Orange County Housing Trust

Providing affordable housing options to Orange County residents has become one of the key challenges faced in the county. The high housing costs have made it extremely difficult for the Orange County to provide sufficient quality housing that is affordable to the people needed to maintain and grow the county?s economy and provide the services that all residents value.

The Orange County Housing Trust was created to provide regional solutions to help meet the growing demand for affordable housing options in Orange County. With the support of private investors, governments, major corporations and foundations and with leadership from throughout the community, the Orange County Housing Trust expects to raise over $25 million by December 31, 2008. These funds will help provide affordable housing options for low and moderate income workers in the county which include: teachers, police and fire personnel, healthcare workers, bus drivers, gardeners food and tourist industry workers, those in manufacturing and entry-level workers all helping strengthen Orange County?s economy and culture.

The Orange County Housing Trust has two main program thrusts.

• The first is to provide low interest second mortgages to qualified first-time homebuyers and down payment assistance grants to members of the Orange County workforce who wish to move closer to their place of employment.
• The second is to provide easily accessible below market pre-development loans to developers encouraging the creation of quality affordable and workforce housing units including single-family, multi-family and special needs housing projects in Orange County.

Mission

The mission of the Orange County Housing Trust (OCHT) is to finance workforce and affordable housing options for very low to moderate-income individuals and families and special needs populations in Orange County.