Recently in Funding Sources Category
The FY10 Proposal Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan
Fund, and Cleanup Grants have been posted to the brownfields website
at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicat.htm
The proposal deadline is October 16, 2009.
These grants may be used to address sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum).
Opportunities for funding are as follows (See Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 66.818):
Brownfields Assessment Grants:
(each funded up to $200,000 over three years; $1,000,000 for Assessment Coalitions) provide funding to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct planning (including cleanup planning) and community involvement related to brownfield sites;
Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants:
(each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) provide funding to capitalize a revolving fund and to make loans and provide subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites;
Brownfields Cleanup Grants:
(each funded up to $200,000 over three years) provide funding for a grant recipient to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites that are owned by the grant recipient.
Please note there are two significant changes to the Proposal Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants in FY2010:
(1) Applicants applying for a cleanup grant must own the site that is subject of their proposal at time of proposal submission;
(2) For RLF proposals only - Applicants who are currently recipients of a Brownfields RLF cooperative agreement, whether awarded under CERCLA 104(k) or CERCLA 104(d) are ineligible to apply in the FY2010 RLF competition. If you are an existing RLF cooperative agreement recipient you may be eligible to apply for RLF supplemental funding in early 2010.
EPA encourages applicants to read the guidelines carefully before applying.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that $4 million is available to improve methods to detect and control lead-based paint, mold and other housing-related safety hazards that harm children. These grants will be awarded competitively to multiple Academic and non-profit institutions, State, Tribal or local governments that advance the recognition and control of residential health and safety hazards or improve our understanding of the link between housing and health.
"Anything HUD can do to continue to improve the methods for protecting our children from dangerous home hazards is crucial to American families, their children and their future," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "Investing in healthy homes is not only good for health reasons, but good for the environment and the economy as well."
These grants will further the implementation of HUD's Healthy Homes Strategic Plan, and the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Healthy Homes, both recently released, which encourage government agencies, other research organizations, and scientists to develop and support a portfolio of rigorous healthy homes research. In addition, both documents recommend that agencies and sectors work together to provide guidance and technical assistance to support safe, healthy, and environmentally friendly housing options.
HUD will award approximately six to ten grants ranging from $250,000 to $800,000 each. Applications may be downloaded from the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control's Website. The application provides instructions, including submitting proposals by Federal Express (FedEx), United Parcel Services (UPS) and overnight Express Mail delivery services. The deadline for receiving grants is 5:00 PM eastern time, August 18, 2009.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will
offer rental assistance to 4,000 non-elderly families with
disabilities, including 1,000 vouchers specifically targeted to those
transitioning out of nursing homes and other care facilities. Through
its funding notice, HUD is seeking comment from public housing
authorities and others to ensure this critically needed assistance is
distributed and administered in the most effective manner possible.
More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.
Today's announcement coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. & E.W. which affirmed the rights of individuals with disabilities to live independently. To commemorate this landmark decision, President Obama declared 2009 the Year of Community Living.
"We also recognize how important it is for HUD and HHS to coordinate our resources to enable community-living for those individuals that live with disabilities."
HUD's Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) will make $30 million in voucher assistance available to support approximately 4,000 Housing Choice Vouchers for non-elderly disabled families.
HUD is making a 1,000 of those vouchers available specifically for individuals transitioning out of nursing homes and other institutions.
These vouchers directly support a $1.75 billion initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help persons who reside in health care settings move to community-based living. While HHS' Money Follows the Person (MFP) program offers health care, case management and other services to qualified families, it does not include funding for housing. HUD's funding initiative is designed to fill that gap.
The remaining 3,000 Housing Choice Vouchers are available to assist any non-elderly disabled family. The Department is encouraging local housing authorities to give strong consideration to using some or all of these vouchers to provide housing for those non-elderly persons that are living in the community, but are at-risk for institutionalization.
More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), HUD was granted authority to provide $250 million in grants and loans and other assistance to increase energy efficiency in the HUD-assisted, project-based, multifamily stock.
