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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 06-07-2022; 6-a - Longtime Homeowner Assistance (LHA) Additional Information 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: June 7, 2022 Action Agenda Item No. 6-a SUBJECT: Longtime Homeowner Assistance (LHA) Additional Information DEPARTMENT: Housing and Community Development ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Corey Root, Director, Housing and Attachment 1 — LHA Communications Plan Community Development, 919-245- Attachment 2 — LHA Events Flyer, English 2492 and Spanish Nancy Freeman, Tax Administrator, Orange County Tax Office, 919-245- 2735 Gary Donaldson, Chief Financial Officer, Orange County Finance, 919-245- 2453 PURPOSE: To receive further information and consider options for the Longtime Homeowner Assistance (LHA) property tax relief program in 2022. BACKGROUND: At the May 24, 2022 Business meeting, staff provided the Board with detailed cost estimates for options to change the LHA program design. The Board of County Commissioners reviewed the options, and requested additional information from staff. A summary of information provided at this meeting: • Additional statement for the informational insert: If you received assistance from this program on your 2021 tax bill, you DO NEED TO APPLY again to qualify for assistance on your 2022 tax bill. • An estimated 20,009 owner-occupied residential properties owned for 5 or more years will have an increase in their County tax. • An estimated 9,704 owner-occupied residential properties owned for 10 or more years will have an increase in their County tax. • Staff estimated the following number of households at the Area Median Income levels: Estimated owner- occupied Income level households in OC Over 80%AMI 9,984 61-80%AMI 3,181 31-60%AMI 3,622 30%AMI and under 3,241 TOTAL 80%AMI and below 10,045 2 Community Outreach Please find the community outreach plan for the 2021 Longtime Homeowner Assistance program included as Attachment 1. Staff created the materials enumerated in this plan (flyer, FAQ) and performed extensive outreach in communities and via the local media. In addition to this completing all activities in this communication plan, Housing staff also organized and staffed three in-person events to help people complete LHA applications and distributed information about these events in English and Spanish-language flyers (Attachment 2). The Housing Department also mailed LHA flyers to every resident of Fairview and Piney Grove communities, and printed copies for every resident of Northside to receive LHA flyers along with the monthly neighborhood newsletter. Expanded community outreach is a key issue for the 2022 LHA program. Staff will include a LHA program insert in the Orange County Tax Assistance Application Packet and included in the real property tax bills mailed in July 2022. Staff will continue to work with community organizations and networks to get the information out about the 2022 LHA program. Staff will continue to have materials available in languages other than English, and to have information available via a variety of channels including the media, community partners, and County programs including offices and the Housing Helpline. Staff will work with program participants and the groups that work with them to understand and craft and implement a plan for expanded outreach. Durham County Property Tax Relief Program In 2021, Durham implemented a property tax relief program similar to LHA — there were 340 total number of applicants and 204 approvals. Durham expects the number of applicants will increase 100% for the 2022 year based on lowering the number of years the applicant must have owned and lived in the property from 10 years to 5 years. Durham will be changing its program design to reflect a tiered award amount based on income. This year the award amount will be 50% of the tax amount of the last tax bill available not to exceed: • $1,000 for 61-80% AMI • $1,250 for 31-60% AMI • $1,500 for 30% AMI and below Durham County implemented a communication plan for its program that targeted faith-based organizations, used presentations at local agencies, traditional media and social media, along with a program insert in tax bills. Durham County plans to change the insert this year to inform homeowners that the County can reimburse funds if homeowners have already paid their tax bill when the award is approved. There is not a plan for prioritizing the awards, and it will be provided on a first come first served system. In addition, staff plans to communicate with the Durham County Board of Commissioners if additional funding is needed to cover all applications received. Prioritizing Awards At the May 24' meeting, the Board of Commissioners asked staff to present options for prioritizing LHA applications based on need, should prioritization be needed because application awards exceed available funding. First-come, first-served prioritizations favor people with lower service needs, and therefore are not recommended. Staff recommends using the following factors (in combination or alone) to determine need: • Tax burden — percentage of total tax bill divided by household income; higher percentages to be prioritized over lower percentages o Staff recommend using tax burden as the highest prioritization factor • Age — older homeowners prioritized over younger homeowners o Staff recommend using age as the second highest prioritization factor 3 • Length of time in home — people who have been in homes longer (or in the case or heirs or trust properties, families who have been in homes longer) prioritized over people/families who have been in homes a shorter amount of time o Staff recommend using length of time in home as the third prioritization factor Other prioritization factors could include: • Income — people at lower income levels prioritized over people at higher income levels • Geography — people in certain neighborhoods or areas of Orange County prioritized over people in other neighborhood or areas of Orange County How this can work: staff will process applications as they are submitted to determine eligibility and total potential award amounts. After the