New York, NY – September 5, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — On July 20, 2011, as part of a historic initiative to transform New York State’s model for economic development and job creation, Governor Cuomo announced that up to $1 billion in economic development funding would be made available through a Consolidated Application Process (CFA). Beginning September 2, 2011, the NYS Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) is available to eligible applicants, marking a fundamental shift in how economic development resources are allocated. The CFA will serve as a more efficient and effective tool to streamline and expedite the State’s efforts to generate sustainable economic growth and employment opportunities across the state.
The CFA aligns agency resources behind a coordinated and comprehensive approach that ensures less bureaucracy and greater efficiency in the fulfillment of local economic development needs. By eliminating the need for businesses and others to navigate a complicated and uncoordinated system of economic incentives, the CFA will make it quicker and easier for economic development project applicants to access up to $1 billion in state resources from multiple agencies.
To support the Governor’s transformative plans to improve New York’s business climate and stimulate economic growth, ten Regional Economic Development Councils were recently created. Through a performance based, community-driven approach, Regional Councils will design a strategic economic development model for their area and use the CFA as the primary support mechanism to work with eligible applicants to advance projects that demonstrate the greatest potential for job creation and economic opportunity.
In addition to Homes and Community Renewal, eight other state agencies and authorities have pooled together resources to be made available through the CFA including: Empire State Development; NYS Canal Corporation; Energy Research and Development Authority; Environmental Facilities Corporation; Department of Labor; Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Department of State; and Department of Transportation. As the CFA process is revised and improved, additional resources will become available.
Funding is currently available for the following projects:
- Affordable Housing
- Community and Waterfront Revitalization
- Direct Assistance to Businesses
- Energy and Environmental Improvements
- Low-Cost Financing
- Municipal/Public Infrastructure
- Parks, Historic Preservation and Heritage Areas
- Sustainability Planning Assistance
- Transportation Infrastructure
- Workforce Development
To access the CFA, and any related materials, please visit http://nyworks.ny.gov.
As part of the up to $1 billion in state resources including low cost financing, tax credits and grant funding from over a dozen of existing agency programs, Homes and Community Renewal is dedicating up to $169 million in resources to affordable housing and community revitalization projects through the CFA.
HCR programs can be classified as site-specific multi-family rental programs, and locally administered community revitalization programs. The following is a list of HCR community development investment programs included under this initiative:
Site-Specific Multi-Family Rental Programs
Funding is available from the following four multi-family programs:
Low-Income Housing Trust Fund Program (HTF)
HTF provides funding for new construction or rehabilitation of vacant, underutilized, or occupied residential property; conversion of vacant or underutilized non-residential property to residential use; and, the rehabilitation of distressed residential property for occupancy by low-income tenants, tenant-cooperators or condominium owners. For more information, please go to: http://nysdhcr.gov/Programs/HousingTrustFund/
Low-Income Housing Credit Program (LIHC)
LIHC provides a dollar-for-dollar reduction in federal tax liability to investors in qualified low-income housing that meets the requirements of Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).
LIHC is available to project owners who acquire, construct, and/or rehabilitate rental housing that is reserved for low-income households. The amount of credit allocated to a project is directly related to the costs associated with the acquisition, new construction and/or rehabilitation of rental housing that is reserved for low-income households per Section 42 of IRC. For more information, please go to: http://nysdhcr.gov/Programs/LIHC/
New York State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (SLIHC)
SLIHC provides a dollar-for-dollar reduction in certain New York State taxes to investors in qualified low-income housing which meets the requirements of Article 2-A of the Public Housing Law and which also has received an allocation under the criteria and procedures established in the SLIHC Regulation, Section 2040.14. The SLIHC Regulation is included with Multi-Family Housing funding materials.
The SLIHC Program is similar to the federal LIHC Program except program eligibility is set to assist households earning up to 90% of the AMI rather than the 60% standard of the federal LIHC program. As such, the SLIHC Program requires that at least 40% of the units must be set aside for households whose income is at or below 90% of the AMI. For more information on SLIHC, please go to: http://nysdhcr.gov/Programs/SLIHC/
Homes for Working Families Program (HWF)
The Homes for Working Families Program (HWF) provides gap financing, through low-interest loans for capital costs and related acquisition and soft costs associated with the new construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing. The primary financing sources for HWF projects must be tax-exempt bonds which are allocated from the State’s Private Activity Bond Volume Cap and 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit issued in conjunction with the bonds. For more information on HWF, please go to: http://www.nyhomes.org/Developers/MultifamilyDevelopment/HomesForWorkingFamilies/
For additional information on multi-family rental housing opportunities administered through HCR, please contact Sean Fitzgerald at: sfitzgerald (at) nyshcr (dot) org or (518) 473-8732
Locally Administered Programs
Locally administrated programs include Access to Home, RESTORE, HOME LPA, New York Main Street, and Affordable Home Ownership Development. These programs each have different objectives and provide funding for activities such as commercial and residential rehabilitation, emergency repairs, accessibility improvements, and rental assistance. http://nysdhcr.gov/Programs/
Community Revitalization
NYS Community Development Block Grant Program
The State administered CDBG is a Federal program administered by HCR that provides grants for economic development activities that support business creation, expansion or retention and community development projects such as affordable housing, public infrastructure and public facilities. http://nysdhcr.gov/Programs/NYS-CDBG/
Locally administered community revitalization program applications submitted under the 2011 NOFA may be considered by Regional Economic Development Councils. New applications for these programs will be accepted in connection with future Notices of Funding Availability. For additional information on these programs available through HCR, please contact Chris Leo at cleo (at) nyshcr (dot) org or (518) 474-2057.
