fy cn implementation nofa 1-9-12 final.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5600-N-19]

HUD’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 NOFA for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative –

Implementation Grants

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing and Office of

Multifamily Housing Programs, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of HUD‟s Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Notice of Funding Availability for HUD‟s

Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.

SUMMARY: Today‟s publication is governed by the information and instructions found in the

Notice of HUD‟s Fiscal Year 2012 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) Policy Requirements and General Section (General Section) to HUD‟s FY2012 NOFAs for Discretionary Programs, published on September 19, 2011 and this program section of the NOFA. For FY2012, HUD will award two types of grants for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative:

1. Planning Grants assist communities in developing a successful neighborhood transformation plan and building support necessary for that plan to be successfully implemented.

2. Implementation Grants support those communities that have undergone a comprehensive local planning process and are ready to implement their “Transformation Plan” to redevelop the neighborhood.

Through today‟s publication, HUD is making available approximately $110 million in assistance through the FY2012 Choice Neighborhoods Initiative for Implementation Grants. The NOFA for Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants will be issued under separate cover.

A. Choice Neighborhoods Initiative – Summary. The spatial concentration of poverty remains a serious and often unrecognized challenge to the ability of poor families and children to access opportunities and move up the economic ladder. Many neighborhoods of concentrated poverty contain distressed public and/or HUD-assisted housing in need of repair or replacement.

Prior to the creation of Choice Neighborhoods, HOPE VI was the only major source of revitalization funding available to these areas. This funding was only available to the public housing stock, and HUD could not reach nearby distressed assisted or vacant private housing.

Choice Neighborhoods helps communities also address assisted and vacant housing units, while investing in people and neighborhood assets, to transform neighborhoods of distress into revitalized mixed-income neighborhoods.

Choice Neighborhoods employs a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation.

The program helps communities transform neighborhoods by revitalizing severely distressed public and/or assisted housing and investing and leveraging investments in well-functioning services, high quality public schools and education programs, high quality early learning programs and services, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs. Choice

Neighborhoods will ensure that current residents will be able to benefit from this transformation, by preserving affordable housing or providing residents with the choice to move to affordable and accessible housing in another existing neighborhood of opportunity. Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals:

1. Housing: Transform distressed public and assisted housing into energy efficient, mixed-income housing that is physically and financially viable over the long-term;

2. People: Support positive outcomes for families who live in the target development(s) and the surrounding neighborhood, particularly outcomes related to residents‟ health, safety, employment, mobility, and education; and

3. Neighborhood: Transform neighborhoods of poverty into viable, mixed-income neighborhoods with access to well-functioning services, high quality public schools and education programs, high quality early learning programs and services, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs.

To achieve these core goals, communities must have in place a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan. This Transformation Plan is the guiding document for the revitalization of the public and/or assisted housing units, while simultaneously directing the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood and positive outcomes for families.

To successfully implement the Transformation Plan, applicants will need to work with public and private agencies, organizations (including philanthropic organizations), and individuals to gather and leverage resources needed to support the financial sustainability of the plan. These efforts should build community support for and involvement in the development of the plan.

In addition, HUD intends to work with other Federal agencies to integrate programs so that place-based solutions can be more readily implemented. This interagency collaboration will assist HUD and Choice Neighborhoods applicants in identifying strategies for building upon, and leveraging, high-quality housing, academic, family and community programs and anticipated investments in neighborhood revitalization efforts funded by other Federal agencies. Examples of these efforts include the Department of Justice‟s Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation program, the Department of Health and Human Services‟ Community Health Centers investments, and the

Department of Education‟s Promise Neighborhoods program. Through these programs, the

Departments intend to create incentives for communities to focus on the same geographic area and apply for funding from more than one source.

These coordinated efforts should result in the strategic investment of resources into the following key neighborhood assets:

a. Developmental assets that allow residents to attain the skills needed to be successful in all aspects of daily life (e.g. educational institutions, early learning centers and health resources);

b. Commercial assets that are associated with production, employment, transactions, and sales

(e.g. labor force and retail establishments);

c. Recreational assets that create value in a neighborhood beyond work and education (e.g.

parks, open space, arts organizations, restaurants, movie theatres, and athletics);

d. Physical assets that are associated with the built environment and physical infrastructure

(e.g. housing, commercial buildings, roads, sidewalks and bike paths); and

e. Social assets that establish well-functioning social interactions (e.g. public safety and community engagement).

By focusing resources in targeted places, and by drawing on the compounding effect of well-coordinated actions, HUD believes Choice Neighborhoods will result in neighborhoods of opportunity.

B. Anticipated Objectives That Will Be Used to Develop Metrics to Measure Long Term

Success: As the Department moves forward with the selected grantees, the Department will work with each grantee to develop metrics appropriate to its site and neighborhood in order to measure performance. Below are the objectives that the Department will be using to measure performance across sites and neighborhoods.

1. Housing Objectives. Housing transformed by Choice Neighborhoods is expected to be:

a. Energy Efficient, Sustainable, Accessible, Connected and Free from Discrimination.

HUD‟s expectation for Choice Neighborhoods are properties with low per unit energy consumption, healthy indoor air quality, built to be resistant to local disaster risk, exceeding the

Section 504 and Fair Housing Act accessibility requirements, with affordable broadband Internet access and free from discrimination in the sale, rental or financing of housing.

b. Mixed-Income. HUD‟s expectation for Choice Neighborhoods are properties with a mix of extremely low-income (e.g. public/assisted/HTF units), low income (e.g. tax credit/HOME units), and, as appropriate, moderate income units (e.g. market rate rent/homeownership units).

c. Physically Viable. HUD‟s expectation for Choice Neighborhoods are properties that are constructed with durable and low-maintenance materials, receive high quality maintenance over time, and scheduled upgrades and replacements are performed.

d. Financially Viable. HUD‟s expectation for Choice Neighborhoods are projects that have budgeted appropriately for the rental income that can be generated from the project (including rental subsidy) to meet debt payments and meet or exceed industry standards for quality management and maintenance of the property.

2. People Objectives. People that live in the housing transformed through Choice

Neighborhoods are expected to improve their quality of life.

a. Resident Metrics. There are two sets of resident groups for which metrics will be established.

(1) Baseline Residents. The grantee and HUD will work together to monitor the location and outcomes for the baseline residents of the public and/or assisted development. These are the residents that lived in the targeted redevelopment site at the time of application for Choice

Neighborhoods. HUD‟s expectation is that the tenants who relocate find housing and neighborhood opportunities as good as or better than the opportunities available to tenants who return to the redeveloped site, and that all residents of the targeted redevelopment site experience improvements along all of the indicators below relative to their pre-redevelopment circumstances.

(2) Revitalized Development Residents. The grantee and HUD will also work together to track the experiences and changing characteristics of residents who live at the revitalized site.

HUD‟s goal is that, over time, the average incomes at the site rise, residents experience a safe living environment, children have access to high quality early learning programs and services and high quality schools that prepare students to graduate from high school college- and career-ready and perform well on standardized tests relative to the state average, there is good access to parks and recreation, and residents have access to quality health care.

b. Outcomes. Outcomes for both the baseline residents and the residents of the revitalized developments are planned to be measured along the following dimensions:

(1) Housing Location, Quality, and Affordability. HUD‟s expectation is that baseline residents who, by their own choice, do not return to the development have housing and neighborhood opportunities as good as or better than the opportunities available to those who occupy the redeveloped site. This is consistent with HUD‟s strategic plan objective to increase the proportion of HUD-assisted families in low-poverty and racially diverse communities.

(2) Resident Health. HUD‟s expectation is that health for residents over time is as good as or better than that of other households with similar economic and demographic conditions at baseline.

