AGENDA #6

Friday, March 1, 2002

Chapel Hill Department of Housing

Budget Presentation to the Mayor and Town Council

2002-2003

Mission Statement

The mission of the Chapel Hill Department of Housing is to provide decent, safe, and affordable rental housing for low-income families.  Our mission is also to provide services to help public housing families improve basic life skills and achieve economic independence.

Brief Services Description

Key services provided by the Department of Housing are:

• Low cost or no cost rental housing for low-income families

• 24-hour emergency maintenance repair services 7 days a week

• Information and referral about the public housing program, other federal housing programs, and area human service resources

• Financial counseling to help residents manage money responsibly

• Conflict resolution to help residents resolve family or neighborhood disputes

• Comprehensive orientation for new residents

• Technical and general assistance to support programs and activities of the Residents’ Council

• Staff support to the Housing and Community Development Advisory Board

• Referral services for residents with alcohol or drug dependency problems

• Home visits to complete redeterminations of eligibility or receive rental payments from elderly or disabled residents who can not come to the office

• Scholarship assistance for students or adults who want to continue their education beyond high school

DEPARTMENT REVENUE ESTIMATES

REVENUE SOURCE	Actual 2000-2001 Revenues	2001-2002 Budgeted Revenues	Estimated 2001-2002 Revenues	Estimated Revenues For 2002-2003	% Increase (Decrease) from Original Budget
Dwelling Rents	422,324	463,886	456,752	329,858	-28.9%
Other	63,815	49,829	39,488	40,529	-19.0%
HUD Contribution Appropriate   Fund Total	870,043 1,356,182	935,028   22,115 1,470,858	914,900   81,848  1,492,988	1,080,654  163,031       1,614,072	13.0%  44.6%     9.7%

DEPARTMENTAL BASE BUDGET COST ESTIMATES

CATEGORY	2001-2002 Original Budget	2001-2002 Revised Budget	2001-2002 Estimated	2002-2003 Requested	% Increase (Decrease) from Original Budget
Personnel	838,590	838,590	855,549	838,590	0.0%
Operations	536,198	533,629	502,897	508,832	-5.1%
Capital Equipment Conti. Personnel Inc.	96,070	128,087	134,542	175,585   91,065	82.8%
TOTAL	1,470,858	1,500,306	1,492,988	1,6140,072	9.7%

Key budget issues

• Estimated revenues are less than estimated expenditures

• We would use $163,031 of fund balance to cover expenditures

• The remaining fund balance is estimated to be $389,631, which is within HUD’s guidelines. 

Programs and services that are going well

• Customer service to residents of public housing

• Enforcement of lease requirements

• The preventive maintenance program that is key to assuring that the public housing apartments are safe

• Excellent response time to repair requests, including 24-hour emergency repair services

• The applicant screening process

• The time frame for refurbishing and filling vacant apartments.  Vacant apartment are refurbished and occupied by a new public housing family within 20 days. 

• The ACHIEVE!  Family Self-Sufficiency Program has 6 participants.  We continue to have an excellent relationship with our partner agencies.

• The Five-Year Refurbishing Program is going very well.  There are no occupied apartments that are not within our five-year refurbishing standard.

·    Cooperative relationships with the schools and area human services agencies

Programs and services that could be improved

• Continue to identify ways to increase residents’ participation in community meetings.

• Continue to encourage residents to communicate with staff regarding family or neighborhood problems.

Proposed additions or reductions

Because of extreme budget constraints this year, all Department Heads are preparing recommended reductions for consideration by the Manager.