Council Approves $600,000 Housing Acquisition Loan Agreement to Buy Two Affordable Housing Units

The City Council on Monday passed the lone item on the agenda’s consent calendar without discussion.

That item allows a budget amendment appropriating $607,500 from the Inclusionary Housing Fund to the Housing Department’s fiscal year 2021 operating budget.

The money will be used to purchase two affordable housing units built by Heritage Housing Partners (HHP) that have come up for sale.

• 106 E. Orange Grove Blvd., Unit 304 in the Summit Grove project developed by HHP. This three-bedroom unit is deed-restricted at the moderate-income level.

• 588 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Unit 101 in the Fair Oaks Court project developed by HHP. This one-bedroom unit is deed-restricted at the low-income level.

Since 2012, the city has entered into housing acquisition loan agreements with HHP to acquire city-subsidized units in affordable homeownership projects or inclusionary units that were developed with no city subsidies.

“Under the city’s previous housing acquisition loan agreements with HHP over the past eight years, HHP has successfully acquired nine deed-restricted affordable units and resold them to qualified low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers,” according to a city staff report.

“The acquisition financing extended by the city to HHP was fully repaid from the resale transactions. The most recent city loan made to HHP was in March 2018, in the total amount of $295,500 to acquire a unit in the Fair Oaks Court development. HHP repaid the city loan in full from the resale transaction, and the property was preserved as an affordable unit in the city’s housing inventory,” according to the report.