Translate[Archived] Question #26: What would be the implications of transferring the existing General Fund Housing Trust Fund contribution to the CIP to be scheduled and funded as a multi-year capital project?
Question:
What would be the implications of transferring the existing General Fund Housing Trust Fund contribution to the Capital Improvement Program to be scheduled and funded as a multi-year capital project?
Response:
The General Fund includes a 0.6 cent reservation on the real estate property tax rate for affordable housing which is budgeted to produce $2.4 million in FY 2019. The majority of that funding ($1.6 million) will service the debt on bonds previously issued for affordable housing projects. Another $0.1 million will fund a Beauregard/relocation assistance housing analyst position. The remaining $0.6 million is proposed to be transferred in FY 2016 (as it has been handled for a number of years) to the City’s affordable housing Special Revenue Fund for cash contributions to future affordable housing projects. It could instead be transferred as cash capital to the CIP for future affordable housing projects to be funded from the CIP. It could also remain in the City’s General Fund operating budget as debt service if Council decided it wanted to leverage bond funding. The $0.6 million amount could leverage about $6.4 million in one-time bond funding. In that scenario, the reserved 0.6 cent reservation funding would be entirely committed to debt service and unavailable for future projects until the debt service had been sufficiently paid down.
As a point of clarification, the Housing Trust Fund is fully funded by developer contributions and loan repayments; it does not receive contributions from the General Fund. The funds received are appropriated each fiscal year during the fall supplemental appropriations process. The FY 2019 Proposed Budget for the Housing Trust Fund is $4,155,675; $2,415,000 of new funding and $1,740,675 of carryover funds. City Council has final authority (after receiving staff recommendations) over the distribution of these dollars. The funding has been historically used for:
- Development of affordable housing
- Rehabilitation of affordable housing
- As a match to federal HOME funds
- Homebuyer education, housing counseling, and foreclosure prevention services
- Down payment and closing-cost assistance to first-time homebuyers
- Rebuilding Together Alexandria projects
- Rental accessibility grants
- Transitional housing, shelter rehabilitation, case management, and supportive services for the homeless
- Rehabilitation and replacement of Resolution 830 units in new mixed-income communities
- Operational support to the Alexandria Housing Development Corporation