DATE: March 22, 2016
TO: City Council and Housing Authority Board
FROM: Director of Library and Community Services
SUBJECT: Review of Affordable Housing Strategies in Hayward Including the Hayward Housing Authority; Housing-Related Strategies to Prevent Homelessness and Assist Homeless Individuals; and Authorization to Implement a First-Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Pilot Program.
RECOMMENDATION
That Council reads and comments on this report; and approves the attached resolution (Attachment I) appropriating $1.5 million in available Hayward Housing Authority funds to implement a First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Pilot Program.
SUMMARY
Housing affordability is a critical issue throughout the Bay Area region, including Hayward. Over the past several decades, the population of the metropolitan Bay Area in particular has continued to increase, while the options and opportunities for developing new housing units to meet this burgeoning demand have become more limited and challenging.
There are many individuals and families in Hayward who want to own a home and who can qualify for a mortgage and afford the monthly payments, but who struggle to buy their first home through traditional channels because they are unable to save enough for a down payment while also paying rent for their current housing. With the current cost of living and rental housing in the Bay Area, even hard-working families with good income and good credit can find it incredibly difficult to amass the savings needed to cover a 20% or even a 10% down payment on a home in a market like Hayward where the median home price can trend as high as $500,000 or more.
There are also many individuals and families in our community who experience housing insecurity: the circumstance in which just one unforeseen event - an illness, a job loss, or an income decrease from a job change - could result in missed payments and eviction. In these circumstances, often difficult economic sacrifices or trade-offs are necessary just to stay housed, such as “doubling up” in crowded or unsafe housing arrangements, or spending too great a portion of total household income on housing. People in these circumstances regularly find themselves faced with near-impossible economic choices: paying rent or buying groceries; paying the water bill or buying gas to get to work; replacing a broken appliance or buying children’s school clothes.
Even more difficult than the above circumstances is when - far too frequently yet impossible to prevent entirely for everyone all the time - people lose their housing and become homeless. As discussed in other recent Council reports, homelessness occurs for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes it is temporary, such as when an individual loses their home and is unable to immediately secure alternative arrangements due to a change in housing cost, income loss, personal or family illness, domestic violence, or other reasons. While these circumstances are often temporary and many who are affected by them often rapidly transition back into housing, not all do. Even a brief episode of homelessness can be extraordinarily traumatic, and can sometimes trigger more long-term or recurring homelessness. Compounding factors such as substance addiction, health or mental illness issues, or post-traumatic disorders can further erode a homeless person’s ability to find, secure, and sustain permanent housing, and in many cases will deepen a homeless person’s spiral into long-term recurring or chronic homelessness.
Addressing the extraordinarily complex and difficult issues of homelessness and housing security is a multilayered and many-faceted endeavor with no simple answers or magic formulas. The issues of affordable housing and homelessness are complicated and intertwined. In addition to emergency shelters and other critically important intervention services to address the immediate crisis of homelessness, it is essential to also develop and implement long term housing-related strategies to preserve housing affordability, prevent homelessness and help homeless individuals move to permanent supportive housing.
Housing is a basic human need. Multiple departments and programs of the City of Hayward are involved with the development and preservation of quality housing opportunities in the City. This report contains brief overviews of the City of Hayward’s affordable housing strategies, their functions, staffing, and budgets. The report begins with a detailed background of a lesser known but critically important component of the City’s affordable housing strategy: the Hayward Housing Authority (HHA). This report also provides an overview of current housing-related strategies to address homelessness and housing insecurity; and it recommends the reactivation of a dormant yet critically important housing program: the First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Pilot Program.
BACKGROUND
What follows are background information and summary updates of affordable housing strategies currently in use by the City.
I. Hayward Housing Authority
History of the Hayward Housing Authority (HHA)
On May 31, 1946, the City Council adopted Resolution 1669 which established the City of Hayward Housing Authority (HHA). The purpose of the HHA, then and now, is to improve, increase, or preserve the supply of affordable housing opportunities in the City of Hayward. HHA accomplishes this through a variety of housing-related programs and mechanisms. Among the current powers of the HHA are the ability to acquire, construct, finance, operate, rehabilitate, refinance, or develop housing that is affordable to very low-, low-, and moderate-income households.
In recent decades prior to early 2011, the HHA was relatively inactive, in part due to overlap with the Housing Authority of the County of Alameda (HACA) which also operates in Hayward. Despite its relatively moribund status, past Councils understood the intrinsic value and utility of the HHA, and reconfirmed and upheld it in two critically important actions decades ago: in 1969, Council declared that Council members would sit as members of the HHA's governing board; and in 1985, Council designated City staff to act on behalf of the HHA.
Even during decades of relative inactivity, the HHA remained in place and occasionally issued bonds for the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing projects, for example the Cypress Gardens project in 1986 and Huntwood Terrace Apartments in 1999; and it occasionally implemented housing programs to assist low- to moderate-income Hayward residents.
In 2010, Council took another critically important action when it directed staff to explore options to expand the role of the HHA in anticipation of the then-imminent dissolution of the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) by the State. On January 10, 2011, Governor Brown proposed the dissolution of Redevelopment Agencies (RDAs) as part of his FY 2011-12 budget proposal.
On January 25, 2011, Council, acting as both the governing board of the HHA and the governing board of the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Hayward (the "Dissolved Agency"), authorized the two agencies to enter into a Cooperation Agreement. Under the Cooperation Agreement, the Dissolved Agency agreed to finance various housing projects and programs located within the City, and the HHA agreed to implement them.
Shortly thereafter, California State Assembly Bill (AB) AB 1481, an amendment to AB 1x 26 (together the "Dissolution Statutes”), invalidated the above-described Cooperation Agreement and required that all assets be transferred to the HHA by the Dissolved Agency.
As authorized under the Dissolution Statues, Council declared that the City would act as successor agency (the "Successor Agency") for the Dissolved Agency effective February 1, 2012. The Successor Agency was later declared to be a separate legal entity effective June 28, 2012.
As allowed under Health and Safety Code Section 34176(b)(3), Council elected for the City not to retain the housing assets and functions previously performed by the Dissolved Agency. Instead, Council selected the HHA to serve as the successor housing agency pursuant to Section 34176(b)(3) effective February 1, 2012 (the "Housing Successor"). In doing so, the HHA accepted all rights, powers, duties, obligations, and housing assets, with specified exceptions, of the Dissolved Agency, as was contemplated in the Cooperation Agreement.
