Grant applications now open for $32 million for affordable housing developments

About $32 million is now available to fund affordable housing projects in Hamilton County.

The money is from the county's portion of American Rescue Plan federal stimulus.

The Cincinnati Development Fund (CDF) is managing the funds, along with Cincinnati's Affordable Housing Trust Fund and several other funds.

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"We want there to be the opportunity for a developer or a project to not only access these very unique and high impact federal grant dollars, but to also access other funds the CDF has in affordable housing leverage funds so that developers are going to less places to get the money together for their projects and things can happen quicker," said Chief Strategy Officer Luke Blocher.

The first round of applications is due May 16, with the awards announced in June. But Blocher says applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

"We have a first round of awards that's relatively quick so that the projects that we know are out there can get off the ground and get moving and not lose tax credits and things like that," he said. "But we are very intentionally not going to have all the money go out at the very beginning."

A total $31.8 million is available. Of that, some is set aside for specific types of projects:

• $16.9 million for development of new multi- or single-family affordable housing, with emphasis on proximity to community anchors, homeownership, and energy and water efficiency
• $7.4 million for renovation or rehabilitation of existing multi- and single-family units, with emphasis on energy and water efficiency, resulting in affordable housing
• $7.4 million for development of affordable housing for senior, disabled or reentry populations

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Eligibility is determined a couple of different ways; any development eligible for federal housing programs like Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) or HOME, and projects where the units are affordable to households at or below 65% Area Median Income, which is about $62,000 for a family of four.

Applications and questions should be submitted to HamCountyARPA@cindevfund.org.

Learn more in this CDF document below: