Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency

Summary of Policy Considerations

The Legislature may consider the following policy changes:

• Requiring OHFA to capture and report annual income assessment data that will assist in developing Key Performance Indicators to assess the long-term effectiveness of housing assistance, including:

1. A family's earned income and unearned income at time of application and upon departing OHFA's assistance.
2. The length of time families stay on housing assistance.
3. The number of families actively enrolled and graduate from the Family Self Sufficiency program.

• Requiring OHFA to report monthly on its public facing website:

1. The total number of individuals receiving housing assistance, the duration of the housing assistance, and the conditions that led to the recipient moving off of housing assistance.
2. Average housing voucher placement rate, as reported to HUD through the OHFA Monthly HCV Utilization Report.
3. The current capacity of the Family Self Sufficiency Program and available slots.
4. A list of current grant opportunities from HUD and the status of applications

• Providing OHFA guidance on prioritization of the waiting list for housing vouchers.
• Requiring OHFA to adopt rules for Housing Stability Program to ensure affordability of homes developed.
• Align incentives of the Oklahoma Housing Stability Program to dedicate a portion of new housing to areas where the State has existing investments in “shovel-ready” industrial sites.
• Create a process for the State’s lead economic development agency to have input in determining housing development needs that align with workforce needs.
• Define “affordable” housing for the purpose of the Oklahoma Housing Stability Program to ensure that the workforce population is encompassed.           
• Reduce the weights of the price per square foot in the Homebuilder Subsidy for Homeownership Program scoring to avoid incentivizing only the lowest quality builds. 

The Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency should:

• Measure and report outcomes of the Family Self Sufficiency Program, including capacity of program and current participation level.
• Increase the visibility of the Family Self Sufficiency Program on its website and promote greater awareness of the program to clients.
• Dedicate an employee to reviewing HUD grant opportunities to identify and apply for grants that OHFA is eligible for.
• Consider using Low Income Housing Tax Credits for housing developments that have mixed income levels to decentralize poverty.
• Consider revising the current QAP credit per unit to incentivize unit sizes and quality that are better suited to families.
• Craft rules for the Housing Stability Program that allow for developers to use emerging housing construction technologies.