The moribund existence and subsequent “reactivation” of the HHA was, therefore, a fortunate happening as it permitted the City to retain its former RDA housing assets upon the designation of the HHA as “Hayward’s Housing Successor Agency” to the Dissolved Agency.
On August 1, 2012, the HHA submitted the Housing Asset Transfer List (the "Draft Housing Asset List") to the California Department of Finance (DOF) which identified the "housing assets" of the Dissolved Agency, as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 34176(e), that were transferred to the HHA as Housing Successor. The list of housing assets was published by DOF on the internet and made available for inspection by any member of the public and included the following assets:
• Real and personal property interests acquired for low- and moderate-income housing purposes;
• Encumbered funds;
• Loan and grant receivables for assistance provided by the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund ("Low Mod Fund");
• Rents and payments from housing operations; and
• Amounts owed to the Low-Mod Fund as a result of previously deferred or borrowed Low-Mod Fund deposits.
A copy of the full Housing Asset Transfer list is available online at this link (PDF download): <http://bit.ly/housing-asset-list>
HHA - Current Activities, Staff, and Budget
As mentioned above, among the powers, duties, and functions of the HHA are to acquire, construct, finance, operate, rehabilitate, refinance, or develop housing affordable to very low-, low-, and moderate-income households. The current affordability crisis and the disappearance or reduction of funding for affordable housing, including the dissolution of Redevelopment and the substantial cuts of federal CDBG and HOME funding, highlight the importance of the HHA as the local agency responsible for administering funding, projects, and programs aimed at promoting affordable housing opportunities for Hayward residents.
Prior to the enactment of the Dissolution Statutes, the Dissolved Agency (i.e., the City’s former RDA) had a staff of seven to eight employees dedicated to conducting redevelopment activities in the City. This included two to three staff members whose primary focus was to coordinate or manage affordable housing projects and programs implemented by the Dissolved Agency with its Low-Mod Fund and federal HOME funding. Currently, the City/HHA has one employee, the Housing Development Specialist, dedicated to carrying out the Housing Successor's continued obligations.
The position focuses on the development (including acquisition, preservation, rehabilitation, and new construction), retention and operation of housing affordable to very low-, low-, and moderate-income households. As such, the Housing Development Specialist is the liaison between the City and the developers and/or providers of affordable housing, and the tenants of the City's affordable housing developments. Other duties of this position include:
• Monitoring the City-wide portfolio of City/HHA-restricted affordable housing units
• Managing and enforcing the former RDA housing assets (loans and affordability covenants)
• Administering the City’s Affordable Housing Ordinance
• Serving as the City representative in the Alameda County HOME Consortium and administering the HOME Program funding and activities
• Identifying and pursuing (often in partnership with housing developers) new sources of funding for affordable housing
• Assisting in the formulation and implementation of affordable housing policies
• Responding to audits and preparation of ongoing compliance and performance reports required by the different funding agencies/entities and annual reports required under the Dissolution Statutes.
The Housing Development Specialist position is partially funded by the HHA. The balance of the funding for the position is generated from other special administrative housing-related funding allowances - including for example, the HOME program that allows a minimal percentage set-aside to pay for administrative costs.
The HHA is organizationally housed in the Library and Community Services Department. In addition to administering affordable housing programs and the HHA, the Library and Community Services Department implements and manages social and housing-related services, including services to homeless families and individuals, housing rehabilitation programs for seniors and people with disabilities, and related programs.
As mentioned earlier in this report, multiple City departments conduct activities to promote housing opportunities among Hayward residents. For example, the Development Services Department, through its Building and Planning Divisions, oversees new housing development and ensures the habitability of the local residential housing stock. The Rental Inspection Program focuses on the livability of the rental housing stock. The City Attorney’s Office administers the Rent Stabilization Ordinance. The City Manager’s Office plays a strong oversight role and contributes to the continued health and preservation of Hayward’s housing affordability.
Hayward’s HHA is Not a Public Housing Authority (“Section 8”)
Because it is not a Public Housing Authority (PHA), the Hayward Housing Authority is ineligible to receive funding for “Section 8” public housing programs such as the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher and the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher.
Section 8 programs are funded nationally by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and are only made available to public housing authorities (PHAs). Locally and specifically within Hayward, the Housing Authority of the County of Alameda (HACA) administers Section 8 and related programs. With Section 8 vouchers, the participant has two months to find housing. The voucher will cover a portion of the participant’s rent, and is based on the participant’s income.
According to the 2014 Alameda County Home Consortium’s Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice <http://bitly.com/impediments-to-fair-housing-choice-2014>, Hayward has 2,347 tenant-based PHA Section 8 vouchers, plus 53 project-based, for a total of 2,400. Per the 2014 analysis, Hayward has 36 properties that provide subsidized units, including 689 units for seniors, 72 units for disabled, and 1,404 units for other. This comprises 9.7% of the 22,373 total rental housing units.
Hayward’s HHA does not meet the definition of a Public Housing Authority (PHA) for purposes of administering those Section 8 HUD programs. Hayward’s HHA does not receive any federal funding to build or maintain traditional public housing units. There are no public housing units in Hayward.
HHA - Funding Mechanisms
While the Dissolution Statutes does not provide a stream of income to sustain the activities of the Housing Successor, they allow the HHA to receive all repayments on loans made by the Dissolved Agency to affordable housing projects throughout the City. The Dissolution Statues also allow the HHA to receive repayments of amounts borrowed from the Dissolved Agency's Low-Mod Fund, including the Supplemental Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (SERAF) payments made by RDA to the State during the two fiscal years preceding the Agency’s dissolution.
In the years preceding the dissolution of RDA, the City’s former RDA borrowed approximately $3.9 million from the Low-Mod funding balances to make SERAF payments to the State in order to comply with AB 26 x4. That bill mandated a statewide contribution from RDAs to fund school districts. Payments equaled an aggregate of $1.7 billion statewide during FY 2010 and an additional $350 million in FY 2011. These funds were to be repaid to the former RDA according to a schedule. Upon receipt, the RDA would deposit those funds back into the Low-Mod fund. The State has repaid these funds but, in absence of the RDA, they were remitted directly to the HHA.
