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File #: 2024-0086   
Type: Public Hearing Status: Passed
File created: 10/3/2023 In control: City Council
On agenda: 10/17/2023 Final action: 10/17/2023
Title: Approve Community Development Services application for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing Grant in the amount of $10,000,000
Attachments: 1. PRO Housing NOFO Narrative_DRAFT v.2_101223
Submitted By: James Haynes
presenter
Presentation By: James Haynes
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Department: Community Development Services

STAFF RECOMMENDATION (Motion Ready):
title
Approve Community Development Services application for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing Grant in the amount of $10,000,000
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OCALA'S RELEVANT STRATEGIC GOALS:
Fiscally Sustainable, Quality of Place

PROOF OF PUBLICATION:
Notification of the City of Ocala's Community Development Services (CDS) public meeting and this public hearing was posted on the CDS website on October 3, 2023.

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BACKGROUND:
Communities nationwide are suffering from a lack of affordable housing and housing production is not meeting the increasing demand for accessible and available units in many areas. Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) empowers communities that are actively taking steps to remove barriers to affordable housing by increasing housing production and lowering housing costs for families over the long term. On September 7, 2023, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued Funding Opportunity Number FR-6700-N-98 expecting to award $85,000,000 to 20 jurisdictions with a minimum award of $1,000,000 with a six-year period of performance.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS:
Like many cities around the country, the City of Ocala finds itself in an affordable housing crisis. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, rental rates in Ocala/Marion County have increased by 31 percent to nearly $1,700 per unit and the median sales price of a home has increased by 35 percent to $270,000. Fifty-one percent (51%) of low-income households in Ocala/Marion County are spending over 30 percent of their gross income on rent/mortgage, taxes, and utilities and are considered cost burdened. Forty-seven and one-half percent (47.5%) of the cost burdened households are spending over 50 percent of their gross income on housing expenses.
The C...

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