HUD will begin accepting application for the Green Retrofit Program (GRP) beginning June 15, 2009. The amount of a green retrofit grant or loan can be up to $15,000 a unit and is expected to average less than $10,000 a unit across all funded projects. Though the requirements and details differ by eligible housing program, in general, the funds are to be used to reduce ongoing utility consumption, benefit resident health, or to benefit the wider environment. The projects are expected to be completed within 12 months and in no event should work extend more than 24 months.
The program is being administered by HUD's Office of Affordable Housing Preservation (OAHP), which also operates the Mark-to-Market Green Initiative. Though the GRP is a distinct program, it shares some elements of the existing program, including some of the Mark-to-Market terminology. In some instances, OAHP may make Green Retrofit funds contingent on the owner's agreement to a Mark-to-Market debt restructuring.
Full details, including a list of eligible programs and activities, can be found in Housing Notice 09-02, released May 13, 2009, and is available at http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page?_pageid=153,7940934&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
On May 6, the secretaries of HUD and the Department of Energy (DOE) signed an MOU to
facilitate use of DOE Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) funding
in public housing and privately owned, federally assisted housing
properties.
HUD-Qualified Housing
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)
these properties, which are designated as "HUD-Qualified Housing," as well as those funded with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) have sufficient income verification and rent controls to essentially prequalify them for the income and rent restrictions of the DOE's WAP program.
HUD-Qualified Housing
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)
these properties, which are designated as "HUD-Qualified Housing," as well as those funded with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) have sufficient income verification and rent controls to essentially prequalify them for the income and rent restrictions of the DOE's WAP program.
The WAP program requires that the households assisted have incomes no greater than two times the federal poverty level. In addition, when the funds are used in multifamily buildings, there must be sufficient controls to assure that WAP funded improvements are not used by owners to unduly raise rents and burden the low income people the program is intended to benefit.
Specifically, the MOU states that DOE will accept HUD's and the LIHTC program's beneficiary income eligibility determination and ongoing verification for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP).
To facilitate this, HUD will give DOE a list of "HUD-Qualified Housing" and LIHTC projects, and within 60 days HUD and DOE will provide joint guidance to states for evaluating income eligibility in order to implement the MOU. The agencies will also organize joint forums to educate stakeholders.
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) provided $16 billion to DOE and HUD to improve the energy efficiency of existing homes. The Weatherization Assistance Program, which has been funded in recent years at roughly $250 million, received an additional $5 billion in ARRA. Similarly, HUD received $4.5 billion in new funding to renovate and upgrade public housing and $250 million to retrofit the privately owned, federally assisted housing.
The MOU is at www.hud.gov/recovery/doemoucombined.pdf
The
Community Regeneration, Sustainability and Innovation Act of 2009
(CRSI) has been designed to create a new program within the U.S.
Department of Housing and Community Development (HUD) targeted toward
cities and metropolitan areas experiencing large-scale property
vacancy, abandonment and population losses.
The
act's supporters say it will provide assistance to communities to start
or expand land banks that establish public control over vacant and
abandoned property so that property can be redeveloped or otherwise
used in ways to "benefit the public."
A
summary of the CRSI act, prepared by its authors, says, "The Community
Regeneration Act would encourage innovation, experimentation, and
environmentally sustainable practices through collaborative efforts to
reuse land bank properties in ways that will provide long-term benefits
to the public, whether it is through the creation of green
infrastructure, economic development, or other strategies.
Implementation of such strategies would create new and sustainable
employment opportunities for residents. The Community Regeneration Act
would also strongly encourage multi-jurisdictional or regional
approaches to addressing the problem of vacant and abandoned property."
Allowable Uses for Funds
Funding is for it to go toward the "establishment of recovered building materials reuse and recycling infrastructure, facilities, and technical support."
CRSI as currently proposed,
is for the "establishment of local government purchasing requirements
for deconstruction to make use of existing building materials stock in
new and rehabilitation construction."
In areas where land banking has created a portfolio of vacant properties, the CRSI also would allow both the "deconstruction and demolition of vacant and abandoned properties" and the "demolition and removal of public infrastructure" to be be funded through the act.