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State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 1 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 2006 North Carolina Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report Participating Agencies: North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Community Assistance North Carolina Housing Finance Agency North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Economic Opportunity North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, AIDS Care Unit State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 2 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 3 Summary of Housing Needs ........................................................................................................ 3 Table 1: North Carolina Housing Priorities Chart............................................................... 4 Summary of Resources .......................................................................................................................... 5 Table 2: Housing Resources by Funding Source and Administering Agency.................. 6 Distribution of Resources............................................................................................................. 8 Geographic Distribution of Resources ................................................................................................ 9 Map 1: 2006 Funding Distribution – All Programs ................................................... 9 Map 2: 2006 CDBG Funding Distribution .................................................................. 10 Map 3: 2006 HOME & ADDI Funding Distribution.................................................. 10 Map 4: 2006 ESG Funding Distribution ...................................................................... 11 Map 5: 2006 HOPWA Funding Distribution............................................................... 11 Households and Persons Assisted ......................................................................................................... 12 Racial and Ethnic Status of Households Assisted....................................................................... 12 Table 3: Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – CDBG & HOME Programs.............. .12 Table 4: Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – ESG & HOPWA Programs............... .12 Households Assisted According to Priority Need Category ....................................................... .1.3 Chart 1: HOME & ADDI Funding and Households Served in 2006.................................... .14 Summary Tables......................................................................................................................... .... 16 Table 5: Summary of Funding Distribution of the Four Core Programs............................. .16 Table 6: Federal Funding through the Four Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production, and Related Infrastructure .......................................................... 18 Actions Taken To Meet Housing and Service Related Objectives.................................................. 20 Actions Taken To Affirmatively Further Fair Housing .................................................................... 23 Other Actions Indicated in the Action Plan.......................................................................................... 25 Support of Anti- Poverty Strategies ............................................................................................ 25 Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Activities ......................................................... 27 Interagency Coordination and Collaboration ........................................................................... 30 Addressing Weaknesses in the Housing Delivery System ..................................................... 32 Legislative Initiatives ................................................................................................................... 36 Efforts to Reduce Lead- Based Paint Hazards .......................................................................... 37 CDBG Performance Report ................................................................................................................. 39 ESG Performance Report ..................................................................................................................... 44 Table 7: Persons Served by North Carolina ESG Grantees 48 HOME Performance Report ................................................................................................................ 49 Table 8: HOME Production, Summed by Program................................................................ 50 Table 9: NCHFA HOME Production by Priority .................................................................... .51 Table 10: Inspections of HOME- funded Units by Project ................................................... .65 Attachment 1: HOME Annual Performance Report ................................................................ 72 Attachment 2: HOME Match Report ......................................................................................... .74 HOPWA Performance Report ............................................................................................................. 75 Attachment 3: HOPWA Performance Chart 1 - Actual Performance................................ 80 Attachment 4: HOPWA Performance Chart 2 – Comparison to Planned Actions ............. .81 Public Participants................................................................................................................... .............. 82 State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 3 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2006 North Carolina Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report, CAPER, summarizes the accomplishments of four North Carolina Agencies, each of whom receives a formula grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD). The four agencies are: • North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Community Assistance; • North Carolina Housing Finance Agency; • North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Economic Opportunity; • North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, AIDS Care Unit These four agencies and their HUD- funded programs are working together to meet three goals for the good of North Carolinians. These three basic goals are: • Provision of decent and affordable housing; • Provision of a suitable living environment; and • Expansion of economic opportunity. Since 1999, the state has pursued a consolidated planning process that addresses the major housing and community development needs affecting North Carolina communities, determines priorities for addressing those needs, and lays out a strategy for using the resources available. Pursuant to the provisions of 24 CFR, Housing and Urban Development, Part 91, Performance Reports, the state has prepared the 2006 NC CAPER on its progress in implementation of the 2006 Annual Action Plan and the North Carolina Consolidated Action Plan, 2006- 2010. The CAPER is based in part on the 2006 Consolidated Annual Action Plan and the North Carolina Consolidated Action Plan, 2006- 2010. The four partnering entities received grants to provide housing and housing- related services; community and economic development assistance; and supportive services to low and moderate- income individuals and families; homeless individuals and families; and individuals with HIV/ AIDS and their families. This document details the resources received and the programs used to improve the lives, living conditions and education, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for North Carolina’s poorest citizens during the 2006 calendar year. Summary of Housing Needs Every five years, for the benefit of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, our partnering agencies, and the public, the State prepares a five- year housing strategy outlining North Carolina’s plans for meeting housing and community development needs. This cycle’s five- year strategy, called the North Carolina Consolidated Plan 2006- 2010, lays out the priority needs for North Carolina, which are based upon housing and population information captured from census data special tabulations, which yield the incidence of certain housing problems ( overcrowding, inadequate plumbing facilities, cost burden, etc.) among the population. The five- year plan also sets the framework from which each year’s annual action plan can be drawn. The Annual Action Plan further details how the State will accomplish its five- year goals during annual program cycles. The needs listed below are those identified through the Consolidated Plan process through quantitative data, qualitative data, and numerous public meetings with major stakeholders and citizens across the state. Because the State cannot possibly meet all of the housing needs with its limited resources, when State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 4 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 determining those priority needs it also considered strategic investment and the appropriateness of resources available to realistically meet the needs. Figure 1, the North Carolina Housing Priorities Chart, details the state’s housing priorities based upon the Housing Market Analysis and Needs Assessment performed as part of the 2006- 2010 Consolidated Plan. Table 1, North Carolina Housing Priorities Chart Homeless Persons Renters at 31- 50% Renters at 51- 80% Operating Costs for Homeless Providers Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Supportive Services Financing of New Construction Financing of New Construction Emergency Shelter Construction and Rehabilitation Homeowners at 31- 50% Homebuyers at 30- 80% in areas where Supportive Housing Comprehensive Rehabilitation needs are not met by the market Non- Homeless Persons w/ Special Needs** Refinancing Individual Development Accounts Rent Assistance First and Second Mortgages Supportive housing Downpayment Assistance Operating Assistance Financing of New Construction Supportive Services Homeowners at 51- 80% where needs are Renters at 0- 30% not met by market Rent Assistance Comprehensive Rehabilitation Homeless Prevention Refinancing Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Financing of New Construction Homeowners at 0- 30% Urgent Repair Comprehensive Rehabilitation Foreclosure Prevention Activities Homeless Persons Renters at 51- 60% Renters at 61- 80% Operating Costs for Homeless Providers Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Financing of new construction Supportive Services Financing of New Construction Financing of rental rehabilitation Emergency Shelter Construction and Rehabilitation Homeowners at 0- 50% Homebuyers at 30- 80% in areas where Supportive Housing Comprehensive Rehabilitation needs are not met by market Non- Homeless Persons w/ Special Needs** for the Non- elderly Individual Development Accounts Rent Assistance Replacement Housing First and Second Mortgages Supportive Housing Refinancing Downpayment Assistance Operating Assistance Residential Water/ Sewer Infrastructure Financing of New Construction Supportive Services Homeowners at 51- 80% Renters at 0- 50% Comprehensive Rehabilitation Rent Assistance Refinancing Homeless Prevention Residential water/ sewer infrastructure Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Financing of New Construction Homeowners at 0- 50% Urgent Repair Comprehensive Rehabilitation Replacement Housing Foreclosure Prevention Activities Residential Water/ Sewer Infrastructure ( when danger to public health ) ** Includes the following: Persons with Disabilities Low- income Elderly Persons Persons with HIV/ AIDS Rural High Medium Low Urban State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 5 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 SUMMARY OF RESOURCES In 2006, the State assisted approximately 18,000 households through four core programs, which funded the construction/ rehabilitation of housing units, and provided assistance for home- buyer initiatives, rental assistance, and housing- related and homeless services. These four programs are: The Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program ( CDBG) Funds help local governments improve deteriorating residential neighborhoods, support public services, install water and sewer facilities for residential areas or to job- creating industrial sites, and provide loans to large and small businesses. The North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Community Assistance administers CDBG funds for community development activities, while funds for economic development activities are administered by the North Carolina Commerce Finance Center. In 2006, North Carolina received $ 45,196,659 for the state’s Small Cities CDBG program. The HOME Investment Partnerships Program ( HOME) Funds help local governments, nonprofit organizations, and developers build or improve affordable housing and provide rental assistance and affordable second mortgages. HOME is administered by the N. C. Housing Finance Agency. This year the N. C. Housing Finance Agency received $ 19,098,280 in resources through the HOME program. The State’s General Assembly appropriated $ 1,750,945 in public, nonfederal funds to match the federal HOME funds. The American Dream Downpayment Initiative Program ( ADDI) Funds help low- income first- time homebuyers to purchase affordable homes. ADDI is administered by the N. C. Housing Finance Agency. The Agency received $ 338,860 in ADDI funds for Federal Fiscal Year 2006. The Emergency Shelter Grants Program ( ESG) Funds help local governments and nonprofit organizations support emergency shelters and transitional housing for the homeless, provide essential services, and prevent homelessness. ESG is administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity in the N. C. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2006 the State received $ 2,495,801 in resources through the ESG program. Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS Program ( HOPWA) Funds help local health departments, non- profit community based organizations, housing authorities, AIDS service organizations and other interested provider agencies meet the housing needs of persons living with AIDS or related diseases, and their families. The AIDS Care Unit in the Department of Health and Human Services administers the HOPWA Program. This year the State received $ 2,097,000 in resources through the HOPWA program. These funds, along with other private and nonfederal resources, were available in 2006 to address program goals, priority needs, and specific objectives described in the 2006 Annual Action Plan. The table below, Housing Resources by Funding Source and Administering Agency, summarizes the resources used in the state for affordable housing. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 6 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Table 2, Housing Resources by Funding Source and Administering Agency Name of Program Administering Agency Anticipated Funding for FY 06 ( in $ 000s) Actual Funding for FY 06 ( in $ 000s) Program Directly Administered? Not administered directly, funds are distributed to… Federal Funds CDBG ( 1) Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program Division of Community Assistance 26,606 24,360 No Units of local government in non-entitlement areas HOME & ADDI Down Payment Assistance Program NCHFA 653 260 No Private mortgage lenders HOME IDA Loan Pool Program NCHFA 777 1,560 No Nonprofit organizations and units of local government HOME New Homes Loan Pool Program NCHFA 2,849 5,088 No Nonprofit organizations and units of local government HOME Rural Opportunity Mortgage Program ( 3) NCHFA 5,179 13,302 No USDA HOME Rental Production Program NCHFA 5,179 7,935 Yes ` HOME Rental Preservation Loan Program ( 3) NCHFA 2,590 5,750 Yes HOME Self- Help Housing Program NCHFA 1,657 5,350 No Self- help housing organizations HOME Single- Family Rehabilitation Program NCHFA 4,143 6,900 No Units of local government, nonprofits and regional agencies HOME Supportive Housing Development Program NCHFA 1,036 3,363 Yes ESG*( 2) Emergency Shelter Grants Program Office of Economic Opportunity 2.425 FY 06- 07 2,495 No Nonprofit organizations and units of local government HOPWA* Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program AIDS Care Unit 2,097 2,097 No HIV Care Consortia, nonprofit organizations, adult day care providers, family care homes, and housing authorities Nonfederal Public Resources ( State Funds) HTF Rental Production Program NCHFA 4,500 4,515 Yes HTF Supportive Housing Development Program NCHFA 3,000 3,470 Yes HOME Match Key Program ( TBRA in partnership with DHHS) NCHFA 2,800 2,800 Yes HPPP Appropriation Home Protection Pilot Program NCHFA 700 1,435 Yes HTF and Other Agency Funds Urgent Repair Program NCHFA 2,500 2,123 No Units of local government, nonprofits and regional agencies State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 7 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Other Sources Housing Tax Credits*( 4) Federal and State Housing Credits NCHFA 149,940 149,940 Yes Mortgage Credit Certificate* Private Activity Volume Cap Allocation NCHFA 100,000 100,000 No Private mortgage lending institutions statewide Mortgage Revenue Bonds* Mortgage Loan Program NCHFA 237,500 195,000 No Private mortgage lending institutions statewide ( 1) The CDBG funds in this table and this report are only those funds designated strictly for housing activities; CDBG funds used in the economic development, infrastructure ( excluding hook- ups), urgent needs, and capacity building categories are not included. Total dollar amounts are also exclusive of administration and technical assistance costs. ( 2) Must be used for shelter operations, client services and homeless prevention ( 3) Includes 4% bonds. ( 4) Figure is equity generated, not credits allocated. * These programs have funding that must be used for a specific housing- related activity and/ or must be targeted for specific populations ( nondiscretionary funding). The other programs' funding may have income restrictions, but the types of housing activity and target population are not restricted ( discretionary funding). State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 8 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Distribution of Resources Each of the four participating agencies that comprise the CAPER receives funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Following is a brief discussion of the distribution of these resources for the 2006 program year. Division of Community Assistance Community Development Block Grant Program ( CDBG): Approximately $ 45 million was committed to the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program during 2006. Of that amount, approximately $ 24 million was allocated statewide for direct housing purposes; twenty- five percent, 25%, of these funds were awarded competitively and the remaining seventy- one percent, 71%, was distributed on a non- competitive basis. The remaining $ 19 million was designated for capacity building, economic development, infrastructure, administrative support, and other non- housing related activities. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency HOME Investment Partnerships Program ( HOME): In 2006, HFA invested HOME funds among four main activities: approximately $ 23.8 million, or 64% of the funding, was invested in homebuyer activities; approximately $ 9.7 million, or 27% of the funding, was invested in rental housing activities ( both production and preservation); $ 2.8 million, or 8% of the funding, was invested in rental assistance for disabled populations; and approximately $ 245,000, or 1% of the funding, was invested in homeowner rehabilitation activities. Although none of the supportive housing developments that had previously been awarded HOME funds were completed during 2006 ( so this report shows zero HOME investment in supportive housing), two supportive housing developments ( housing 15 people) funded with sources other than HOME were completed during the year. Office of Economic Opportunity Emergency Shelter Grants: A total of $ 2,371,011 of the State’s FY 2006 ESG allocation, or ninety- five percent, 95%, was awarded to 117 nonprofit organizations and three units of local government operating a total of 132 shelters for the homeless in 50 counties. The remaining $ 124,790, or five percent, 5%, was used for program administration. Eligibility for funding was determined through a pre- application review. Applicants meeting all program criteria were notified of their approved funding level and given a full application package. Grant agreements were executed in June and all program funds were disbursed. AIDS Care Unit Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program: The HOPWA program’s annual allocation can be used over a period of three years from the date of receipt. $ 62,910, or three percent, 3%, was set aside for grantee administration and $ 2,034,090, or ninety- seven percent, 97%, was awarded to 17 project sponsors through a continuation application process. These providers include family care homes, adult day/ health service centers, HIV Care Consortia, housing authorities and other nonprofit agencies that provide housing and related services to persons living with HIV/ AIDS and their families. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 9 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Geographic Distribution of Resources Each of the four programs has unique methods of geographic distribution. Funding for the Community Development Block Grant Program is directed to non- entitlement communities. Emergency Shelter Grant, HOPWA and HOME funds are distributed statewide. For the HOPWA program, the home county of the agency that received funds is shown on the map, even though that agency may serve multiple counties. It is not possible at this time to report the amount of HOPWA funds spent in each county that a multi- county agency serves. The following pages contain maps showing the actual distribution of funds for the CDBG, HOME & ADDI, ESG, and HOPWA programs during 2006. Table 3, 2006 Funding Distribution – All Programs, illustrates the amounts and locations of distributions. Map 1, 2006 Total Funding Distribution – All Programs State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 10 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Map 2, 2006 CDBG Funding Distribution Map 3, 2006 HOME & ADDI Funding Distribution State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 11 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Map 4, 2006 ESG Funding Distribution Map 5, 2006 HOPWA Funding Distribution State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 12 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 HOUSEHOLDS AND PERSONS ASSISTED Racial and Ethnic Status of Households Assisted Table 3, Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – CDBG and HOME Funded Projects, and Table 4, Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – ESG and HOPWA Funded Projects, indicate the racial and ethnic groups of assisted households. Improved reporting methods have minimized the number of households in the unknown category. Table 3, Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – CDBG and HOME Funded Projects Race/ Ethnic Group Number Assisted Percentage Assisted American Indian/ Alaska Native 43 < 1% Asian 5 < 1% Black/ African American 9,455 68% Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific Islander 11 < 1% White 4,237 30% American Indian/ Alaska Native and Black/ African American 15 < 1% American Indian/ Alaskan Native & White 5 < 1% Asian and White 0 < 1% Black/ African American and White 41 < 1% Other Multi- racial 132 2% Unknown race 13 < 1% CDBG & HOME Total 13,959 100% Hispanic 1 78 10% Nonhispanic 1 533 68.4% Unknown ethnicity 1 168 21.6% HOME Total* 779 100% * Data on Hispanic and Nonhispanic persons were unavailable for the CDBG program. CDBG data includes both households and persons assisted. Table 4, Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – ESG and HOPWA Funded Projects Percentage Assisted Race/ Ethnic Group ESG HOPWA Black/ African American 52% 77% White 38% 20% Asian 0.3% < 1% Native American 0.5% 1% Other 3.2% 1% Hispanic 1 6% unknown 1 Hispanics are considered an ethnic group and not a race. Beginning in 2006, HUD did not require collection of data for Hispanic populations. Data were unavailable for some programs. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 13 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Households Assisted According to Priority Need Category Division of Community Assistance DCA provides assistance for individuals and families through six major categories: • Community Revitalization: including Concentrated Needs and Revitalization Strategies; • Scattered Site Housing; • Infrastructure; • Housing Development; • Economic Development; and, • Urgent Needs/ Contingencies. DCA saw continued success of the CDBG program in assisting low- to- moderate income persons with housing and infrastructure improvements. DCA provided direct housing assistance to 719 households in 2006. Encapsulating all of DCA’s programs to include infrastructure, urgent needs, and other community development activities, a total of 8,825 households were provided assistance ranging from clean drinking water, improved public services, financial literacy training to help lift them out of poverty, employment possibilities that were non- existent prior to the business moving to where they lived, and access to medical and dental care that was previously unobtainable. The Scattered Site Housing program was able to target residents throughout the state and remain on target for funding levels. The success of the Scattered Site program is most likely due to grantees fully adjusting to the non- competitive, three- year cycle of the program. The first wave of Scattered Site grants to be awarded under this format was funded in 2001, and the 2006 grantees began their second wave of Scattered Site Housing grants through this distribution method. The success of this program indicates the ability of local governments to plan forward for funding and act accordingly. Actual accomplishments met goals laid out in the 2006 annual action plan in most categories. However, due to the rising costs of construction, it remains difficult for DCA and its grantees to continue to provide necessary services at past funding levels. The one category that did not perform at expected levels was the Infrastructure Hook- Up category, which provides funds to assist low- to- moderate income homeowners hook- up to existing water and/ or sewer lines. Demand for this category was down from previous years, and for that reason both funding and households assisted were below expected levels. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The NCHFA invests HOME and HOME Match funds in homebuyer assistance, rental production, rental rehabilitation, rehabilitation of owner- occupied housing, development of supportive housing for persons with disabilities and homeless people, and rental assistance for people with disabilities. Overall, 17% of the Agency’s total 2006 HOME investment and 19% of the units were for high- priority activity, 14% of the investment and 24% of the units were for medium- priority activity, and 69% of the investment and 57% of the units were for low- priority activity. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 14 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Chart 1, HOME & ADDI Funding and Households Served in 2006 HOME & ADDIT Funding ( in thousands) and Households Assisted in 2 006, by Priority Category 6,324 293 5,088 377 25,130 909 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Investment Households High priority Medium priority Low priority Table 6 compares projected 2006 investment and units to units placed in service during 2006 and their investment. For HOME- funded programs, the projections for 2006 were one- fifth of the HOME investment and HOME- financed units projected for the 5- year period covered by the 2006- 2010 Strategic Consolidated Plan. In the Supportive Housing Development Program, the Single Family Rehabilitation Program, and the Preservation Loan Program the actual number of units placed in service in 2006 and their investment was much less than one- fifth of the activity projected in the 2006- 2010 Strategic Consolidated Plan. This difference can primarily be explained by the amount of time it takes a project to move from the financing stage to the completion stage, often as long as two to three years; a project financed in 2004 may not be completed and placed in service until 2007. Under the Single Family Rehabilitation program the Agency made no awards during 2003 and very few awards in 2004; the units placed in service in 2006 were the first units of the 2004 and 2005 awards ( as would be expected, given the lag between when awards are made and when construction on individual units is completed). The Preservation Loan Pool program is a brand new program; the first awards were made in fall of 2005. Because of the time it takes for construction to be completed, the Agency expects the first projects to be completed during 2007. In addition to the development time between award and project completion, the Supportive Housing Development Program also faces the problem of providing supportive services. Few of the applicants to this program have the capacity to adhere to HUD regulations, resulting in fewer HOME- funded Supportive Housing projects. Despite these difficulties, two developments ( not reported in the CAPER tables because they were not funded with HOME) were placed in service in 2006, providing 15 supportive housing units. The Agency invested noticeably more in the Rental Production Program than 1/ 5 of the 5- year plan forecasts. This is due to the variability in development time among projects, even projects awarded at the same time. Certain years more HOME- funded projects are completed than were awarded 2 years prior, and other years fewer are completed. The figures in this report are of HOME- funded projects completed during 2006, not projects which were awarded HOME in 2006. Overall the Agency invested more in homebuyer assistance programs than the forecasted 1/ 5 of the 5- year plan figures. Less HOME was invested in the Downpayment Assistance Program ( the Agency’s $ 7,000 subordinate financing program) than the Agency had forecasted; the Agency was forced to decrease HOME funds for this program because of HUD’s stricter regulations regarding HOME for the purchase of existing homes. This decision was made because of HUD’s requirement that HQS inspections be carried out for all non- new homes assisted with HOME funds, which made using HOME for downpayment assistance on existing construction infeasible. In contrast, the Rural Opportunities State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 15 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Mortgage program, which is a first- mortgage program in which the Agency partners with USDA to assist homebuyers in rural areas, produced more than 1/ 5 of the forecast in the 2006- 2010 Consolidated Plan. The other homebuyer assistance program performed approximately as expected. Although all homebuyer assistance activity is low priority according to the 2006- 2010 Strategic Consolidated Plan, the Agency is pleased to be serving households with very modest incomes; the average household income in the units funded with HOME in 2006 was approximately $ 28,000. The Agency has discovered, while HOME is useful for funding homeownership, that it is very difficult to use HOME funds to serve the highest-priority end of the housing spectrum; it is thankful to have state funding to serve these high- priority populations. Office of Economic Opportunity Approximately 45,000 homeless families and individuals sought assistance from 132 homeless shelter facilities in 50 counties. Eighty- six percent of FY 2006 ESG funding was used to pay operating expenses, i. e., rent, utilities, supplies/ materials, equipment and administrative costs. Five percent ( 5%) of the funding was used to provide essential services such as counseling, transportation, health care, housing referral, employment and/ or education services. Four percent ( 4%) was used to provide homeless prevention services that include short- term subsidies to defray rent and utility arrearages, security deposits or first month’s rent payments. The remaining five percent of FY 2006 ESG funding was used for program administrative costs incurred by the Office of Economic Opportunity. AIDS Care Unit The HOPWA Program assisted 2,662 persons living with HIV/ AIDS and their families through the following programs: • Tenant- based rental assistance program; • Short- term rent mortgage and utility program; • Supportive service; • Resource identification; • Housing information; and • Adult day care facilities and family care homes. The 2004 statewide HOPWA needs assessment indicated the need to increase permanent supportive housing; consequently, short term rent, mortgage and utility payments decreased from 65% to 35% in FY 2006. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 16 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Summary Tables Table 5, Summary of Funding Distribution of the Four Core Programs, depicts how the state met its priorities in comparison with the anticipated funding distribution contained in the 2006 Consolidated Annual Action Plan. The state spent forty- four percent ( 44%) of its funding on high priority needs; fourteen percent ( 13%) on medium priority needs; and forty- two percent ( 43%) on low priority needs. Table 5, Summary of Funding Distribution of the Four Core Programs High Priorities Medium Priorities Low Priorities Amount Percent Amount Percent Amount Percent Anticipated $ 32,922,000 59% $ 11,304,000 20% $ 12,066,000 21% Actual $ 27,454,000 44% $ 8,387,000 13% $ 26,672,000 43% Table 6, Federal Funding through the Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production and Related Infrastructure, indicates how the four core programs were used. The table shows the funding amounts ( in thousands of dollars) allocated for each priority need category ( low, medium, high) and shows the number of households and individuals assisted. In reviewing the table, it is important to recognize that the state considered strategic investment of its limited resources through its programs, as well as the appropriateness of the resources available to address the priority need categories. CDBG and HOME funds were used primarily to produce or rehabilitate housing, provide homebuyer assistance, and develop infrastructure required for housing development. ESG funds were used to provide shelter, essential services and homeless prevention activities to homeless individuals and households. HOPWA funds were used to assist households and individuals with housing related services in both short and long- term tenant- based rent assistance. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 17 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Table 6 - Federal Funding through the Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production, and Related Infrastructure – High Priority Needs Priority Agency Funding Source Program Activity Anticipated Funding in $ 000s Actual Funding in $ 000s Anticipated Households Assisted Actual Households Assisted High Priority Needs DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 50 $ 0 3 0 NCHFA HOME Supportive Housing Development Program* New Construction $ 518 $ 0 26 0 OEO ESG ESG Support Funding for Homeless Service Providers** $ 2,494 $ 2,496 6,000 households and 30,000 individuals 4,463 households and 30,578 individuals DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 651 $ 194 14 3 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 162 $ 189 8 14 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 85 $ 0 28 0 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 110 $ 36 2 1 DCA CDBG Scattered Sites Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 1,128 $ 305 25 6 NCHFA HOME & Match Supportive Housing Development Program* New Construction $ 518 $ 0 26 0 ACU HOPWA HOPWA Rent Assistance*** $ 1,135 $ 1,280 1,419 1,735 ACU HOPWA HOPWA Housing- Related Services**** $ 560 $ 817 3,000 117 DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 1,627 $ 1,412 36 24 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 495 $ 169 83 40 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 212 $ 15 71 5 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 275 $ 75 6 2 NCHFA HOME Match Preservation Loan Program Rehabilitation $ 1,295 $ 0 633 0 NCHFA HOME Rental Production Program New Construction, Rehab***** $ 2,020 $ 3,349 125 202 NCHFA HOME & Match Key Program Tenant Based Rental Assistance****** $ 2,800 $ 2,800 125 85 DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 1,953 $ 4,401 43 192 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 255 $ 37 85 31 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 6,430 $ 200 143 20 DCA CDBG Scattered Sites Rehabilitation, Replacement, Urgent Repair $ 5,414 $ 9,504 120 275 NCHFA HOME & Match Single Family RehabProgram Rehabilitation $ 2,735 $ 175 68 6 Total High Priority $ 32,922 $ 27,454 6,089 2,758 ** Funding to assist with operating costs of homeless shelters, provision of services to homeless clients and homeless prevention activities. *** For HOPWA, " rent assistance" inlcudes short term rent, mortgage, and utility payments ( STRMU) as well as tenant- based rent assistance ( TBRA). **** Includes housing information, resource identification, supportive services, and operating expenses for dedicated housing facilities. ****** These are the 2006 awards to be disbursed monthly over the next 10 years. Assist Homeless Families and Individuals Assist Rural Renters Earning 0- 50% of Median Family Income and Urban Renters Earning 0- 30% of Median Family Income * Although NCHFA place 2 Supportive Housing projects into service in 2006, they were funded with sources other HOME. Assist Rural Elderly Homeowners Earning 0- 50% of Median Family Income and Urban Homeowners Earning 0- 30% of Median Family Income Assist Non- Homeless Persons with Special Needs ***** A portion of these units will serve homeless households. The Agency has no way of forecasting how many of these households will be homeless. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 18 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Table 6 ( Continued) - Federal Funding through the Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production, and Related Infrastructure – Medium Priority Needs Priority Agency Funding Source Program Activity Anticipated Funding in $ 000s Actual Funding in $ 000s Anticipated Households Assisted Actual Households Assisted Medium Priority Needs DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 977 $ 149 22 2 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 297 $ 0 50 0 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 128 $ 0 43 0 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 165 $ 0 4 0 NCHFA HOME Match Preservation Loan Program Rehabilitation $ 1,295 $ 0 633 0 NCHFA HOME Rental Production Program New Construction, Rehabilitation $ 2,331 $ 5,018 144 375 DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 977 $ 1,284 22 33 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 128 $ 90 43 38 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 165 $ 222 4 4 DCA CDBG Scattered Sites Rehabilitation, Replacement, Urgent Repair $ 3,722 $ 1,554 83 20 NCHFA HOME & Match Single Family RehabProgram Rehabilitation $ 1,119 $ 70 28 2 Total Medium Priority $ 11,304 $ 8,387 1,076 474 Assist Rural Non- Elderly Homeowners Earning 0- 50% of Median Family Income and Urban Homeowners Earning 31- 50% of Median Family Income Assist Rural Renters Earning 51- 60% of Median Family Income and Urban Renters Earning 31- 50% of Median Family Income State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 19 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Table 6 ( Continued) - Federal Funding through the Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production, and Related Infrastructure – Low Priority Needs Priority Agency Funding Source Program Activity Anticipated Funding in $ 000s Actual Funding in $ 000s Anticipated Households Assisted Actual Households Assisted Low Priority Needs DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 130 $ 299 3 5 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 50 $ 0 8 0 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 17 $ 0 6 0 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 22 $ 0 1 0 NCHFA HOME Rental ProductionProgram New Construction, Rehabilitation $ 829 $ 1,319 51 131 DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 195 $ 426 4 13 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 26 $ 7 9 10 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 33 $ 548 1 8 NCHFA HOME & Match Single Family Rehab Rehabilitation $ 290 $ 0 7 0 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 567 $ 240 32 11 DCA CDBG Individual Development Account Downpayment Assistance $ 160 $ 22 80 22 NCHFA HOME & ADDI Downpayment Assistance Program Homebuyer Assistance $ 5,179 $ 455 104 68 NCHFA HOME IDA Loan Pool Homebuyer Assistance $ 653 $ 1,269 93 67 NCHFA HOME New Homes Loan Pool Homebuyer Assistance $ 777 $ 4,086 40 184 NCHFA HOME Rural Opportunities Mortgage Program Homebuyer Assistance $ 290 $ 13,451 7 273 NCHFA HOME Self Help Pool Homebuyer Assistance $ 2,849 $ 4,550 142 186 Total Low Priority $ 12,066 $ 26,672 588 978 TOTAL FEDERAL FUNDING $ 56,292 $ 62,513 7,753 4,210 Assist Rural Homeowners Earning 51- 80% of Median Family Income and Urban Homeowners Earning 51- 80% of Median Family Income where needs are not met by the market Assist Rural Renters Earning 61- 80% of Median Family Income and Urban Renters Earning 51- 80% of Median Family Income Assist Homebuyers Earning 30- 80% of Median Family Income where needs are not met by the market State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 20 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 ACTIONS TAKEN TO MEET HOUSING AND SERVICE RELATED OBJECTIVES IN 2006 The 2006 North Carolina Consolidated Plan outlined housing and service- related objectives for each of the participating agencies. Following is a list of those objectives for each agency, the actions taken during the 2006 program year, and their status. Division of Community Assistance To target investments toward distressed rural areas and high priority small cities through the Commerce Department’s 21st Century Communities Initiative, State Development Zones, Tier 1 & Tier 2 counties, and support the EDA-funded Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies ( CEDS). Status: A third round of 21 st Century Communities was announced in 2005 for the 2005– 2007 period. These latest 21 st Century Communities are Burke, Hyde, Montgomery, and Sampson counties. Special emphasis was continued for round one and two 21 st Century Communities, for which continuing need was deemed necessary, applying for CDBG program funds. In the Infrastructure category, however, only those communities in the second round of the 21 st Century Communities program and not funded in the Infrastructure category in 2005 were eligible in 2006. In support of this initiative, one half of the funds allocated for the Infrastructure Program in 2006 were set- aside for 21 st Century Communities. In addition, in the Economic Development Category, additional per job funding was available for local governments participating the 21st Century Communities program and for projects locating in State Development Zones or Urban Progress and State Agrarian Zones. Within the Housing Development category in 2006, preference was given for rental housing developments that were: ( 1) within local governments from Tier 1 or Tier 2 counties, ( 2) projects in State Development Zones or Urban Progress and State Agrarian Zones, which are consistent with local strategies for improving the zone, and ( 3) local governments in 21 st Century counties. The Revitalization Strategies category was continued in 2006. During its fifth year of funding in 2006, the Revitalization Strategies program allowed for a holistic approach to community and economic development by enabling local governments to address multiple needs in high poverty areas. This category provides flexible multi- year funding to help alleviate poverty and carry out a long- term, sustainable revitalization strategy in selected target neighborhoods. Activities such as housing and self- sufficiency counseling, job training, and downpayment assistance helped residents of target areas pull themselves out of poverty. Revitalization Strategies communities are required to be located in a Tier 1 or 2 county or a State Development Zone. To support development of soundly designed affordable rental and single- family housing in appropriate settings. Status: In 2006, DCA continued to use smart growth guidelines in the Housing Development Category. These guidelines are designed to stimulate high quality, sustainable development in LMI neighborhoods throughout the state. The guidelines incorporate sound development practices while balancing environmental protection with the economic needs of builders and future homeowners. To receive housing development funds subdivisions had to meet the following minimum requirements: ( 1) be connected to public water and sewer, ( 2) be located in State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 21 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 or near an existing community, ( 3) have streets that met NCDOT standards and connected to public streets, ( 4) all cul- de- sacs had to be less than sixteen lots, ( 5) have a 30- foot buffer on each side of all perennial streams, and ( 6) include some open space in the development. To emphasize smart growth principles in CDBG program categories. Priority for funding will be given to projects that demonstrate design excellence, infill development, and more intense use of existing buildings in downtowns and nearby older neighborhoods. Status: The Division continues to support proper new affordable rental and single- family housing through its Housing Development category. This increase in the stock of sound affordable housing improves the lives of hundreds of LMI residents across the state. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency To operate home ownership programs: - Close 2,200 MRB loans and 250 MCC assisted loans - Close 104 Rural Opportunity Mortgage ( ROM) loans in conjunction with USDA’s 502 direct program. - Close 142 loans under the New Homes Program, 83 loans under the Self- Help Housing Program, and 40 loans under the IDA partnerships - Rehabilitate 103 homes under the Single Family Rehab Program and 600 homes under the Urgent Repair Program Status: The Agency assisted 2,173 households through its MRB program and 44 households through its MCC program in 2006. 273 households in rural areas were assisted through the ROM program. The Agency financed 177 homes under the New Homes Loan Pool, 188 under the Self- Help Loan Pool, and 80 under the IDA Program. The Agency provided nearly $ 7.9 million in financing through the Single- Family Rehabilitation Program during the 2006 calendar to assist approximately 185 homeowners. The Agency provided $ 2.1 million in financing to assist approximately 635 homeowners under the Urgent Repair Program. To operate rental production programs: - Allocate the state's $ 15 million federal Housing Credit volume cap - Loan $ 9.6 million under the Rental Production Program - Continue the refundable state Housing Credit - Finance 10 projects with the capacity to serve approximately 200 individuals under the Supportive Housing Program Status: The Agency awarded tax credits to provide $ 144 million in federal tax credit equity and $ 26 million in investment from state tax credits, for projects that will assist 2,354 households. The Agency awarded $ 10.8 million in Rental Production Program loans in 2006, to assist in the production of 780 units. The Agency awarded $ 6.2 million to nonprofit service providers through the Supportive Housing Development Program to help create 291 total units ( in 12 different projects) of housing for individuals with special needs. Office of Economic Opportunity To ensure the provision of emergency and/ or transitional housing, essential services, and/ or homeless prevention services to approximately 30,000 homeless individuals and 6,000 homeless families. It is anticipated that over 100 nonprofit organizations and three units of local government operating over 130 emergency and/ or transitional facilities in 50 to 55 of the state’s 100 counties will be funded in FY 2006. Status: FY 2006 State ESG funding was distributed to 129 non- profit organizations and three units of local government in 50 counties. These facilities provided shelter and/ or services to approximately 31,000 homeless single individuals and 14,000 members of homeless families. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 22 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 To successfully coordinate the 2006 North Carolina Conference on Homelessness which will provide opportunities for homeless service providers to receive training and technical assistance. Status: The Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP) assumed responsibility for the operation of the state’s annual Conference on Homelessness in January of 2006. Due to scheduling conflicts, the Council decided not to have a conference in 2006, but to schedule a conference for April of 2007. To continue its involvement with the North Carolina Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP). Status: In 2006 OEO continued its participation in activities of the ICCHP by serving as a member agency of the Council. To work with the ICCHP to implement strategies and policies outlined in the state’s ten- year plan to end homelessness in North Carolina. Status: As a member agency of the ICCHP, OEO provided input into the implementation of strategies and policies developed by the Council. AIDS Care Unit To provide additional resources and research on funding opportunities for project sponsors through regularly scheduled HOPWA planning meetings. Status: The Housing Coordinator for the state presented at a HOPWA Project Sponsor meeting and informed the projects of other housing programs and possible funding. To review internal processes for making funding decisions and planning new initiatives. Status: This activity is ongoing. FY 2006 funds were used to help rehabilitate a family care home. To hold training workshops on current trends in HIV housing. Status: HOPWA Project sponsors attended a meeting on the new performance measurement tool and how to utilize this tool. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 23 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 ACTIONS TAKEN TO AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHER FAIR HOUSING Each of the four agencies undertook actions to further fair housing Fair Housing Activities The Division of Community Assistance contracted with the North Carolina Fair Housing Center to analyze impediments to fair housing choice in North Carolina as part of the 2006- 2010 Consolidated Plan. The four partnering agencies agree to promote fair housing, housing choice and equal opportunities through the programs they administer. Division of Community Assistance The Division will continue to implement various strategies, chief of which is to increase local activities that identify and reduce barriers to fair and affordable housing in all localities receiving Community Development Block Grant Program funding. Status: DCA continues to monitor grantees on compliance with fair housing laws and updated its Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing for 2006- 2010. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency will continue to ( 1) distribute its Elderly Housing Rights and Consumer Protection Program information brochures, ( 2) provide Fair Housing training in conjunction with its Housing Credit Program Compliance and Service Coordinator workshops, and ( 3) publish Spanish translations of its MRB and MCC Program information. Status: The Agency continued all of these activities in 2006. The Agency has continued to distribute its Elderly Housing Rights and Consumer Protection Program information brochures through its partners including housing counseling, legal services, area agencies on aging and advocate organizations as well as individuals. HFA continued to provide Fair Housing training as a part of its RPP Training and Tax- Credit Training, which were held nine times in 2006. The Agency also continued to make available the Fair Housing for Tenants with Disabilities: Understanding Reasonable Accommodations and Reasonable Modifications guide. In 2006, NCHFA unveiled a Spanish language version of its website, on which translations of MRB and MCC program brochures, as well as information about other Agency activities, were made available to the Spanish- speaking population. All developers of affordable rental housing financed by the Agency are required to develop and implement Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plans, which are reviewed by the Agency for effectiveness and proper implementation. Projects receiving HOME loans must certify that they have developed and adopted affirmative marketing procedures for HOME- assisted housing containing five or more units. Status: The Agency successfully carried out this function. The Agency will publicize the availability of its updated guide published in October 2005, Fair Housing for Tenants with Disabilities: Understanding Reasonable Accommodations and Reasonable Modifications. The Guide will also be included in the Agency’s annual training for LIHTC rental property managers. Status: The Agency continues to make this guide available on its website. In addition, our partners in this effort, the NC Justice Center and NC Department of Health and Human Services, have conducted a series of Fair Housing trainings across the state. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 24 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 The Agency will solicit voluntary agreements with two more lenders in 2006 to work together with the Agency in ensuring that every first- time home buyer in North Carolina is informed about the Agency’s loan programs during the loan application process. Status: The Agency did not pursue any additional voluntary agreements with lenders in 2006, and is not actively soliciting agreements at this time. The Agency will process preliminary eligibility analysis to reach 250 prospective homebuyers in unserved areas of the state. Renters will complete a worksheet and the Agency will assess the renters’ eligibility for a mortgage and make a referral to a lender. Status: The Agency processed 729 preliminary eligibility analysis requests in our effort to better serve prospective homebuyers in unserved areas of the state. Renters completed a worksheet to determine their readiness to become a homebuyer. The Agency will work more closely with partners to educate homebuyers, increase the supply of affordable housing, provide assistance with downpayment and closing costs and offer financial options to support HUD’s “ Blueprint for the American Dream”. Status: The Agency developed a continuing education course for loan officers in conjunction with NC Banking Commission. The NC Association of Realtors created Homes4NC in 2004 to promote safe, decent and affordable housing, and the Agency’s executive director continues to serve on the board. The Agency, in partnership with USDA- Rural Development, will offer 200 leveraged loans to serve low- income households in rural North Carolina through its Rural Opportunity Mortgage program. Status: The Agency awarded nearly 13.5 million dollars in leveraged loans in 2006 to serve approximately 270 low- income households. The Agency chairs the Housing Coordination and Policy Council, which is pursuing an effort to evaluate local zoning barriers to affordable housing. Status: The Agency continued to chair the HCPC council, with discussion of policy concerns and recommendations to the Governor. The HCPC chose not to pursue an evaluation of local zoning barriers in 2006. AIDS Care Unit The Unit will continue to expand the Tenant Based Rental Assistance program, which is designed to increase housing choice for low- income persons with AIDS and their families. Status: ACU currently funds four agencies that exclusively provide tenant- based rental assistance. A Fair Housing pamphlet, sample letter for reasonable accommodations and other fair housing topics were discussed at the annual HOPWA Project Sponsors meeting. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 25 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 OTHER ACTIONS INDICATED IN THE 2006 ACTION PLAN Each of the four state agencies undertook additional actions to further the housing and support services goals of their organizations in the following areas: • Anti- Poverty Strategies; • Capacity Building and Technical Assistance; • Coordination and Collaboration; • Housing Delivery Systems; • Legislative and Public Policy Initiatives; and • Lead- Based Paint Hazard Reduction. Following are the agencies’ 2006 Annual Action Plan objectives and status summaries. Support of Anti- Poverty Strategies Division of Community Assistance DCA continues to utilize Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Funds for use in establishing or continuing Individual Development Account ( IDA) programs throughout the state. IDAs are dedicated savings accounts that can only be used for purchasing a first home, education or job training expenses, or capitalizing a small business. In DCA’s program, funding is exclusively for home ownership. Only residents that are members of households below 80 percent of MHI are eligible to participate. In partnership with local governments, IDAs are managed by community organizations and accounts are held at local financial institutions. Participants are introduced into the mainstream financial system, provided credit counseling and homebuyer and financial literacy, and receive match money for down payment assistance upon successful completion of the program. Status: DCA allocated funding from its housing development category for three new IDA programs. Continuing decline and disinvestment in many neighborhoods that spills over into surrounding areas point to a need for different approaches to rebuilding communities. Many communities riddled with poverty require a comprehensive approach to address their needs, one that allows for flexible funding and activities that cut across traditional DCA programs. Entering its fifth and final year of funding in 2006, the Revitalization Strategies program allows for a holistic approach to community and economic development enabling local governments to address multiple needs in high poverty areas. This category provides flexible multi- year funding to help alleviate poverty and carry out a long- term, sustainable revitalization strategy in selected target neighborhoods. The communities receiving funds for another year of activities in 2006 are Brevard, Caldwell County, Elizabeth City, Hamlet, Hyde County, Roanoke Rapids, Sanford, Whiteville, and Wilson. Status: The Revitalization Strategies category includes housing and self- sufficiency counseling, job training, and down payment assistance. Eligible communities must be located in a Tier 1 or Tier 2 County or a State Development Zone. DCA will conduct a round table with leaders from across the state in business and economic development to explore ways that CDBG funds can best be used to promote small business development as a way to move low- wage and dislocated workers into greater self- sufficiency and out of poverty. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 26 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Status: DCA conducted three roundtable sessions – one each in September, October, and November 2006 – where community and economic development leaders provided input for design of the new 2007 Small Business and Entrepreneurial Assistance Grant Program. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency will continue to finance supportive rental housing through the federal and state housing tax credit programs and through the Rental Production Program. Status: The Agency did utilize federal and state housing tax credit program and the Rental Production program to provide housing for persons with disabilities; it did so in 2006 primarily through the KEY program ( which is used in conjunction with RPP and LIHTC). The Agency will broaden its IDA home ownership initiative to include providing matching funds and second mortgages to IDA participants who will be purchasing homes. The program used to serve households at 200% of poverty and below who were in NC Department of Labor’s IDA program under the federal Assets for Independence Act ( AFIA); it will now serve households participating in any home ownership IDA program in North Carolina. Status: The Agency continued these activities in the IDA program. In 2006, the Agency set aside $ 175,000 matching funds for households served under the AFIA, and set aside $ 1.5 million for gap financing. The Agency will continue funding developments that are connected to public housing authorities’ Family Self- Sufficiency Programs through both rental and home ownership programs. Status: The Agency continued this activity in 2006. The Agency will continue funding transitional and permanent housing for the homeless and nonhomeless persons with special needs through the Supportive Housing Development Program. Status: The Agency awarded over $ 6.1 million dollars in 2006 to fund 291 units of supportive housing for persons with special needs. The Agency will provide funds to support a homeless policy specialist in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services who will work with the Interagency Council for the Coordination of Homeless Programs. Status: The Agency continued to fund a homeless policy specialist in the Office of Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2006. The Agency will continue to operate its Home Saver Loan Program that incorporates a Job Loss Feature to help borrowers who have become involuntarily unemployed to maintain their home. Status: The Agency continued to operate the HSL program in 2006. The Agency will be administering the Home Protection Pilot Program, funded in 2004 by a $ 1.75 million special allocation from the General Assembly and in 2005 by a $ 700,000 allocation. This program will create a loan pool to help prevent foreclosures due to job loss in targeted counties. It will also strengthen the housing counseling network. Status: The General Assembly provided an additional $ 1,500,000 in 2006 to continue the foreclosure prevention pilot program created to assist dislocated workers and offered in 27 counties. More than 250 families benefited from the legal protections provided by the program’s temporary stay of foreclosure. Since 2004, the Agency has approved 179 loans and provided $ 1,867,665 in assistance to dislocated worker households. The agency continues to work with 14 local housing counseling agencies to conduct outreach to laid- off homeowners. In the interest of administering a program that meets the needs of its target group and to enable the program to offer assistance to more dislocated workers, two major changes were made to the program in State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 27 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 2006: loans are no longer amortizing, but deferred, and to meet eligibility, dislocated workers can either live or have worked in one of the designated counties. Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Activities Division of Community Assistance The Division will continue to implement the Capacity Building ( CB) program for nonprofit organizations. Grants of up to $ 75,000 will be available to each organization. Nonprofit organizations that receive capacity building funds are expected to develop projects and apply for CDBG funding in partnership with their local governments within two years of award. Status: Three Capacity Building grants were awarded in 2006. Technical Assistance funds for 2006 will concentrate on developing the professional skills and capabilities of local community development grant administrators. DCA and the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are assessing the current demand for a professional certification program for administrators of CDBG grants. This program will lead to a certificate of completion that assures local governments that the people they engage to administer community development grants meet and maintain high professional standards of knowledge, ethics, and competence. Status: The Community Development Academy, an intensive training that provides technical assistance to local administrators and non- profit agencies was held for forty local administrators during the winter of 2006. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency’s Home Ownership Business Group will continue working with the Real Estate Commission to provide continuing education classes for real estate professionals. Status: During 2006, the Agency presented 13 classes that provided 4 hours of continuing education hours to the attending real estate licensees. The Agency will continue to provide monthly lender training sessions throughout the state to educate mortgage professionals about the Agency’s 100%, below- market- rate loans, with and without downpayment assistance. Status: During 2006, the Agency presented monthly seminars to lenders throughout the state to educate mortgage professionals about the Agency's financing programs, including downpayment assistance. The Agency’s Rental Investment Business Group has statewide responsibility for Contract Administration of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 Project-based Rental Assistance Program, which utilizes over 600 rental developments with over 21,000 housing units in North Carolina. The Agency has partnered with Quadel Consulting Corporation to manage the contract administration duties. Rental development owners will receive ongoing technical assistance on the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 8 regulations. Status: The Agency continued to partner with Quadel, who in 2006 administered nearly $ 100 million in Section 8 project- based assistance statewide. The Agency’s Strategic Investment Business Group will continue to collaborate with the Advanced Energy Corporation ( AEC) to train contractors and developers ( both nonprofit and for-profit) in techniques of building high performance houses. This training focuses on the interrelationships between house systems and the effective use of pressure diagnostics ( blower State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 28 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 doors, duct blasters, manometers, etc.). The Agency anticipates producing 200 more in 2006, all of them sold with 2- year guarantees of comfort and very low heating and cooling costs. Status: The Agency completed 242 homes during 2006 under this initiative in 2006, and continues to collaborate with AEC to conduct these trainings. The Agency will continue to administer its fair housing and service coordinator trainings in conjunction with its rental investment programs. Designed for service coordinators, housing managers, supportive service providers, and others who work with the elderly or special needs residents, these workshops have covered topics that include aging, the basics of service coordination, legal issues and housing, and planning community wellness programs. Status: The Agency continued to provide this training as a part of its RPP Training and Tax- Credit Training. In 2006, these trainings were offered 9 times at multiple locations statewide. The Agency will continue to hold at least one rental development roundtable discussion each summer. Status: The Agency carried out this function. The Agency will offer six trainings for tax- credit developers, and three trainings for developers using the Rental Production Program. Status: The Agency continued to hold these trainings at multiple locations around the state. The Agency will continue to conduct a Housing Developers’ Workshop Forum at the Agency’s annual Housing Forum. It will also offer sessions on several of its other programs, providing insight, instruction, and technical assistance to the attendees participating in those programs. Status: The Agency offered the Housing Developers’ Workshop at the 2006 Housing Forum, as well as sessions concerning tax- credit compliance, fair housing, and affordable mortgage programs. The Agency will be administering the Home Protection Pilot Program, in which a special appropriation of $ 700,000 by the General Assembly in 2005 will be used to strengthen housing counseling in selected counties, in addition to providing for households to prevent foreclosure due to job loss. Status: During 2006, the Agency continued to implement the North Carolina Home Protection Pilot Program and Loan Fund, which included providing technical assistance and support to housing counseling organizations providing ancillary housing counseling services as part of the pilot program. The Agency received an additional $ 1,500,000 in funding for the program while the number of target counties remained at 27. Instrumental to the program’s success and integral to the program’s expansion are the housing counseling and foreclosure prevention services provided by local non- profit organizations. The Agency continued to provide support by conducting not only technical trainings focusing on program implementation and administration, but also coordinated several local and regional meetings in targeted counties introducing housing counseling organizations to the network of agencies ( workforce development, employment security, training and educational) providing services to dislocated workers to develop a plan of action for marketing the pilot program and conducting outreach to dislocated workers. The Agency will develop a construction to permanent loan in partnership with Rural Development to increase affordable housing stock throughout the state. Status: The Rural Opportunity Mortgage program now utilizes construction- to- permanent financing. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 29 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Office of Economic Opportunity The Office will continue to provide staff to coordinate the annual conference on homelessness sponsored by the Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP). This conference provides training and technical assistance to approximately 400 representatives of homeless service providers across the state each year. Status: In 2006, the Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs assumed responsibility for the operation of the state’s annual conference on homelessness. The Homeless Policy Specialist of the Department of Health and Human Services, who serves as staff to the Council, was given the role of conference coordinator. The Office will provide training to all new, approved applicants for Emergency Shelter Grants ( ESG) Program funding in the spring of 2006. Status: OEO staff conducted a training session for 25 grantees on April 19, 2006 in Raleigh. Topics covered included proper completion of the ESG application; and, program monitoring and reporting requirements. Staff of the NC Housing Finance Agency provided the participants with information regarding the Supportive Housing Development Program; and, staff from the Office of the Controller, Department of Health and Human Services, discussed audit requirements and provided training on completion of monthly ESG reimbursement requests. The Office will continue to promote the coordination of housing repairs through local available resources for families receiving services under the North Carolina Weatherization Assistance Program and the Heating Air Repair and Replacement Program. Status: Energy reduction services provided by the Weatherization Assistance and Heating and Air Repair and Replacement Programs were coordinated in conjunction with housing improvement funded by local Community Development Block Grant, HOME and Urgent Repair projects. The Office will continue to support housing coordination activities of the Community Services Block Grant program recipients that serve as local Comprehensive Housing Development Organizations. Status: OEO funds were used by CHDOs to assist in the provision of case management and support services to families receiving housing services. AIDS Care Unit The Unit will provide technical assistance workshops, planning meetings, and one- on- one technical assistance to assist organizations with resource development, with compliance, and in other program areas. Status: ACU continues to provide technical assistance to agencies on an as- needed basis. The Unit will use and implement tools— such as program questionnaires for documenting information on statistics— to assist with improving communication with project sponsors, in order to clarify reporting expectations. Status: The Program questionnaire was revised in order to capture data for the new performance measurement tool established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Unit will continue to utilize technical assistance from the Supportive Housing Collaborative and from the HUD Project Officer to strengthen administration of North Carolinas HOPWA program. Status: In addition to technical assistance from the HUD Project Officer, we also received technical assistance from AIDS Housing of Washington and Collaborative Solutions. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 30 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Interagency Coordination and Collaboration Division of Community Assistance The Division will continue to work with other governmental and non- governmental groups such as the North Carolina Department of Labor, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, and the North Carolina IDA and Asset Building Collaborative to support and fund IDA and other savings programs in the state. Status: The Division continued strengthening interagency ties with various IDA programs. DCA staff served on a committee of state agencies and non- profits to create a best practices manual for IDA providers; and a staff member serves on the North Carolina IDA and Asset Building Collaborative Advisory Board. The Division will continue to engage other state agencies and federal allies in funding priority projects in 21st Century Communities. The counties of Burke, Hyde, Montgomery, and Sampson were selected in 2005 to be the third round of 21 st Century Communities, and will continue to receive assistance in 2006. Status: The Division continues to urge other state agencies and federal allies to fund priority projects located in 21 st Century Communities. Burke, Hyde, Montgomery, and Sampson counties were selected for the third round for the period 2005- 2007. If needed, the Division is prepared to react to severe economic crises such as plant closures and mass layoffs by coordinating economic recovery plans and implementing recovery activities. Status: The Division is prepared to provide local communities with economic recovery plans in the event of large plant closings and massive layoffs. The Division will initiate a round table discussion in late 2006 to determine the best use of CDGB funds for economic development in 2007. Status: DCA conducted three roundtable sessions – one each in September, October, and November 2006 – where community and economic development leaders provided input for design of the new 2007 Small Business and Entrepreneurial Assistance Grant Program. The Division will continue to serve on statewide housing policy boards such as the Housing Coordination and Policy Council. Status: The Division continues to serve on various housing boards. The Division will continue to collaborate with state and local agencies such as the North Carolina Redevelopment Center and local emergency management and housing agencies on disaster relief projects as they arise. Status: The Division continues to serve on various housing boards. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency will partner with Advanced Energy Corporation ( AEC) of Raleigh, North Carolina, to train and assist local partners under two home ownership programs. AEC’s services will include providing low- income homebuyers with two- year guarantees that their heating and cooling costs with not exceed a very low, set level ( as low as $ 18/ month). This broadens the windows of affordability and enhances marketing effectiveness. Status: The Agency continued to partner with AEC to train and assist local partners. The Agency will continue as a member of the Interagency Coordinating Council for Homeless Programs ( ICCHP). Status: The Agency continued to participate as a member, and it also continued its role in collaboratively planning the ICCHP Annual Homeless Conference. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 31 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 The State will continue its collaborative relationship with the Department of Labor by providing matching funds and second mortgages for participants in the Department of Labor’s IDA program. It will also broaden its support of IDA programs by developing partnerships statewide with other IDA programs. Status: The Agency continues to collaborate with the Department of Labor by providing matching funds and second mortgages in the IDA program. The Agency will continue to operate the Lead Abatement Partnership Program, responding to actual cases of lead- poisoned low- income children in owner- occupant situations. As cases are referred by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR), the Agency will locate and contract with local rehabilitation organizations to oversee lead abatement and comprehensive housing rehabilitation. Status: The NC Department of Energy and Natural Resources in partnership with the Agency received a Lead- Hazard grant. This grant will provide funds for the remediation of lead hazards in owner- occupied single- family dwelling units throughout the state. The Agency will continue to implement the Displacement Prevention Demonstration fund which allows the Independent Living Program and the Lead Hazard Control Branch to assist households facing displacement due to mobility limitations and lead paint poisoning, respectively. Status: In 2006, $ 676,000 in awards were made to assist 94 households in the Displacement Prevention Program. The Agency’s executive director, A. Robert Kucab, is a board member for Homes4NC, a new foundation created by the NC Realtors Association to support affordable housing initiatives. Status: A. Robert Kucab continued to serve on the board of Homes4NC. In 2006, the foundation donated over $ 60,000 to agencies across the state to assist low- to moderate- income families with their housing needs. Office of Economic Opportunity The Office will continue as an active member of the Housing Coordination and Policy Council. Status: OEO is an active member of the Housing Coordination and Policy Council. The Office will coordinate with the N. C. Housing Finance Agency to continue to promote the use of Urgent Repair program funds with weatherization services being performed through the N. C. Weatherization Assistance Program. Status: Weatherization Assistance Program contractors combined OEO funds with Urgent Repair Program funds when possible to increase the benefits of both programs. The Office will actively promote the coordination of local anti- poverty efforts of community action agencies with local, state, and national housing programs. Status: Community action agencies were encouraged to continue identifying opportunities for collaboration with local, state and national housing programs, i. e., HOME, CDBG, public housing, rural development and Section 8, etc. AIDS Care Unit The Unit will continue as an active participant on the Housing Coordination and Policy Council as well as the Inter- agency Council on Coordinating Homeless Programs. Status: ACU staff continued participating on the Housing Coordination and Policy Council and attended quarterly meetings of the Inter- agency Council on Coordinating Homeless Programs. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 32 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 The Unit will seek out opportunities to work with nonprofit organizations to provide services for those who are triply diagnosed ( HIV/ AIDS, mental illness and substance abuse issues). Status: ACU is in the early planning stages of implementing this objective using results from the HOPWA needs assessment. ACU staff serves on the Department of Health and Human Services Housing Workgroup collaborating with representatives from the mental health and substance abuse programs. The Unit will continue to collaborate with the other NC entitlement cities to ensure consistency among administration of the HOPWA Program. Status: ACU is collaborating with Wake County Human Services and the Regional HIV/ AIDS Consortium which administers HOPWA Programs in their respective MSA’s. Addressing Weaknesses in the Housing Delivery System During the past five years, the participating agencies have used human, financial and programmatic resources to increase available affordable housing stock for rent or purchase; fund community and economic development projects that created jobs and stimulated revitalization; as well as opportunities for business ownership; provide shelters and transitional housing; provide related services to homeless families and individuals, persons with HIV/ AIDS and their families and other special needs populations. Although every effort is made to improve the collective quality of life for the state’s most vulnerable populations, budget constraints sometimes limit the scope and extent of existing programs and hinder development and implementation of new ones. Each of the participating agencies has highlighted their individual efforts to address weaknesses in the housing delivery system. Division of Community Assistance Among its strengths, the Division credits its highly motivated professional staff. Additionally, it mentions the redesigned and new programs, which offer more local communities opportunities to participate. The Division currently operates a Capacity Building program that tries to increase nonprofit participation in the CDBG Program/ Process. The Division also considers its sponsorship of Housing Development training for nonprofits as a strength because it helps to increase their ability to develop better housing projects. Nevertheless, the current state budget conditions limit state support for the agency’s administrative budget; this presents a weakness in the Division’s ability to provide housing services. The Division continues to see training and professional development for staff as an opportunity to improve the delivery of services in 2006. Status: Several DCA staff have completed the state’s Certified Public Manager, CPM, program. “ The purpose of the PMP is to provide an in- depth, comprehensive training program for middle managers from state government agencies and university campuses. A graduate of the PMP is designated a Certified Public Manager…” ( Excerpted from www. osp. state. nc. us/ trancata/ pmp. htm < http:// www. osp. state. nc. us/ trancata/ pmp. htm>). Two DCA staff persons are currently enrolled in the program. DCA, in conjunction with the Institute of Government, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, sponsored the fourth annual Community Development Academy on February 15- 17 and March 15- 17, 2006. 34 participants completed the program including sixteen from local government: 9 from the Small Cities program and 7 from entitlement jurisdictions; ten from the nonprofit sector and 4 from consulting firms. The academy is an intensive five day overview of the concept and application of community development practices and the community development block grant program. The academy State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 33 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 offers hands on experience in and exposure to tools, policies and programs designed to strengthen communities. DCA also participated in a training session sponsored by the Council of State Community Development Agencies, COSCDA. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency has private activity volume cap sufficient to meet its 2006 homeownership goals. It offers a variety of loan products ( conventional, FHA, USDA, and VA) and has 90 and 150 day interest rate guarantees. The Agency is currently serving only approximately 70% of the state’s counties with its mortgage products, but intends to expand coverage by expanding third party originations, continuing to offer lender incentives to increase loan production in unserved areas of the state and offering a leveraged program in conjunction with USDA Rural Development. The Agency will also increase income and sales price limits and down payment assistance. Status: The Rural Opportunity Mortgage Program helped the HFA provide first- time home mortgages in approximately eighty- seven percent ( 87%), of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Income and sales price limits were approved by the HFA Board of Directors in 2006. The Agency will continue to provide application workshops and housing development workshops for organizations interested in developing supportive housing for individuals with special needs. Status: The Supportive Housing Development Program offered five regional application and housing development workshops for organizations interested in developing supportive housing for individuals with special needs in addition to making presentations at five state and local conferences sponsored by other housing related organizations. Staff also made over thirty consultation/ technical assistance site visits with potential applicants and partners, and participated in five community forums to gather consumer input for the design of the Agency’s new Housing 400 Initiative and market the initiative to potential developers of supportive housing. . One of the current weaknesses in the housing delivery system is an overtaxed housing counseling delivery system. Another is the lack of financial assistance for households who unexpectedly find themselves at risk of foreclosure. At the request of the General Assembly, the Agency is administering the Home Protection Pilot Program. This program will provide loans to assist homeowners in target regions who are at risk of foreclosure, and will strengthen the housing counseling delivery system in those areas. Status: The Agency continued to provide technical assistance and conduct workshops focused on program implementation and administration to housing counseling organizations. This effort was geared toward helping them train additions to the staff, assure growth in the knowledge of existing staff, and implement new changes to the Program. The Agency received $ 100,000 in 2006- 2007 to assist with reverse mortgage counseling for senior citizens. The Agency also facilitated new and follow- up introductions between current housing counseling professionals and networks of agencies. These introductions included workforce development, employment security, education and training services. The Agency continued to provide loans through the Home Protection Pilot Program. Office of Economic Opportunity The current reality facing a homeless individual or family in North Carolina is a fragmented system of various agencies and funding streams, each with their own points of access, eligibility and available resources. This fragmentation hampers the efforts of government and nonprofit agencies to improve homeless access to housing and mainstream health and human services. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 34 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Following the state’s participation in federal Homeless Policy Academies in 2003 and 2004, the NC Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP) formulated a state plan to end homelessness. This state- level action plan to end homelessness is seen as one way to ensure that homeless people have a more efficient and coordinated system to assist and support them in their efforts to transition from homelessness to stability. Status: The ICCHP has used funds granted by the Office of Economic Opportunity to provide technical assistance to communities across the state expressing an interest in developing a local ten year plan to end homelessness. As of October 2006, mayors and/ or county executives from twelve North Carolina communities have made commitments to developing local plans. These communities include Asheville/ Buncombe, Chapel Hill/ Hillsborough/ Carrboro/ Orange, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, Durham City/ Durham County, Fayetteville/ Cumberland, Greensboro/ High Point/ Guilford, Raleigh/ Wake, Winston- Salem/ Forsyth, Gastonia, Henderson, Shelby and Wilmington. ICCHP representatives provided these communities with technical assistance in the development of their plans in 2006 and continue to work with communities that have not yet made official planning commitments. Nonprofit agencies and local governments providing shelter and services to homeless people in the state have found it increasingly difficult to secure the funding needed to produce affordable housing for extremely low- income citizens; maintain existing homeless shelters; and to improve or, in some cases, establish homeless access to needed services. In the last two years, nonprofit organizations operating shelters and providing services for homeless persons have seen dramatic drops in donations from individuals, charitable organizations and local governments. At the same time, they have reported significant increases in the number of homeless individuals and families seeking shelter and services. The only program administered by the State specific to homeless persons ( and the only one funding supportive services and operating costs for homeless shelters) is the federally- funded Emergency Shelter Grants ( ESG) Program, administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Status: The Emergency Shelter Grants Program continues to be the only program specifically used to assist in the operation of homeless shelters. OEO continues to receive more and more inquiries regarding the ESG Program from interested organizations and units of local government operating facilities for the homeless. Additionally, ESG program grantees continue to report declining revenues and increased demand for their services. In 2006, efforts have been made to maximize mainstream benefits for homeless people, increase the number of permanent affordable housing units available and make the best use of existing affordable housing for homeless persons. In FY 2006 North Carolina was chosen to participate in the Federal Policy Academy’s SSI/ SSDI Access and Recovery ( SOAR) Initiative. In September, four representatives of the state’s Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP) are now able to train caseworkers in communities across the state on how to facilitate timely SSI/ SSDI approvals for homeless persons who are eligible. Caseworker training began in January of 2007. The Key Program, a creative partnership between ICCHP member agencies, the NC Housing Finance Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services, is one initiative that has been successful in meeting this need. Since FY 2003- 2004 the NC Housing Finance Agency has required Low Income Housing Tax Credit Developments to include a 10% set aside targeting households with disabilities at the SSI income level. The NC Housing Finance Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services combined resources to create an operating assistance fund linked to those units. Since its inception the Key Program has created 947 housing units targeted to people with disabilities at an SSI income level. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 35 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 In FY 2006- 07, the State budget expanded this effort by creating the 400 Initiative which will use $ 10.9 million appropriated to the NC Housing Trust Fund to ensure financing of 400 supported housing units. Another $ 1.2 million was appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services in operating subsidy funds. To help the homeless and those who are at- risk of becoming homeless, the NC Housing Finance Agency, with support from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Correction, has taken the lead agency role in creating NCHousingSearch. com. This online housing search tool will allow persons seeking housing to identify available and affordable housing units. The system will be used by agency staff to identify available units with landlords who are willing to rent to special populations, including ex- offenders, persons who are HIV positive, victims of domestic violence, or persons in recovery from substance abuse of mental illness. The project went live in October of 2006. In 2004 the ICCHP began facilitating a collaborative with a membership of homeless service communities’ compliance with HUD mandates relating to Homeless Management Information Systems ( HMIS). The HMIS system will begin active implementation by February 2005, increasing our state’s chances of accessing available federal dollars for housing and services for homeless person. Status: In FY 2005 the ICCHP provided $ 200,000 to support HMIS costs and in the same year North Carolina drew down over $ 15,000,000 in competitive federal funding for homeless programs. In FY 2006 the ICCHP provided $ 134,000 to support HMIS costs and in that year North Carolina drew down over $ 13,000,000 to support funding for homeless programs. The Balance of State HMIS project, the Carolina Homeless Information Network ( CHIN) went live in May of 2006. More than 100 agencies across the state have been trained and are beginning to enter data into that system. In 2004 the ICCHP provided intensive technical assistance to 12 counties that had never applied for Continuum of Care federal dollars targeting the homeless population. During the next year the ICCHP will extend that assistance, with an ultimate goal of accessing roughly $ 9 million dollars in communities that had previously not applied for those available annual funds. Status: The ICCHP has engaged in extensive technical assistance to communities applying for federal monies to assist them in serving their homeless populations. For two years the Council has implemented Peer- to- Peer Technical opportunities for approximately a dozen local Continuums of Care. The ICCHP has also provided direct technical assistance to eight rural Continuums of Care. As a result, North Carolina has accessed an average of almost 20% more in federal FY 2005 and FY 2005 than in FY 2003. In addition, the ICCHP facilitated the first Balance of State Continuum of Care, a 61 county collaboration that assisted rural North Carolina communities in applying for federal funds that had previously not been sought and, as a result, had been given to other states. In FY 2006 North Carolina drew down over $ 13,000,000 in competitive federal funding for homeless programs. AIDS Care Unit The Unit considers the experience of the HOPWA project sponsors to be a strength. However, the 7% cap on administrative costs covered by HOPWA is unworkable and too low, making it difficult for project sponsors to function without proper reimbursement for fulfilling increased administrative responsibilities and attending much needed training. As a way to overcome weaknesses in its housing delivery system the Unit’s review of internal processes recommended advocating for an increase to the 7% administrative cap in 2007, as opportunities become available. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 36 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Status: HUD HOPWA regulations have a seven percent ( 7%) administrative cap for all eligible activities. Legislative Initiatives Division of Community Assistance The Department of Commerce will advocate for stronger tools to attract investment, jobs and economic vitality to urban core areas. To this end, DCA is working with the state Economic Development Committee to define and help locate potential development hubs throughout the state and produce new strategies that will create regional economic influence radiating from the newly created hubs. Status: DCA created economic incentives packages increasing the amount of private investment and jobs in metropolitan areas. The Division of Community Assistance will work to expand the Main Street program. Status: The Main Street Program added four towns in 2006 – Clayton, Fuquay- Varina, Hickory and Wake Forest, bringing the total designated since 1980 to 57. Additionally the Small Town Main Street program added three communities – Ayden, Fairmont and Mount Giliad and their total designated is now 10. The 2006- 2007 state budget included funds for a new position, Small Town Main Street Coordinator for Western NC. In light of current and possible future cuts to federal spending for the CDBG program, DCA will educate legislators to the need for state financial support for community development initiatives in rural parts of North Carolina. Status: DCA staff took advantage of several opportunities, to educate legislators about the need for state financial support for community development initiatives in rural parts of North Carolina. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency plans to work to pass legislation to allow the same first- time homebuyer definition for all programs. Status: There was not an opportunity to pursue this issue in 2006. The Agency plans to work to increase appropriations to the Housing Trust Fund and federal HOME Program match. Status: Agency staff and partners continued its efforts to increase appropriations to the Housing Trust Fund and federal HOME Program match by communicating with the General Assembly and Governors’ Office. One of the Agency’s legislative initiatives is to develop and administer the Home Protection Pilot Program. This program, allocated special funding from the General Assembly, will strengthen housing counseling in selected counties and create a loan pool to help prevent foreclosures due to job loss. Status: The Agency continued to implement the Home Protection Pilot Program. In partnership with the North Carolina Justice Center and the North Carolina Housing Coalition, the Agency provided testimony to members of the General Assembly regarding the program's effectiveness, around the issue of foreclosures, and about the role of housing counseling. The Agency plans to request an additional funding allocation during the upcoming session of the North Carolina General Assembly. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 37 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Efforts to Reduce Lead- Based Paint Hazards Division of Community Assistance DCA will continue to encourage local units of government to be involved with lead- based paint removal programs. Furthermore, DCA will encourage local governments to work with agencies that are established primarily to mitigate lead-based paint conditions and provide for its removal, as well as address other environmental concerns. Status: The division held three workshops for contractors and rehabilitation specialists. One session focused on how to integrate the lead based paint risk assessment into the work write- up process. Workshops on lead- based paint issues were held at the Community Development Academy and at three scattered site housing sessions. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency All HOME- funded programs will continue to be in compliance with new U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lead regulations ( 25 CFR Part 35). Status: The Agency continued to comply with the lead regulations set forth by 25 CFR Part 35. The Agency will continue to participate in a quarterly, ad hoc lead hazards advisory group made up of concerned individuals from the Public Health, Environmental Protection, Affordable Housing, and Occupational Safety sectors. Status: Agency staff members continue to attend these quarterly meetings. The Agency will continue to operate the established Lead Abatement Partnership Program ( LAP) using HOME funds. Under LAP, the Agency has offered assistance to low- income owner-occupants with a lead poisoned child ( above 20 W g/ dL) for over six years. On average, about 6 cases are handled per year. Status: The Agency continues to operate the Lead Abatement Partnership. The Agency will continue to offer a new option under the LAP program. Using Housing Trust Fund funding set- aside through the Urgent Repair Program under the “ Displacement Prevention Demonstration”, the Agency will offer up to $ 5,000 per unit to LAP referrals whose situation may be more appropriately handled through Department of Energy and Natural Resources’s ( DENR’s) Preventative Maintenance Program. Funds are provided as grants to the homeowners to pay for cleanup and stabilization activities as prescribed by DENR’s regional lead specialists. Status: Funds continue to be available for LAP referrals. An additional $ 675,000 was awarded through the Displacement Prevention Program in 2006. The Agency will continue to count households with an elevated blood lead level ( greater than 10 W g/ dL) as an eligible special needs household under the regular Urgent Repair Program ( URP). All households that are URP beneficiaries must be special needs households. Local health officials can refer such cases to local URP recipient organizations for assistance with Preventative Maintenance Program activities. Status: Households with Elevated Blood Level ( EBL) children between 10 and 20 mg/ dl are not only eligible under URP; but specifically targeted under the Displacement Prevention Partnership. $ 2.1 million was awarded through the URP program in 2006, and approximately $ 675,000 was awarded through the DPP program. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 38 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Office of Economic Opportunity Lead safe weatherization training will be provided to subrecipient staff and subcontractors of the N. C. Weatherization Assistance Program to ensure the proper handling of situations involving lead hazards in dwellings receiving services. Status: Training on lead- safe work practices continues to be provided to crew members and contractors that perform work for the Weatherization Assistance Program. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 39 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 2006 CDBG PERFORMANCE REPORT Note: The Division of Community Assistance is finalizing completion of data for 2006 accomplishments received from CDBG grantees. The following is the listing of accomplishments based on to- date information. In 2006, much of the Community Development Block Grant program focused on two goals outlined in the Commerce Department’s strategic plan: Building Stronger Communities and Creating Jobs through Sustainable Economic Development. State resources were focused on stimulating development in rural communities and some urban areas, which have not experienced positive growth. The following is an assessment of strategic actions undertaken during the reporting period to address the state’s community development priorities. • The Division of Community Assistance ( DCA) and its partner the Commerce Finance Center ( CFC) continued to create jobs through sustainable economic development targeted to low- to-moderate income residents through a variety of programs. • DCA continued to address persistent poverty in rural communities and parts of urban areas of the state by putting emphasis on Tier 1 and Tier 2 Communities, local governments with State Development Zones or Urban Progress and State Agrarian Zones, and the 21 st Century Communities Initiative. • DCA continued high levels of funding in its core programs of Scattered Site Housing and Concentrated Needs, both of which greatly improve the physical living conditions of our state’s poorest residents. • DCA continued to advance the Governor’s Growth policies by incorporating sustainable development principles and policies into criteria for CDBG funding for Housing Development and other categories. CDBG Grants were awarded in the following categories in 2006: Community Revitalization ( includes Concentrated Needs and Revitalization Strategies), Scattered Site Housing, Infrastructure, Housing Development, Economic Development, Capacity Building, Individual Development Account, and Urgent Needs/ Contingencies. The following is a summary of the accomplishments by local governments made in 2006 and the number of grants awarded in 2006. Scattered Site Housing ( SSH) The Scattered Site Housing category enables local governments to address the most critical housing needs of very low- income families throughout a county. Funds may be used for the following housing activities: rehabilitation, relocation, and clearance. Accomplishments: Scattered Site Housing funds were distributed to communities in North Carolina, providing 186 LMI households with safe, decent, sanitary housing either through rehabilitation or relocation. In addition, 89 dilapidated homes were either cleared or improved through code enforcement measures, removing slum and blight from those neighborhoods. Awards: Thirty- two ( 32) Scattered Site grants were awarded in the 2006 program year. It is proposed that 285 households will either have their residential units rehabilitated or will be relocated to better housing. Community Revitalization The Community Revitalization category provides grants to local governments to strengthen neighborhoods and rehabilitate homes of low- to moderate- income citizens. Awards are made on a State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 40 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 competitive basis. In 2006, Community Revitalization grants were made in two sub- categories: Concentrated Needs and Revitalization Strategies. The Concentrated Needs ( CN) sub- category helps local governments address specific areas with concentrated needs ( six or more homes in a geographical area). Funds may be used for housing activities ( rehabilitation, relocation, acquisition, clearance, and disposition), water and/ or sewer installation or replacement, construction or upgrading of streets and drainage improvements. In 2006, communities were given greater flexibility to undertake alternative activities, such as construction of public facilities or housing counseling. Accomplishments: Concentrated Needs funds were distributed to communities in North Carolina, providing approximately 134 households with safe, decent, and sanitary housing primarily through rehabilitation or relocation. In addition, 31,660 linear feet of new water or sewer lines were placed to connect these households to safe, clean drinking water and/ or provide access to new public sanitary sewer lines. In addition, 84 dilapidated houses were cleared removing slum and blighting conditions from those neighborhoods. Awards: DCA awarded seventeen Concentrated Need grants in 2006. The selected local governments plan to provide services to 156 households, either rehabilitating or relocating the housing stock. In addition, the local governments plan to provide 54,278 linear feet of public water or sewer lines, and/ or streets and drainage facilities. The Revitalization Strategies ( RS) sub- category allows communities to address poverty in a more comprehensive manner and over a longer period of time than the Concentrated Needs Program. Eligible activities include any activities in the other state grant categories as well as activities eligible under HUD federal guidelines. Accomplishments: In 2006, the nine remaining Revitalization Strategies grantees received funds to improve communities throughout the state. Through this program, fifteen households were provided safe, decent, and sanitary housing through rehabilitation or relocation. In addition, 2,060 residents of these target communities are benefiting from the construction of neighborhood facilities or services such as a community center, employment incubator, down payment assistance or job training, and/ or some other beneficial projects in low- to- moderate income areas. In addition, 1,595 linear feet of new sanitary sewer line was placed to connect households to provide sanitary waste disposal to seven households Awards: In 2006, DCA continued to fund nine of the ten communities selected to receive RS grants in 2002. The remaining nine communities received $ 350,000 each for their 5th year of funding. This year, the selected local governments will improve the housing and suitable living conditions of 45 households through housing activities, physical infrastructure, and/ or other public services such as job training down payment assistance and financial literacy training, and building of community centers. Housing Development ( HD) The Housing Development grant category promotes new housing development for low- to- moderate income ( LMI) persons by defraying some of the costs of renovating older buildings or building subdivisions. Eligible uses of CDBG funds include installation of public infrastructure ( water, sewer streets, sidewalks and drainage on a case by case basis), the removal of hazardous material, acquisition of vacant land or vacant buildings by an eligible non- profit, and certain rehabilitation activities ( on a case by case basis). The objective of the HD category is to support projects that create additional units of affordable housing for LMI residents. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 41 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Accomplishments: Housing Development funds were distributed to communities in North Carolina to reduce the costs of new housing units for first- time homebuyer households. Awards: There were seven ( 7) HD awards made in 2006. The awards will provide 44 single family homes and 88 rental units. Infrastructure ( IF) The Infrastructure grant category enables local governments to provide new infrastructure ( public water and/ or public sewer) to existing residential neighborhoods to correct problems that pose a severe health or environmental risk or to improve existing infrastructure in existing residential neighborhoods. A sub-category, Infrastructure Hook- Up, connects LMI households that would otherwise be unable to afford the connection to existing water and/ or sewer lines ( not installed using CDBG funds). Accomplishments: Infrastructure funds were distributed to communities in North Carolina. Projects in this category installed 16,750 linear feet of new water and sanitary sewer lines. The Infrastructure Hook- Up program provided hook- up for 144 LMI households. Awards: In 2006, twelve ( 12) Infrastructure grants were made to local governments. Water and/ or sewer lines will be installed to provide sanitary conditions to 451 existing housing units. Three ( 3) Infrastructure Hook- Up grants were awarded to connect 144 LMI households to existing water or sewer lines. Economic Development ( ED) Accomplishments: Administered by the Commerce Finance Center ( CFC), CDBG- ED grants provided funding in 2006 to create or retain 1615 jobs, at least 974 of which were for low- to- moderate income residents. Awards: In 2006, the Commerce Finance Center awarded 27 Economic Development grants to local governments who, working with private companies, will create or retain jobs for low- to- moderate income residents in their communities. Capacity Building ( CB) The Capacity Building Grant Category is designed to encourage local governments to partner with an eligible local non- profit in developing future community development projects. The local unit of government serves as the grant applicant while the non- profit organization is the indirect recipient of funds. Ultimately, the capacity building grant is expected to result in a future CDBG application. Accomplishments: The Town of Mooresville, in conjunction with a local non- profit, submitted a Housing Development application in 2006 due in large part to the increased capacity created through the Capacity Building grant. Awards: In 2006, DCA awarded capacity building funds to three communities. Individual Development Account ( IDA) The IDA Program is designed to help local governments establish an IDA program in their community by promoting first- time home ownership. CDBG monies will match a participant’s ( enrolled in the local IDA program) savings dollar for dollar, up to a thousand dollars to be used for either down payment assistance or closing costs, as well as assist non- profits or local governments provide financial literacy State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 42 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 training, homebuyer education, housing counseling, and credit counseling to LMI residents seeking to purchase their first home. Accomplishments: There are ten ( 10) existing IDA grantees. They provided financial literacy and homeowner education, as well as down payment assistance, to 25 households that were able to purchase a home for the first time as a result of CDBG funds in combination with participants’ savings and local matching funds. Awards: Three new IDA grants were awarded in 2006 ( Davie County, Person County, and Vance County). It is proposed that 70 LMI households will purchase their first home through these programs. Urgent Needs ( UN) Accomplishments: Urgent Needs funds provide households with safe, decent, sanitary housing either through rehabilitation or relocation. In addition, the program provides access to safe drinking water through the installation of new water lines in drought ravaged areas of the state. Awards: There were no Urgent Needs projects funded in North Carolina in 2006. Technical Assistance In 2006, technical assistance priorities included: 1) increased technical assistance to local governments and their agents that furthers the goals and priorities of the CDBG program, 2) technical assistance to developing community development corporations, and 3) increased support for workshops, seminars, and training for grantees and staff. During the 2006 program year division staff presented at various workshops, conferences and other training opportunities in order to further reach out to community development professionals and provide technical assistance as often as necessary. In addition to one- on- one consultation with local governments, councils of government, and consultants, DCA staff members provided technical assistance to a number of non- profit and local government advocacy groups including the North Carolina Community Development Association, the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Community Action Agencies, the North Carolina League of Municipalities, and the North Carolina Housing Coalition. DCA continued its annual CDBG training academy in 2006, as part of the Community Development Academy offered by the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The purpose of this academy is to train community development professionals in best practices and to make them aware of all possible resources at their disposal as they attempt to better the living conditions and economic opportunity of their residents. One aspect of this training is the instruction by DCA staff on proper administration and development of CDBG grant programs. It is expected that the Community Development Academy will continue to provide instruction and technical assistance in 2006. DCA held CDBG workshops throughout the year that were attended by over 400 participants. These workshops covered topics such as implementation, financial management, environmental review and release of funds, performance measures, rehabilitation, relocation, grant writing, CDBG 101, and category specific application workshops for each program. The Division held three workshops for contractors and rehabilitation specialists. One session of the workshop focused on how they should integrate the lead based paint risk assessment into the work write-up process. Another session focused on the overall DCA grant monitoring process to help ensure that all grantee are aware of their responsibilities for CDBG grants. In addition, the Division’s Rehabilitation State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 43 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Specialist also met with local contractors and rehabilitation specialists on various occasions to discuss a number of lead- based paint issues. Lead based paint issues were also discussed during the Community Development Academy, a joint effort between DCA and the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Certification of Consistency In 2006, DCA certified 55 public housing authorities and other agencies seeking HUD funds as identified in the SuperNOFA. Compliance with URA/ Actions Taken to Avoid Displacement It is not the Division’s policy to encourage displacement of individuals. Local governments that utilize voluntary relocation activities must follow all of the requirements of the Uniform Relocation Act. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 44 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 ESG PERFORMANCE REPORT The North Carolina Emergency Shelter Grants ( ESG) Program is designed to improve the quality of existing emergency shelters, to help meet the costs of operating emergency shelters and transitional housing programs, and to provide essential services to homeless individuals and families with children so that they may improve their situations. The ESG Program is also intended to restrict the increase of homelessness through the provision of preventive programs and activities. The program is funded by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD) and administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity, N. C. Department of Health and Human Services. The State’s ESG program year coincides with the State’s fiscal year ( July 1 – June 30). Program Application Process In early January of 2006, pre- applications for FY 2006 ESG funding were distributed to all FY 2005 ESG grantees, all 100 county managers and other interested agencies, organizations and persons across the State. Program staff reviewed these pre- applications to determine the eligibility of the applicants in February of 2006. Eligible applicants included private, nonprofit organizations as described in section 501( c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1988 and units of local government that met the following criteria. • Has operated the emergency and/ or transitional shelter facility for which funding is requested for at least one year prior to the date of pre- application; • Operates the emergency and/ or transitional facility for which funds are requested for a minimum of six full months out of the year; • Operates a safe and sanitary facility which: - if a 24 hour or Night Only facility, has an average daily occupancy ( ADO) of at least six homeless persons per night; or - if a Day Only facility, has an APSD ( average number of persons served daily) of at least 30 persons per day; and, provides one or more of the essential services defined by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. • Has an established accounting system that provides for maintenance of ESG funds in accordance with OMB Circulars A- 110 and A- 122; • Has a voluntary board of directors of at least five members; • Has the ability to expend ESG funds within 365 days; • Has acceptable resources to match the ESG funding received; • Involves, to the maximum extent practicable, homeless persons in maintaining and operating facilities assisted under the ESG Program and in providing services for occupants for these facilities; and, • In the case of a private, nonprofit organization, has the written endorsement for the operation of the homeless facility for which funding is sought of the unit of local government in which the facility is located. This endorsement must be signed by an authorized official of the unit of local government ( mayor, county/ city/ town manager, officer of the county board of commissioners), must specifically state the name of the applicant organizations and the name of the facility for which funding is sought and must be on official letterhead of the authorized official signing. Eligible applicants were notified of their approved funding level and received full application packages in late March of 2006. A training session on the ESG Program and the completion of the application package was held for new ESG grantees and new staff of current grantees in mid- April of 2006. Program staff reviewed submitted applications in May of 2006. Contracts with applicants whose applications were approved were prepared, distributed for signature and finalized by June 30, 2006. The State’s FY 2006 ESG Program year began July 1, 2006. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 45 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 FY 2006 Program Funding North Carolina’s FY 2006 ESG allocation totaled $ 2,495,801. Of this amount, $ 2,371,011 was made available for distribution to 129 nonprofit organizations and three units of local government operating 140 facilities for the homeless in 53 counties of the state. The remaining $ 124,790 was used for program administration as allowed by program regulations. Funding amounts for individual approved grantees were determined by several factors including: a. The total number of eligible program applicants b. Th
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Title | North Carolina consolidated annual performance and evaluation report |
Date | 2007-03-28 |
Description | 2006 |
