Orange County Housing Finance Trust awarded $4.2M

Irvine, CA (February 11, 2021) — The California Department of Housing and Community Development announced last week that the Orange County Housing Finance Trust has been awarded $4.2 million. The awarded funding will be used by the Trust to help finance the development of 7 affordable and permanent supportive housing developments totaling 467 units scattered throughout Orange County. The 7 projects will receive these funds in the form of a project loan from the Trust.

The Trust competed against 33 other similar organizations throughout the State of California for this funding and was ranked number 2. To obtain a high score on the application and obtain the funding, the Trust needed to match the State funding amount. The Trust worked closely with the County of Orange Board of Supervisors to obtain qualifying matching dollars so that the Trust application ranked well and would bring new funding into Orange County to help address the affordable housing crisis facing the region.

Jamey Frederico, Trust Chair and Councilmember from Dana Point, stated “The award of this State funding is a confirmation that our collective efforts to address a serious affordable housing issue can make a difference.”

Some of the Trust funded projects will begin construction immediately and others will start later this year and next. The Trust funded projects are contributing towards the countywide goal of creating 2,700 permanent supportive housing units by 2025. This goal was established in 2018 and based upon a comprehensive strategic analysis prepared by the County of Orange. The most recent status update on the goal reflects that there are 1,171 permanent supportive units at various stages of development.

While the Trust provides financing for extremely low-income affordable housing it also finances permanent supportive housing which combines the same rental housing assistance with individualized, flexible, and voluntary support services for people with high needs related to physical or mental health, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse.

The Trust is currently soliciting applications from developers for another round of project funding and is hoping to be awarded later this year another $5 million in state funding which would help finance approximately 500 additional affordable and permanent supportive housing units.

Doug Chaffee, Trust Board Member and County of Orange Supervisor – 4th District stated “The Trust and the County has affordable housing developers ready to partner with us and help us achieve our goals. Our regional collaborative approach is a best practice model for the State to provide additional funding and we are working with our legislative delegation to do just that.”

The Trust was formed in 2019 as a collaborative regional government entity between the County of Orange and 23 cities throughout the county. The Trust’s mission is to strengthen communities in Orange County by financing the development of high-quality affordable and permanent supportive housing. The Trust is working with the State legislative delegation in the County to obtain a State budget appropriation to bring additional funding into Orange County.