Here in Orange County, the Office of Community Development provides a host of services for our partner agencies and Orange County residents. Some of our more popular programs include our zero percent interest owner occupied Housing Rehabilitation Program, and our Lead Safe Orange grant program.
The Orange County Office of Community Development is the administrator of the federally funded Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) and the Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) provided to the County of Orange from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). CDBG funds are allocated to our local municipalities for public improvement and public service projects. The HOME program allocates funds to augment the supply of affordable housing and improve the quality of our county’s housing stock.
This past year the CDBG celebrated its 40th anniversary as part of HUD and we strive to fulfill the mandate of President Gerald Ford and the United States Congress who created the program in August of 1974. Since then, thousands of cities, urban counties and rural communities have come to rely upon this critical resource, investing $144 billion to undertake a wide variety of activities from improving public facilities to producing affordable housing. Each year, CDBG funds are distributed to state and local governments according to their population, poverty, and other housing variables.
Last year, the program allowed state and local governments to help nearly 28,000 individuals to find permanent employment or to keep the full-time jobs they have. CDBG also supported the rehabilitation of nearly 95,000 homes and financed public improvement projects that benefitted an estimated 3.3 million residents in communities from coast to coast.
Each program has eligibility requirements and we encourage residents who are interested in exploring any our programs to contact our office at 845-615-3820 or visit the Orange County website, orangecountygov.com.
We would like to thank The Epoch Times for affording us the opportunity to provide some information about our programs and welcome them to the Orange County area.
Richard Mayfield is the director of the Orange County Office of Community Development.
