Memorandum
Date: March 25, 2025
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors Sitting as the Lake County Board of Housing Commissioners
From: Rachael Dillman Parsons, Director, Social Services; Executive Director, Lake County Housing Commission (LCHC)
Subject: Status of the Lake County Housing Commission
Executive Summary:
The Lake County Housing Commission (LCHC) will provide an update on the status of the LCHC and projections regarding operations if funding cuts occur.
We will discuss solutions and options for expanding housing services, including the development of affordable housing through Project Based Vouchers (PBV). Options we will discuss were explored with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Regional Housing Authority (RHA) of Sutter, Yuba, Colusa, and Nevada Counties, the Community Development Commission of Mendocino County, the Assistant County Administrative Officer (CAO), and the Deputy CAO of Housing. HUD and the Deputy CAO of Housing both recommend voluntary transfer/consolidation. LCHC lacks adequate diverse funding streams to survive any funding cuts. Transfer/consolidation is the process of combining Public Housing Authorities to improve efficiency, increase flexibility, and better serve communities, as outlined in PIH 2018-12 <chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https:/www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/OCHCO/documents/18-12pihn.pdf>. Transfer/consolidation with a larger housing authority will expand housing services and ensure a housing authority continues to serve Lake County.
Lastly, we will provide a recommendation that your Board, sitting as the Board of Housing Commissioners, direct staff to begin the application process to transfer the LCHA to the Regional Housing Authority (RHA) of Sutter, Yuba, Colusa, and Nevada Counties effective January 1, 2026. The RHA has indicated an interest in transfer/consolidation with LCHC. Transfer/consolidation with RHA will bring PBV housing development and the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program to Lake County. The RHA is committed to having Lake County represented on the RHA Board of Commissioners and ensuring Lake County’s vouchers serve Lake County’s residents.
If your Board approves our recommendation, housing authorities are permitted to transfer/consolidate effective July 1st or January 1st and must provide 90 days advance notice to HUD. The process to transfer/consolidate will include a letter of commitment and a board resolution, which we would bring back to your board for approval. The same would be required of RHA. Then notification would be given to HUD. Additionally, we would return to provide recommendations to your board regarding the reassignment of non-Section 8 projects currently held by LCHC that cannot be transferred to RHA, including four (4) accounts LCHC holds that were transferred when the Rural Development Administration (RDA) disbanded (fund 938), and a portfolio for HOME CDBG (Home Investment Partnership Program Community Development Block Grant) loans.
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Recommended Action: We respectfully request that your Board, sitting as the Board of Housing Commissioners, direct staff to begin the application process to transfer the LCHC to the Regional Housing Authority (RHA) of Sutter, Yuba, Colusa, and Nevada Counties effective January 1, 2026.