Agenda - Planning Commission - 09/04/2014

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Last revised July 24, 2014 Project -Based Section 8 The Project Based Section 8 program was created by the Federal Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to assist low-income families in obtaining a place to live at an affordable rent. The program is administered by HUD, which distributes the funds and issues regulations and policy notices which the individual owners and operators of this housing must follow. In Project Based Section 8 buildings, every apartment is subsidized directly by HUD, and tenants generally pay 30% of their adjusted gross household income as their share of the rent. In contrast to the Section 8 voucher program, tenants in project -based buildings may not transfer their subsidies to a new location. When a tenant moves, the subsidy is made available to the next income -qualified tenant to occupy the apartment. No project -based Section 8 buildings have been built since 1983 when authorization for new Section 8 projects was repealed, making the preservation of Project -Based Section 8 properties (the financing of which is usually conditioned on the owner's willingness to remain in the program which keeps the federal subsidy intact) a top priority for many funders of affordable housing. Public Housing Public housing is housing financed by the federal government under the Public Housing Program and owned and operated by local housing authorities (often Public Housing Authorities, or PHAs) with ongoing capital and operating funds administered by HUD. Originally designed to accommodate families displaced by Urban Renewal, returning GIs after World War II, and African Americans moving from the agrarian south to the industrial north (the second of two "Great Migrations"), Public Housing became notorious in many communities due to poor physical design, lack of adequate upkeep, and extreme concentration of poverty. Despite the stereotypical image of Public Housing as a collection of desolate high-rise `superblocks'—typified by massive developments such as St. Louis's Pruitt -Igoe Homes and Chicago's Cabrini Green —Public Housing comes in a surprising range of sizes and types, from scattered site single family houses to high-rise apartments for the elderly. Today, there are approximately 1.2 million households living in Public Housing units nationwide, managed by some 3,300 housing authorities. In Minnesota, there are 141 communities with at least one Public Housing asset, and the high rate of occupancy by the elderly, disabled, and single headed households with children make it an overlooked but critical part of the affordable housing stock. The Public Housing Program has suffered from chronic underfunding and much of the stock faces severe capital needs and modernization. The Minnesota State Legislature has stepped up in recent years, allocating G.O. bonds for improvements to Public Housing assets, including a $20 million appropriation in the 2014 session. In the metro area the following cities and counties own and operate Public Housing assets: Bloomington, Carver County, Columbia Heights, Dakota County, Forest Lake, Hennepin County, Hopkins, Minneapolis, Mound, Plymouth, Ramsey County, Richfield, Scott County, South Saint Paul, St. Louis Park, Saint Paul, and Washington County. Racially Concentrated Area of Poverty (RCAF) Race makes a difference in shaping the region's geography of poverty and differentiates RCAPs from other areas of concentrated poverty. By limiting the ability of people of color to leave areas of concentrated poverty, race -specific barriers to housing choice perpetuate RCAPs. The Council defines racially concentrated areas of poverty as to census tracts where 40% or more of the households earn incomes that are less than 185% of the federal poverty level and 50% or more of the residents are people of color. Rehabilitation Loan Program The Rehabilitation Loan/Emergency and Accessibility Loan Programs assist very low income homeowners in financing basic home improvements that directly affect the safety, habitability, energy efficiency or accessibility of their homes. The Emergency and Accessibility Loan Program is available for home improvements addressing emergency conditions of the home or accessibility needs for a 2040 HOUSING POLICY PLAN I METROPOLITAN COUNCIL DRAFT RELEASED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT Appendices I Page 94