Travis County Commissioners Court
March 15, 2005
Housing Finance Corporation
Let's call to order the Travis County housing finance corporation. Two items. 1. Consider and take appropriate action on request to purchase quickbooks pre-printed checks.
>> good afternoon, him harvey Davis, manager for the corporation, I’m asking the board's permission to spend approximately $79.49 to purchase preprinted checks at this time we prepared checks on a manual typewriter and this -- this was the efficiency -- improves the efficiency and accuracy of our office.
>> do we still have a manual typewriter?
>> yes, we do.
>> wow.
>> this will become a good investment in time if not immediately.
>> that's my opinion, yes.
>> that's why I move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. 2. Consider and take appropriate action on request to prepare an application with the Texas department of housing and community affairs for home funds for a 2005 american dream downpayment initiative program.
>> the american dream down payment initiative program, which the acronym is addi. This replaces the home buyer assistance programs that you are familiar with, we currently have a grant under that program. The state is -- is offering or has available approximately $5.5 million state-wide for non-participating jurisdiction areas, participating jurisdictions are -- are areas that receive funds directly from h.u.d. And so they are able to have their own programs there of places like city of Austin, dallas, larger population centers, Travis County when you -- when you -- areas that exclude the city of Austin are non-participating jurisdiction areas, so if -- if we were to apply for these funds, it would be to assist first-time home buyers purchasing a home in Travis County but outside the city limits of Austin. For the -- for the -- I have in somewhat detailed a program designed for -- for a grant application. I would like to give you some of the highlights of that program design. If we were to proceed with the preparation of a grant, in my program design it would be to assist 28 families to purchase their first home. 20 of the 28 would be families whose income does not exceed 60% of the Austin area median family income and 8 would be families whose income does not exceed 80% of the Austin median family income. This is somewhat drks different from the program that we currently have that is focuses more on the 60% families. This is in order to be more competitive in the point scoring of the grant. Also my opinion for the application to be competitive, the corporation would have to -- need to provide match funding, so in the program design that -- that I have for you to consider, I have a match funding of 25% of the grant, the -- the grant that we would be seeking is $200,000, so the corporation would be putting up $50,000. The -- the assistance would be in the form of forgivable loans. They are forgivable over a 10-year period and they are forgivable, 10% each year. So -- so most of the $50,000 that the corporation would be -- would be providing would be going into forgivable loans. Some of those loans would be repaid and this money would come back to the corporation. To be used for whatever purpose the board wanted. Another important difference in this program design from the current one that we have is that the home buyer would have to -- their first mortgage would have to be from a -- from a Travis County or -- or Texas department of housing community affair bond program. And the -- the reason -- the reason for this is that this would -- this would better ensure that the first mortgage of the home buyer is going to be a fixed rate, long-term program is going to be a -- they are going to have a good first mortgage. And we would have -- so to offer some quality control over the home buyers' first mortgage. Otherwise, the -- the program design is -- is -- is fairly similar to what we have on our current program. You know, the main policy decision is whether the corporation wants to invest $50,000 for a program like this. This is not something that we have done in the past.
>> if we file an application, we expect an answer by when?
>> we would -- probably in June. And the program would kick-off perhaps in earliest would be September, but I would think more like October-november time frame.
>> does the corporation have $50,000 in addition to -- in addition to present commitments?
>> yes, it does.
>> [indiscernible]
>> okay. I mean it's not risk.
>> no. And then the -- you know the good point about the investment is that it only gets invested if -- if loans are -- if loans are closed, so if we get a grant and we are not able to close but half of the money, then only half of the money would be used.
>> the corporation does not have taxpayer money. These are fees from housing transactions that the corporation has participated in.
>> exactly, right. We do not get funding like from Travis County. We -- the corporation earns its money the --
>> the old fashioned way.
>> yes.
>> questions, comments? Move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> move adjourn.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes unanimously, also.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 12:37 PM