Buying County Workforce Housing

General Provisions.Qualified Buyers. All County housing programs, including workforce housing developments required by this Chapter, which assist residents to become fee simple or leasehold homeowners, are restricted to qualified buyers, as defined herein, except where sales may become market sales pursuant to Section 7A-6.1(j).Application. Each program or project shall establish interested households for that program or project by requiring the interested household to submit a written application provided or approved by the Housing Agency and any other documents required by the Housing Agency to establish eligibility.Eligibility. The Housing Agency shall review all purchase applications to determine eligibility pursuant to the specific program or project eligibility criteria established for that program or project.Income qualification shall be determined on gross annual income and based on documentation provided by the housing applicant, including the three (3) most current pay stubs and the two (2) most currently filed Federal income tax returns from all employed adults in the applicant's household.Kaua'i residency shall be determined on documentation provided by the applicant that indicates the applicant has a residence address on the Island of Kaua'i.Not owning real estate suitable for residential purposes shall be determined primarily from documentation provided by the housing applicant and may be verified by the Housing Agency.Preferences. The Housing Agency may approve various preferences for up to fifty percent (50%) of the units for sale in a project to prioritize otherwise eligible applicants including:Project Employee Preferences. Workforce housing units built by a developer for projects that generate workforce housing requirements may be sold with a preference to employees of the project.Geographical Preferences. One (1) or more geographical preferences may be imposed giving preference to qualified residents that live in a specified geographical area surrounding or adjacent to the project or that are employed within a specific geographical area surrounding or adjacent to the project. A geographical preference may also be extended to qualified residents whose immediate family lives in a specified geographical area surrounding or adjacent to the project.Essential Worker Preferences. Essential Worker providing critical community services such as health care, public safety, emergency first response, education, and the provision and maintenance of necessary community infrastructure.Selection. The selection list or lists shall be utilized by the developer to determine the numerical order to offer to sell workforce housing units to qualified buyers. Selection lists shall be established as follows:All applicable housing units shall first be offered to individuals on the mortgage-ready Kaua'i resident home-buyer list, in the order of their home-buyer number, subject to any preferences, and who otherwise qualify pursuant to any project-specific qualifying criteria, before any housing units are offered for sale to qualified buyers not on the mortgage-ready home-buyer list.After all individuals on the mortgage-ready home-buyer list have had an opportunity to purchase, a public lottery shall be conducted to establish a selection list for any project that anticipates more applicants than the number of housing units available. If the number of housing units available is equal to or greater than the number of anticipated applicants, selection may be established by a first-come, first-served basis or by lottery.The decision to utilize either the lottery or the first-come, first-served process shall be determined by the developer prior to the sales notice date.A lottery that has multiple preferences shall include all applicants in a single lottery. The selection list will be produced by applying applicant preferences and lottery numbers to sort all applicants into a selection list that has:The qualified buyer applicant with the lowest selection number (first) being a household that has the highest and the most preferences available and has the lowest lottery number, andThe qualified buyer applicant with the highest selection number (last) being a household that has no preferences and the highest lottery number.In a project that utilizes the first-come, first-served method, the developer shall utilize sorting method as utilized with a lottery, but substitute the date and time of receipt of a completed application in place of a lottery number to establish the numerical order.Projects that are developed in phases shall phase their respective restricted marketing periods and phase their respective application and selection processes.Priorities and Preferences for Sales by Lottery. After all applicable housing units in a project have been first offered for sale to all residents on the mortgage-ready home-buyer list, a development using a lottery to determine sales sequence for other buyers shall sort the lottery list by giving applicants priority as follows:First Priority—Homeownership Education. The first opportunity to purchase a workforce for-sale housing unit after home-buyer list residents have had the opportunity to purchase shall be given to income qualified buyers that have completed a qualified homeownership education course, as determined by the Housing Agency, consisting of at least eight (8) hours of classroom education, plus credit and mortgage ready counseling. To receive the homeownership education priority, a qualified buyer shall register with the Housing Agency and provide the Housing Agency with a copy of their homeownership education class graduation certificate. The Housing Agency shall determine which providers of homeownership education have the curriculum that qualifies graduates for the homeownership priority.Second Priority—Project Employee Preferences. Fifty percent (50%) of the total workforce housing units built by the developer for projects that generate workforce housing requirements of twenty (20) housing units or more shall be sold with a preference to employees of the developer and employees within the development area of the project as determined by the Housing Agency.Third Priority—Geographical Preferences. One (1) or more geographical preferences may be imposed on the required workforce housing units giving preference to qualified residents that live in a specified geographical area surrounding or adjacent to the project or that are employed within a specific geographical area surrounding or adjacent to the project. A geographical preference may also be extended to qualified residents whose immediate family lives in a specified geographical area surrounding or adjacent to the project.Fourth Priority—Essential Worker Preferences. Essential Worker providing critical community services such as health care, public safety, emergency first response, education, and the provision and maintenance of necessary community infrastructure.A project that is assisted with government financing may disregard any priority or preference provided by this Chapter that violates Federal fair housing law.