application period closes on December 1, 2022, staff will assess the total potential award amount for all eligible applicants — if this is less than the available program funding, all approved applications will be awarded. If awards are projected to exceed available program funding, staff will arrange applications in priority order based on the prioritization factors chosen by the Board. If the Board adopts the staff recommended criteria above, this would mean prioritizing all eligible applications first by tax burden, then age, and then length of time in home. After prioritization, awards can be made either in full (full awards for all prioritized eligible applications up to available program funding, and applications beyond that amount not receiving any award) or on a percentage basis using maximum award amounts for as many applicants as possible, ensuring that all eligible applications receive some award. For example, the top 50% of prioritized eligible applications could receive full awards while those prioritized lower would receive a percentage of their award. Staff could calculate the percentage to use for partial awards based on available funding and award amounts, ensuring that applicants receiving partial awards receive the highest award possible using all available funding. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The program would expend the remaining $233,636 in ARPA funding that has been allocated to assist long-term, low-income households affected by the tax revaluation of property. The funding is limited to the available funds consistent with the NC Statutes pre-audit requirements. SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goals are applicable to this item: • GOAL: FOSTER A COMMUNITY CULTURE THAT REJECTS OPPRESSION AND INEQUITY The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race or color; religious or philosophical beliefs; sex, gender or sexual orientation; national origin or ethnic background; age; military service; disability; and familial, residential or economic status. • GOAL: ENSURE ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY The creation and preservation of infrastructure, policies, programs and funding necessary for residents to provide shelter, food, clothing and medical care for themselves and their dependents. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There are no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal impacts applicable to this item. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board discuss and consider the design change and options detailed above and provide direction to staff. Attachment 1 4 n4aio Longtime Homeowner Assistance Program ORANGE COUNTY HOUSING&COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION PLAN Materials Description Who Start Complete Create program flyer OCHCD, Melissa Blackburn 9/15/21 9/17/21 Translate flyer into Spanish County translators 9/17/21 10/1/21 Program info on OCHCD website OCHCD 9/21/21 9/27/21 Create press release OCHCD,Todd McGee 9/21/21 9/28/21 Create FAQ Whole team 9/15/21 9/28/21 Community Outreach Description Who Start Complete Send flyer and program info by Orange County Partnership 9/15/21 9/17/21 email to End Homelessness email list, ask service providers to distribute widely Program info in Weekly OC email Todd McGee 10/1/21 Program info in News of Orange ad Todd McGee Brief nonprofit partners about OCHCD 8/27/21 program Highlight program info at meetings Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness, Local Reentry Council, OC Changemakers, Orange County Affordable Housing Coalition, Affordable Housing Advisory Board Program info in Health Dept and FSA Kristin Prelipp 10/1/21 newsletters Twitter campaign on OCHCD Twitter OCHCD, OCPEH, Orange 10/1/21 12/15/21 County Program info and updates in Town OCHCD 10/1/21 12/15/21 of Chapel Hill Housing and Community Newsletter&Town- wide newsletters for CH, Carrboro and Hillsborough Mailing Address Main Office Satellite Office P.O.Box 8181 300 W.Tryon Street 2501 Homestead Road Hillsborough,NC 27278 Hillsborough,INC 27278 Chapel Hill,NC 27516 Telephone(919)245-2490• Fax(919)644-3056 •TOL7(919)644-3045 5 Media Description Who Start Complete Send press release Todd McGee 9/28/21 Ask BOCC Chair to include program Renee Price info in weekly Chapelboro spot Respond to media requests as Corey Root, Nancy 8/24/21 12/31/21 needed Freeman 2 �'I(ES P R 1� 0 7 Increase this ear , Orange 1 hosting . . -person 1 1 help folks apply to the LongtimeHomeowner Program for property . bill assistance. 1 would like assistance 1 out an application, please join us at one of these events! DATE IME PINEY GROVE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH Wednesday, December 8 1 pm - 5 pm 1929 Piney Grove Church Rd, Hillsborough, NC27278 ROGERS-EUBANKS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION (RENA) COMMUNITY CENTER Saturday, December 11 11 am - 1 pm 101 Edgar St. Chapel Hill, NC, 27516 TOWN OF HILLSBOROUGH POLICE SUBSTATION Saturday, December 11 11 am - 1 pm 501 RaineyAve, Hillsborough, NC27278 1 1 21 '— For more info: ^%wCHCD ORANGE COUNTY ,I NORTH CAROLINA www,orangecountync.gov/LHAP ORANGE COUNTY HOUSING&COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT iESTE ANO SE AUMENTARON y- R7 Sus impuestos de bienes El 1 1 . 11 1e Orange es0 organizando tres eventospersona "drive- thru para a . la gente de aplicar al Programade Asistencia para • 1 1 1 Largo 1 1 1 1 signos 1 para 1 ' 1 asistencia financiera con sus facturas1 ' impuestos . la 1 11 ' 1 . 1 Si le gustaria asistencia con Ilenar . aplicaci6n iporfavor acompaharnos 1 1 ' lost tres eventos! 1 1IME PINEY GROVE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH miercoles, 1 pm - 5 pm 1929 Piney Grove Church Rd, Hillsborough, NC27278 8 de diciembre de 2021 ROGERS-EUBANKS NEIGHBORHOOD do ASSOCIATION (RENA) COMMUNITY CENTER 11 de dic emb e,de 2021 11 am - 1 pm 101 Edgar St. Chapel Hill, NC, 27516 TOWN OF HILLSBOROUGH POLICE SUBSTATION sabado, 11 am - 1 pm 501 RaineyAve, Hillsborough, NC27278 11 de diciembre de 2021 1 ' 1 ' 1 a1 ' 1 '— Ma's information: ^%wC H C D ORANGE COUNTY ,I NORTH CAROLINA wwworangecountync.gov/LHAP ORANGE COUNTY HOUSING&COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT