County expects affordable housing funds to tighten

Orange County likely won't follow national trends of foreclosures and decreased funding for affordable housing local housing providers said.

Nationwide job loss has both contributed to an increase in home foreclosures and decreased the amount of tax revenue available for affordable housing programs. But Orange County might be insulated from some of these trends because of high job security.

 Many residents are employed by either UNC or the hospitals and those groups do not expect the high numbers of layoffs seen in other parts of the state said Robert Dowling" executive director of the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust.

""We don't have a lot of the issues that cause the squeeze"" said Tara Fikes, director of Orange County Housing and Community Development.

Unemployment is low" we don't have any manufacturing jobs" and we don't have job loss.

""That's not to say we won't suffer"" but it won't be as bad as in other areas.""

Between January 2007 and June 2008" Orange County saw fewer than 500 foreclosures according to the N.C. Department of Commerce.

Wake Mecklenburg Forsyth and Guilford counties — all of which were targeted for emergency assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — each saw more than 3"000 foreclosures during that time.

""This created a domino effect"" said Chris Estes, executive director of N.C. Public Housing Coalition. More people losing their homes are looking for limited rentable houses.""

Housing funding

Local leaders said the relatively stable job market should also keep tax revenue and Orange County funding for affordable housing consistent with past years.

Chapel Hill is predicting a shortfall of $1 million in sales tax revenue but officials say that attempts to cut the budget will come from unoccupied positions and will not affect services provided.

But local leaders are not as confident about the security of federal funding for affordable housing.

Because of the economic downturn" the government likely won't raise its funding for housing programs even as demand rises nationwide.

In 2008 Orange County       received $600"000 from federal money to go toward affordable housing.

Fikes said she is unsure how funds usually allocated to Orange County will be affected for 2009.

""The question now is whether we will see stabilized funds or increased ones" but we do not expect decreases in funding" Fikes said. Indications are that it should remain stable.""

But Estes said federal support for national affordable housing organizations has decreased recently.

Susan Levy" executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Orange County said that if federal funding drops" local governments will have trouble making up the difference.

""Some people feel a little nervous about home ownership given the current headlines"" Dowling said, explaining that voters would be unlikely to support bonds for increased affordable housing funding.

And Levy said her organization expects to meet its goals for private donations, including raising at least $60,000 in private contributions for the Phoenix Place subdivision project by Jan. 31.

The development, off Rogers Road, will include 50 affordable homes with environmentally sustainable facilities such as energy-efficient technology.

I don't think we've seen all the effects of the market crisis yet" but we hope that people will respond in a positive way for those that have nothing to fall back on" Levy said.

Dowling said it's too early to predict demand for affordable housing in the coming months, but the number of people seeking the affordable housing is expected to increase nationwide.

We haven't seen a rush in people trying to buy housing" but this is the beginning of a trend Dowling said. People are going to have less money to spend so in theory" more people will be looking for affordable homes.""



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