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According to a 1993 amendment -to Rule 9I-37.005(2), Florida Administrative Code, the county must periodically submit a new Local Housing Assistance Plan to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. Accordingly, the county's plan was revised in 1994 and 1997. On March 11, 1997, the Board of County Commissioners adopted resolution #97-16, which approved the county's revised 3 year plan for FY 97-98, FY 98-99, and FY 99-2000. The Florida Housing Finance Corporation then approved the county's revised plan on April 21, 1997, and authorized the disbursement of SHIP funds until June, 2000. The plan, however, can be amended as needed. Since 1997, the plan has been revised several times to modify some of the local housing assistance program requirements or to enact some minor clean up changes to the plan. The last set of revisions to the plan was done in September 1998. While implementing the plan, the county must ensure that all state requirements and local requirements are met. One state requirement is that all funds for a state fiscal year must be encumbered within 12 months after the end of the fiscal year and must be expended within 24 months after the end of the fiscal year. With the county's SHIP program income increasing every year, that requirement has become more difficult to meet. SHIP program income has increased for two principal reasons. First, the county's allocation from the state has increased (in the first 3 years of the program the county's allocation was $250,000.00 per year, for FY 1999-2000 the county's allocation is $750,775.00). Second, there are more and more applicants who are paying back their loans, with the loan repayment amounts added to the SHIP trust fund. For these reasons, staff re -assessed the county's Local Housing Assistance Plan to determine if any changes could be made to ensure that all SHIP funds would be expended in a timely manner. Based on this assessment, staff determined that several changes could be made to the county's Local Housing Assistance Plan to ensure that all SHIP funds are expended within required timeframes. These changes would allow the county to provide assistance to the full range of moderate income households, increase the amount of downpayment/closing cost loans for moderate income households, and allow moderate income households to utilize the rehabilitation program. The proposed changes to the plan are discussed in the next section of this report. If approved, these changes will ensure that the county will continue to meet state SHIP encumbrance and expenditure requirements. These changes will also provide an additional mechanism to maintain the stock of existing owner occupied units. On May 13, 1999, the county's Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) reviewed and approved the proposed changes to the Local Housing Assistance Plan. ANALYSIS In the revised plan, additions to the plan are shown as underlined, and deletions are shown as se- t#u. The revisions are as follows: o Provide downpayment/closing costs loans to all eligible moderate income households (80% to 120% of county's median income). Per state requirements, all moderate income households are eligible to receive SHIP funds. The county originally limited assistance to moderate income households in the lower half of the moderate income range, those with a gross income between 80-100% of the county's median income. The reason for limiting the assistance to those households in the lower half of the moderate income range was to ensure that limited SHIP resources would be spent mainly for very low and low income households. MAY 259 1999 17 BOOK U fGr=' J