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CMP Part 3C. Housing Plan <br />3. Community Development Block Grants (CDBG): The U.S. Department of Housing <br />and Urban Development (HUD) provides CDBG funds to communities with over <br />45,000 residents for the use of providing and maintaining affordable housing. <br />Hennepin County HRA administers these CDBG funds for the City of Orono. The <br />City will consider applications that addresses the City's need allocation of 154 units <br />below 80% AMI based upon how well the proposed projects meet City objectives. <br />4. Energy Assistance: Xcel energy and Wright -Hennepin offer programs intended to <br />encourage energy efficiency and responsible use of energy resources. Xcel energy <br />promotes a bill payment assistance program. These programs and rebates rapidly <br />change and the City encourages the resident to check with their energy provider <br />periodically. These programs help make expenses related to housing more <br />affordable for Orono residents. <br />5. Livable Communities Grants: Administered by the Metropolitan Council, the <br />Livable Communities Demonstration Account (LCDA) funds innovative <br />(re)development projects that efficiently link housing, jobs, services and transit in <br />an effort to create inspiring and lasting Livable Communities. Grants are available <br />to fund basic public infrastructure and site assembly. The City will consider <br />supporting applications that provide a range of housing types, or for those that assist <br />affordable housing goals. <br />6. Land Trusts: A land trust achieves affordable home ownership by owning the land <br />on which a house is located, allowing the resident to seek financing only on the <br />house. The resident enters into a long-term lease for the home. The advantage of a <br />land trust is that the largest contributor to housing prices in Orono is the land, and <br />the land trust removes that cost from the purchasing equation. The trust can control <br />the future sale of the property to ensure that affordability can be maintained and <br />have the ability to scatter the land trust sites throughout the community. The <br />disadvantage of a land trust is that it will take significant financial resources to <br />purchase the land rights and those resources are never recovered during the period <br />that the property remains affordable. Orono may evaluate if joining the West <br />Hennepin Affordable Housing Land Trust is the most efficient way to use its <br />resources to provide affordable housing. <br />7. Site Assembly: The City or other agencies assist with the acquisition of parcels. <br />The City may partner with potential developers by selling developable land it owns, <br />the city is not likely to acquire land for the purpose of transferring ownership for <br />developers. <br />8. HOME Investment Partnership: The City will consider partnering with Hennepin <br />County for grants that provide rental assistance for senior housing projects. <br />9. Effective referrals. We will review our internal procedures to refer residents to <br />applicable Hennepin County, State of Minnesota, and private utility programs that <br />assist homeowners and prospective homeowners. <br />10. Fair housing policy. The City will continue to review its housing polices to ensure <br />that they meet or exceed applicable Fair Housing Laws and regulations, in <br />particular in the areas of Race/ Color, gender, National Origin, Religion, Family <br />status, and disability. <br />11. First time homebuyer down payment assistance. The City will support a <br />homebuyers application for down payment assistance, especially where existing <br />these purchases are within the existing housing stock to support use of a mix of <br />City of Orono Community Management Plan 2020-2040 Part 3C, Page 16 <br />