(3) Resident Safety. HUD‟s expectation is that residents are living in a safer environment as evidenced by the revitalized neighborhood having dramatically lower crime rates than the neighborhood had prior to redevelopment and maintaining a lower crime rate over time.

(4) Employment. HUD‟s expectation is that the income of baseline residents and residents of the revitalized development, particularly wage income for non-elderly/non-disabled adult residents, increases over time. This is consistent with HUD‟s strategic plan objective to increase the average income of existing HUD-assisted households.

(5) Education. HUD‟s expectation is a high level of resident access to high quality early learning programs and services so children enter kindergarten ready to learn, significant improvement in the quality of schools nearest to the target development that prepare students to graduate from high school college- and career-ready, and significant growth in existing individual resident educational outcomes over time relative to the state average.

3. Neighborhood Objectives. Through Choice Neighborhoods, the neighborhood is expected to improve:

a. Other Neighborhood Housing. HUD‟s expectation is that post-redevelopment the neighboring housing has a very low vacancy/abandonment rate, that the housing inventory be of high quality, and that the neighborhood be mixed-income and maintain a mixture of incomes over time. This may include maintaining a significant amount of the private inventory as affordable post-redevelopment.

b. Services. HUD‟s expectation is that the distance traveled from the neighborhood to basic services is equal to or less than the distance traveled from the median neighborhood in the metropolitan area. Those basic services include grocery stores, banks, health clinics and doctors‟ offices, dentist offices, and high-quality early learning programs and services.

c. Public Schools. HUD‟s expectation is that public schools in the target neighborhood are safe and welcoming places for children and their families. In addition, HUD‟s expectation is that the schools have test scores that are as good as or better than the state average or are implementing school reforms that raise student achievement over time and graduate students from high school prepared for college and a career.

d. Other Education Programs. HUD‟s expectation is that infants, toddlers and preschool-age children have access to high-quality early learning programs and services that result in significantly improved outcomes in physical well-being and motor development, social-emotional development, language and literacy development, and cognition and general knowledge, including early numeracy for children and that engage their families in meaningful ways.

e. Public Assets. HUD‟s expectation is that the distance to travel to high-quality park and recreational facilities in the neighborhood be equal to or less than for other neighborhoods in the jurisdiction and the region.

f. Effective Transportation Alternatives. HUD‟s expectation is that neighborhood residents have quality public transit, walking and/or biking options to connect them easily to places of work and local services.

g. Job Access. HUD‟s expectation is that neighborhood residents have rates of employment among working age non-disabled adults similar to or better than the employment rate in other neighborhoods in the jurisdiction and region.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions regarding specific program requirements should be directed to the agency contact identified in this program NOFA.

Questions regarding the 2012 General Section should be directed to the Grants Management

Office at (202) 708-0667 (this is not a toll-free number). Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access this number via TTY by calling the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-

8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NOFA published today provides the statutory and regulatory requirements, threshold requirements, and rating factors applicable to funding being made available today (through the Choice Neighborhoods NOFA). Applicants for the

Choice Neighborhoods NOFA must also refer to the 2012 General Section for important application information and requirements, including submission requirements, which have changed this year.

In FY2012, HUD is continuing its requirement that applicants submit their applications electronically through http://www.grants.gov. If applicants have questions concerning the registration process, registration renewal, assigning a new Authorized Organization

Representative, or have a question about a NOFA requirement, please contact HUD staff identified in this program NOFA. HUD staff cannot help you write your application, but can clarify requirements that are contained in the General Section, this Notice, and in the Grants.gov registration materials. New applicants should note that they are required to complete a five-step registration process in order to submit their applications electronically. HUD‟s General Section provides step-by-step instructions for applicants who must register with Grants.gov and also provides renewal/update instructions for those who have previously registered.

Application materials and instructions are posted to Grants.gov as soon as HUD finalizes them.

