(1) The Home Ownership Assistance Account shall be administered by the Housing and Community Services Department to expand the state’s supply of homeownership housing for low and very low income families and individuals, including, but not limited to, housing for persons over 65 years of age, persons with disabilities, farmworkers and Native Americans. The State Housing Council shall have a policy of distributing funds statewide while concentrating funds in those areas of the state with the greatest need, as determined by the council, for low and very low income homeownership housing. However, the council’s policy of distributing funds may differ from the distribution policy for the Housing Development and Guarantee Account.
(2) Funds in the Home Ownership Assistance Account shall be granted to organizations, as defined in ORS 458.610, that both sponsor and manage low income homeownership programs, including lease-to-own programs, for the construction of new homeownership housing or for the acquisition or rehabilitation of existing structures for homeownership housing for persons of low or very low income, or both.
(3) The council shall develop a policy for disbursing grants for any or all of the following purposes:
(a) To aid low income homeownership programs, including program administration, in purchasing land, providing assistance with down payment costs, or providing homeownership training and qualification services or any combination thereof. No Home Ownership Assistance Account funds shall be used by an organization for its general operations or for a substantial portion of construction or rehabilitation costs;
(b) To match public and private moneys available from other sources for purposes of the provision of low or very low income homeownership housing; or
(c) To administer the Home Ownership Assistance Account, not to exceed five percent of the revenue.
(4) The council, in developing policy under subsection (3) of this section, shall give preference in making grants to those entities that propose to:
(a) Provide the greatest number of low and very low income homeownership housing units constructed, acquired or rehabilitated for the amount of account money expended by matching account funds with other grant, loan or eligible in-kind contributions;
(b) Ensure the longest use for the units as low or very low income homeownership housing units, such as by including some form of equity recapture, as determined by the council; and
(c) Include social services for occupants and proposed occupants of the proposed housing, including but not limited to, programs that address home health care, mental health care, alcohol and drug treatment and post-treatment care, child care, homeownership training, mortgage qualification service, credit repair and case management. [1995 c.174 §3; 2007 c.70 §269]
Section: Previous 458.600 458.605 458.610 458.620 458.625 458.630 458.650 458.655 458.660 458.670 458.675 458.680 458.685 458.690 458.695 NextLast modified: August 7, 2008