Because the Dissolution Statutes required local housing authorities to assume the responsibility of performing the housing functions of dissolved RDAs under 34176(b)(2) and (b)(3), but did not provide any funding for local housing authorities to conduct such activities; on February 18, 2014 the legislature enacted urgency legislation authorizing that “funds be allocated to cover the housing entity administrative cost allowance of a local housing authority that has assumed the housing duties of the former redevelopment agency.”
Specifically, Section 34171(p) defines “housing entity administrative cost allowance” as an amount of up to 1.0% of the property tax allocated to the Redevelopment Obligation Retirement Fund on behalf of the successor agency for each applicable fiscal year, but not less than $150,000 per fiscal year and makes those funds available from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2018.
Subsection 34171(p)(1) states that if a local housing authority assumed the housing functions of the former redevelopment agency pursuant to 34176(b)(2) or (3), then the housing entity administrative cost allowance shall be listed by the successor agency on the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule and paid to the local housing authority on each January 2 and July 1. The Successor Agency has been placing the request for the Housing Entity administrative cost allowance on several previous Redevelopment Obligation Payment Schedules (ROPS), but all of these requests to date have been denied by the Department of Finance. The Successor Agency will continue in its efforts to have those funds made available to the Housing Successor.
Payments of outstanding loans from affordable housing projects and from participants of the original First-Time Homebuyers’ Down Payment Assistance Program (FTHB) are also being repaid to the HHA. Retention of the housing assets allowed Council, in its capacity as the governing board of the HHA, to retain control over covenants recorded or to be recorded on several affordable housing developments, thereby ensuring the enforcement of affordability, maintenance, and management responsibilities of developers imposed under provisions in those covenants.
As of the date of this report, the HHA has an uncommitted project-related fund balance of approximately $4.37 million mostly, as mentioned earlier, from recent loan repayments, including FTHB DAP and the SERAF loans. Consistent with former laws governing the use of Low-Mod funding, a 10% allowance has been set aside to pay for the operations of the HHA.
The administrative costs of the HHA (i.e. staff costs) are paid partially with HHA funds, special administrative housing-related funding allowances, and the Affordable Housing Fund. The latter is made up almost entirely of issuance and monitoring fees paid by City bond-assisted affordable housing properties. This relatively steady stream of revenue is set aside to primarily to pay for the monitoring of bond-funded and City- and HHA-restricted properties.
Another source of funding to pay for the operation of the HHA may be the future payment of fees generated under the Affordable Housing Ordinance (AHO), recently approved by Council. These AHO set-aside fees (not to exceed 10%) are to pay for the costs of administering the AHO which is one of the duties of the Housing Development Specialist.
As of the date of this report, the balance of the AHO Trust Fund is approximately $2.5 million. This funding balance, the HHA moneys of approximately $4.37 million, and a relatively minor uncommitted HOME funding balance ($255,000) for the current federal fiscal year, are the only sources of funding available to promote or carry out the City and the HHA-project and program related activities at this time. These funds are one-time in nature and there is no source available to replenish these funds. The AHO Trust Fund will receive some future unknown revenues as future residential development occurs and pays in lieu fees into this fund.
With respect to the above-mentioned sources of project funding, it is important to note that: a) the HHA funding balance is not a permanent source; the moneys available are mostly from one-time repayments of loans to the former RDA; b) the AHO Trust Fund’s growth is contingent upon residential construction activity and the current City’s AHO fees are lower than those of all cities in the area that have an affordable housing ordinance; and c) currently, there is no indication that the federal government will increase the appropriation of funding for the HOME program; in fact, according to budget analysts, the federal government intends to eliminate the program.
The Successor Agency continues to advocate for the HHA to receive a $150,000 from the Successor Agency to account for the “housing entity administrative cost allowance” that was authorized by law and recently affirmed by the Superior Court but is pending appeal. This fee, which would be lost if the HHA was dismantled, would allow the City to fund another position to assist with the implementation of the current housing projects and programs.
If Council were to elect to dissolve or deactivate the HHA, the housing assets and all future streams of income related to loans made by the City would need to be transferred to an entity that would be willing to take on the additional burden. The Dissolution Statutes do not expressly address to which entity the duties of the Housing Successor could be transferred, but presumably, the most likely candidate to take over these duties would be the Housing Authority of the County of Alameda (“HACA”).
HACA would be under no obligation to accept those obligations without payment or remuneration. In addition to the loss of program income, the City and the HHA would relinquish control of the enforcement rights on all of the various affordability covenants that the Dissolved Agency was a party to.
Later in this report, staff recommends the implementation of a pilot First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance loan program for moderate-income households using available HHA fund balance. Staff anticipates bringing to Council additional proposals for HHA-funded affordable housing programs and projects in July 2016.
II. City of Hayward Affordable Housing Ordinance
To help mitigate the effects of the housing affordability crisis that had worsened during the preceding decades, in June 2003, the City adopted an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (IHO). Due primarily to the downturn in the residential construction market, at the end of 2010, Council amended the IHO to provide interim relief to market-rate developers from certain IHO provisions.
Four years later, in a work session held on November 4, 2014, staff presented to Council a series of recommendations for permanent changes to the IHO based on the findings of two studies that evaluated the impact of new market-rate housing construction on the need for affordable housing in the City and provided the basis for establishing future affordable housing impact fees. Staff’s recommendations were also informed by the analysis of then current residential construction market conditions, recent court cases affecting inclusionary ordinances, and comments from residential developers at stakeholders’ meetings sponsored by the City.
As a result of this process, on January 27, 2015, Council approved an Affordable Housing Ordinance (AHO) which, like the former IHO, applies to both ownership and rental developments consisting of twenty or more units.
Pursuant to the AHO, developers of ownership residential developments may comply with the AHO requirements in various ways, including: paying an affordable housing impact fee based on the total square footage of the proposed project’s livable spaces, including on-site for-sale affordable units equal to a minimum of 7.5% of the attached dwelling units and 10% of the detached dwelling units; or proposing other alternatives that would mitigate the affordable housing impact of the proposed residential development project.