Digital Characteristics-A | 2.1 MB; 84 p. |
Digital Format | application/pdf |
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Full Text | State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 1 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 2006 North Carolina Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report Participating Agencies: North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Community Assistance North Carolina Housing Finance Agency North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Economic Opportunity North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, AIDS Care Unit State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 2 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 3 Summary of Housing Needs ........................................................................................................ 3 Table 1: North Carolina Housing Priorities Chart............................................................... 4 Summary of Resources .......................................................................................................................... 5 Table 2: Housing Resources by Funding Source and Administering Agency.................. 6 Distribution of Resources............................................................................................................. 8 Geographic Distribution of Resources ................................................................................................ 9 Map 1: 2006 Funding Distribution – All Programs ................................................... 9 Map 2: 2006 CDBG Funding Distribution .................................................................. 10 Map 3: 2006 HOME & ADDI Funding Distribution.................................................. 10 Map 4: 2006 ESG Funding Distribution ...................................................................... 11 Map 5: 2006 HOPWA Funding Distribution............................................................... 11 Households and Persons Assisted ......................................................................................................... 12 Racial and Ethnic Status of Households Assisted....................................................................... 12 Table 3: Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – CDBG & HOME Programs.............. .12 Table 4: Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – ESG & HOPWA Programs............... .12 Households Assisted According to Priority Need Category ....................................................... .1.3 Chart 1: HOME & ADDI Funding and Households Served in 2006.................................... .14 Summary Tables......................................................................................................................... .... 16 Table 5: Summary of Funding Distribution of the Four Core Programs............................. .16 Table 6: Federal Funding through the Four Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production, and Related Infrastructure .......................................................... 18 Actions Taken To Meet Housing and Service Related Objectives.................................................. 20 Actions Taken To Affirmatively Further Fair Housing .................................................................... 23 Other Actions Indicated in the Action Plan.......................................................................................... 25 Support of Anti- Poverty Strategies ............................................................................................ 25 Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Activities ......................................................... 27 Interagency Coordination and Collaboration ........................................................................... 30 Addressing Weaknesses in the Housing Delivery System ..................................................... 32 Legislative Initiatives ................................................................................................................... 36 Efforts to Reduce Lead- Based Paint Hazards .......................................................................... 37 CDBG Performance Report ................................................................................................................. 39 ESG Performance Report ..................................................................................................................... 44 Table 7: Persons Served by North Carolina ESG Grantees 48 HOME Performance Report ................................................................................................................ 49 Table 8: HOME Production, Summed by Program................................................................ 50 Table 9: NCHFA HOME Production by Priority .................................................................... .51 Table 10: Inspections of HOME- funded Units by Project ................................................... .65 Attachment 1: HOME Annual Performance Report ................................................................ 72 Attachment 2: HOME Match Report ......................................................................................... .74 HOPWA Performance Report ............................................................................................................. 75 Attachment 3: HOPWA Performance Chart 1 - Actual Performance................................ 80 Attachment 4: HOPWA Performance Chart 2 – Comparison to Planned Actions ............. .81 Public Participants................................................................................................................... .............. 82 State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 3 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2006 North Carolina Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report, CAPER, summarizes the accomplishments of four North Carolina Agencies, each of whom receives a formula grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD). The four agencies are: • North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Community Assistance; • North Carolina Housing Finance Agency; • North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Economic Opportunity; • North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, AIDS Care Unit These four agencies and their HUD- funded programs are working together to meet three goals for the good of North Carolinians. These three basic goals are: • Provision of decent and affordable housing; • Provision of a suitable living environment; and • Expansion of economic opportunity. Since 1999, the state has pursued a consolidated planning process that addresses the major housing and community development needs affecting North Carolina communities, determines priorities for addressing those needs, and lays out a strategy for using the resources available. Pursuant to the provisions of 24 CFR, Housing and Urban Development, Part 91, Performance Reports, the state has prepared the 2006 NC CAPER on its progress in implementation of the 2006 Annual Action Plan and the North Carolina Consolidated Action Plan, 2006- 2010. The CAPER is based in part on the 2006 Consolidated Annual Action Plan and the North Carolina Consolidated Action Plan, 2006- 2010. The four partnering entities received grants to provide housing and housing- related services; community and economic development assistance; and supportive services to low and moderate- income individuals and families; homeless individuals and families; and individuals with HIV/ AIDS and their families. This document details the resources received and the programs used to improve the lives, living conditions and education, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for North Carolina’s poorest citizens during the 2006 calendar year. Summary of Housing Needs Every five years, for the benefit of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, our partnering agencies, and the public, the State prepares a five- year housing strategy outlining North Carolina’s plans for meeting housing and community development needs. This cycle’s five- year strategy, called the North Carolina Consolidated Plan 2006- 2010, lays out the priority needs for North Carolina, which are based upon housing and population information captured from census data special tabulations, which yield the incidence of certain housing problems ( overcrowding, inadequate plumbing facilities, cost burden, etc.) among the population. The five- year plan also sets the framework from which each year’s annual action plan can be drawn. The Annual Action Plan further details how the State will accomplish its five- year goals during annual program cycles. The needs listed below are those identified through the Consolidated Plan process through quantitative data, qualitative data, and numerous public meetings with major stakeholders and citizens across the state. Because the State cannot possibly meet all of the housing needs with its limited resources, when State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 4 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 determining those priority needs it also considered strategic investment and the appropriateness of resources available to realistically meet the needs. Figure 1, the North Carolina Housing Priorities Chart, details the state’s housing priorities based upon the Housing Market Analysis and Needs Assessment performed as part of the 2006- 2010 Consolidated Plan. Table 1, North Carolina Housing Priorities Chart Homeless Persons Renters at 31- 50% Renters at 51- 80% Operating Costs for Homeless Providers Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Supportive Services Financing of New Construction Financing of New Construction Emergency Shelter Construction and Rehabilitation Homeowners at 31- 50% Homebuyers at 30- 80% in areas where Supportive Housing Comprehensive Rehabilitation needs are not met by the market Non- Homeless Persons w/ Special Needs** Refinancing Individual Development Accounts Rent Assistance First and Second Mortgages Supportive housing Downpayment Assistance Operating Assistance Financing of New Construction Supportive Services Homeowners at 51- 80% where needs are Renters at 0- 30% not met by market Rent Assistance Comprehensive Rehabilitation Homeless Prevention Refinancing Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Financing of New Construction Homeowners at 0- 30% Urgent Repair Comprehensive Rehabilitation Foreclosure Prevention Activities Homeless Persons Renters at 51- 60% Renters at 61- 80% Operating Costs for Homeless Providers Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Financing of new construction Supportive Services Financing of New Construction Financing of rental rehabilitation Emergency Shelter Construction and Rehabilitation Homeowners at 0- 50% Homebuyers at 30- 80% in areas where Supportive Housing Comprehensive Rehabilitation needs are not met by market Non- Homeless Persons w/ Special Needs** for the Non- elderly Individual Development Accounts Rent Assistance Replacement Housing First and Second Mortgages Supportive Housing Refinancing Downpayment Assistance Operating Assistance Residential Water/ Sewer Infrastructure Financing of New Construction Supportive Services Homeowners at 51- 80% Renters at 0- 50% Comprehensive Rehabilitation Rent Assistance Refinancing Homeless Prevention Residential water/ sewer infrastructure Financing of Rental Rehabilitation Financing of New Construction Homeowners at 0- 50% Urgent Repair Comprehensive Rehabilitation Replacement Housing Foreclosure Prevention Activities Residential Water/ Sewer Infrastructure ( when danger to public health ) ** Includes the following: Persons with Disabilities Low- income Elderly Persons Persons with HIV/ AIDS Rural High Medium Low Urban State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 5 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 SUMMARY OF RESOURCES In 2006, the State assisted approximately 18,000 households through four core programs, which funded the construction/ rehabilitation of housing units, and provided assistance for home- buyer initiatives, rental assistance, and housing- related and homeless services. These four programs are: The Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program ( CDBG) Funds help local governments improve deteriorating residential neighborhoods, support public services, install water and sewer facilities for residential areas or to job- creating industrial sites, and provide loans to large and small businesses. The North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Community Assistance administers CDBG funds for community development activities, while funds for economic development activities are administered by the North Carolina Commerce Finance Center. In 2006, North Carolina received $ 45,196,659 for the state’s Small Cities CDBG program. The HOME Investment Partnerships Program ( HOME) Funds help local governments, nonprofit organizations, and developers build or improve affordable housing and provide rental assistance and affordable second mortgages. HOME is administered by the N. C. Housing Finance Agency. This year the N. C. Housing Finance Agency received $ 19,098,280 in resources through the HOME program. The State’s General Assembly appropriated $ 1,750,945 in public, nonfederal funds to match the federal HOME funds. The American Dream Downpayment Initiative Program ( ADDI) Funds help low- income first- time homebuyers to purchase affordable homes. ADDI is administered by the N. C. Housing Finance Agency. The Agency received $ 338,860 in ADDI funds for Federal Fiscal Year 2006. The Emergency Shelter Grants Program ( ESG) Funds help local governments and nonprofit organizations support emergency shelters and transitional housing for the homeless, provide essential services, and prevent homelessness. ESG is administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity in the N. C. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2006 the State received $ 2,495,801 in resources through the ESG program. Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS Program ( HOPWA) Funds help local health departments, non- profit community based organizations, housing authorities, AIDS service organizations and other interested provider agencies meet the housing needs of persons living with AIDS or related diseases, and their families. The AIDS Care Unit in the Department of Health and Human Services administers the HOPWA Program. This year the State received $ 2,097,000 in resources through the HOPWA program. These funds, along with other private and nonfederal resources, were available in 2006 to address program goals, priority needs, and specific objectives described in the 2006 Annual Action Plan. The table below, Housing Resources by Funding Source and Administering Agency, summarizes the resources used in the state for affordable housing. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 6 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Table 2, Housing Resources by Funding Source and Administering Agency Name of Program Administering Agency Anticipated Funding for FY 06 ( in $ 000s) Actual Funding for FY 06 ( in $ 000s) Program Directly Administered? Not administered directly, funds are distributed to… Federal Funds CDBG ( 1) Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program Division of Community Assistance 26,606 24,360 No Units of local government in non-entitlement areas HOME & ADDI Down Payment Assistance Program NCHFA 653 260 No Private mortgage lenders HOME IDA Loan Pool Program NCHFA 777 1,560 No Nonprofit organizations and units of local government HOME New Homes Loan Pool Program NCHFA 2,849 5,088 No Nonprofit organizations and units of local government HOME Rural Opportunity Mortgage Program ( 3) NCHFA 5,179 13,302 No USDA HOME Rental Production Program NCHFA 5,179 7,935 Yes ` HOME Rental Preservation Loan Program ( 3) NCHFA 2,590 5,750 Yes HOME Self- Help Housing Program NCHFA 1,657 5,350 No Self- help housing organizations HOME Single- Family Rehabilitation Program NCHFA 4,143 6,900 No Units of local government, nonprofits and regional agencies HOME Supportive Housing Development Program NCHFA 1,036 3,363 Yes ESG*( 2) Emergency Shelter Grants Program Office of Economic Opportunity 2.425 FY 06- 07 2,495 No Nonprofit organizations and units of local government HOPWA* Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program AIDS Care Unit 2,097 2,097 No HIV Care Consortia, nonprofit organizations, adult day care providers, family care homes, and housing authorities Nonfederal Public Resources ( State Funds) HTF Rental Production Program NCHFA 4,500 4,515 Yes HTF Supportive Housing Development Program NCHFA 3,000 3,470 Yes HOME Match Key Program ( TBRA in partnership with DHHS) NCHFA 2,800 2,800 Yes HPPP Appropriation Home Protection Pilot Program NCHFA 700 1,435 Yes HTF and Other Agency Funds Urgent Repair Program NCHFA 2,500 2,123 No Units of local government, nonprofits and regional agencies State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 7 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Other Sources Housing Tax Credits*( 4) Federal and State Housing Credits NCHFA 149,940 149,940 Yes Mortgage Credit Certificate* Private Activity Volume Cap Allocation NCHFA 100,000 100,000 No Private mortgage lending institutions statewide Mortgage Revenue Bonds* Mortgage Loan Program NCHFA 237,500 195,000 No Private mortgage lending institutions statewide ( 1) The CDBG funds in this table and this report are only those funds designated strictly for housing activities; CDBG funds used in the economic development, infrastructure ( excluding hook- ups), urgent needs, and capacity building categories are not included. Total dollar amounts are also exclusive of administration and technical assistance costs. ( 2) Must be used for shelter operations, client services and homeless prevention ( 3) Includes 4% bonds. ( 4) Figure is equity generated, not credits allocated. * These programs have funding that must be used for a specific housing- related activity and/ or must be targeted for specific populations ( nondiscretionary funding). The other programs' funding may have income restrictions, but the types of housing activity and target population are not restricted ( discretionary funding). State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 8 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Distribution of Resources Each of the four participating agencies that comprise the CAPER receives funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Following is a brief discussion of the distribution of these resources for the 2006 program year. Division of Community Assistance Community Development Block Grant Program ( CDBG): Approximately $ 45 million was committed to the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program during 2006. Of that amount, approximately $ 24 million was allocated statewide for direct housing purposes; twenty- five percent, 25%, of these funds were awarded competitively and the remaining seventy- one percent, 71%, was distributed on a non- competitive basis. The remaining $ 19 million was designated for capacity building, economic development, infrastructure, administrative support, and other non- housing related activities. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency HOME Investment Partnerships Program ( HOME): In 2006, HFA invested HOME funds among four main activities: approximately $ 23.8 million, or 64% of the funding, was invested in homebuyer activities; approximately $ 9.7 million, or 27% of the funding, was invested in rental housing activities ( both production and preservation); $ 2.8 million, or 8% of the funding, was invested in rental assistance for disabled populations; and approximately $ 245,000, or 1% of the funding, was invested in homeowner rehabilitation activities. Although none of the supportive housing developments that had previously been awarded HOME funds were completed during 2006 ( so this report shows zero HOME investment in supportive housing), two supportive housing developments ( housing 15 people) funded with sources other than HOME were completed during the year. Office of Economic Opportunity Emergency Shelter Grants: A total of $ 2,371,011 of the State’s FY 2006 ESG allocation, or ninety- five percent, 95%, was awarded to 117 nonprofit organizations and three units of local government operating a total of 132 shelters for the homeless in 50 counties. The remaining $ 124,790, or five percent, 5%, was used for program administration. Eligibility for funding was determined through a pre- application review. Applicants meeting all program criteria were notified of their approved funding level and given a full application package. Grant agreements were executed in June and all program funds were disbursed. AIDS Care Unit Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program: The HOPWA program’s annual allocation can be used over a period of three years from the date of receipt. $ 62,910, or three percent, 3%, was set aside for grantee administration and $ 2,034,090, or ninety- seven percent, 97%, was awarded to 17 project sponsors through a continuation application process. These providers include family care homes, adult day/ health service centers, HIV Care Consortia, housing authorities and other nonprofit agencies that provide housing and related services to persons living with HIV/ AIDS and their families. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 9 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Geographic Distribution of Resources Each of the four programs has unique methods of geographic distribution. Funding for the Community Development Block Grant Program is directed to non- entitlement communities. Emergency Shelter Grant, HOPWA and HOME funds are distributed statewide. For the HOPWA program, the home county of the agency that received funds is shown on the map, even though that agency may serve multiple counties. It is not possible at this time to report the amount of HOPWA funds spent in each county that a multi- county agency serves. The following pages contain maps showing the actual distribution of funds for the CDBG, HOME & ADDI, ESG, and HOPWA programs during 2006. Table 3, 2006 Funding Distribution – All Programs, illustrates the amounts and locations of distributions. Map 1, 2006 Total Funding Distribution – All Programs State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 10 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Map 2, 2006 CDBG Funding Distribution Map 3, 2006 HOME & ADDI Funding Distribution State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 11 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Map 4, 2006 ESG Funding Distribution Map 5, 2006 HOPWA Funding Distribution State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 12 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 HOUSEHOLDS AND PERSONS ASSISTED Racial and Ethnic Status of Households Assisted Table 3, Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – CDBG and HOME Funded Projects, and Table 4, Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – ESG and HOPWA Funded Projects, indicate the racial and ethnic groups of assisted households. Improved reporting methods have minimized the number of households in the unknown category. Table 3, Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – CDBG and HOME Funded Projects Race/ Ethnic Group Number Assisted Percentage Assisted American Indian/ Alaska Native 43 < 1% Asian 5 < 1% Black/ African American 9,455 68% Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific Islander 11 < 1% White 4,237 30% American Indian/ Alaska Native and Black/ African American 15 < 1% American Indian/ Alaskan Native & White 5 < 1% Asian and White 0 < 1% Black/ African American and White 41 < 1% Other Multi- racial 132 2% Unknown race 13 < 1% CDBG & HOME Total 13,959 100% Hispanic 1 78 10% Nonhispanic 1 533 68.4% Unknown ethnicity 1 168 21.6% HOME Total* 779 100% * Data on Hispanic and Nonhispanic persons were unavailable for the CDBG program. CDBG data includes both households and persons assisted. Table 4, Racial and Ethnic Status of Households – ESG and HOPWA Funded Projects Percentage Assisted Race/ Ethnic Group ESG HOPWA Black/ African American 52% 77% White 38% 20% Asian 0.3% < 1% Native American 0.5% 1% Other 3.2% 1% Hispanic 1 6% unknown 1 Hispanics are considered an ethnic group and not a race. Beginning in 2006, HUD did not require collection of data for Hispanic populations. Data were unavailable for some programs. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 13 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Households Assisted According to Priority Need Category Division of Community Assistance DCA provides assistance for individuals and families through six major categories: • Community Revitalization: including Concentrated Needs and Revitalization Strategies; • Scattered Site Housing; • Infrastructure; • Housing Development; • Economic Development; and, • Urgent Needs/ Contingencies. DCA saw continued success of the CDBG program in assisting low- to- moderate income persons with housing and infrastructure improvements. DCA provided direct housing assistance to 719 households in 2006. Encapsulating all of DCA’s programs to include infrastructure, urgent needs, and other community development activities, a total of 8,825 households were provided assistance ranging from clean drinking water, improved public services, financial literacy training to help lift them out of poverty, employment possibilities that were non- existent prior to the business moving to where they lived, and access to medical and dental care that was previously unobtainable. The Scattered Site Housing program was able to target residents throughout the state and remain on target for funding levels. The success of the Scattered Site program is most likely due to grantees fully adjusting to the non- competitive, three- year cycle of the program. The first wave of Scattered Site grants to be awarded under this format was funded in 2001, and the 2006 grantees began their second wave of Scattered Site Housing grants through this distribution method. The success of this program indicates the ability of local governments to plan forward for funding and act accordingly. Actual accomplishments met goals laid out in the 2006 annual action plan in most categories. However, due to the rising costs of construction, it remains difficult for DCA and its grantees to continue to provide necessary services at past funding levels. The one category that did not perform at expected levels was the Infrastructure Hook- Up category, which provides funds to assist low- to- moderate income homeowners hook- up to existing water and/ or sewer lines. Demand for this category was down from previous years, and for that reason both funding and households assisted were below expected levels. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The NCHFA invests HOME and HOME Match funds in homebuyer assistance, rental production, rental rehabilitation, rehabilitation of owner- occupied housing, development of supportive housing for persons with disabilities and homeless people, and rental assistance for people with disabilities. Overall, 17% of the Agency’s total 2006 HOME investment and 19% of the units were for high- priority activity, 14% of the investment and 24% of the units were for medium- priority activity, and 69% of the investment and 57% of the units were for low- priority activity. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 14 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Chart 1, HOME & ADDI Funding and Households Served in 2006 HOME & ADDIT Funding ( in thousands) and Households Assisted in 2 006, by Priority Category 6,324 293 5,088 377 25,130 909 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Investment Households High priority Medium priority Low priority Table 6 compares projected 2006 investment and units to units placed in service during 2006 and their investment. For HOME- funded programs, the projections for 2006 were one- fifth of the HOME investment and HOME- financed units projected for the 5- year period covered by the 2006- 2010 Strategic Consolidated Plan. In the Supportive Housing Development Program, the Single Family Rehabilitation Program, and the Preservation Loan Program the actual number of units placed in service in 2006 and their investment was much less than one- fifth of the activity projected in the 2006- 2010 Strategic Consolidated Plan. This difference can primarily be explained by the amount of time it takes a project to move from the financing stage to the completion stage, often as long as two to three years; a project financed in 2004 may not be completed and placed in service until 2007. Under the Single Family Rehabilitation program the Agency made no awards during 2003 and very few awards in 2004; the units placed in service in 2006 were the first units of the 2004 and 2005 awards ( as would be expected, given the lag between when awards are made and when construction on individual units is completed). The Preservation Loan Pool program is a brand new program; the first awards were made in fall of 2005. Because of the time it takes for construction to be completed, the Agency expects the first projects to be completed during 2007. In addition to the development time between award and project completion, the Supportive Housing Development Program also faces the problem of providing supportive services. Few of the applicants to this program have the capacity to adhere to HUD regulations, resulting in fewer HOME- funded Supportive Housing projects. Despite these difficulties, two developments ( not reported in the CAPER tables because they were not funded with HOME) were placed in service in 2006, providing 15 supportive housing units. The Agency invested noticeably more in the Rental Production Program than 1/ 5 of the 5- year plan forecasts. This is due to the variability in development time among projects, even projects awarded at the same time. Certain years more HOME- funded projects are completed than were awarded 2 years prior, and other years fewer are completed. The figures in this report are of HOME- funded projects completed during 2006, not projects which were awarded HOME in 2006. Overall the Agency invested more in homebuyer assistance programs than the forecasted 1/ 5 of the 5- year plan figures. Less HOME was invested in the Downpayment Assistance Program ( the Agency’s $ 7,000 subordinate financing program) than the Agency had forecasted; the Agency was forced to decrease HOME funds for this program because of HUD’s stricter regulations regarding HOME for the purchase of existing homes. This decision was made because of HUD’s requirement that HQS inspections be carried out for all non- new homes assisted with HOME funds, which made using HOME for downpayment assistance on existing construction infeasible. In contrast, the Rural Opportunities State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 15 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Mortgage program, which is a first- mortgage program in which the Agency partners with USDA to assist homebuyers in rural areas, produced more than 1/ 5 of the forecast in the 2006- 2010 Consolidated Plan. The other homebuyer assistance program performed approximately as expected. Although all homebuyer assistance activity is low priority according to the 2006- 2010 Strategic Consolidated Plan, the Agency is pleased to be serving households with very modest incomes; the average household income in the units funded with HOME in 2006 was approximately $ 28,000. The Agency has discovered, while HOME is useful for funding homeownership, that it is very difficult to use HOME funds to serve the highest-priority end of the housing spectrum; it is thankful to have state funding to serve these high- priority populations. Office of Economic Opportunity Approximately 45,000 homeless families and individuals sought assistance from 132 homeless shelter facilities in 50 counties. Eighty- six percent of FY 2006 ESG funding was used to pay operating expenses, i. e., rent, utilities, supplies/ materials, equipment and administrative costs. Five percent ( 5%) of the funding was used to provide essential services such as counseling, transportation, health care, housing referral, employment and/ or education services. Four percent ( 4%) was used to provide homeless prevention services that include short- term subsidies to defray rent and utility arrearages, security deposits or first month’s rent payments. The remaining five percent of FY 2006 ESG funding was used for program administrative costs incurred by the Office of Economic Opportunity. AIDS Care Unit The HOPWA Program assisted 2,662 persons living with HIV/ AIDS and their families through the following programs: • Tenant- based rental assistance program; • Short- term rent mortgage and utility program; • Supportive service; • Resource identification; • Housing information; and • Adult day care facilities and family care homes. The 2004 statewide HOPWA needs assessment indicated the need to increase permanent supportive housing; consequently, short term rent, mortgage and utility payments decreased from 65% to 35% in FY 2006. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 16 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Summary Tables Table 5, Summary of Funding Distribution of the Four Core Programs, depicts how the state met its priorities in comparison with the anticipated funding distribution contained in the 2006 Consolidated Annual Action Plan. The state spent forty- four percent ( 44%) of its funding on high priority needs; fourteen percent ( 13%) on medium priority needs; and forty- two percent ( 43%) on low priority needs. Table 5, Summary of Funding Distribution of the Four Core Programs High Priorities Medium Priorities Low Priorities Amount Percent Amount Percent Amount Percent Anticipated $ 32,922,000 59% $ 11,304,000 20% $ 12,066,000 21% Actual $ 27,454,000 44% $ 8,387,000 13% $ 26,672,000 43% Table 6, Federal Funding through the Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production and Related Infrastructure, indicates how the four core programs were used. The table shows the funding amounts ( in thousands of dollars) allocated for each priority need category ( low, medium, high) and shows the number of households and individuals assisted. In reviewing the table, it is important to recognize that the state considered strategic investment of its limited resources through its programs, as well as the appropriateness of the resources available to address the priority need categories. CDBG and HOME funds were used primarily to produce or rehabilitate housing, provide homebuyer assistance, and develop infrastructure required for housing development. ESG funds were used to provide shelter, essential services and homeless prevention activities to homeless individuals and households. HOPWA funds were used to assist households and individuals with housing related services in both short and long- term tenant- based rent assistance. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 17 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Table 6 - Federal Funding through the Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production, and Related Infrastructure – High Priority Needs Priority Agency Funding Source Program Activity Anticipated Funding in $ 000s Actual Funding in $ 000s Anticipated Households Assisted Actual Households Assisted High Priority Needs DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 50 $ 0 3 0 NCHFA HOME Supportive Housing Development Program* New Construction $ 518 $ 0 26 0 OEO ESG ESG Support Funding for Homeless Service Providers** $ 2,494 $ 2,496 6,000 households and 30,000 individuals 4,463 households and 30,578 individuals DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 651 $ 194 14 3 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 162 $ 189 8 14 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 85 $ 0 28 0 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 110 $ 36 2 1 DCA CDBG Scattered Sites Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 1,128 $ 305 25 6 NCHFA HOME & Match Supportive Housing Development Program* New Construction $ 518 $ 0 26 0 ACU HOPWA HOPWA Rent Assistance*** $ 1,135 $ 1,280 1,419 1,735 ACU HOPWA HOPWA Housing- Related Services**** $ 560 $ 817 3,000 117 DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 1,627 $ 1,412 36 24 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 495 $ 169 83 40 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 212 $ 15 71 5 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 275 $ 75 6 2 NCHFA HOME Match Preservation Loan Program Rehabilitation $ 1,295 $ 0 633 0 NCHFA HOME Rental Production Program New Construction, Rehab***** $ 2,020 $ 3,349 125 202 NCHFA HOME & Match Key Program Tenant Based Rental Assistance****** $ 2,800 $ 2,800 125 85 DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 1,953 $ 4,401 43 192 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 255 $ 37 85 31 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 6,430 $ 200 143 20 DCA CDBG Scattered Sites Rehabilitation, Replacement, Urgent Repair $ 5,414 $ 9,504 120 275 NCHFA HOME & Match Single Family RehabProgram Rehabilitation $ 2,735 $ 175 68 6 Total High Priority $ 32,922 $ 27,454 6,089 2,758 ** Funding to assist with operating costs of homeless shelters, provision of services to homeless clients and homeless prevention activities. *** For HOPWA, " rent assistance" inlcudes short term rent, mortgage, and utility payments ( STRMU) as well as tenant- based rent assistance ( TBRA). **** Includes housing information, resource identification, supportive services, and operating expenses for dedicated housing facilities. ****** These are the 2006 awards to be disbursed monthly over the next 10 years. Assist Homeless Families and Individuals Assist Rural Renters Earning 0- 50% of Median Family Income and Urban Renters Earning 0- 30% of Median Family Income * Although NCHFA place 2 Supportive Housing projects into service in 2006, they were funded with sources other HOME. Assist Rural Elderly Homeowners Earning 0- 50% of Median Family Income and Urban Homeowners Earning 0- 30% of Median Family Income Assist Non- Homeless Persons with Special Needs ***** A portion of these units will serve homeless households. The Agency has no way of forecasting how many of these households will be homeless. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 18 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Table 6 ( Continued) - Federal Funding through the Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production, and Related Infrastructure – Medium Priority Needs Priority Agency Funding Source Program Activity Anticipated Funding in $ 000s Actual Funding in $ 000s Anticipated Households Assisted Actual Households Assisted Medium Priority Needs DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 977 $ 149 22 2 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 297 $ 0 50 0 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 128 $ 0 43 0 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 165 $ 0 4 0 NCHFA HOME Match Preservation Loan Program Rehabilitation $ 1,295 $ 0 633 0 NCHFA HOME Rental Production Program New Construction, Rehabilitation $ 2,331 $ 5,018 144 375 DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 977 $ 1,284 22 33 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 128 $ 90 43 38 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 165 $ 222 4 4 DCA CDBG Scattered Sites Rehabilitation, Replacement, Urgent Repair $ 3,722 $ 1,554 83 20 NCHFA HOME & Match Single Family RehabProgram Rehabilitation $ 1,119 $ 70 28 2 Total Medium Priority $ 11,304 $ 8,387 1,076 474 Assist Rural Non- Elderly Homeowners Earning 0- 50% of Median Family Income and Urban Homeowners Earning 31- 50% of Median Family Income Assist Rural Renters Earning 51- 60% of Median Family Income and Urban Renters Earning 31- 50% of Median Family Income State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 19 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Table 6 ( Continued) - Federal Funding through the Core Programs – Housing Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Production, and Related Infrastructure – Low Priority Needs Priority Agency Funding Source Program Activity Anticipated Funding in $ 000s Actual Funding in $ 000s Anticipated Households Assisted Actual Households Assisted Low Priority Needs DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 130 $ 299 3 5 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 50 $ 0 8 0 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 17 $ 0 6 0 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 22 $ 0 1 0 NCHFA HOME Rental ProductionProgram New Construction, Rehabilitation $ 829 $ 1,319 51 131 DCA CDBG Concentrated Needs Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 195 $ 426 4 13 DCA CDBG Infrastructure Utility Hook- Up $ 26 $ 7 9 10 DCA CDBG Revitalization Strategies Rehabilitation, Replacement $ 33 $ 548 1 8 NCHFA HOME & Match Single Family Rehab Rehabilitation $ 290 $ 0 7 0 DCA CDBG Housing Development Related Infrastructure $ 567 $ 240 32 11 DCA CDBG Individual Development Account Downpayment Assistance $ 160 $ 22 80 22 NCHFA HOME & ADDI Downpayment Assistance Program Homebuyer Assistance $ 5,179 $ 455 104 68 NCHFA HOME IDA Loan Pool Homebuyer Assistance $ 653 $ 1,269 93 67 NCHFA HOME New Homes Loan Pool Homebuyer Assistance $ 777 $ 4,086 40 184 NCHFA HOME Rural Opportunities Mortgage Program Homebuyer Assistance $ 290 $ 13,451 7 273 NCHFA HOME Self Help Pool Homebuyer Assistance $ 2,849 $ 4,550 142 186 Total Low Priority $ 12,066 $ 26,672 588 978 TOTAL FEDERAL FUNDING $ 56,292 $ 62,513 7,753 4,210 Assist Rural Homeowners Earning 51- 80% of Median Family Income and Urban Homeowners Earning 51- 80% of Median Family Income where needs are not met by the market Assist Rural Renters Earning 61- 80% of Median Family Income and Urban Renters Earning 51- 80% of Median Family Income Assist Homebuyers Earning 30- 80% of Median Family Income where needs are not met by the market State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 20 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 ACTIONS TAKEN TO MEET HOUSING AND SERVICE RELATED OBJECTIVES IN 2006 The 2006 North Carolina Consolidated Plan outlined housing and service- related objectives for each of the participating agencies. Following is a list of those objectives for each agency, the actions taken during the 2006 program year, and their status. Division of Community Assistance To target investments toward distressed rural areas and high priority small cities through the Commerce Department’s 21st Century Communities Initiative, State Development Zones, Tier 1 & Tier 2 counties, and support the EDA-funded Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies ( CEDS). Status: A third round of 21 st Century Communities was announced in 2005 for the 2005– 2007 period. These latest 21 st Century Communities are Burke, Hyde, Montgomery, and Sampson counties. Special emphasis was continued for round one and two 21 st Century Communities, for which continuing need was deemed necessary, applying for CDBG program funds. In the Infrastructure category, however, only those communities in the second round of the 21 st Century Communities program and not funded in the Infrastructure category in 2005 were eligible in 2006. In support of this initiative, one half of the funds allocated for the Infrastructure Program in 2006 were set- aside for 21 st Century Communities. In addition, in the Economic Development Category, additional per job funding was available for local governments participating the 21st Century Communities program and for projects locating in State Development Zones or Urban Progress and State Agrarian Zones. Within the Housing Development category in 2006, preference was given for rental housing developments that were: ( 1) within local governments from Tier 1 or Tier 2 counties, ( 2) projects in State Development Zones or Urban Progress and State Agrarian Zones, which are consistent with local strategies for improving the zone, and ( 3) local governments in 21 st Century counties. The Revitalization Strategies category was continued in 2006. During its fifth year of funding in 2006, the Revitalization Strategies program allowed for a holistic approach to community and economic development by enabling local governments to address multiple needs in high poverty areas. This category provides flexible multi- year funding to help alleviate poverty and carry out a long- term, sustainable revitalization strategy in selected target neighborhoods. Activities such as housing and self- sufficiency counseling, job training, and downpayment assistance helped residents of target areas pull themselves out of poverty. Revitalization Strategies communities are required to be located in a Tier 1 or 2 county or a State Development Zone. To support development of soundly designed affordable rental and single- family housing in appropriate settings. Status: In 2006, DCA continued to use smart growth guidelines in the Housing Development Category. These guidelines are designed to stimulate high quality, sustainable development in LMI neighborhoods throughout the state. The guidelines incorporate sound development practices while balancing environmental protection with the economic needs of builders and future homeowners. To receive housing development funds subdivisions had to meet the following minimum requirements: ( 1) be connected to public water and sewer, ( 2) be located in State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 21 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 or near an existing community, ( 3) have streets that met NCDOT standards and connected to public streets, ( 4) all cul- de- sacs had to be less than sixteen lots, ( 5) have a 30- foot buffer on each side of all perennial streams, and ( 6) include some open space in the development. To emphasize smart growth principles in CDBG program categories. Priority for funding will be given to projects that demonstrate design excellence, infill development, and more intense use of existing buildings in downtowns and nearby older neighborhoods. Status: The Division continues to support proper new affordable rental and single- family housing through its Housing Development category. This increase in the stock of sound affordable housing improves the lives of hundreds of LMI residents across the state. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency To operate home ownership programs: - Close 2,200 MRB loans and 250 MCC assisted loans - Close 104 Rural Opportunity Mortgage ( ROM) loans in conjunction with USDA’s 502 direct program. - Close 142 loans under the New Homes Program, 83 loans under the Self- Help Housing Program, and 40 loans under the IDA partnerships - Rehabilitate 103 homes under the Single Family Rehab Program and 600 homes under the Urgent Repair Program Status: The Agency assisted 2,173 households through its MRB program and 44 households through its MCC program in 2006. 273 households in rural areas were assisted through the ROM program. The Agency financed 177 homes under the New Homes Loan Pool, 188 under the Self- Help Loan Pool, and 80 under the IDA Program. The Agency provided nearly $ 7.9 million in financing through the Single- Family Rehabilitation Program during the 2006 calendar to assist approximately 185 homeowners. The Agency provided $ 2.1 million in financing to assist approximately 635 homeowners under the Urgent Repair Program. To operate rental production programs: - Allocate the state's $ 15 million federal Housing Credit volume cap - Loan $ 9.6 million under the Rental Production Program - Continue the refundable state Housing Credit - Finance 10 projects with the capacity to serve approximately 200 individuals under the Supportive Housing Program Status: The Agency awarded tax credits to provide $ 144 million in federal tax credit equity and $ 26 million in investment from state tax credits, for projects that will assist 2,354 households. The Agency awarded $ 10.8 million in Rental Production Program loans in 2006, to assist in the production of 780 units. The Agency awarded $ 6.2 million to nonprofit service providers through the Supportive Housing Development Program to help create 291 total units ( in 12 different projects) of housing for individuals with special needs. Office of Economic Opportunity To ensure the provision of emergency and/ or transitional housing, essential services, and/ or homeless prevention services to approximately 30,000 homeless individuals and 6,000 homeless families. It is anticipated that over 100 nonprofit organizations and three units of local government operating over 130 emergency and/ or transitional facilities in 50 to 55 of the state’s 100 counties will be funded in FY 2006. Status: FY 2006 State ESG funding was distributed to 129 non- profit organizations and three units of local government in 50 counties. These facilities provided shelter and/ or services to approximately 31,000 homeless single individuals and 14,000 members of homeless families. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 22 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 To successfully coordinate the 2006 North Carolina Conference on Homelessness which will provide opportunities for homeless service providers to receive training and technical assistance. Status: The Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP) assumed responsibility for the operation of the state’s annual Conference on Homelessness in January of 2006. Due to scheduling conflicts, the Council decided not to have a conference in 2006, but to schedule a conference for April of 2007. To continue its involvement with the North Carolina Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP). Status: In 2006 OEO continued its participation in activities of the ICCHP by serving as a member agency of the Council. To work with the ICCHP to implement strategies and policies outlined in the state’s ten- year plan to end homelessness in North Carolina. Status: As a member agency of the ICCHP, OEO provided input into the implementation of strategies and policies developed by the Council. AIDS Care Unit To provide additional resources and research on funding opportunities for project sponsors through regularly scheduled HOPWA planning meetings. Status: The Housing Coordinator for the state presented at a HOPWA Project Sponsor meeting and informed the projects of other housing programs and possible funding. To review internal processes for making funding decisions and planning new initiatives. Status: This activity is ongoing. FY 2006 funds were used to help rehabilitate a family care home. To hold training workshops on current trends in HIV housing. Status: HOPWA Project sponsors attended a meeting on the new performance measurement tool and how to utilize this tool. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 23 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 ACTIONS TAKEN TO AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHER FAIR HOUSING Each of the four agencies undertook actions to further fair housing Fair Housing Activities The Division of Community Assistance contracted with the North Carolina Fair Housing Center to analyze impediments to fair housing choice in North Carolina as part of the 2006- 2010 Consolidated Plan. The four partnering agencies agree to promote fair housing, housing choice and equal opportunities through the programs they administer. Division of Community Assistance The Division will continue to implement various strategies, chief of which is to increase local activities that identify and reduce barriers to fair and affordable housing in all localities receiving Community Development Block Grant Program funding. Status: DCA continues to monitor grantees on compliance with fair housing laws and updated its Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing for 2006- 2010. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency will continue to ( 1) distribute its Elderly Housing Rights and Consumer Protection Program information brochures, ( 2) provide Fair Housing training in conjunction with its Housing Credit Program Compliance and Service Coordinator workshops, and ( 3) publish Spanish translations of its MRB and MCC Program information. Status: The Agency continued all of these activities in 2006. The Agency has continued to distribute its Elderly Housing Rights and Consumer Protection Program information brochures through its partners including housing counseling, legal services, area agencies on aging and advocate organizations as well as individuals. HFA continued to provide Fair Housing training as a part of its RPP Training and Tax- Credit Training, which were held nine times in 2006. The Agency also continued to make available the Fair Housing for Tenants with Disabilities: Understanding Reasonable Accommodations and Reasonable Modifications guide. In 2006, NCHFA unveiled a Spanish language version of its website, on which translations of MRB and MCC program brochures, as well as information about other Agency activities, were made available to the Spanish- speaking population. All developers of affordable rental housing financed by the Agency are required to develop and implement Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plans, which are reviewed by the Agency for effectiveness and proper implementation. Projects receiving HOME loans must certify that they have developed and adopted affirmative marketing procedures for HOME- assisted housing containing five or more units. Status: The Agency successfully carried out this function. The Agency will publicize the availability of its updated guide published in October 2005, Fair Housing for Tenants with Disabilities: Understanding Reasonable Accommodations and Reasonable Modifications. The Guide will also be included in the Agency’s annual training for LIHTC rental property managers. Status: The Agency continues to make this guide available on its website. In addition, our partners in this effort, the NC Justice Center and NC Department of Health and Human Services, have conducted a series of Fair Housing trainings across the state. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 24 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 The Agency will solicit voluntary agreements with two more lenders in 2006 to work together with the Agency in ensuring that every first- time home buyer in North Carolina is informed about the Agency’s loan programs during the loan application process. Status: The Agency did not pursue any additional voluntary agreements with lenders in 2006, and is not actively soliciting agreements at this time. The Agency will process preliminary eligibility analysis to reach 250 prospective homebuyers in unserved areas of the state. Renters will complete a worksheet and the Agency will assess the renters’ eligibility for a mortgage and make a referral to a lender. Status: The Agency processed 729 preliminary eligibility analysis requests in our effort to better serve prospective homebuyers in unserved areas of the state. Renters completed a worksheet to determine their readiness to become a homebuyer. The Agency will work more closely with partners to educate homebuyers, increase the supply of affordable housing, provide assistance with downpayment and closing costs and offer financial options to support HUD’s “ Blueprint for the American Dream”. Status: The Agency developed a continuing education course for loan officers in conjunction with NC Banking Commission. The NC Association of Realtors created Homes4NC in 2004 to promote safe, decent and affordable housing, and the Agency’s executive director continues to serve on the board. The Agency, in partnership with USDA- Rural Development, will offer 200 leveraged loans to serve low- income households in rural North Carolina through its Rural Opportunity Mortgage program. Status: The Agency awarded nearly 13.5 million dollars in leveraged loans in 2006 to serve approximately 270 low- income households. The Agency chairs the Housing Coordination and Policy Council, which is pursuing an effort to evaluate local zoning barriers to affordable housing. Status: The Agency continued to chair the HCPC council, with discussion of policy concerns and recommendations to the Governor. The HCPC chose not to pursue an evaluation of local zoning barriers in 2006. AIDS Care Unit The Unit will continue to expand the Tenant Based Rental Assistance program, which is designed to increase housing choice for low- income persons with AIDS and their families. Status: ACU currently funds four agencies that exclusively provide tenant- based rental assistance. A Fair Housing pamphlet, sample letter for reasonable accommodations and other fair housing topics were discussed at the annual HOPWA Project Sponsors meeting. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 25 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 OTHER ACTIONS INDICATED IN THE 2006 ACTION PLAN Each of the four state agencies undertook additional actions to further the housing and support services goals of their organizations in the following areas: • Anti- Poverty Strategies; • Capacity Building and Technical Assistance; • Coordination and Collaboration; • Housing Delivery Systems; • Legislative and Public Policy Initiatives; and • Lead- Based Paint Hazard Reduction. Following are the agencies’ 2006 Annual Action Plan objectives and status summaries. Support of Anti- Poverty Strategies Division of Community Assistance DCA continues to utilize Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Funds for use in establishing or continuing Individual Development Account ( IDA) programs throughout the state. IDAs are dedicated savings accounts that can only be used for purchasing a first home, education or job training expenses, or capitalizing a small business. In DCA’s program, funding is exclusively for home ownership. Only residents that are members of households below 80 percent of MHI are eligible to participate. In partnership with local governments, IDAs are managed by community organizations and accounts are held at local financial institutions. Participants are introduced into the mainstream financial system, provided credit counseling and homebuyer and financial literacy, and receive match money for down payment assistance upon successful completion of the program. Status: DCA allocated funding from its housing development category for three new IDA programs. Continuing decline and disinvestment in many neighborhoods that spills over into surrounding areas point to a need for different approaches to rebuilding communities. Many communities riddled with poverty require a comprehensive approach to address their needs, one that allows for flexible funding and activities that cut across traditional DCA programs. Entering its fifth and final year of funding in 2006, the Revitalization Strategies program allows for a holistic approach to community and economic development enabling local governments to address multiple needs in high poverty areas. This category provides flexible multi- year funding to help alleviate poverty and carry out a long- term, sustainable revitalization strategy in selected target neighborhoods. The communities receiving funds for another year of activities in 2006 are Brevard, Caldwell County, Elizabeth City, Hamlet, Hyde County, Roanoke Rapids, Sanford, Whiteville, and Wilson. Status: The Revitalization Strategies category includes housing and self- sufficiency counseling, job training, and down payment assistance. Eligible communities must be located in a Tier 1 or Tier 2 County or a State Development Zone. DCA will conduct a round table with leaders from across the state in business and economic development to explore ways that CDBG funds can best be used to promote small business development as a way to move low- wage and dislocated workers into greater self- sufficiency and out of poverty. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 26 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Status: DCA conducted three roundtable sessions – one each in September, October, and November 2006 – where community and economic development leaders provided input for design of the new 2007 Small Business and Entrepreneurial Assistance Grant Program. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency will continue to finance supportive rental housing through the federal and state housing tax credit programs and through the Rental Production Program. Status: The Agency did utilize federal and state housing tax credit program and the Rental Production program to provide housing for persons with disabilities; it did so in 2006 primarily through the KEY program ( which is used in conjunction with RPP and LIHTC). The Agency will broaden its IDA home ownership initiative to include providing matching funds and second mortgages to IDA participants who will be purchasing homes. The program used to serve households at 200% of poverty and below who were in NC Department of Labor’s IDA program under the federal Assets for Independence Act ( AFIA); it will now serve households participating in any home ownership IDA program in North Carolina. Status: The Agency continued these activities in the IDA program. In 2006, the Agency set aside $ 175,000 matching funds for households served under the AFIA, and set aside $ 1.5 million for gap financing. The Agency will continue funding developments that are connected to public housing authorities’ Family Self- Sufficiency Programs through both rental and home ownership programs. Status: The Agency continued this activity in 2006. The Agency will continue funding transitional and permanent housing for the homeless and nonhomeless persons with special needs through the Supportive Housing Development Program. Status: The Agency awarded over $ 6.1 million dollars in 2006 to fund 291 units of supportive housing for persons with special needs. The Agency will provide funds to support a homeless policy specialist in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services who will work with the Interagency Council for the Coordination of Homeless Programs. Status: The Agency continued to fund a homeless policy specialist in the Office of Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2006. The Agency will continue to operate its Home Saver Loan Program that incorporates a Job Loss Feature to help borrowers who have become involuntarily unemployed to maintain their home. Status: The Agency continued to operate the HSL program in 2006. The Agency will be administering the Home Protection Pilot Program, funded in 2004 by a $ 1.75 million special allocation from the General Assembly and in 2005 by a $ 700,000 allocation. This program will create a loan pool to help prevent foreclosures due to job loss in targeted counties. It will also strengthen the housing counseling network. Status: The General Assembly provided an additional $ 1,500,000 in 2006 to continue the foreclosure prevention pilot program created to assist dislocated workers and offered in 27 counties. More than 250 families benefited from the legal protections provided by the program’s temporary stay of foreclosure. Since 2004, the Agency has approved 179 loans and provided $ 1,867,665 in assistance to dislocated worker households. The agency continues to work with 14 local housing counseling agencies to conduct outreach to laid- off homeowners. In the interest of administering a program that meets the needs of its target group and to enable the program to offer assistance to more dislocated workers, two major changes were made to the program in State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 27 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 2006: loans are no longer amortizing, but deferred, and to meet eligibility, dislocated workers can either live or have worked in one of the designated counties. Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Activities Division of Community Assistance The Division will continue to implement the Capacity Building ( CB) program for nonprofit organizations. Grants of up to $ 75,000 will be available to each organization. Nonprofit organizations that receive capacity building funds are expected to develop projects and apply for CDBG funding in partnership with their local governments within two years of award. Status: Three Capacity Building grants were awarded in 2006. Technical Assistance funds for 2006 will concentrate on developing the professional skills and capabilities of local community development grant administrators. DCA and the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are assessing the current demand for a professional certification program for administrators of CDBG grants. This program will lead to a certificate of completion that assures local governments that the people they engage to administer community development grants meet and maintain high professional standards of knowledge, ethics, and competence. Status: The Community Development Academy, an intensive training that provides technical assistance to local administrators and non- profit agencies was held for forty local administrators during the winter of 2006. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency’s Home Ownership Business Group will continue working with the Real Estate Commission to provide continuing education classes for real estate professionals. Status: During 2006, the Agency presented 13 classes that provided 4 hours of continuing education hours to the attending real estate licensees. The Agency will continue to provide monthly lender training sessions throughout the state to educate mortgage professionals about the Agency’s 100%, below- market- rate loans, with and without downpayment assistance. Status: During 2006, the Agency presented monthly seminars to lenders throughout the state to educate mortgage professionals about the Agency's financing programs, including downpayment assistance. The Agency’s Rental Investment Business Group has statewide responsibility for Contract Administration of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 Project-based Rental Assistance Program, which utilizes over 600 rental developments with over 21,000 housing units in North Carolina. The Agency has partnered with Quadel Consulting Corporation to manage the contract administration duties. Rental development owners will receive ongoing technical assistance on the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 8 regulations. Status: The Agency continued to partner with Quadel, who in 2006 administered nearly $ 100 million in Section 8 project- based assistance statewide. The Agency’s Strategic Investment Business Group will continue to collaborate with the Advanced Energy Corporation ( AEC) to train contractors and developers ( both nonprofit and for-profit) in techniques of building high performance houses. This training focuses on the interrelationships between house systems and the effective use of pressure diagnostics ( blower State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 28 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 doors, duct blasters, manometers, etc.). The Agency anticipates producing 200 more in 2006, all of them sold with 2- year guarantees of comfort and very low heating and cooling costs. Status: The Agency completed 242 homes during 2006 under this initiative in 2006, and continues to collaborate with AEC to conduct these trainings. The Agency will continue to administer its fair housing and service coordinator trainings in conjunction with its rental investment programs. Designed for service coordinators, housing managers, supportive service providers, and others who work with the elderly or special needs residents, these workshops have covered topics that include aging, the basics of service coordination, legal issues and housing, and planning community wellness programs. Status: The Agency continued to provide this training as a part of its RPP Training and Tax- Credit Training. In 2006, these trainings were offered 9 times at multiple locations statewide. The Agency will continue to hold at least one rental development roundtable discussion each summer. Status: The Agency carried out this function. The Agency will offer six trainings for tax- credit developers, and three trainings for developers using the Rental Production Program. Status: The Agency continued to hold these trainings at multiple locations around the state. The Agency will continue to conduct a Housing Developers’ Workshop Forum at the Agency’s annual Housing Forum. It will also offer sessions on several of its other programs, providing insight, instruction, and technical assistance to the attendees participating in those programs. Status: The Agency offered the Housing Developers’ Workshop at the 2006 Housing Forum, as well as sessions concerning tax- credit compliance, fair housing, and affordable mortgage programs. The Agency will be administering the Home Protection Pilot Program, in which a special appropriation of $ 700,000 by the General Assembly in 2005 will be used to strengthen housing counseling in selected counties, in addition to providing for households to prevent foreclosure due to job loss. Status: During 2006, the Agency continued to implement the North Carolina Home Protection Pilot Program and Loan Fund, which included providing technical assistance and support to housing counseling organizations providing ancillary housing counseling services as part of the pilot program. The Agency received an additional $ 1,500,000 in funding for the program while the number of target counties remained at 27. Instrumental to the program’s success and integral to the program’s expansion are the housing counseling and foreclosure prevention services provided by local non- profit organizations. The Agency continued to provide support by conducting not only technical trainings focusing on program implementation and administration, but also coordinated several local and regional meetings in targeted counties introducing housing counseling organizations to the network of agencies ( workforce development, employment security, training and educational) providing services to dislocated workers to develop a plan of action for marketing the pilot program and conducting outreach to dislocated workers. The Agency will develop a construction to permanent loan in partnership with Rural Development to increase affordable housing stock throughout the state. Status: The Rural Opportunity Mortgage program now utilizes construction- to- permanent financing. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 29 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Office of Economic Opportunity The Office will continue to provide staff to coordinate the annual conference on homelessness sponsored by the Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP). This conference provides training and technical assistance to approximately 400 representatives of homeless service providers across the state each year. Status: In 2006, the Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs assumed responsibility for the operation of the state’s annual conference on homelessness. The Homeless Policy Specialist of the Department of Health and Human Services, who serves as staff to the Council, was given the role of conference coordinator. The Office will provide training to all new, approved applicants for Emergency Shelter Grants ( ESG) Program funding in the spring of 2006. Status: OEO staff conducted a training session for 25 grantees on April 19, 2006 in Raleigh. Topics covered included proper completion of the ESG application; and, program monitoring and reporting requirements. Staff of the NC Housing Finance Agency provided the participants with information regarding the Supportive Housing Development Program; and, staff from the Office of the Controller, Department of Health and Human Services, discussed audit requirements and provided training on completion of monthly ESG reimbursement requests. The Office will continue to promote the coordination of housing repairs through local available resources for families receiving services under the North Carolina Weatherization Assistance Program and the Heating Air Repair and Replacement Program. Status: Energy reduction services provided by the Weatherization Assistance and Heating and Air Repair and Replacement Programs were coordinated in conjunction with housing improvement funded by local Community Development Block Grant, HOME and Urgent Repair projects. The Office will continue to support housing coordination activities of the Community Services Block Grant program recipients that serve as local Comprehensive Housing Development Organizations. Status: OEO funds were used by CHDOs to assist in the provision of case management and support services to families receiving housing services. AIDS Care Unit The Unit will provide technical assistance workshops, planning meetings, and one- on- one technical assistance to assist organizations with resource development, with compliance, and in other program areas. Status: ACU continues to provide technical assistance to agencies on an as- needed basis. The Unit will use and implement tools— such as program questionnaires for documenting information on statistics— to assist with improving communication with project sponsors, in order to clarify reporting expectations. Status: The Program questionnaire was revised in order to capture data for the new performance measurement tool established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Unit will continue to utilize technical assistance from the Supportive Housing Collaborative and from the HUD Project Officer to strengthen administration of North Carolinas HOPWA program. Status: In addition to technical assistance from the HUD Project Officer, we also received technical assistance from AIDS Housing of Washington and Collaborative Solutions. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 30 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Interagency Coordination and Collaboration Division of Community Assistance The Division will continue to work with other governmental and non- governmental groups such as the North Carolina Department of Labor, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, and the North Carolina IDA and Asset Building Collaborative to support and fund IDA and other savings programs in the state. Status: The Division continued strengthening interagency ties with various IDA programs. DCA staff served on a committee of state agencies and non- profits to create a best practices manual for IDA providers; and a staff member serves on the North Carolina IDA and Asset Building Collaborative Advisory Board. The Division will continue to engage other state agencies and federal allies in funding priority projects in 21st Century Communities. The counties of Burke, Hyde, Montgomery, and Sampson were selected in 2005 to be the third round of 21 st Century Communities, and will continue to receive assistance in 2006. Status: The Division continues to urge other state agencies and federal allies to fund priority projects located in 21 st Century Communities. Burke, Hyde, Montgomery, and Sampson counties were selected for the third round for the period 2005- 2007. If needed, the Division is prepared to react to severe economic crises such as plant closures and mass layoffs by coordinating economic recovery plans and implementing recovery activities. Status: The Division is prepared to provide local communities with economic recovery plans in the event of large plant closings and massive layoffs. The Division will initiate a round table discussion in late 2006 to determine the best use of CDGB funds for economic development in 2007. Status: DCA conducted three roundtable sessions – one each in September, October, and November 2006 – where community and economic development leaders provided input for design of the new 2007 Small Business and Entrepreneurial Assistance Grant Program. The Division will continue to serve on statewide housing policy boards such as the Housing Coordination and Policy Council. Status: The Division continues to serve on various housing boards. The Division will continue to collaborate with state and local agencies such as the North Carolina Redevelopment Center and local emergency management and housing agencies on disaster relief projects as they arise. Status: The Division continues to serve on various housing boards. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency will partner with Advanced Energy Corporation ( AEC) of Raleigh, North Carolina, to train and assist local partners under two home ownership programs. AEC’s services will include providing low- income homebuyers with two- year guarantees that their heating and cooling costs with not exceed a very low, set level ( as low as $ 18/ month). This broadens the windows of affordability and enhances marketing effectiveness. Status: The Agency continued to partner with AEC to train and assist local partners. The Agency will continue as a member of the Interagency Coordinating Council for Homeless Programs ( ICCHP). Status: The Agency continued to participate as a member, and it also continued its role in collaboratively planning the ICCHP Annual Homeless Conference. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 31 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 The State will continue its collaborative relationship with the Department of Labor by providing matching funds and second mortgages for participants in the Department of Labor’s IDA program. It will also broaden its support of IDA programs by developing partnerships statewide with other IDA programs. Status: The Agency continues to collaborate with the Department of Labor by providing matching funds and second mortgages in the IDA program. The Agency will continue to operate the Lead Abatement Partnership Program, responding to actual cases of lead- poisoned low- income children in owner- occupant situations. As cases are referred by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR), the Agency will locate and contract with local rehabilitation organizations to oversee lead abatement and comprehensive housing rehabilitation. Status: The NC Department of Energy and Natural Resources in partnership with the Agency received a Lead- Hazard grant. This grant will provide funds for the remediation of lead hazards in owner- occupied single- family dwelling units throughout the state. The Agency will continue to implement the Displacement Prevention Demonstration fund which allows the Independent Living Program and the Lead Hazard Control Branch to assist households facing displacement due to mobility limitations and lead paint poisoning, respectively. Status: In 2006, $ 676,000 in awards were made to assist 94 households in the Displacement Prevention Program. The Agency’s executive director, A. Robert Kucab, is a board member for Homes4NC, a new foundation created by the NC Realtors Association to support affordable housing initiatives. Status: A. Robert Kucab continued to serve on the board of Homes4NC. In 2006, the foundation donated over $ 60,000 to agencies across the state to assist low- to moderate- income families with their housing needs. Office of Economic Opportunity The Office will continue as an active member of the Housing Coordination and Policy Council. Status: OEO is an active member of the Housing Coordination and Policy Council. The Office will coordinate with the N. C. Housing Finance Agency to continue to promote the use of Urgent Repair program funds with weatherization services being performed through the N. C. Weatherization Assistance Program. Status: Weatherization Assistance Program contractors combined OEO funds with Urgent Repair Program funds when possible to increase the benefits of both programs. The Office will actively promote the coordination of local anti- poverty efforts of community action agencies with local, state, and national housing programs. Status: Community action agencies were encouraged to continue identifying opportunities for collaboration with local, state and national housing programs, i. e., HOME, CDBG, public housing, rural development and Section 8, etc. AIDS Care Unit The Unit will continue as an active participant on the Housing Coordination and Policy Council as well as the Inter- agency Council on Coordinating Homeless Programs. Status: ACU staff continued participating on the Housing Coordination and Policy Council and attended quarterly meetings of the Inter- agency Council on Coordinating Homeless Programs. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 32 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 The Unit will seek out opportunities to work with nonprofit organizations to provide services for those who are triply diagnosed ( HIV/ AIDS, mental illness and substance abuse issues). Status: ACU is in the early planning stages of implementing this objective using results from the HOPWA needs assessment. ACU staff serves on the Department of Health and Human Services Housing Workgroup collaborating with representatives from the mental health and substance abuse programs. The Unit will continue to collaborate with the other NC entitlement cities to ensure consistency among administration of the HOPWA Program. Status: ACU is collaborating with Wake County Human Services and the Regional HIV/ AIDS Consortium which administers HOPWA Programs in their respective MSA’s. Addressing Weaknesses in the Housing Delivery System During the past five years, the participating agencies have used human, financial and programmatic resources to increase available affordable housing stock for rent or purchase; fund community and economic development projects that created jobs and stimulated revitalization; as well as opportunities for business ownership; provide shelters and transitional housing; provide related services to homeless families and individuals, persons with HIV/ AIDS and their families and other special needs populations. Although every effort is made to improve the collective quality of life for the state’s most vulnerable populations, budget constraints sometimes limit the scope and extent of existing programs and hinder development and implementation of new ones. Each of the participating agencies has highlighted their individual efforts to address weaknesses in the housing delivery system. Division of Community Assistance Among its strengths, the Division credits its highly motivated professional staff. Additionally, it mentions the redesigned and new programs, which offer more local communities opportunities to participate. The Division currently operates a Capacity Building program that tries to increase nonprofit participation in the CDBG Program/ Process. The Division also considers its sponsorship of Housing Development training for nonprofits as a strength because it helps to increase their ability to develop better housing projects. Nevertheless, the current state budget conditions limit state support for the agency’s administrative budget; this presents a weakness in the Division’s ability to provide housing services. The Division continues to see training and professional development for staff as an opportunity to improve the delivery of services in 2006. Status: Several DCA staff have completed the state’s Certified Public Manager, CPM, program. “ The purpose of the PMP is to provide an in- depth, comprehensive training program for middle managers from state government agencies and university campuses. A graduate of the PMP is designated a Certified Public Manager…” ( Excerpted from www. osp. state. nc. us/ trancata/ pmp. htm < http:// www. osp. state. nc. us/ trancata/ pmp. htm>). Two DCA staff persons are currently enrolled in the program. DCA, in conjunction with the Institute of Government, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, sponsored the fourth annual Community Development Academy on February 15- 17 and March 15- 17, 2006. 34 participants completed the program including sixteen from local government: 9 from the Small Cities program and 7 from entitlement jurisdictions; ten from the nonprofit sector and 4 from consulting firms. The academy is an intensive five day overview of the concept and application of community development practices and the community development block grant program. The academy State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 33 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 offers hands on experience in and exposure to tools, policies and programs designed to strengthen communities. DCA also participated in a training session sponsored by the Council of State Community Development Agencies, COSCDA. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency has private activity volume cap sufficient to meet its 2006 homeownership goals. It offers a variety of loan products ( conventional, FHA, USDA, and VA) and has 90 and 150 day interest rate guarantees. The Agency is currently serving only approximately 70% of the state’s counties with its mortgage products, but intends to expand coverage by expanding third party originations, continuing to offer lender incentives to increase loan production in unserved areas of the state and offering a leveraged program in conjunction with USDA Rural Development. The Agency will also increase income and sales price limits and down payment assistance. Status: The Rural Opportunity Mortgage Program helped the HFA provide first- time home mortgages in approximately eighty- seven percent ( 87%), of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Income and sales price limits were approved by the HFA Board of Directors in 2006. The Agency will continue to provide application workshops and housing development workshops for organizations interested in developing supportive housing for individuals with special needs. Status: The Supportive Housing Development Program offered five regional application and housing development workshops for organizations interested in developing supportive housing for individuals with special needs in addition to making presentations at five state and local conferences sponsored by other housing related organizations. Staff also made over thirty consultation/ technical assistance site visits with potential applicants and partners, and participated in five community forums to gather consumer input for the design of the Agency’s new Housing 400 Initiative and market the initiative to potential developers of supportive housing. . One of the current weaknesses in the housing delivery system is an overtaxed housing counseling delivery system. Another is the lack of financial assistance for households who unexpectedly find themselves at risk of foreclosure. At the request of the General Assembly, the Agency is administering the Home Protection Pilot Program. This program will provide loans to assist homeowners in target regions who are at risk of foreclosure, and will strengthen the housing counseling delivery system in those areas. Status: The Agency continued to provide technical assistance and conduct workshops focused on program implementation and administration to housing counseling organizations. This effort was geared toward helping them train additions to the staff, assure growth in the knowledge of existing staff, and implement new changes to the Program. The Agency received $ 100,000 in 2006- 2007 to assist with reverse mortgage counseling for senior citizens. The Agency also facilitated new and follow- up introductions between current housing counseling professionals and networks of agencies. These introductions included workforce development, employment security, education and training services. The Agency continued to provide loans through the Home Protection Pilot Program. Office of Economic Opportunity The current reality facing a homeless individual or family in North Carolina is a fragmented system of various agencies and funding streams, each with their own points of access, eligibility and available resources. This fragmentation hampers the efforts of government and nonprofit agencies to improve homeless access to housing and mainstream health and human services. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 34 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Following the state’s participation in federal Homeless Policy Academies in 2003 and 2004, the NC Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP) formulated a state plan to end homelessness. This state- level action plan to end homelessness is seen as one way to ensure that homeless people have a more efficient and coordinated system to assist and support them in their efforts to transition from homelessness to stability. Status: The ICCHP has used funds granted by the Office of Economic Opportunity to provide technical assistance to communities across the state expressing an interest in developing a local ten year plan to end homelessness. As of October 2006, mayors and/ or county executives from twelve North Carolina communities have made commitments to developing local plans. These communities include Asheville/ Buncombe, Chapel Hill/ Hillsborough/ Carrboro/ Orange, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, Durham City/ Durham County, Fayetteville/ Cumberland, Greensboro/ High Point/ Guilford, Raleigh/ Wake, Winston- Salem/ Forsyth, Gastonia, Henderson, Shelby and Wilmington. ICCHP representatives provided these communities with technical assistance in the development of their plans in 2006 and continue to work with communities that have not yet made official planning commitments. Nonprofit agencies and local governments providing shelter and services to homeless people in the state have found it increasingly difficult to secure the funding needed to produce affordable housing for extremely low- income citizens; maintain existing homeless shelters; and to improve or, in some cases, establish homeless access to needed services. In the last two years, nonprofit organizations operating shelters and providing services for homeless persons have seen dramatic drops in donations from individuals, charitable organizations and local governments. At the same time, they have reported significant increases in the number of homeless individuals and families seeking shelter and services. The only program administered by the State specific to homeless persons ( and the only one funding supportive services and operating costs for homeless shelters) is the federally- funded Emergency Shelter Grants ( ESG) Program, administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Status: The Emergency Shelter Grants Program continues to be the only program specifically used to assist in the operation of homeless shelters. OEO continues to receive more and more inquiries regarding the ESG Program from interested organizations and units of local government operating facilities for the homeless. Additionally, ESG program grantees continue to report declining revenues and increased demand for their services. In 2006, efforts have been made to maximize mainstream benefits for homeless people, increase the number of permanent affordable housing units available and make the best use of existing affordable housing for homeless persons. In FY 2006 North Carolina was chosen to participate in the Federal Policy Academy’s SSI/ SSDI Access and Recovery ( SOAR) Initiative. In September, four representatives of the state’s Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs ( ICCHP) are now able to train caseworkers in communities across the state on how to facilitate timely SSI/ SSDI approvals for homeless persons who are eligible. Caseworker training began in January of 2007. The Key Program, a creative partnership between ICCHP member agencies, the NC Housing Finance Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services, is one initiative that has been successful in meeting this need. Since FY 2003- 2004 the NC Housing Finance Agency has required Low Income Housing Tax Credit Developments to include a 10% set aside targeting households with disabilities at the SSI income level. The NC Housing Finance Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services combined resources to create an operating assistance fund linked to those units. Since its inception the Key Program has created 947 housing units targeted to people with disabilities at an SSI income level. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 35 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 In FY 2006- 07, the State budget expanded this effort by creating the 400 Initiative which will use $ 10.9 million appropriated to the NC Housing Trust Fund to ensure financing of 400 supported housing units. Another $ 1.2 million was appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services in operating subsidy funds. To help the homeless and those who are at- risk of becoming homeless, the NC Housing Finance Agency, with support from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Correction, has taken the lead agency role in creating NCHousingSearch. com. This online housing search tool will allow persons seeking housing to identify available and affordable housing units. The system will be used by agency staff to identify available units with landlords who are willing to rent to special populations, including ex- offenders, persons who are HIV positive, victims of domestic violence, or persons in recovery from substance abuse of mental illness. The project went live in October of 2006. In 2004 the ICCHP began facilitating a collaborative with a membership of homeless service communities’ compliance with HUD mandates relating to Homeless Management Information Systems ( HMIS). The HMIS system will begin active implementation by February 2005, increasing our state’s chances of accessing available federal dollars for housing and services for homeless person. Status: In FY 2005 the ICCHP provided $ 200,000 to support HMIS costs and in the same year North Carolina drew down over $ 15,000,000 in competitive federal funding for homeless programs. In FY 2006 the ICCHP provided $ 134,000 to support HMIS costs and in that year North Carolina drew down over $ 13,000,000 to support funding for homeless programs. The Balance of State HMIS project, the Carolina Homeless Information Network ( CHIN) went live in May of 2006. More than 100 agencies across the state have been trained and are beginning to enter data into that system. In 2004 the ICCHP provided intensive technical assistance to 12 counties that had never applied for Continuum of Care federal dollars targeting the homeless population. During the next year the ICCHP will extend that assistance, with an ultimate goal of accessing roughly $ 9 million dollars in communities that had previously not applied for those available annual funds. Status: The ICCHP has engaged in extensive technical assistance to communities applying for federal monies to assist them in serving their homeless populations. For two years the Council has implemented Peer- to- Peer Technical opportunities for approximately a dozen local Continuums of Care. The ICCHP has also provided direct technical assistance to eight rural Continuums of Care. As a result, North Carolina has accessed an average of almost 20% more in federal FY 2005 and FY 2005 than in FY 2003. In addition, the ICCHP facilitated the first Balance of State Continuum of Care, a 61 county collaboration that assisted rural North Carolina communities in applying for federal funds that had previously not been sought and, as a result, had been given to other states. In FY 2006 North Carolina drew down over $ 13,000,000 in competitive federal funding for homeless programs. AIDS Care Unit The Unit considers the experience of the HOPWA project sponsors to be a strength. However, the 7% cap on administrative costs covered by HOPWA is unworkable and too low, making it difficult for project sponsors to function without proper reimbursement for fulfilling increased administrative responsibilities and attending much needed training. As a way to overcome weaknesses in its housing delivery system the Unit’s review of internal processes recommended advocating for an increase to the 7% administrative cap in 2007, as opportunities become available. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 36 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Status: HUD HOPWA regulations have a seven percent ( 7%) administrative cap for all eligible activities. Legislative Initiatives Division of Community Assistance The Department of Commerce will advocate for stronger tools to attract investment, jobs and economic vitality to urban core areas. To this end, DCA is working with the state Economic Development Committee to define and help locate potential development hubs throughout the state and produce new strategies that will create regional economic influence radiating from the newly created hubs. Status: DCA created economic incentives packages increasing the amount of private investment and jobs in metropolitan areas. The Division of Community Assistance will work to expand the Main Street program. Status: The Main Street Program added four towns in 2006 – Clayton, Fuquay- Varina, Hickory and Wake Forest, bringing the total designated since 1980 to 57. Additionally the Small Town Main Street program added three communities – Ayden, Fairmont and Mount Giliad and their total designated is now 10. The 2006- 2007 state budget included funds for a new position, Small Town Main Street Coordinator for Western NC. In light of current and possible future cuts to federal spending for the CDBG program, DCA will educate legislators to the need for state financial support for community development initiatives in rural parts of North Carolina. Status: DCA staff took advantage of several opportunities, to educate legislators about the need for state financial support for community development initiatives in rural parts of North Carolina. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency The Agency plans to work to pass legislation to allow the same first- time homebuyer definition for all programs. Status: There was not an opportunity to pursue this issue in 2006. The Agency plans to work to increase appropriations to the Housing Trust Fund and federal HOME Program match. Status: Agency staff and partners continued its efforts to increase appropriations to the Housing Trust Fund and federal HOME Program match by communicating with the General Assembly and Governors’ Office. One of the Agency’s legislative initiatives is to develop and administer the Home Protection Pilot Program. This program, allocated special funding from the General Assembly, will strengthen housing counseling in selected counties and create a loan pool to help prevent foreclosures due to job loss. Status: The Agency continued to implement the Home Protection Pilot Program. In partnership with the North Carolina Justice Center and the North Carolina Housing Coalition, the Agency provided testimony to members of the General Assembly regarding the program's effectiveness, around the issue of foreclosures, and about the role of housing counseling. The Agency plans to request an additional funding allocation during the upcoming session of the North Carolina General Assembly. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 37 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Efforts to Reduce Lead- Based Paint Hazards Division of Community Assistance DCA will continue to encourage local units of government to be involved with lead- based paint removal programs. Furthermore, DCA will encourage local governments to work with agencies that are established primarily to mitigate lead-based paint conditions and provide for its removal, as well as address other environmental concerns. Status: The division held three workshops for contractors and rehabilitation specialists. One session focused on how to integrate the lead based paint risk assessment into the work write- up process. Workshops on lead- based paint issues were held at the Community Development Academy and at three scattered site housing sessions. North Carolina Housing Finance Agency All HOME- funded programs will continue to be in compliance with new U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lead regulations ( 25 CFR Part 35). Status: The Agency continued to comply with the lead regulations set forth by 25 CFR Part 35. The Agency will continue to participate in a quarterly, ad hoc lead hazards advisory group made up of concerned individuals from the Public Health, Environmental Protection, Affordable Housing, and Occupational Safety sectors. Status: Agency staff members continue to attend these quarterly meetings. The Agency will continue to operate the established Lead Abatement Partnership Program ( LAP) using HOME funds. Under LAP, the Agency has offered assistance to low- income owner-occupants with a lead poisoned child ( above 20 W g/ dL) for over six years. On average, about 6 cases are handled per year. Status: The Agency continues to operate the Lead Abatement Partnership. The Agency will continue to offer a new option under the LAP program. Using Housing Trust Fund funding set- aside through the Urgent Repair Program under the “ Displacement Prevention Demonstration”, the Agency will offer up to $ 5,000 per unit to LAP referrals whose situation may be more appropriately handled through Department of Energy and Natural Resources’s ( DENR’s) Preventative Maintenance Program. Funds are provided as grants to the homeowners to pay for cleanup and stabilization activities as prescribed by DENR’s regional lead specialists. Status: Funds continue to be available for LAP referrals. An additional $ 675,000 was awarded through the Displacement Prevention Program in 2006. The Agency will continue to count households with an elevated blood lead level ( greater than 10 W g/ dL) as an eligible special needs household under the regular Urgent Repair Program ( URP). All households that are URP beneficiaries must be special needs households. Local health officials can refer such cases to local URP recipient organizations for assistance with Preventative Maintenance Program activities. Status: Households with Elevated Blood Level ( EBL) children between 10 and 20 mg/ dl are not only eligible under URP; but specifically targeted under the Displacement Prevention Partnership. $ 2.1 million was awarded through the URP program in 2006, and approximately $ 675,000 was awarded through the DPP program. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 38 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Office of Economic Opportunity Lead safe weatherization training will be provided to subrecipient staff and subcontractors of the N. C. Weatherization Assistance Program to ensure the proper handling of situations involving lead hazards in dwellings receiving services. Status: Training on lead- safe work practices continues to be provided to crew members and contractors that perform work for the Weatherization Assistance Program. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 39 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 2006 CDBG PERFORMANCE REPORT Note: The Division of Community Assistance is finalizing completion of data for 2006 accomplishments received from CDBG grantees. The following is the listing of accomplishments based on to- date information. In 2006, much of the Community Development Block Grant program focused on two goals outlined in the Commerce Department’s strategic plan: Building Stronger Communities and Creating Jobs through Sustainable Economic Development. State resources were focused on stimulating development in rural communities and some urban areas, which have not experienced positive growth. The following is an assessment of strategic actions undertaken during the reporting period to address the state’s community development priorities. • The Division of Community Assistance ( DCA) and its partner the Commerce Finance Center ( CFC) continued to create jobs through sustainable economic development targeted to low- to-moderate income residents through a variety of programs. • DCA continued to address persistent poverty in rural communities and parts of urban areas of the state by putting emphasis on Tier 1 and Tier 2 Communities, local governments with State Development Zones or Urban Progress and State Agrarian Zones, and the 21 st Century Communities Initiative. • DCA continued high levels of funding in its core programs of Scattered Site Housing and Concentrated Needs, both of which greatly improve the physical living conditions of our state’s poorest residents. • DCA continued to advance the Governor’s Growth policies by incorporating sustainable development principles and policies into criteria for CDBG funding for Housing Development and other categories. CDBG Grants were awarded in the following categories in 2006: Community Revitalization ( includes Concentrated Needs and Revitalization Strategies), Scattered Site Housing, Infrastructure, Housing Development, Economic Development, Capacity Building, Individual Development Account, and Urgent Needs/ Contingencies. The following is a summary of the accomplishments by local governments made in 2006 and the number of grants awarded in 2006. Scattered Site Housing ( SSH) The Scattered Site Housing category enables local governments to address the most critical housing needs of very low- income families throughout a county. Funds may be used for the following housing activities: rehabilitation, relocation, and clearance. Accomplishments: Scattered Site Housing funds were distributed to communities in North Carolina, providing 186 LMI households with safe, decent, sanitary housing either through rehabilitation or relocation. In addition, 89 dilapidated homes were either cleared or improved through code enforcement measures, removing slum and blight from those neighborhoods. Awards: Thirty- two ( 32) Scattered Site grants were awarded in the 2006 program year. It is proposed that 285 households will either have their residential units rehabilitated or will be relocated to better housing. Community Revitalization The Community Revitalization category provides grants to local governments to strengthen neighborhoods and rehabilitate homes of low- to moderate- income citizens. Awards are made on a State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 40 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 competitive basis. In 2006, Community Revitalization grants were made in two sub- categories: Concentrated Needs and Revitalization Strategies. The Concentrated Needs ( CN) sub- category helps local governments address specific areas with concentrated needs ( six or more homes in a geographical area). Funds may be used for housing activities ( rehabilitation, relocation, acquisition, clearance, and disposition), water and/ or sewer installation or replacement, construction or upgrading of streets and drainage improvements. In 2006, communities were given greater flexibility to undertake alternative activities, such as construction of public facilities or housing counseling. Accomplishments: Concentrated Needs funds were distributed to communities in North Carolina, providing approximately 134 households with safe, decent, and sanitary housing primarily through rehabilitation or relocation. In addition, 31,660 linear feet of new water or sewer lines were placed to connect these households to safe, clean drinking water and/ or provide access to new public sanitary sewer lines. In addition, 84 dilapidated houses were cleared removing slum and blighting conditions from those neighborhoods. Awards: DCA awarded seventeen Concentrated Need grants in 2006. The selected local governments plan to provide services to 156 households, either rehabilitating or relocating the housing stock. In addition, the local governments plan to provide 54,278 linear feet of public water or sewer lines, and/ or streets and drainage facilities. The Revitalization Strategies ( RS) sub- category allows communities to address poverty in a more comprehensive manner and over a longer period of time than the Concentrated Needs Program. Eligible activities include any activities in the other state grant categories as well as activities eligible under HUD federal guidelines. Accomplishments: In 2006, the nine remaining Revitalization Strategies grantees received funds to improve communities throughout the state. Through this program, fifteen households were provided safe, decent, and sanitary housing through rehabilitation or relocation. In addition, 2,060 residents of these target communities are benefiting from the construction of neighborhood facilities or services such as a community center, employment incubator, down payment assistance or job training, and/ or some other beneficial projects in low- to- moderate income areas. In addition, 1,595 linear feet of new sanitary sewer line was placed to connect households to provide sanitary waste disposal to seven households Awards: In 2006, DCA continued to fund nine of the ten communities selected to receive RS grants in 2002. The remaining nine communities received $ 350,000 each for their 5th year of funding. This year, the selected local governments will improve the housing and suitable living conditions of 45 households through housing activities, physical infrastructure, and/ or other public services such as job training down payment assistance and financial literacy training, and building of community centers. Housing Development ( HD) The Housing Development grant category promotes new housing development for low- to- moderate income ( LMI) persons by defraying some of the costs of renovating older buildings or building subdivisions. Eligible uses of CDBG funds include installation of public infrastructure ( water, sewer streets, sidewalks and drainage on a case by case basis), the removal of hazardous material, acquisition of vacant land or vacant buildings by an eligible non- profit, and certain rehabilitation activities ( on a case by case basis). The objective of the HD category is to support projects that create additional units of affordable housing for LMI residents. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 41 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Accomplishments: Housing Development funds were distributed to communities in North Carolina to reduce the costs of new housing units for first- time homebuyer households. Awards: There were seven ( 7) HD awards made in 2006. The awards will provide 44 single family homes and 88 rental units. Infrastructure ( IF) The Infrastructure grant category enables local governments to provide new infrastructure ( public water and/ or public sewer) to existing residential neighborhoods to correct problems that pose a severe health or environmental risk or to improve existing infrastructure in existing residential neighborhoods. A sub-category, Infrastructure Hook- Up, connects LMI households that would otherwise be unable to afford the connection to existing water and/ or sewer lines ( not installed using CDBG funds). Accomplishments: Infrastructure funds were distributed to communities in North Carolina. Projects in this category installed 16,750 linear feet of new water and sanitary sewer lines. The Infrastructure Hook- Up program provided hook- up for 144 LMI households. Awards: In 2006, twelve ( 12) Infrastructure grants were made to local governments. Water and/ or sewer lines will be installed to provide sanitary conditions to 451 existing housing units. Three ( 3) Infrastructure Hook- Up grants were awarded to connect 144 LMI households to existing water or sewer lines. Economic Development ( ED) Accomplishments: Administered by the Commerce Finance Center ( CFC), CDBG- ED grants provided funding in 2006 to create or retain 1615 jobs, at least 974 of which were for low- to- moderate income residents. Awards: In 2006, the Commerce Finance Center awarded 27 Economic Development grants to local governments who, working with private companies, will create or retain jobs for low- to- moderate income residents in their communities. Capacity Building ( CB) The Capacity Building Grant Category is designed to encourage local governments to partner with an eligible local non- profit in developing future community development projects. The local unit of government serves as the grant applicant while the non- profit organization is the indirect recipient of funds. Ultimately, the capacity building grant is expected to result in a future CDBG application. Accomplishments: The Town of Mooresville, in conjunction with a local non- profit, submitted a Housing Development application in 2006 due in large part to the increased capacity created through the Capacity Building grant. Awards: In 2006, DCA awarded capacity building funds to three communities. Individual Development Account ( IDA) The IDA Program is designed to help local governments establish an IDA program in their community by promoting first- time home ownership. CDBG monies will match a participant’s ( enrolled in the local IDA program) savings dollar for dollar, up to a thousand dollars to be used for either down payment assistance or closing costs, as well as assist non- profits or local governments provide financial literacy State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 42 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 training, homebuyer education, housing counseling, and credit counseling to LMI residents seeking to purchase their first home. Accomplishments: There are ten ( 10) existing IDA grantees. They provided financial literacy and homeowner education, as well as down payment assistance, to 25 households that were able to purchase a home for the first time as a result of CDBG funds in combination with participants’ savings and local matching funds. Awards: Three new IDA grants were awarded in 2006 ( Davie County, Person County, and Vance County). It is proposed that 70 LMI households will purchase their first home through these programs. Urgent Needs ( UN) Accomplishments: Urgent Needs funds provide households with safe, decent, sanitary housing either through rehabilitation or relocation. In addition, the program provides access to safe drinking water through the installation of new water lines in drought ravaged areas of the state. Awards: There were no Urgent Needs projects funded in North Carolina in 2006. Technical Assistance In 2006, technical assistance priorities included: 1) increased technical assistance to local governments and their agents that furthers the goals and priorities of the CDBG program, 2) technical assistance to developing community development corporations, and 3) increased support for workshops, seminars, and training for grantees and staff. During the 2006 program year division staff presented at various workshops, conferences and other training opportunities in order to further reach out to community development professionals and provide technical assistance as often as necessary. In addition to one- on- one consultation with local governments, councils of government, and consultants, DCA staff members provided technical assistance to a number of non- profit and local government advocacy groups including the North Carolina Community Development Association, the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Community Action Agencies, the North Carolina League of Municipalities, and the North Carolina Housing Coalition. DCA continued its annual CDBG training academy in 2006, as part of the Community Development Academy offered by the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The purpose of this academy is to train community development professionals in best practices and to make them aware of all possible resources at their disposal as they attempt to better the living conditions and economic opportunity of their residents. One aspect of this training is the instruction by DCA staff on proper administration and development of CDBG grant programs. It is expected that the Community Development Academy will continue to provide instruction and technical assistance in 2006. DCA held CDBG workshops throughout the year that were attended by over 400 participants. These workshops covered topics such as implementation, financial management, environmental review and release of funds, performance measures, rehabilitation, relocation, grant writing, CDBG 101, and category specific application workshops for each program. The Division held three workshops for contractors and rehabilitation specialists. One session of the workshop focused on how they should integrate the lead based paint risk assessment into the work write-up process. Another session focused on the overall DCA grant monitoring process to help ensure that all grantee are aware of their responsibilities for CDBG grants. In addition, the Division’s Rehabilitation State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 43 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 Specialist also met with local contractors and rehabilitation specialists on various occasions to discuss a number of lead- based paint issues. Lead based paint issues were also discussed during the Community Development Academy, a joint effort between DCA and the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Certification of Consistency In 2006, DCA certified 55 public housing authorities and other agencies seeking HUD funds as identified in the SuperNOFA. Compliance with URA/ Actions Taken to Avoid Displacement It is not the Division’s policy to encourage displacement of individuals. Local governments that utilize voluntary relocation activities must follow all of the requirements of the Uniform Relocation Act. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 44 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 ESG PERFORMANCE REPORT The North Carolina Emergency Shelter Grants ( ESG) Program is designed to improve the quality of existing emergency shelters, to help meet the costs of operating emergency shelters and transitional housing programs, and to provide essential services to homeless individuals and families with children so that they may improve their situations. The ESG Program is also intended to restrict the increase of homelessness through the provision of preventive programs and activities. The program is funded by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD) and administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity, N. C. Department of Health and Human Services. The State’s ESG program year coincides with the State’s fiscal year ( July 1 – June 30). Program Application Process In early January of 2006, pre- applications for FY 2006 ESG funding were distributed to all FY 2005 ESG grantees, all 100 county managers and other interested agencies, organizations and persons across the State. Program staff reviewed these pre- applications to determine the eligibility of the applicants in February of 2006. Eligible applicants included private, nonprofit organizations as described in section 501( c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1988 and units of local government that met the following criteria. • Has operated the emergency and/ or transitional shelter facility for which funding is requested for at least one year prior to the date of pre- application; • Operates the emergency and/ or transitional facility for which funds are requested for a minimum of six full months out of the year; • Operates a safe and sanitary facility which: - if a 24 hour or Night Only facility, has an average daily occupancy ( ADO) of at least six homeless persons per night; or - if a Day Only facility, has an APSD ( average number of persons served daily) of at least 30 persons per day; and, provides one or more of the essential services defined by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. • Has an established accounting system that provides for maintenance of ESG funds in accordance with OMB Circulars A- 110 and A- 122; • Has a voluntary board of directors of at least five members; • Has the ability to expend ESG funds within 365 days; • Has acceptable resources to match the ESG funding received; • Involves, to the maximum extent practicable, homeless persons in maintaining and operating facilities assisted under the ESG Program and in providing services for occupants for these facilities; and, • In the case of a private, nonprofit organization, has the written endorsement for the operation of the homeless facility for which funding is sought of the unit of local government in which the facility is located. This endorsement must be signed by an authorized official of the unit of local government ( mayor, county/ city/ town manager, officer of the county board of commissioners), must specifically state the name of the applicant organizations and the name of the facility for which funding is sought and must be on official letterhead of the authorized official signing. Eligible applicants were notified of their approved funding level and received full application packages in late March of 2006. A training session on the ESG Program and the completion of the application package was held for new ESG grantees and new staff of current grantees in mid- April of 2006. Program staff reviewed submitted applications in May of 2006. Contracts with applicants whose applications were approved were prepared, distributed for signature and finalized by June 30, 2006. The State’s FY 2006 ESG Program year began July 1, 2006. State of North Carolina 2006 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report 45 Submitted to US HUD on March 28, 2007 FY 2006 Program Funding North Carolina’s FY 2006 ESG allocation totaled $ 2,495,801. Of this amount, $ 2,371,011 was made available for distribution to 129 nonprofit organizations and three units of local government operating 140 facilities for the homeless in 53 counties of the state. The remaining $ 124,790 was used for program administration as allowed by program regulations. Funding amounts for individual approved grantees were determined by several factors including: a. The total number of eligible program applicants b. Th |
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