HUD encourages applicants to subscribe to the Grants.gov free notification service at http://www.grants.gov/applicants/email_subscription.jsp. By doing so, applicants will receive an email notification as soon as items are posted to the website. By joining the notification service, if a modification is made to the NOFA, applicants will receive notification that a change has been made.

HUD encourages applicants to carefully read the General Section and all parts of this Choice

Neighborhoods NOFA. Carefully following the directions provided can make the difference in a successful application submission.

Pursuant to government-wide policy, all applicants must have a DUNS number and be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) to receive an award of funds from HUD.

Applicants applying via Grants.gov already meet this requirement by completing the Grants.gov registration requirements. Applicants who receive a waiver to submit a paper application, if any, must also comply with the requirement for a DUNS number and registration in the CCR. Failure to meet the requirement will prohibit you from receive a grant award.

In FY2012, HUD is posting the full NOFA on the Grants.gov website rather than the Federal

Register. The Federal Register publication is merely a notice of where to the find the NOFA and application forms. The NOFA posted to Grants.gov is the official version of the Notice and if there is a discrepancy between information posted to Grants.gov and other websites, the

Grants.gov information prevails.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW INFORMATION 8

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION 9

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION 9

B. AUTHORITY 9

C. DEFINITIONS 10

II. AWARD INFORMATION 16

A. AVAILABILITY OF CHOICE NEIGHBORHOODS FUNDS 16

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION 16

A. KEY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 16

B. MATCH REQUIREMENTS 18

C. OTHER 19

1. PROGRAM ACTIVITIES 19

2. THRESHOLD REQUIREMENTS 21

3. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS 28

IV. APPLICATION, SUBMISSION AND TIMELY RECEIPT INFORMATION 52

V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION 68

A. CRITERIA 70

1. RATING FACTOR – CAPACITY (49 POINTS TOTAL) 70

2. RATING FACTOR – NEED (25 POINTS TOTAL) 77

3. RATING FACTOR – VISION (98 POINTS TOTAL) 81

4. RATING FACTOR – SOUNDNESS OF APPROACH (28 POINTS TOTAL) 105

5. SITE VISITS 109

6. GENERAL SECTION BONUS POINTS (4 POINTS TOTAL) 110

B. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS 110

VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION 112

VII. AGENCY CONTACTS 116

VIII. OTHER INFORMATION 117

OVERVIEW INFORMATION

A. Federal Agency Name. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Public and Indian Housing.

B. Funding Opportunity Title. Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Implementation Grants Fiscal

Year 2012.

C. Announcement Type. Initial announcement.

D. Funding Opportunity Number. The Federal Register number for this NOFA is FR-5600-

N-19. The OMB approval number for this program is 2577-0269.

E. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number. The CFDA number for this

NOFA is 14.889, “Choice Neighborhoods.”

F. Application Deadline Date. The application deadline date is April 10, 2012. Electronic applications must be received by 11:59:59 p.m. eastern time on the deadline date. See this

NOFA for application submission, faxing instructions, and timely receipt requirements, including Section IV.C, which provides detailed information on what qualifies as “received.”

See HUD‟s 2012 General Section for application submission, faxing instructions, and timely receipt requirements, unless otherwise noted in this NOFA. Note: Grants.gov now uses Adobe

Reader 9.4. Applicants must use the latest version of Adobe reader that is compatible and available from the Grants.gov website. Information on the latest version of Adobe Reader can be found on the Grants.gov website at www.grants.gov. HUD recommends that applicants download either of these two readers to prepare and transmit the application to Grants.gov.

HUD will not accept an entire application submitted by fax.

G. Additional Overview Content Information

1. Grant Type. For FY2012, HUD will award Implementation Grants to provide a significant amount of Federal support to those communities that have undergone a comprehensive local planning process and are now moving forward with their “Transformation Plan” to redevelop the neighborhood.

