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necessary to maximize the use of these funds. As an example, if the City was unable to use the CaIHFA within its timeline, it would be beneficial to use the greatest amount of CaIHFA funding available to avoid loosing the grant funds. 3) Increase Maximum Loan Amount The current loan limits are $60,000 for a low income household and $40,000 for a moderate income household. The logic behind the difference is related to an assumption that a moderate income household can theoretically afford more than a low income household and therefore would not need as much assistance. However, staff and the Housing Commission determined that the lower limit on moderate income borrowers has posed an impediment for some applicants, and the reality is that $60,000 is probably necessary even to a moderate income buyer. Nevertheless, there is a concern with increasing the aggregate amount of assistance beyond $60,000 for either low or moderate income buyers. Therefore, staff and the Commission recommend that the limit be set at $60,000 regardless of income category. The BEAR Housing Opportunity Council felt strongly that this would be a beneficial change to the program. In combination with the modifications discussed in item #2 above, the City would have to increase the amount of the City-funded DPA loan from $20,000 to $30,000 for moderate income borrowers. 4) Remove First-Time Buyer Restriction In late 2005, the City approved a modification to the DPA program to eliminate the first-time buyer requirement for "buyers who have owned a home in the past with resale restrictions through the Pleasanton Homeownership Assistance Program (PHAP)" (see section #2 in the attached program guidelines; in the event of a competing interest for funding, a priority is still given to true first-time homebuyers). Staff believes that this change resulted in a fair treatment of the first-time buyer issue and it and the Housing Commission recommend that the guidelines be maintained as is for the present. Staff and the Housing Commission will continue to monitor demand for the program in case the Council might want to consider further modification to this requirement in the future (i.e., eliminating the first-time buyer requirement altogether). Analysis of DPA Program Funding With the recent allocation of $250,000 from CaIHFA and the Council's approval of $200,000 from the Lower Income Housing Fund, the City currently has a total of $450,000 to fund DPA loans. As shown in the table below, the aggregate demand for DPA program funds based on pre-approvals (and anticipated Birch Terrace applications) may exceed the amount of available funds. The table is sorted in order of those applicants that are most likely to require funding in the near term. The DPA program guidelines specifically state that a funding commitment is not made until several conditions are met: Page 5 of 10