§12872 Planning grants

Summary

The Secretary can give planning grants to help create homeownership programs, including cooperative ownership. Grants are normally no more than $200,000, but the Secretary may approve a larger amount for good cause. Grant money can pay for things like setting up resident management groups and councils; training and technical help; feasibility studies; required lead-paint inspections; early architectural and engineering work; tenant and homebuyer counseling; planning for job training and economic self-sufficiency; security plans; and preparing an application for an implementation grant. To get a grant, an applicant must apply in the form the Secretary requires. The application must describe the proposed activities, schedule, staff, and amount requested; explain who the applicant is and why they are qualified; identify the property and describe tenants (including family size and income); include a public official’s certification that the work fits the approved State or local housing strategy (or, within the first 12 months after November 28, 1990, another approved State or local housing plan); and promise to follow the Fair Housing Act, Title VI, Section 504, and the Age Discrimination Act and to actively further fair housing. The Secretary will set selection rules and choose winners based on factors like applicant ability, tenant interest, property suitability, national geographic diversity, and other appropriate factors.