2. Available Funds. This NOFA announces the availability of approximately $110 million in

FY2012 funds for Choice Neighborhoods grants. HUD anticipates awarding four to five grants not to exceed $30,000,000 each, or the sum of the amounts in Section IV.E.3, whichever is lower. At its discretion, HUD may use remaining FY2011 and additional FY2012 Choice

Neighborhoods funding to make Implementation Grant awards under this NOFA. At least

$80,000,000 of the total FY2012 Choice Neighborhoods funding must be awarded to applications in which a public housing authority is the Lead Applicant or Co-Applicant.

Furthermore, HUD will set aside one Implementation Grant to an application that targets a multifamily HUD-assisted housing property that is receiving project-based rental assistance under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (exclusive of tenant-based or project-based vouchers), section 221(d)(3) or section 236 of the National Housing Act, section 202 of

Housing Act of 1959, or section 811 of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990.

3. Eligible Applicants. As stated in the Department of Housing and Urban Development

Appropriations Act, 2012, Choice Neighborhoods eligible applicants are Public Housing

Authorities (PHAs), local governments, tribal entities, nonprofits, and for-profit developers that apply jointly with a public entity. See Sections I.C, III.A.1, and III.C.2 for additional information related to Eligible Applicants.

4. Eligible Neighborhoods. See I.C, III.A.3, and III.C.2 for additional information related to

Eligible Neighborhoods.

5. Matching Requirement. A match of at least 5 percent is required. See III.B for additional information related to the match requirement.

6. Application materials may be obtained from http://www.grants.gov/applicants/apply_for_grants.jsp. Notification of any technical corrections will be published in the Federal Register and posted to Grants.gov. Responses to frequently asked questions will be posted on the Choice Neighborhoods website at http://www.hud.gov/cn/.

7. Rental Assistance Demonstration. Choice Neighborhoods applicants may be eligible to apply for HUD‟s new Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). RAD provides for public housing ACC capital and operating subsidies or certain expiring subsidies provided to other eligible properties to be converted to long-term section 8 contracts in order to facilitate additional debt and equity financing. More information can be found at www.hud.gov/rad. However, unless you are selected for participation in RAD on or before the Choice Neighborhoods application deadline stated in this NOFA, your Choice Neighborhoods application should not assume that your targeted site(s) will be part of RAD.

FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. Program Description

Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals:

1. Housing: Transform distressed public and assisted housing into energy efficient, mixed-income housing that is physically and financially viable over the long-term;

2. People: Support positive outcomes for families who live in the target development(s) and the surrounding neighborhood, particularly outcomes related to residents‟ health, safety, employment, mobility, and education; and

3. Neighborhood: Transform distressed, high-poverty neighborhoods into viable, mixed-income neighborhoods with access to well-functioning services, high quality public schools and education programs, high quality early learning programs and services, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs.

To achieve these core goals, communities must develop and implement a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan. This Transformation Plan will become the guiding document for the revitalization of the public and/or assisted housing units, while simultaneously directing the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood and positive outcomes for families

B. Authority

The funding authority for Choice Neighborhoods grants under this NOFA is provided by the

Department of Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2012 (Public Law 112-55, 125 Stat. 552, approved November, 18, 2011). The program authority for the Choice

Neighborhoods Initiative is Section 24 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C.

1437v) (1937 Act), as amended by the Department of Housing and Urban Development

Appropriations Act, 2012.

http://www.hud.gov/cn/ http://www.hud.gov/rad

C. Definitions

For purposes of the Choice Neighborhoods program, the following definitions of key terms apply. As needed, other definitions relevant to specific thresholds and rating factors will be provided in those sections of the NOFA.

1. Affordable Housing. The term “affordable housing” includes assisted housing as defined below or, in the context of a Choice Neighborhoods Transformation Plan, housing for which the owner or purchaser of the project has recorded a HUD-approved affordability use restriction for households earning up to 120 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) for no fewer than 20 years.