All new rental projects with twenty or more units are required to pay an affordable housing impact fee, calculated in the same manner as the fees for ownership developments. No affordable units are required to be included in rental residential project that does not receive City assistance as described in S. 10-17.310 of the AHO. However, as an alternative to paying affordable housing impact fees for rental residential projects or providing for-sale units for ownership residential projects, an applicant may propose to provide 7.5% of attached dwelling units and 10% of detached dwelling units as affordable rental units, in which case 50% of those units must be made available at affordable rents to low-income households and 50% at affordable rents to very low-income households for a minimum of 55 years.
The fees are listed in the Master Fee Schedule and adopted by Council each year. Staff annually conducts analyses of the fees and recommends adjustments if needed. As Council is aware, new affordable housing fees are calculated based on a three-year trailing average increase in median home prices in Hayward. Based on early initial analysis indicating an upward trend in median home prices over the past three years, staff anticipates recommending increases to the fees during Council’s upcoming FY 2017 Master Fee Schedule deliberations.
A copy of the Affordable Housing Ordinance is available online at: <http://www.hayward-ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CH10A17_eff033115.pdf>
III. City of Hayward Housing Element
California State law requires each governing body (City Council or Board of Supervisors) of a local government in California to adopt a comprehensive, long-term General Plan for the physical development of the city, city and county, or county. The Housing Element is one of the seven mandated elements of the local general plan. Housing Element law, enacted in 1969, mandates that local governments adequately plan to meet the existing and projected housing needs of all economic segments of the community. Thus, Housing Element law is designed to ensure that low-income families are not excluded from opportunities in all communities and to promote economic and environmental sustainability throughout the region.
To make adequate provision for the housing needs of all economic segments of the community, the City’s Housing Element establishes goals, policies, and programs to:
• Conserve and improve the condition of the existing affordable housing stock;
• Assist in the development of housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households;
• Identify adequate sites to encourage the development of a variety of types of housing for all income levels;
• Address, and where appropriate and legally possible, remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing;
• Promote equal housing opportunities for all persons; and
• Provide for the special needs of seniors, persons with disabilities, large families, with children, single female-headed households; and the homeless.
The Policy Document, Part 3 of the City’s Housing Element, contains a list of housing and homeless-prevention projects and programs the City identified as the Implementations projects and programs to further the above goals. In addition, when projects or programs are proposed, staff evaluates them to ensure that they promote Council priorities and other local policy priorities.
The City Council adopted the current Housing Element on December 2, 2014. The State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) certified it as fully compliant with Housing Element law on March 25, 2015. Its planning period goes from 2015 to 2023.
The City’s Housing Element identifies policies toward affordable housing and progress toward Regional Housing Need Allocations (RHNA) goals. Under the current RHNA allocation, the City is required to create a total of 3,920 housing units by 2023, including 851 very-low income, 480 low-income, 608 moderate-income units, and 1,981 above-moderate-income units.
A copy of the Hayward Housing Element is available online at: <http://www.hayward-ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/HayHE_FINAL_Adopted.pdf>
IV. Housing-Related Strategies to Prevent Homelessness and Assist Homeless Individuals
Homelessness is an extraordinarily complex and challenging problem that affects cities across America. Cities have struggled for many decades with limited success to productively address this issue and the adverse impacts it has had on those enduring homelessness as well as their associated communities.
Addressing the extraordinarily complex and difficult issues of homelessness and housing security over the long term is a multilayered and many-faceted endeavor. In addition to emergency shelters and the other critically important intervention services provided by the City and the County, it is essential to also develop and implement housing-related strategies to prevent homelessness and assist homeless individuals to secure and sustain permanent housing.
This section provides a brief overview of current strategies to prevent homelessness and assist homeless individuals to move to permanent housing. Some of the information in this section was previously presented to Council on September 22, 2015 <http://bitly.com/homeless-report>, and December 15, 2015 <http://bitly.com/homeless-strategies>.
Permanent Supportive Housing
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) has proven particularly effective to assist chronically homeless individuals who suffer from mental illness, drug addiction, and/or similar high risk vulnerabilities to find and stay in permanent housing.
For the last several years, cities and counties nationwide have focused their energy and resources on “Housing First” strategies to reduce homelessness in their communities. Previously, homeless services used a “housing readiness” approach and required individuals to address those issues that had led them to experience homelessness before finding them housing. In contrast, the Housing First model is based on the premise that the first step to reducing homelessness is to provide stable, secure, and affordable housing for those in need.
The second step is to provide wrap-around support services to help ensure that formerly homeless individuals and families remain housed for the long term. Such services can and often do include case management, financial assistance, healthcare, job placement, and training and education. Once housed and granted a sense of security and safety, people are more apt to take advantage of the support services they need to remain in housing for the long-term. In many cases, the supportive services and subsidies offered through Housing First programs are short-term.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs are major promoters of Housing First programs and have funded and shaped such programs nationwide. The federal government’s goal is to reach functional zero levels of veteran homelessness by 2015 <https://www.usich.gov/goals/veterans> and chronic homelessness by 2017 <https://www.usich.gov/goals/chronic>. Thus, the majority of federal funding is currently focused on these two populations.
Housing First programs have generated impressive results nationwide. One year housing retention rates for formerly chronically homeless people range nationally from 85% to 93%, according to a study conducted by Community Solutions (the highly regarded and influential nonprofit behind the 100,000 Homes campaign). Moreover, local governments all over the country have found that Housing First programs have generated significant public cost savings.
EveryOne Home
To better coordinate efforts across jurisdictions, in 2006, local governments within Alameda County formed the EveryOne Home coalition of agencies <http://www.everyonehome.org> with the stated goal of ending homelessness in Alameda County by 2020. Local government jurisdictions throughout Alameda County including the City of Hayward and the County of Alameda have formally adopted the EveryOne Home plan. In so doing, each jurisdiction has agreed to employ the key strategies of EveryOne Home in their own jurisdiction and in collaboration with others to proactively address homelessness.
Even when working in coordination with other local jurisdictions, community-based organizations, and other partners in the region as the City has done for many years, it is unrealistic to think that we can eliminate homelessness entirely. These issues have been an intractable part of human society in varying degrees since ancient times. However, we can and do continue to strive toward the goal of minimizing these uniquely human issues and as many of the negative impacts as possible at any given point in time; including having any one person or family homeless for as short a period as possible
The magnitude of the regional homelessness issue is such that no comprehensive plan to resolve it, not even a highly coordinated regional strategy like EveryOne Home, can hope to be effective without significant financial resources on a scale only available through the state and especially federal government.
