Important note: the following recommendation was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 6, 2016:
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Ken Cole, Director
Subject: Allocation of Measure A and Former RDA Boomerang Funds under Affordable Housing Fund 4.0
RECOMMENDATION:
Measure A: Adopt a resolution:
A) Approving Affordable Housing Fund commitments totaling $6,653,533 for five new- construction affordable rental housing developments and one rehabilitation of an existing affordable rental housing development, including any conditions attached to such funding recommendations, using $5,413,533 in newly allocated Measure A funds, $180,000 in reprogrammed Measure A funds from a previous Affordable Housing Fund allocation, and $1,060,000 in former-RDA funds from Redwood City; and
B) Authorizing the Director of the Department of Housing, or the Director’s designee, to execute contracts, as approved by County Counsel, for funding the affordable housing projects indicated.
BACKGROUND:
On April 8, 2013, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors approved the allocation of approximately $13.4 million of unrestricted general funds for affordable housing purposes. These funds, which initiated the County’s Affordable Housing Fund, or AHF, were derived from a one-time distribution of Housing Trust Funds held by former redevelopment agencies in San Mateo County. There have been two subsequent AHF competitive funding rounds, using a combination of County general funds and Housing Authority Moving to Work (“Moving to Work”) funds.
On June 16, 2015, the Board, sitting as the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the County of San Mateo, approved commitments of up to $3.5 million in Moving to Work funds for three affordable rental housing projects; on that same date, the Board also approved commitments of up to $2.5 million in County Measure A funds for four affordable rental housing projects, for a total AHF funding commitment of $6 million (“AHF 3.0”). Due to the return of one funding commitment that was no longer needed, the County Manager’s Office requested a reallocation of AHF funds. On August 4, 2015, the Board approved a reallocation of AHF 3.0 funds, using repurposed funds to increase the amount awarded to three affordable housing rental projects, for a total AHF funding commitment of $5.4 million. Of the remaining $600,000 in Measure A funds, $180,000 was added to the amount of funding for the upcoming AHF 4.0 funding round, and $420,000 was expended for the preservation by MidPen Housing of an existing apartment complex in the City of Pacifica as deed-restricted affordable housing.
DISCUSSION:
The Department of Housing released a Notice of Funding Availability on April 22, 2016, referred to as AHF 4.0, which allocated a total of $9.24 million including: $6 million in new Measure A funds and $180,000 in Measure A funds remaining from the previous AHF funding round; $2 million in Housing Authority Moving to Work funds; and $1,060,000 in former RDA funds from Redwood City that had been allocated to the County as part of the dissolution of redevelopment agencies.
Nine applications were received by the May 26, 2016 application deadline, requesting a total of $12,230,312 for the creation or rehabilitation of 519 affordable housing units.
Staff and the Housing & Community Development Committee are recommending funding for seven of the nine projects totaling 403 units. The remaining two projects are both worthy affordable housing developments, but lack verifiable site control and have other predevelopment issues that need to be addressed before funding could be considered.
Six of seven projects recommended for funding would receive an allocation through the Measure A / RDA portion of AHF 4.0 and two through the Moving to Work portion of AHF 4.0; one of the seven would be funded through a combination of Measure A and Moving to Work funds (a companion resolution will be considered by the Board, sitting as the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of San Mateo County, for the Moving to Work portion of the fund). A total of $5,593,533 in Measure A and $1,060,000 in former-RDA funding is recommended.
The resolution has been reviewed and approved as to form by County Counsel. Agreements will be reviewed and approved by County Counsel for execution by the Director of the Department of Housing. Approval of this resolution contributes to the Shared Vision 2025 outcome as a Livable Community by increasing the overall supply of affordable housing.
PERFORMANCE MEASURE(S):
|
Measure |
FY 2015-16 Actual |
FY 2016-17 Projected |
|
Housing units created |
175 |
264 |
|
Housing units rehabilitated |
0 |
38 |
FISCAL IMPACT:
The proposed competitive fund award process will be limited to the utilization of a maximum of $5,593,533 from Measure A and $1,060,000 from former-RDA
Important note: this is a copy of the official report -- item 48 on the Board's agenda.