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Commissioners consider reorienting Affordable Housing Advisory Board and clarifying roles of housing groups
Summary
Staff reviewed five housing-related boards and commissioners discussed reorienting the Affordable Housing Advisory Board to provide a unified strategic voice, improving interjurisdictional coordination, and addressing staff capacity limits for analytic work.
Blake Rosser, Housing Director, told the Orange County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 16 that the county oversees five housing-related boards with overlapping but distinct missions and that only the Affordable Housing Advisory Board (AHAB) is strictly advisory to the Board.
Rosser said the AHAB has been preparing a comprehensive report on HOME fund investments dating to the 1990s and reiterated that the Local Government Affordable Housing Collaborative is the federally mandated body that reviews the Annual Action Plan and CAPER for HUD. Commissioners discussed whether AHAB or the Collaborative should be the venue for strategic housing planning and agreed AHAB could be reoriented if given a clear charge and appropriate expertise.
Commissioners expressed concern about staff capacity to produce the analytical work needed for a strategic housing plan and noted the difficulty of assigning advisory boards tasks that require technical expertise. Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford said the Board needs a systems-level discussion about housing and suggested exploring integrated approaches such as a task-force model. Commissioner Sally Greene said AHAB should include designated municipal and technical representatives if it is to lead broader strategic work.
Rosser noted the Orange County Housing Authority is being restructured to meet HUD compliance and explained current leadership-team and executive-team roles; commissioners discussed consolidation options but recognized statutory and functional limits on merging certain boards.
Next steps: commissioners asked staff to review AHAB’s charge, return with recommendations on structure and membership to provide needed expertise, and explore options for consultant or staff support to produce a coordinated housing strategy across jurisdictions.