Alameda County Continuum of Care
In Alameda County, the CoC is led by the organization EveryOne Home. EveryOne Home and other lead CoC agencies nationwide also conduct point-in-time counts on an annual or biannual basis to register how many people in their communities are experiencing homelessness and outline their demographic characteristics. These point-in-time counts allow CoCs to: 1) identify the most vulnerable and/or those at risk of dying due to homelessness and immediately place them in permanent supportive housing; and, 2) coordinate services to align with the specific needs of the homeless population in that specific region.
Regardless of any plan or specific strategy that may be implemented locally, federal funding is critically important to making a significant impact on the homelessness issue. For this reason, the City of Hayward and its local partners in the EveryOne Home coalition must remain in alignment with the federal strategy in order to access the resources necessary to help homeless Hayward residents find and sustain stable, permanent housing in a substantial and sustainable way.
In addition to collaborative efforts focused at the consumer or provider level, the EveryOne Home Plan also looks at coordination at the systems level. The creation of an integrated, regional response offers a number of measureable, outcome-oriented alternatives, including:
1. Increased efficiency and effectiveness of local and regional housing and supportive service programs through sharing of information, planning, clients, resources, and responsibility across the multiple systems that must work together to address common issues.
2. More coordination of government and philanthropic funding. National research has demonstrated that an integrated approach to long-term homelessness can significantly reduce overall expenditures. An example of the collaborative efforts undergone in Alameda County was the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) county-wide collaborative, funded by the federal government through the economic stimulus.
3. Increased local capacity to attract competitive grants from federal, state and philanthropic sources that can augment existing housing and service systems and support the replication of emerging promising practice models.
4. Increased public interest and support for creative solutions to homelessness, excitement about and involvement in regional efforts, and willingness to support the creation of a new local or regional revenue stream.
Per the direction set forth by HUD and codified in the HEARTH Act, the City of Hayward works in coordination with its jurisdictional and agency partners in the Continuum of Care (CoC) to address the needs of homeless persons and persons at risk of homelessness throughout the Alameda County region and specifically in Hayward.
Shelter Plus Care
Shelter Plus Care is a permanent supportive housing program of Alameda County funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Rental assistance and support services are provided for homeless individuals who meet the following federal eligibility criteria:
• Resident of Hayward / Alameda County
• Are living on the street or other places unfit for human habitation, in emergency shelter, or in eligible transitional housing with verification that the applicant was living on the street or in shelter prior to entering transitional housing
• Homeless for at least six months out of the last two years
• Are disabled by chronic substance abuse, serious mental illness, and/or HIV/AIDS
• Have a household income at or below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI)
• Willing to participate in supportive services.
The Shelter Plus Care program is part of a growing national trend that emphasizes permanent supportive housing as the best practice model to end chronic homelessness. The program is funded by HUD and operated locally by the Alameda County Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The City of Hayward has partnered with HCD for many years on a wide range of housing and human services needs in Hayward, including the current Interdisciplinary Working Group on Homelessness convened by the City of Hayward.
Supportive Housing Program Projects (SHP) Permanent Housing Program
The County of Alameda operates the SHP programs to provide affordable housing operating subsidies and support services for homeless individuals and families.
• Lorenzo Creek, located in Castro Valley, provides nine units of permanent supportive housing for homeless people disabled by serious mental illness, chronic alcohol and drug problems, or AIDS and Related Disorders, and their families. The setting is an accessible multifamily housing complex constructed using principles of universal design. Lorenzo Creek residents receive rental subsidies through S+C and supportive services both on and off site through SHP.
• Spirit of Hope is located at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, and provides permanent housing for homeless families with disabilities. Specifically, the project serves large families who were formerly living on the streets or in shelter. This 45 unit project is a component of an agreement between the Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Authority and the Alameda Point Collaborative that provides transitional and permanent housing units for formerly homeless families.
• Alameda Point Permanent Housing, also located in Alameda, provides 23 units of permanent housing for homeless families at Alameda Point.
AC Impact / Home Stretch
Stable, permanent housing is a critical cornerstone to the health and well-being of homeless and at-risk people, as it is to the health and well-being of the community overall.
To this end, in FY 2012-13, HUD initiated funding support to EveryOne Home partner Abode Services to lead the implementation of a multi-jurisdictional “housing first” pilot program in Alameda County. After the initial planning phase was completed, the “AC Impact” pilot program was implemented in FY 2013-14 to provide stable, permanent housing and coordination of supportive services for fifty high-need, chronically homeless individuals countywide, including eight individuals in Hayward.
The goal of Alameda County (AC) Impact is to permanently and supportively house chronically homeless individuals throughout Alameda County, thus ending their homeless condition. A key feature of the program is the collaboration between local police and fire departments, community services city staff, and outreach workers to identify program participants and quantify the cost savings that result from the reduction in frequency and intensity of public safety interventions over time.
Efforts are targeted to chronically homeless individuals in highly visible parts of downtown areas in Hayward, Oakland, Fremont, and Livermore who are the source of numerous public safety and emergency medical contacts, and who therefore generate significant response-related costs to the community. These individuals are placed in stable, permanent housing (typically a leased apartment) and then are provided critical in-depth supportive services to address underlying issues including substance addiction, mental illness, and trauma.
By placing these high-contact individuals in stable housing first and providing supportive services after they are safely housed, the problematic street behavior, emergency calls, and frequency of arrests are dramatically reduced, resulting in a significant cost savings to the community. Additionally, those provided with supportive services have significantly higher rates of retention and success, resulting in an increased quality of life for the individual and a reduced likelihood of return to homelessness.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides major funding for the project, with additional matching support provided by the participating jurisdictions. Each EveryOne Home partner jurisdiction contributes match funding needed for local coordination and street outreach - including $30,000 of CDBG funding from the City of Hayward - to support the AC Impact program. HUD provides a permanent housing subsidy for each formerly homeless individual. Abode Services leverages funds to support the delivery of housing placements, building upon established relationships with housing providers.
As of February 2016, the county-wide program had successfully placed fifty chronically homeless residents into permanent supportive housing, including eight in Hayward.
