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AHAB Regular Monthly Meeting, Agenda and

Orange County · Affordable Housing Advisory Board
Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Advisory board meeting Housing and affordabilityCivil rights and nondiscriminationGrants and outside fundingHomelessness and shelterTax rate and revaluation

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved Approve Minutes Approved
  2. Approved Community Meetings Approved; a member will lead a committee to draft the agenda for August

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

Orange County's Affordable Housing Advisory Board spent 8 April 2025 on where federal housing money is going and what the revaluation will do to the county's tax assistance programme for long-time homeowners. HOME funding now runs at about 60 percent of what the county received in 2010.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The draft 2025 consolidated plan concentrates the money on repair and rehabilitation and on tenant-based rental assistance, rather than spreading it across several programmes as the 2020 plan did. Staff said repair and rehabilitation has a waiting list that more than twenty organisations feed into, and is structured as a forgivable loan; tenant-based rental assistance directs money to households at or below 30 percent of area median income, which the board had named as its priority.

On the Long Time Homeowner Assistance programme, applicants rose sharply and some households received less than they expected. Staff explained there is a minimum and a maximum allocation and everyone eligible gets at least the minimum. With revaluation notices out and many owners planning appeals, staff expect more pressure on the programme, and suggested publishing what was paid in prior years to set expectations and pointing people to homestead exemptions in the meantime. Staff are seeking contributions from the towns.

The board also heard that HUD is cutting staff heavily, particularly in research and fair housing, though funding to municipalities has not been cut so far, and that about $1.2 million in HOME ARP money aimed at unsheltered residents is expected in autumn or winter 2025. Staff visited Pee Wee Homes in Northside, Chapel Hill, where two of three capital-funded units are built and residents move in at the end of May.

The board voted to hold two community meetings, one in Efland and one in Chapel Hill, on the grounds that the substance and style will differ by part of the county. A member volunteered to lead a small committee to draft the agenda, recruiting volunteers in June and bringing a draft in August. Members asked that staff moderate rather than lead, so the conversation runs between residents and board members.

How the votes went

Two motions carried: the previous minutes and holding two community meetings, in Efland and Chapel Hill.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (5)

Discussion item · 3Minutes approval · 1Staff or committee report · 1
  1. Approve Minutes
    Minutes approval
    Approved
  2. Staff Updates
    Staff or committee report Civil rights and nondiscriminationHomelessness and shelterHousing and affordability
    Pee Wee Homes has two of three capital-funded units built in Northside, Chapel Hill, with residents moving in at the end of May. HUD is cutting staff heavily in research and fair housing, though municipal funding is so far untouched. About $1.2 million in HOME ARP money aimed at unsheltered residents is expected in autumn or winter.
  3. Long Time Homeowners Tax Assistance Program
    Discussion item Housing and affordabilityTax rate and revaluation
    Applicants rose sharply and some households received less than expected against a minimum and maximum allocation. With revaluation notices out, staff expect more pressure and suggested publishing prior-year figures and pointing owners to homestead exemptions. Staff are seeking contributions from the towns.
  4. HOME Funding
    Discussion item Grants and outside fundingHousing and affordability
    The 2025-2029 plan and its annual action plan concentrate on tenant-based rental assistance and repair and rehabilitation rather than spreading money thinly. Total funding is about 60 percent of the 2010 figure. Repair has a waiting list fed by more than twenty organisations and is structured as a forgivable loan.
  5. Community Meetings
    Discussion item Housing and affordability
    Two meetings, one in Efland drawing from Hillsborough and Cedar Grove and one in Chapel Hill, with staff moderating rather than leading and a report back to the commissioners.
    Approved; a member will lead a committee to draft the agenda for August

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