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AHAB Regular Monthly Meeting, Agenda and

Orange County · Affordable Housing Advisory Board
Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Advisory board meeting Housing and affordabilityBonds and debtEconomic development incentivesGrants and outside fundingHomelessness and shelter

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved Approve Minutes Approved

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 reviewed twenty years of the county's HOME awards on 11 March 2025 and considered changes to how affordable housing bond and capital projects are scored. The proposal would take scoring out of this board's hands.

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

A member's analysis of HOME awards found 166 awards over about twenty years, totalling roughly $16 million. Annual funding has fallen with federal trends to about $500,000 a year, and the number of projects funded each year has fallen too, so awards are larger and fewer. Some contracts showed long lags between allocation and the start of construction, though recent years look better. Staff said the money will not go far on construction, and recommended concentrating the consolidated plan on repair and rehabilitation and on tenant-based rental assistance.

On the bond and capital scoring matrix, which runs on a three-year cycle last used in 2023, staff proposed that an interdepartmental staff group score projects and bring the results to this board for comment before the commissioners see them, rather than the board scoring. Ten percent of the funds would be set aside for repair and rehabilitation. Members raised that scoring incentives for proximity to goods, services and transport penalise unincorporated parts of the county, while acknowledging the need to align with state housing finance agency requirements. They were asked to send feedback by email and return to it in April.

Staff described HUD as chaotic, with representatives themselves unclear, and said planned staff cuts in community planning and development would touch HOME, homelessness and housing-first work. The department is proceeding as if the money is coming. Its own staff are paid mostly from the county general fund.

The board set its year: the Human Relations Commission or a community meeting in April, developers in May, the housing analysis in June, the 2026 work plan in August, and community outreach in September.

How the votes went

Two motions carried: the previous minutes and adjournment.

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)

Staff or committee report · 2Discussion item · 2Minutes approval · 1
  1. Approve Minutes
    Minutes approval
    Approved
  2. Orange County HOME Program Awards Analysis
    Staff or committee report Grants and outside fundingHousing and affordability
    166 awards over about twenty years, roughly $16 million. Annual funding has fallen to about $500,000 and the number of projects funded has fallen too, so awards are larger and fewer. Some contracts showed long lags between allocation and construction.
  3. Staff Updates - Consolidated Plan and HUD Funding
    Staff or committee report Homelessness and shelterHousing and affordability
    The first consultant draft of the consolidated plan is in, with a public hearing on 15 April. Staff described HUD as chaotic and said planned staff cuts in community planning and development would affect HOME, homelessness and housing-first work.
  4. Affordable Housing Bond/CIP Scoring Matrix Recommendations
    Discussion item Bonds and debtEconomic development incentivesHousing and affordability
    A proposal that an interdepartmental staff group score projects and bring results to this board for comment rather than the board scoring, with 10 percent of funds set aside for repair and rehabilitation. Members raised that proximity incentives for goods, services and transport penalise unincorporated areas.
    Feedback by email; returning in April
  5. Proposed Changes to 2025 Work Plan
    Discussion item Housing and affordability
    Developers in May, with notice to all past applicants so everyone can comment on the application process; the housing analysis in June; the 2026 work plan in August; community outreach in September.

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