The City contracted with experienced service provider Abode Services to provide case management and housing placement associated with the Hayward’s portion of the AC Impact program. The City of Hayward contributes $39,000 annually to support eight permanent housing placements specifically for Hayward homeless residents within this program. The City of Hayward support is augmented with grant funds received by Abode Services.
While the AC Impact program has been remarkably successful in housing fifty chronically homeless individuals and keeping them housed, the program will need to expand dramatically if it is to achieve the goal of housing every chronically homeless individual in the County. To ensure the program’s long-term sustainability, the Alameda County Continuum of Care (CoC) organization is partnering with the US Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Health and Human Services (HHS), to develop the next generation program called Home Stretch. Each of the individuals currently listed in the AC Impact Program and on the program’s waiting list will be included in Home Stretch.
Home Stretch is intended to continue the successful permanent supportive housing placements and wraparound support services of the AC Impact program, while expanding access to Alameda County’s permanent supportive housing opportunities for more individuals. Furthermore, Home Stretch will develop a registry of all homeless, disabled homeless individuals and families in the County. This will streamline the placement process so that those in greatest need of permanent supportive housing move to the top of the list, and can be more efficiently and effectively matched to the program that’s right for them with funding to assist. The registry will also be used to match participants with “housing navigators” who will help participants access benefits and healthcare from day one, while also helping them find and secure permanent housing.
City of Hayward Housing Rehabilitation Program
The City of Hayward since 1986 has operated a Housing Rehabilitation Loan and Grant Program with funds from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The goal of the program is to enable seniors and people with disabilities to continue to live in their homes independently.
The program provides loans and grant to rehabilitate owner-occupied homes by repairing and replacing major systems, implementing accessibility solutions to improve mobility and independence, and correcting health and safety related code violations. Applicants must meet HUD income eligibility guidelines. All repair and renovation work is done by qualified contractors directly overseen by City of Hayward staff.
In 2015, the Council authorized an expansion of the Housing Rehabilitation Program through leveraging new partnerships with experienced service providers. Rebuilding Together provides volunteers to assist in making minor home repairs such as paint, trim, minor electrical and plumbing; and Habitat for Humanity makes loans to mobile home owners to help them with repair costs in this specialized category of homes.
City of Hayward Bolt and Brace Program
The City of Hayward recently implemented a new Bolt and Brace program. The goal of the Bolt and Brace program is to facilitate seismic retrofitting of older housing stock in Hayward to improve durability of at-risk housing and reduce the potential for large-scale housing displacements in the wake of a major seismic event.
The program provides permit fee waivers and grants to eligible Hayward residents who reside in older housing stock that needs seismic retrofits to meet current seismic safety standards. The Bolt and Brace program was initiated through a FEMA grant opportunity. Contractors who conduct the retrofitting work are required to be FEMA certified. The Bolt and Brace program is led by the City Manager’s Office, and supported by the Development Services and Library and Community Services Departments.
Resources for Veterans
One of the key pieces to available housing is the funding. The HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program combines Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) rental assistance for homeless Veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA provides these services for participating Veterans at VA medical centers (VAMCs) and community-based outreach clinics.
Because of this, housing is available through Abode Services for veterans, non-VASH eligible veterans with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI), AB-109 clients, and others who meet the CoC Prioritization Criteria and have SPMI. Not all veterans qualify for these programs and it requires that the veteran was honorably discharged.
All-In Affordable Housing
Service providers in many of the above mentioned programs often observe that one of the most difficult tasks for housing navigators is to actually find available housing at a price point that is affordable. Even when there is funding available for housing-related homelessness, it can be extraordinarily difficult to find a suitable housing unit within a reasonable price range and which falls within the criteria.
In an effort to access existing housing, the All In Affordable Housing initiative spearheaded by Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, through her All-In steering committee and community focus groups has worked toward identifying incentives to current landlords to provide below market value units and to rent to people using supportive vouchers. The work group is currently attempting to identify supportive legislation for increasing housing stock, determining what education for renters and landlords might be needed to dispel myths about low income renters, and working toward any and all solutions that will create or maintain housing at an affordable level.
V. HOME Investment Partnerships
Since 1991, the City of Hayward has been part of the Alameda County HOME Consortium (Consortium), which includes unincorporated Alameda County and the cities of Alameda, Fremont, Livermore, Pleasanton, San Leandro, and Union City. Hayward’s participation in the Consortium has assured the City an allocation of federal HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) funds since FY 1992.
The City’s participation in the Consortium not only ensures an annual allocation of HOME funds but also alleviates the administrative burden of the funds. As the representative of the Consortium, the County of Alameda acts as the lead member for administrative and federal reporting purposes and coordinates the production of the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) required by HUD. Several other reporting activities are also carried out in a joint effort by the participating jurisdictions.
HOME funds must be used for HOME-eligible housing-assistance activities, including acquiring, rehabilitating, and constructing housing affordable to low-income households, as well as providing homebuyer and tenant-based rental assistance. HOME program regulations require that 100% of HOME funds be used to assist households with low incomes, which are defined as incomes at or below 80% of the area median income (AMI) adjusted for household size. As of the date of this report, the 80% figure in Alameda County for a family of four is $71,600.
The overall objective of the HOME program is to provide high-quality, sustainable affordable housing. In previous years, HOME funds were used to help finance the construction of the Glenn Berry and Sara Conner Court Apartments, the rehabilitation of Huntwood Commons and Tennyson Gardens Apartments, the acquisition and rehabilitation of Leidig Court Apartments, and the acquisition of Cypress Glen Apartments.
Since 2009, funds have also been set aside to pay for rental subsidies for participants of Project Independence, a program that provides services and rental subsidies to emancipated youth (youth from 18 to 24 who have aged out of the foster care system). Most recent HOME funded-projects include the Hayward Senior Housing II affordable senior complex and the South Hayward BART affordable housing project, presently under construction.
Despite its significant reduction by the federal government, HOME funding continues to be critical to further the City’s goal to providing quality affordable housing and preventing homelessness to the extent that it must be used to acquire, rehabilitate, and construct affordable housing. This is especially important given the reduction or elimination of other sources of funding for affordable housing such as Redevelopment.
Hayward’s projected federal FY 16/17 (October 1st, 2016 to September 30, 2017) HOME allocation is approximately $270,784. Ten percent (10%) of these funds may be used to pay for the administrative costs associated with the HOME program. However, half of the administrative funds are retained by the County as payment for the costs associated with its administrative and reporting lead role in the Consortium.
