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Affordable housing grant writers and grant seekers in California should take note of the Department of Housing and Community Development's (HCD) many affordable housing Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs), which together offer many millions of dollars in funding. Here's list of some of HCD's most interesting active funding programs, some of which have Affordable Housing NOFAs on the street right now:
- Accelerator: This program provides what is called "gap funding," which is designed to replace "tax credit equity" in construction projects that are already prepared. This is ideal for getting projects that are effectively ready to go, get out of the ground. This is also consistent with California's many state bills under consideration that are designed to simplify the development/construction process.
- Affordable Housing & Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC): AHSC provides grants that include "housing, transportation, and land preservation projects." The challenge with this program is almost always dealing with local zoning issues. "Land preservation" and "housing construction" are usually opposed to each other, but we don't write the NOFAs.
- CalHome: The CalHome program provides grants that will let first-time housing unit buyers get assistance. In addition, it offers housing rehabilitation assistance, homebuyer counseling, and what might be euphemistically called "technical assistance" activities. In other words, CalHome funds activities that don't increase the housing supply, but the activities it does fund may be better than nothing.
- Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Non-Entitlement Program: CDBG can be used to fund a bunch of activities, including housing construction, economic development, and other possible things that are fundamentally aimed at providing "decent housing to low-income households." "Decent" does a lot of work there—don't we all want decency?
- Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program: ESG grants are supposed to offer a panoply of services that help the homeless move from the streets to what might be called permanent shelter solutions. The challenge here, however, is that permanent-housing solutions are very expensive because in many cities, it's illegal to build enough housing.
- Foreclosure Intervention Housing Preservation Program: These funds are aimed at helping prevent foreclosures. As with some of the other HCD programs on this list, inadequate housing supply makes this program more difficult to implement in reality
- Golden State Acquisition Fund (GSAF): GSAF offers loans to acquire, or to "preserve" affordable housing. Loans have a five-year term, which isn't bad.
- HOME American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP): HOME-ARP provides aid to the homeless, and those teetering on homelessness. It's part of the American Recovery and Relief Act, which means that the funding may not endure, so grab it while you can.
- HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME): HOME, like many of the programs here, is also intended to help with creating and retaining low-income, low-cost housing. It can be combined with others.
- Homeownership Super NOFA: This program offers funding for construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing units, along with aid to buyers.
- Housing for a Healthy California (HHC): HHC offers funding to prevent and ameliorate homelessness, too. You may see some patterns in what each of these programs is supposed to do.
- Housing Navigators Program: The program provides funds to counties for the support of housing navigators to help young adults aged 18 to 21 years secure and maintain housing, with priority given to young adults in the foster care system.
- Infill Infrastructure Grant Program (IIG): IIG offers grant funding for infrastructure improvements that are an integral part of, or necessary to facilitate, new infill housing in residential and/or mixed-use projects.
- Joe Serna, Jr., Farmworker Housing Grant (FWHG): The FWHG program, which as been around for decades, provides grants and loans for the development, or rehabilitation, of rental and owned housing for agricultural workers—with priority given for lower-income households consisting of agricultural workers.
- Local Housing Trust Fund Program (LHTF): LHTF offers matching grant funds to local and regional housing trust funds dedicated to the 1. creation, 2. rehabilitation, or 3. preservation of affordable housing, transitional housing, and/or emergency shelters.
- Mobilehome Park Rehabilitation & Resident Ownership Program (MPRROP): This program has low-interest loans to finance the preservation of affordable mobilehome parks for ownership or control by resident organizations, nonprofit housing sponsors, or public agencies.
- Multifamily Housing Program (MHP): MHP provides low-interest, long-term deferred-payment loans for new construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of permanent rental housing for lower-income households.
- No Place Like Home (NPLH): NPLH has a cute name, but the program funds the development of permanent supportive housing for persons who are in need of mental health services and are experiencing homelessness, chronic homelessness, or at risk of chronic homelessness.
- Pet Assistance and Support (PAS) Program (this is a real program, even if it seems like a parody): Grant funds can be used as homeless shelters for pets—in other words, pets get shelter, food, and basic veterinary services, provided the pets are owned by individuals experiencing homelessness.
- Predevelopment Loan Program (PDLP): PDLP provides short-term loans to finance predevelopment costs to preserve, construct, rehabilitate or convert assisted housing for low-income households, like many of these other programs.
- Transitional Housing Program (TLP): TLP has funding to help young adults 18 - 24 years secure and maintain housing, with priority given to those formerly in the foster care and/or probation systems. Foster care too often leads to probation
- Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program: This program provides long-term loans for development or preservation of rental housing for very low- and low-income veterans, and their families.
HCD is the Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors of affordable housing in that it seemingly has a funding program for every possible niche—including homeless pets! HCD issues NOFAs for these and other funding program throughout the year, and, since the State of California's fiscal year starts July 1, funding is constantly being refreshed. Keep your eye on the HCD grants webpage.
Unlike most grant programs, for-profit housing developers are often eligible for HCD and other affordable housing funding programs. Nonprofit organizations and public agencies are also eligible. Some programs offer funds for similar activities are available via other funding mechanisms, like the Los Angeles County Prop HHH funding. Keep in mind that in most affordable housing programs, the actual funding may include loans—usually below-market-rate terms—as well as grants. Until recently, interest rates were so low that "below-market-rate terms" weren't terribly interesting, but, now that interest rates are higher again, low-interest rate loans should be of more interest too.
Most affordable developments have multiple funding sources, including local, state, and/or federal grants and loans, along with tax credits, foundation grants, private sector mortgages, and the like. Thus, looking at the final financing package for an affordable housing development often looks like a layer cake. Astute readers considering the list above will realize that many programs have overlapping purposes, to put it lightly.
And, in California, be prepared for a long pre-development and development process that can often stretch over many years: this is because affordable housing developments are subject to the same Gordian knot of planning, zoning, permitting, and CEQA (California Environment Quality Act) rules that slow down all housing and other development in the state. California affordable housing units now cost over $1 million apiece; you will not be surprised to find that the high cost of construction leads to too few units being constructed overall. Still, there's lots of funding available from HCD and a huge need for additional affordable housing in throughout—if you persevere and the project makes sense, it will eventually get built.
We've written many funded HCD and other grants for affordable housing rehabilitation and construction. Call us at 800.540.8906 ext. 1, or email us at [email protected], to discuss how we can help your organization get its piece of the HCD affordable housing financing pie. We'll write your entire proposal or edit your draft for a reasonable flat fee.
On an ironic note to end this, HCD's website states "over the last three decades, HCD has provided more than $3 billion in funding for the development of affordable housing and associated infrastructure." While $3 billion is seemingly a lot money for affordable housing development, HCD seems to lack self-awareness, since the the shortage of affordable housing in California has only gotten worse during the same three decades. California's legislature is slowly chipping away at the not in my backyard (NIMBY) morass—consider California Assembly Bill (AB) 2011, which allows for housing construction on land marked for commercial use, and Senate Bill (SB) 6, which is designed for similarly purposes. Things might be, slowly, changing.
