DATE:
August 31, 2021
06
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
ADVANCING IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM HOUSING PRIORITIES THROUGH THE INNOVATIVE HOUSING TRUST FUND (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
Since its inception in 2017, the County's Innovative Housing Trust Fund (IHTF) has proven to be an important financing tool for funding affordable housing throughout the region. The first two rounds of the program totaled $50 million in County investment and spurred the development of 1,397 affordable units across 20 development projects, leveraging over $560 million in public and private capital sources.
On April 6, 2021, the San Diego County Board of Supervisor's directed the Chief Administrative Officer to refer for budget consideration the establishment of $25 million in additional funding to expand the IHTF and support complementary approaches to tackle San Diego's affordable housing crisis. The Board also directed the Chief Administrative Officer to conduct outreach to community stakeholders to identify ways to enhance the IHTF program to better meet financing needs and increase affordable housing production across the County. The Fiscal Year 2021-22 Operational Plan was adopted on June 29, 2021, and included $25 million funding for this request, though further Board direction is needed for use of the funds associated with the $25 million affordable housing allocation.
On July 21, 2021, County staff sent a memorandum to the Board of Directors summarizing the results of the outreach and engagement with community stakeholders, including feedback on potential changes to existing IHTF Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) criteria and preferences.
Today's action improves the IHTF program to address the issues raised by community stakeholders, including (1) increasing flexibility in the timing of awards, (2) prioritizing projects near transit and low VMT areas, and (3) adding consideration for developments on County-owned land.
Further, this action also ...
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