DISCUSSION
“Affordable housing” is colloquially defined by the East Bay Housing Organization as “when people don’t have to choose between paying rent and buying groceries, when they don’t have to live in crowded or unhealthy conditions, and when they can afford a home that provides a sense of security and community.” More specifically, housing policy makers and agencies define affordable housing as a situation in which a household pays 30% or less of its total income for housing costs.
According to the 2014 Analysis of Fair Housing Choice, 26% of Hayward renters and 16% of Hayward homeowners pay more than 50% of their income to housing. Some of this is due to low income levels, but it also indicates a market in which housing costs are disproportionally high. The high cost of rentals in particular can adversely impact the capability of households, even moderate-income ones, to amass enough savings to buy a home.
In 2015, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) produced a major report, People, Places and Prosperity <http://reports.abag.ca.gov/ppp/2015/section-2.php>. The report found that “the Bay Area is facing a chronic and acute housing affordability problem that puts stress on households, threatens economic competitiveness, contributes to traffic congestion, and encourages conversion of open space and agricultural land to housing. To address this challenge, the region needs tools and funding to produce more affordable homes and preserve the ones that already exist, while also protecting people from being displaced from their current homes.”
The ABAG report indicates that due to increasing housing prices, people will continue moving out of the metro Bay Area to seek more affordable housing, but will continue to commute back into the area for work. While jobs have increased in the area, the number of housing units has not kept up - “This unmet demand pushes rents and prices upward, and makes it nearly impossible for low- and moderate-income households to find affordable homes, unless the homes have been built with public subsidy and are cost-controlled, or they are willing and able to commute by car over long distances.”
The report further calls for a holistic and multilayered approach to improving housing affordability in the Bay Area by preserving existing housing, increasing housing supply, diversifying types of housing, repurposing publicly owned sites near transportation hubs, and increasing funding for housing programs, including homebuyer assistance programs.
Although the range of Hayward’s affordable housing activities is relatively extensive, there are two notable opportunity areas to close gaps. The first is the need to continue fulfilling the RHNA requirements for affordable housing units as set forth in the Housing Element. While good progress continues to be made toward these goals, they are substantial and will require focused and sustained effort over a period of several years. Council has on multiple occasions discussed the RHNA requirements and the City’s strategies to meet the goals, most notably during the Council meetings of May 6, 2014 <http://citydocuments.hayward-ca.gov/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=178450&dbid=0> and December 2, 2014 <http://citydocuments.hayward-ca.gov/WebLink8/0/doc/184141/Page1.aspx>.
In order to fulfill the City’s RHNA requirements over the long term, it is critically important for the City to develop new strategies to construct quality affordable housing. An in-depth discussion of the available and emerging strategies and their implications to financing, planning and zoning, and legal considerations, is beyond the scope of this report. Staff plans to bring a discussion of affordable housing construction strategies to Council for direction in July 2016.
The second opportunity is simpler to achieve in the near term: a reactivation of the First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Program. This program previously existed utilizing Redevelopment funds, but was suspended upon the dissolution of the RDA.
The recommendation in this report focuses on the proposed reactivation of the First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Program, and seeks Council authorization to utilize $1.5 million in available HHA funds to provide a funding pool for down payment assistance loans to Hayward residents.
Proposed First-Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Program
Staff is asking Council for authorization to reinstate the First-Time Homebuyer Program Down Payment Assistance Pilot Program (“FTHB”, “the Program”) and to authorize the appropriation of $1.5 million for a provisional two-year pilot program period.
The last time Council discussed the FTHB program was during an early 2009 work session regarding a set of affordable housing initiatives and strategies to prevent foreclosures. One of the goals of a reinstatement and restructuring of the Program at that time was to help credit-worthy households obtain home mortgage financing as home buying financing had become stricter in response to the failure of past lending practices. The other goal of revamping the program was to help homebuyers purchase foreclosed or abandoned properties and help stabilize the local residential real estate market.
The following were the major program changes that Council directed staff to implement early in 2009:
• Setting a fixed 3.5% interest rate as opposed to a variable Cost of Funds Index (COFI) rate which could sometimes be close to the market rate and needed to be updated weekly.
• An increase in the loan amount from up to $20,000 to all homebuyers to up to $30,000 and $40,000 to moderate- and low-income homebuyers respectively, in order to expand the affordability and purchase options for households of those income levels.
• A five-year loan-payment deferral period to eliminate the need of buyers to obtain Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). PMI is required when the homebuyers’ down payment is less than 20% of the home purchase price. This requirement is waived if borrowers obtain deferred subordinate financing, freeing up more of the homeowners income which may then be spent on the first mortgage loan, therefore allowing them to accrue equity on the home faster.
The above-described programmatic changes were the result of recommendations from an analysis performed by the Bay Area Homebuyer Agency (BAHBA), the consulting firm that helps the City administers its homeownership programs through a professional services contract approved by Council. BAHBA’s analysis took into account the then current market conditions, including local housing market data such as home sales during a twelve-month period and the for-sale housing inventory. With this data, BAHBA evaluated different funding scenarios vis-à-vis different household sizes and levels of income as wells as a range of possible subsidy amounts and other features.
As redesigned, the FTHB program was very successful. Over the almost four years the Program was active (until Redevelopment was eliminated), the City provided forty-four loans. Some of the loan recipients were low-income households and some were Caltrans tenants that used their stipend to purchase their 238-corridor rental homes. A high percentage of loan recipients (almost 35% or a total of fifteen) have repaid their loans mostly through proceeds of refinances due in part to the relatively fast equity buildup allowed by the five-year deferral period of the FTHB program loan. The loan deferral period has ended for most homeowners and the majority are making monthly loan payments on time. Additionally, although most of the loans were provided during the downturn of the economy, with one exception (in which the City recovered 99% of its investment), no other recipient of a “deferred” loan defaulted on his or her loan or lost his or her home to a foreclosure or short sale.
