Agenda

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County Administrator's Report 13. 2.

BCC Regular Meeting

Discussion

Meeting Date:	09/20/2018
Issue: Local Government Contribution for SAIL Financing through Florida Housing Finance Corporation
From:	Tonya Gant
Department:	Neighborhood & Human Svcs
CAO Approval:

RECOMMENDATION:

Recommendation Concerning Local Government Contribution Application for SAIL Financing through Florida Housing Finance Corporation - Tonya Gant, 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 2018-114 and RFA 2018-116;

B. Approve the local Application Form and timelines; and

C. Support the provision of an additional $100,000 for developments providing a homeless set aside unit.

[Funding: Fund 120/SHIP and/or Fund 124/Affordable Housing]

BACKGROUND:

Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) will be opening two separate competitive Request For Applications (RFA) for multifamily developments interested in State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) funding. RFA 2018-114 SAIL Financing for the Construction of Workforce Housing is expected to be issued on October 2 and RFA 2018-116 SAIL Financing of Affordable Multifamily Housing Developments to be Used in Conjunction with Tax Exempt Bonds and Non-Competitive Housing Credits is expected to be issued on October 19. RFA 2018-114 will be for family units only and RFA 2018-116 will be both family and elderly units. Neither draft RFA is currently available, but the workshop held for RFA 2018-114 indicated that a local government contribution of $37,500 will be required; it is anticipated that RFA 2018-116 will require the same.

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 attached to this recommendation is being updated to include current FHFC RFA information and deadlines. The application has also been updated to include the 2018 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 last year, no developments will be approved in these 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 Delphin Downs at 1717 W. Cervantes Street and Brownsville Manor on West DeSoto Street.

Staff is proposing the provision of an additional $100,000 in addition to the minimum local government contribution to encourage the set aside of one unit in a development for a homeless or formerly homeless individual or household as an optional election by the developer. If fundind 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 unit and execute an agreement or memorandum of understanding with Opening Doors in addition to the agreement that will be executed with the County. The unit must be reserved for an extremely low income household and the rent limit cannot exceed the 30% rent limits based on bedroom size. Provision of a homeless set aside enables the County to help meet SHIP extremely low income 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 2018-114 SAIL Financing for the Construction of Workforce Housing is available online here . Documents related to RFA 2018-116 SAIL Financing of Affordable Multifamily Housing Developments to be Used in Conjunction with Tax Exempt Bonds and Non-Competitive Housing Credits 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 RFA 2018-114 (Workforce) and probably eight to ten developments will be funded statewide under RFA 2018-116 (Bonds and Housing Credits).

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. Applications will be brought to the Board in November for review and approval for the local government contribution.

LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS/SIGN-OFF:

Not applicable to this recommendation.

PERSONNEL:

Not applicable to this recommendation.

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.

Attachments
2018 DRAFT SAIL application form