Title
State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Program Local Housing Assistance Plan-State Fiscal Years 2020-2023 (B)
This item requests the City Commission approval of the proposed SHIP Local Housing Assistance Plan covering State Fiscal Years 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, resolution and required certifications.
Explanation
Since 1992, the City of Gainesville has participated in the SHIP Program, which provides Florida cities and counties with funds to implement programs to promote and preserve affordable housing and home ownership. State law requires cities to adopt a Local Housing Assistance Plan (LHAP) to receive SHIP funds. The LHAP describes program activities and management plans for the utilization of funds through public/private partnerships which expand the production and preservation of affordable housing within the municipal limits of the City of Gainesville. The LHAP addresses several affordable housing needs in the community, including home ownership, housing rehabilitation, new construction, down-payment assistance, mortgage foreclosure intervention, and rental housing. The goal of the plan is to provide affordable housing opportunities for income eligible residents within the City.
During the development of the LHAP, staff solicited public input and neighbor participation through a series of meetings held in December 2019, January 2020 and February 2020. Participants included neighbors, housing providers, realtors, social service providers and other groups involved in the provision of affordable housing.
Through public input, the community affirmed that the City’s existing housing programs address many of their affordable housing needs. In particular, the community supports Owner Occupied Rehabilitation and Down Payment Assistance, which are the programs that generally receive the most applications for assistance.
In General, the proposed LHAP contains strategies that are similar to the current version. However, to increase the amount of affordable units built or rehabilitated, the proposed LHAP would implement two changes; 1) increase maximum funding allocations; and 2) add flexibility for utilizing SHIP funds for development of affordable units. Because the LHAP proposes to increase the maximum funding amounts for fiscal years 2020-2023, staff also proposes increasing the CDBG and HOME funding program awards. This will allow the federal funding sources to be equivalent to the proposed awards for the SHIP Program.
Fiscal Note
It is expected that the Housing Trust Fund will receive full funding and an estimated annual SHIP Program allocation will be provided by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation at a later date.
Recommendation
The City Commission: 1) Adopt the resolution approving the State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program Local Housing Assistance Plan for State Fiscal Years 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023; 2) authorize the submission of the 2020-2023 Local Housing Assistance Plan to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation; 3) authorize the Mayor to execute the Interlocal Agreement Between the City of Gainesville and Alachua County for the Rental Assistance Program, subject to review by the City Attorney as to form and legality; and 4) authorize the Mayor and/or City Manager or designee to execute all necessary documents related to the 2020-2023 Local Housing Assistance Plan, subject to review by the City Attorney as to form and legality.