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Comprehensive Plan Housing Element <br />have been used, to assist qualified households with replacement of existing homes and mobile homes <br />that were destroyed through the 2004 hurricanes. Also, HHR assistance was used to rehabilitate existing <br />rental units and to match other state and federal funds for building new affordable housing projects. <br />As structured, SHIP and HER loans are deferred payment loans that applicants do not have to pay back <br />until they sell their assisted unit. Generally, SHIP loans are subordinated to a first mortgage on an <br />assisted unit. If a SHIP recipient refinances his first mortgage and receives cash back, however, the <br />county will not subordinate its SHIP loan to the refinanced first mortgage, and the SHIP loan must be <br />paid back. <br />As of April 2009, almost 22% of SHIP and HHR loans had been paid back. Those SHIP/HHR funds <br />revert to the main housing trust fund and are available to assist other applicants. Although funds <br />derived from repaid SHIP loans are available to assist other applicants, SHIP loan repayments associated <br />with cash out refinancings reflect a problem. Almost invariably, a cash out refinancing leaves a <br />household with more debt, higher payments, and an increased probability of foreclosure. To discourage <br />that practice, the county, in 2008, revised its Local Housing Assistance Plan to impose a simple annual <br />interest rate of 3% on SHIP loans to very low and low income households and 5% on SHIP loans to <br />moderate income households. Those interest charges are forgiven after 10 years for VLI and LI <br />households and after 20 years for MI households. <br />Another housing program used by the county is the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) <br />Program, a federal program that, in Florida, is administered by the Department of Community Affairs <br />(DCA). In Indian River County, the CDBG program has been used to rehabilitate or replace 24 existing <br />homes for very low and low income families. For non -entitlement communities such as Indian River <br />County, those funds are provided through a competitive application process. <br />Through its Local Housing Assistance Program, the county provides assistance to very low, low, and <br />moderate income households. As of April 14, 2009, 902 households had received assistance from the <br />county's program. As structured, the county's Local Housing Assistance Program works through a <br />partnership of lenders, builders, contractors, real estate agents, non-profit organizations, and the county. <br />In addition to the households assisted through the local housing assistance program, 471 households <br />have received assistance through the county's Hurricane Housing Recovery (HHR) program, while 24 <br />households have received assistance through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) <br />housing rehabilitation program. <br />The following tables provide a summary of SHIP and HHR assistance as of April 14, 2009. <br />13 <br />Community Development Department Indian River County <br />