Funds Will be Awarded by NYS HCR Through a Competitive Request for Proposal Process
New York – July 30, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Commissioner/CEO James S. Rubin announced the latest round of funds and tax credits, totaling over $200 million, for the preservation and construction of affordable housing statewide. The financing will be made available by HCR via Unified Funding, a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process that allows applicants to apply for 11 different funding sources using a single online application.
“Providing more housing opportunity and wider housing choice is a core mission of Governor Cuomo’s administration,” said Commissioner/CEO Rubin, “and it is always welcome news for communities across the state when we release the Unified Funding Request for Proposal. This time around we are giving the affordable housing community advance notice of what we’re looking for and the qualities and features we’re emphasizing. In this way, we’ll increase competition for these dollars and tax credits, giving us more options for better targeted housing opportunities and the chance to get shovels in the ground faster.”
HCR will once again be offering an accelerated Early Award option for shovel-ready projects that clearly advance State housing goals, such as Transit Oriented Development, Housing Opportunity Projects, and Mixed-Income, Mixed-Use Revitalization. For the first time, HCR is announcing its Early Award State housing goals several weeks prior to issuing the formal RFP to give developers, municipalities and not-for-profits additional time to plan for Early Award submissions which are due on October 6th. If an application does not receive an early funding award, it may be considered for an award as part of later funding round decisions. The deadline for all other Unified Funding applications is December 3. The Unified Funding RFP will be issued in mid-August.
HCR has posted three notices to the State Register on Tuesday, July 21st: a Notice of Credit Availability (NOCA) for federal tax credits available under the Low-Income Housing Credit Program (LIHC) and a NOCA for tax credits available under the New York State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (SLIHC), both for low- and moderate-income households; and a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for state and federal funds for low- , moderate- , and middle-income households. Funding available under the NOFA includes money from the following programs: New York State Low-Income Housing Trust Fund Program (HTF); the New York State HOME Program (NYS HOME); the Rural Area Revitalization Projects Program (RARP); the Urban Initiatives Program (UI); the Community Investment Fund (CIF); the Medicaid Redesign Team Housing Capital Program (MRT); the Mitchell-Lama Program (ML); and the Middle Income Housing Program (MIHP). To see the documents, please visit HCR’s website: http://www.nyshcr.org/Funding/ .
At this stage, HCR is looking for high-quality, Early Award projects that can proceed quickly and that advance specific New York State housing goals, including: promoting Housing Opportunity; Transit-Oriented Development; revitalization and economic development; preserving previously subsidized affordable housing; providing disaster relief; creating mixed-income and mixed-use developments; developing land acquired through land banks; having a retail or community service component; promoting homeownership; providing supportive housing with services; undertaking rural development; and/or including an environmental remediation component.
HCR will hold application workshops as follows:
ROCHESTER:
Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Rochester City Council Chambers
City Hall – Room 302
30 Church St.
Rochester, NY
ALBANY:
Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Hampton Plaza Ballroom
38-40 State Street
Albany, NY
NEW YORK CITY:
Friday, September 11, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building, 2nd Floor Art Gallery
163 West 125th Street
New York, New York
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About NYS Homes and Community Renewal:
New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) is charged with carrying out Governor Cuomo’s $1 billion statewide House NY program, whose goal is to create or preserve 14,300 affordable units by 2018. In 2014, HCR boasted a record year, financing the creation or preservation of 9,407 affordable housing units, including affordable homeownership opportunities for more than one thousand families. As the largest investment in New York State’s affordable housing stock in at least 15 years, House NY investments will keep thousands of low- and moderate-income Mitchell-Lama units affordable for another 40 years. The House NY initiative works in tandem with other HCR affordable housing programs and the HCR Office of Rent Administration’s vigorous efforts to protect more than two million rent-regulated tenants. The Tenant Protection Unit has returned more than 41,000 New York City apartments to rent regulation.
