§12183 Approval of applications

Summary

When deciding which revolving loan fund applications to approve, the Secretary must only pick ones that meet several rules. The people who live in the area to be helped must have incomes below the area's median (as set by the Secretary). The applying community development corporation must show it has the skills and experience to run a loan fund and manage housing and community projects. It must show good working ties with local businesses, banks, the community, and job training programs. At least 75 percent of jobs kept or created by the loans must go to low‑income people (at or below the federal poverty line or at or below 80 percent of the area median), to unemployed or underemployed people, to people in job training under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act or the Family Support Act of 1988, to people whose jobs are saved by the financing, or to groups historically underrepresented in the local economy. The Secretary should approve a mix of large and small, urban and rural, and diverse organizations. The Secretary must give priority to applicants who plan to serve areas where the median income is no more than 80 percent of the area median and where unemployment is high or where the population fell by at least 7 percent between April 1, 1980 and April 1, 1990, according to the Bureau of the Census.