRB) as financing. Developments constructed under this RFA must choose to set aside 25% of the units to tenants at or below 50% of the area median income (AMI) ($21,700 for a one person household) or to set aside 45% of the units to tenants at or below 60% AMI ($26,040 for a one person household). The remaining units will be for households at or below 80% AMI ($52,080 for a one person household).
As a part of the tax credit application process, developers must secure a “Local Government Certification of Contribution Form” (Exhibit I) from each local government which secures a minimum contribution of $37,500 in order to receive maximum points during the scoring process. The BCC directed staff to come up with a process to review any multifamily applications applying for FHFC funding that would require the local Government Contribution form, which was approved by the BCC on May 4, 2017 (See Exhibit II for minutes). Escambia County made its application for the FHFC RFAs requiring a Local Government Contribution form available on its website on August 15, 2017 (before the FHFC RFAs were released) (Click Here)
Under this new process, one application was received by Escambia County for RFA 2017-107 as follows:
| DEVELOPMENT NAME |
LOCATION |
DEVELOPER |
# OF UNITS |
TYPE |
DISTRICT |
| Sierra Pointe |
8674 University Pkwy |
Banyan Development Group, LLC |
120 |
Family |
4 |
As part of the RFA 2017-107 application provided by FHFC as well as the Escambia County application for the Local Government Contribution form, each development is required to submit the "Local Government Verification that Development is Consistent with Zoning and Land Use Regulations" form which notes that the proposed development is consistent with current land use regulations and the referenced zoning. Without this form, the development would not be able to proceed with the County application or the FHFC application. The parcel in question has several zoning designations such as Heavy Commercial /Light Industrial (HC/LI), Commercial (COM), Medium Density Residential (MDR), and High Density Residential (HDR). As the attached zoning map indicates in Exhibit III, the parcel is primarily zoned HC/LI which does not allow for the desired land use proposal. Development Services Department staff suggested that a rezoning of the parcel to one zoning designation would be the best option for the desired land use proposal.
At the request of the property owner, Development Services staff was asked to look at the old zoning designation(s) for the referenced parcel in order to ascertain what was allowed prior to adoption of the new Land Development Code on April 16, 2015. Based upon further inquiry, it was determined that the old zoning designation(s) of R-5, C-1 and C-2 did allow for the desired land use in question. Therefore, the Development Services Department signed the "Local Government Verification that Development is Consistent with Zoning and Land Use Regulations" form based upon the Savings Clause Provision, Section 3-1.8 of the Escambia County Land Development Code in effect as of October 5, 2017. This provision states that:
“The owner of any parcel of land that had the residential density of its applicable zoning district decreased or had permitted land uses of that district eliminated as a result of the April 16, 2015 adoption of the LDC, may apply to have the previous residential density or permitted land uses reinstated. Only residential density and permitted land uses listed on the date of adoption shall be eligible for reinstatement pursuant to this section……”
Once this issue was resolved, the developer met all basic threshold requirements as outlined in the application and proceeded to scoring. A complete copy of the application is attached as Exhibit IV. The application includes the "Local Government Verification that Development is Consistent with Zoning and Land Use Regulations" form and information on the Savings Clause (See Attachment 2 within Exhibit IV). The application scored an average of 85.71 points from committee members, which exceeds the 80 points minimum requirement as approved by the Board. A summary of the scoring and ranking for the Board's consideration is attached as Exhibit V, with ranking committee scoresheets. A printout of the property description as provided by the Escambia County Property Appraiser's site is included as Exhibit VI.
If the Board authorizes the County Administrator to sign the form committing $37,500 for a proposed development, there is no guarantee of a development being selected for financing in Escambia County since the FHFC application process utilizes a lottery system to determine awards. Given the amount of funding available from FHFC, it is anticipated that only one or two projects statewide will be selected for projects located outside Monroe County. The applications are due to FHFC by October 18, 2017 and the FHFC awards selection should be known by early spring 2018.
FHFC mandates income set asides, concrete construction, green and energy saving features, and at least three resident program offerings for family developments. Sierra Pointe is proposing the following four program offerings instead of the minimum three: Employment Assistance Program, Family Support Coordinator, Financial Management Program and Literacy Training. A copy of the complete FHFC RFA and related documents are available online. (Click Here)
Each development will undergo a rigorous underwriting process through FHFC. The developer is not on the FHFC's non-compliance list for projects that have received funding from FHFC in the past. These developments are monitored regularly (typically annually) by FHFC's contracted monitoring agents for physical condition of the property, verification of tenant occupancy, income eligibility and rent restrictions, and documentation of availability of amenities and services as stipulated in the FHFC Land Use Restrictions. Developments failing to provide the amenities or meet the income or rent set asides would jeopardize their tax credit standing, which could result in a recapture of the tax credit benefit. |
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. 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 particular housing tax credit application cycle. Funding commitments from the County are only good through June 30, 2018. The most recent grant allocation year will be utilized at the time of the award and an Agreement will be brought to the Board to formally commit the funding.
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