§4143 Grants for Building Resident Capacity and Funding Predevelopment Costs

Summary

Gives money to resident groups, resident councils, and community-based nonprofit housing developers to help buy specific low-income housing projects. The funds can also pay reasonable administrative costs for intermediaries who run the program. Thirty percent of the money must go to grants that build resident capacity, and the rest must go to predevelopment grants. A resident capacity grant cannot be more than $30,000 per project. A predevelopment grant cannot be more than $200,000 per project (not counting any fees paid to intermediaries). Grants to build resident capacity can pay for outreach, forming a resident group, running democratic elections, training and leadership development, and legal or technical help for the group’s board, staff, and members. Predevelopment grants can pay to organize a buyer and cover third-party costs like legal work, appraisals, accounting, environmental reviews, architecture and engineering, fees, and sponsor staff and overhead. Resident capacity grants apply when the owner has filed the required notice under federal housing preservation laws. Predevelopment grants apply only when the owner has filed the initial notice to transfer to a qualified buyer or has filed a notice and entered a binding agreement to sell to a resident group or nonprofit. Payments for predevelopment grants are released in phases based on performance benchmarks set by the Secretary with intermediaries. Applications are accepted monthly on a rolling basis and are approved or rejected at least quarterly by intermediaries chosen by the Secretary. If an application is denied, the applicant can appeal to the Secretary and must receive a binding decision within 30 days of the appeal.