BAHBA has updated the above-described analysis. Under current market conditions, the Program may be implemented with basically the same program guidelines and requirements. The major programmatic change recommended by the consultant this time around is the increase of the loan amount to moderate-income homebuyers from $30,000 to $35,000 and to provide low-income homeowners loans of the same amount only to the extent that other subsidies such as the Workforce Initiative Subsidy for Homeownership (WISH) Program funding are layered. The WISH program, which is offered by the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco through participating bank members, provides up to $15,000 down payment assistance loans to low-income first-time homebuyers. The loans are forgiven after five years if the households keep their homes as their primary residence during that period. Thus, if the potential low-income homebuyer receives a City FTHB loan and BAHBA is also able to secure a WISH loan on his behalf, the assistance for that homebuyer may amount to up to $50,000.
Another source of funding local homebuyers may benefit from is the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) program administered by the Alameda County Department of Housing and Community Development on behalf of the county jurisdictions, including Hayward. BAHBA’s analysis indicates that the layering of these sources of funding (the City’s FTHB and WISH Loans and a MCC certificate), may represent a substantial increase in the number of purchase opportunities to low-income buyers in Hayward.
Other than the above recommendation, very few parameters would need to be changed. For example, current lending practices require that potential loan recipients have higher credit scores. To adjust to this reality, the City will adjust its Program credit score requirement accordingly. However, as done previously, the changes will be made in view of the laws regulating the use of HHA funds and the underwriting guidelines of major mortgage companies for public lenders.
The FTHB program provides several benefits to Hayward residents:
1) The Program is a primary implementation strategy for achieving the City’s policy and the Housing Element’s goal of increasing the homeownership rate in Hayward.
2) The Program fosters the City’s economic diversity and social integration as it allows moderate-income households to stay in Hayward and work here, or to afford living in different areas of Hayward where they would not be able to afford otherwise.
3) The Program will help increase home sales in Hayward which contributes to the local economic recovery through attracting consumers of goods and services to own homes in Hayward and increasing the local transfer and property tax base.
For the reasons outlined above, staff recommends a funding allocation of $1.5 million over two years to temporarily restore the First Time Home Buyers Down Payment Assistance Program for moderate-income households. If approved by Council, in its role as the Housing Authority Board, staff will implement the Program at the beginning of FY 2017.
Staff projects that a $1.5 million appropriation, should Council approve it, will provide approximately 42 loans during the two-year pilot period. Any fund balance unspent in a particular year would be rolled over to subsequent years. As loans are repaid, the City will have the opportunity to use the funds again to conduct more affordable housing-related activities for Hayward residents.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for the recommended First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance program loans would be sourced from available HHA funds, and would have no impact to the General Fund.
The administrative costs of the HHA (i.e. staff costs) are paid partially with HHA funds, special administrative housing-related funding allowances, and the Affordable Housing Fund. The latter is made up almost entirely of issuance and monitoring fees paid by City bond-assisted affordable housing properties. This revenue is set aside primarily to pay for the monitoring of bond-funded and City- and HHA-restricted properties.
Funding for staff support for the First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance program would be sourced from the HHA and Affordable Housing funds, and would have no impact to the General Fund.
PUBLIC CONTACT
• A previous iteration of the First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Program was reviewed by Council and the Hayward Redevelopment Agency Board in a public work session in January 2009.
• The Hayward Housing Element was reviewed by Council in a Public Hearing and adopted on December 2, 2014.
• The Affordable Housing Ordinance was reviewed by Council in a Public Hearing and adopted on January 27, 2015.
• The Council reviewed housing-related strategies to address and prevent homelessness in a public work session on September 22, 2015.
• The Community Services Commission reviewed the recommended reactivation of the First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Program in a public meeting on March 16, 2016.
• The Interdisciplinary Working Group on Homelessness, Hunger, Housing, and Disruptive Street Behaviors - a task force of homeless service providers , social service agencies, housing providers, public safety, and other Hayward community stakeholders - reviewed the housing-related strategies outlined in this report on March 17, 2016.
REFERENCE LINKS
• Alameda County HOME Consortium. Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice. 2014. <http://bitly.com/impediments-to-fair-housing-choice-2014>
• Association of Bay Area Governments. People, Places and Prosperity. 2014. <http://reports.abag.ca.gov/ppp/2015/section-2.php>
• City of Hayward. Affordable Housing Ordinance. 2015. <http://www.hayward-ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CH10A17_eff033115.pdf>
• City of Hayward. Hayward Housing Element. 2014. <http://www.hayward-ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/HayHE_FINAL_Adopted.pdf>
• City of Hayward. Revisions to Draft Housing Element. 2014. <http://citydocuments.hayward-ca.gov/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=178450&dbid=0>
• City of Hayward. Report: Hayward General Plan 2015-23 Housing Element. 2014. <http://citydocuments.hayward-ca.gov/WebLink8/0/doc/184141/Page1.aspx>
• City of Hayward. Current Strategies to Address Homelessness, Hunger, and Disruptive Street Behaviors in Alameda County and Hayward. 2015. <http://bitly.com/homeless-report>
• City of Hayward. Authorization of Near-Term Strategies to Assist Homeless Individuals in Hayward. 2015. <http://bitly.com/homeless-strategies>
• EveryOne Home. Ending Homelessness in Alameda County. 2015. <http://everyonehome.org/>
• Hayward Housing Authority. Housing Asset Transfer List. 2012. (PDF download) <http://bit.ly/housing-asset-list>
• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. Achieving Functional Zero Veteran Homelessness. 2015. <https://www.usich.gov/goals/veterans>
• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness. 2015. <https://www.usich.gov/goals/chronic>
NEXT STEPS
Staff recommends that Council in its role as the Housing Authority Board:
• Adopt the attached resolution (Attachment I) authorizing the use of $1.5 million in available Hayward Housing Authority fund balance to implement a First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Pilot Program.
If approved by the Council in its role as the Housing Authority Board, staff will implement the First Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance Pilot Program at the beginning of FY 2017. If approved, staff anticipates providing approximately 42 loans during the two-year pilot period. Any fund balance unspent in a particular year would be rolled over to subsequent years. As loans are repaid, the City would have the opportunity to use the funds again to conduct more affordable housing-related activities for Hayward residents.
Prepared by: Omar Cortez, Housing Development Specialist
Dawn Jaeger, Community Services Manager
Recommended by: Sean Reinhart, Director of Library & Community Services
Kelly McAdoo, Assistant City Manager
Approved by:
________________________________________
Fran David, City Manager
Attachments:
Attachment I Resolution