Arlington County Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for County Loan Funds
Arlington County is pleased to announce the NOFA for FY 2020 (July 2019 – June 2020) County loan funds for the creation or preservation of affordable rental housing is now open. The deadline for application submittal is May 31, 2019. Only projects that are eligible for use of Federal HOME and/or CDBG funds will be able to utilize any additional local funds that may be available. Applications that do not propose feasible use of Federal funds will not be eligible for local funding through this NOFA process. For general information about County loan funds and other sources of funding, please visit the Financial Tools webpage.
Funds Available
It is anticipated there will be approximately $6-$8 million in County loan funds available through this NOFA.
FY 2020 Eligibility
Staff will accept and consider proposals from non-profit or for-profit qualified applicants that meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Applicant has owned or developed at least one development that contains committed affordable (CAF), income-restricted, or market rate housing units that have been placed in service. If applying for Low Income Housing Tax Credits, applicants will need to meet VHDA eligibility requirements.
- The Federal and local loan funds must be used for rental units affordable up to 80% Area Median Income (AMI) as published by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the Washington, DC Metropolitan Statistical Area, adjusted for household size. If the development is mixed-income, Federal and local loan funds will be applied only to the affordable portion of the development.
- The CAF units must remain committed affordable for no less than 30 years.
- Use of Federal CDBG and HOME funds must meet certain compliance requirements (see Application for more details)
How to Apply for FY 2020
The application period will begin on April 22, 2019 and applications will be due May 31, 2019 by 5PM. The County will accept applications completed and submitted through the ZoomGrants application software. The County will not accept any other form of submittal.
PDF of NOFA Application for County Loan Funds
FY 2020 Project Funding Scoring Guidance
The FY 2020 NOFA for County Loan Funds Scoring Guidance will guide the review and evaluation of loan requests and form the basis for the FY 2020 pipeline funding recommendations to the County Manager and County Board. The Geographic Distribution Map, which is used to score the Geographic Distribution criteria, can be found here.
Selection is not a commitment of loan funds. Selected applicants will move forward with financing negotiations, including negotiations on the requested loan amount, and public review process. A County Board hearing would be scheduled upon successful completion of this process. Any commitment of County loan funds is contingent upon County Board approval.
Out-of-Cycle Applications
Out-of-cycle applications will be considered for time-sensitive 3rd party acquisitions on a case-by-case basis. “Time-sensitive 3rd party acquisition” means the development is currently listed on the open market or will be listed on the open market in the immediate future. If the applicant is applying to be considered out-of-cycle please e-mail a letter to Melissa Danowski at mdanowski@arlingtonva.us with information about the project (location, units, price) and documentation of time-sensitivity (listing or letter from owner). Describe why an in-cycle application would preclude the ability to purchase. DO NOT fill out ZoomGrants application unless advised by Arlington County staff to do so.
Questions?
ZoomGrants technical support staff can help with technical questions or general inquiries about the system. Please contact: questions@zoomgrants.com
All questions related to the application content must be submitted in writing to mdanowski@arlingtonva.us All questions and answers will be posted to this website.
FY 2020 Q&A: Read the Questions and Answers document that contains answers to the questions staff receives during the FY 2020 NOFA application period.