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Besides providing impact fee loans and grants, the county also provides financing of water and sewer capacity charges for new units and existing units connecting to the county regional system. The following policies from the Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan provide for financial assistance for payment of impact fees and connection charges for affordable housing units. POLICY 4.3: The county shall maintain its current policy of financing water and sewer capacity charges for newly constructed housing units. POLICY 4.4: The County shall maintain its Housing Trust Fund which provides below-market interest rate financing and/or grants for land acquisition, downpaymendclosing cost loans, impact fee%apacity charges payment loans, and rehabilitation loans for affordable housing units in the county. The fund will also assist non-profit facilitators with pre -development expenses associated with very low, low, and moderate income housing development. Some disbursements from the Housing Trust Fund will be grants, but the majority of funds will be revolving loans, with borrowers paying back principal and applicable interest into the trust, therefore ensuring a permanent source of financing. ANALYSIS: Impact fees and utility capacity charges are needed to provide revenue for constructing capacity producing capital improvements necessary to accommodate growth. Overall, impact fee revenue partially funds construction of major roadways, libraries, schools, parks, correctional facilities, fire/ems facilities, law enforcement facilities, solid waste facilities, and public buildings, and capacity charges fund expansion of the county's regional water and sewer system. These fees are based on fair share payments by the people benefiting from the capital improvements, impact fees and utility capacity charges. With respect to affordable housing, those fees increase the cost of housing and put a burden on the production of affordable housing projects. To lessen the impact on affordable housing projects the county in March of 2020 (upon recommendation by the AHAC and approval by the BCC) implemented new impact fee waivers/exemptions impact fees for single family homes of less than 1,500 square feet occupied by households earning less than 80% of Area Median Income. The County's SHIP program also can be utilized to provide impact fee loans and grants to extremely low, very low, and moderate -income households and grants and loans to connect to the county water or sewer system (this includes loans associated with new home construction to Habitat for Humanity clients). Besides using SHIP funds, in the past the county has provided impact fee grants and loans to eligible households as part of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) neighborhood revitalization and housing projects. Although CDBG funds can be used for impact fee loans and grants, they are not always available to the County to utilize. This is due to a number of factors including the fact that: • the County must apply to the state for CDBG program funds for a specific project; • the application process is highly competitive and awards are not guaranteed; • the County can only have one active/open CDBG contract with the state at any given time; • at times the County submits CDBG applications and obtains awards for non- housing related projects; • CDBG awards can last from 2 to 4 years at a time; and a 41