Such housing is not considered replacement housing for the purposes of the one-for-one replacement requirement. The affordability restrictions shall be contained in a legally enforceable document recorded in the appropriate recorder‟s office or registry of deeds and consistent with the long-term viability of the project as rental or homeownership housing.

2. Anchor Institutions. Anchor institutions are place-based entities that have regional significance and are permanently rooted, economic drivers in specific locales – generating jobs, creating local business opportunities, and contributing in significant ways to the development of human, social and cultural capital. They include universities, hospitals, sports facilities, performing arts and other major cultural facilities (like museums and libraries) public utilities and some very large churches and corporations.

3. Assisted Housing. In this NOFA, the term “assisted housing” (used interchangeably with

“HUD-assisted housing”) means housing assisted under sections 8 or 9 of the United States

Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f and 42 U.S.C 1437g) (excluding tenant-based vouchers and where fewer than 50 percent of the units in a housing development receive project-based voucher assistance), section 221(d)(3) or section 236 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C.

1715 and 12 U.S.C 1715z-1), section 202 of Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q),section 811 of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C 8013), and the Native American

Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, 25 U.S.C. § 4101, et seq (Indian

Housing). In the case of Indian Housing, this includes only multifamily rental housing projects in which at least 50 percent of the units are assisted.

4. Case Management. Case Management is an individual- or family-centered approach to assisting people of all ages with accessing the services they want and need. It includes screening/assessment/risk management, individualized service planning based on resident needs and choices, provision of options and information, linkage/referral to formal and informal services and supports, service coordination at the client-level, crisis intervention, follow-up, advocacy, monitoring/evaluation of resident progress as well as timeliness and effectiveness of service delivery, and maintenance of records. Case management contributes to and benefits from well-coordinated services at the community level. The intensity and frequency of case management services should be tailored to the level of an individual‟s or family‟s needs.

5. Co-Applicant. Co-Applicant means any entity with which the Lead Applicant chooses to apply for funding under this NOFA. A Co-Applicant must also be an Eligible Applicant. The

Co-Applicant will also sign the Grant Agreement and be responsible for implementing the activities identified in the Transformation Plan, but will not directly receive access to funding through HUD‟s Line of Credit Control System (LOCCS). A Co-Applicant is only required when a for-profit developer is the Lead Applicant.

6. Critical Community Improvements. The term “critical community improvements” means:

a. Development or improvement of community facilities to promote upward mobility, self-sufficiency, or improved quality of life for residents of the neighborhood, such as construction or rehabilitation of parks and community gardens, or environmental improvements; or

b. Activities to promote economic development, such as development or improvement of transit, retail, community financial institutions, public services, facilities, assets or other community resources.

7. Evidence-based Practice. Evidence-based practice refers to the use of the best available conclusions/findings from research and studies as a base for determining the best practices and predictions of outcomes in a field. A strong evidence base is offered by studies with designs that can support causal conclusions and studies that, in total, include enough of the range of participants and settings to support generalizability.

8. Families. The term “families” has the meaning provided in section 3(B)(3) of the United

States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a).

9. Hard to House. Hard to house refers to a special population of residents who face multiple, persistent barriers to move toward self-sufficiency or maintain stable housing for reasons that go beyond affordability, such as long-term unemployment, substance use or mental health problems, and/or a criminal record. These vulnerable households may have trouble finding a unit in the private market and may face significant challenges meeting the screening requirements to return to a new mixed-income development.

10. Lead Applicant. Lead Applicant means the primary entity responsible for implementing the activities identified in the Transformation Plan. The Lead Applicant must meet the qualifications of an Eligible Applicant. The Lead Applicant will sign the Grant Agreement and is the sole entity that will have access to HUD‟s Line of Credit Control System (LOCCS) in order to drawdown Choice Neighborhoods funding.

11. Livability Principles. Livability principles jointly adopted by HUD, EPA and DOT to support federal neighborhood and community development initiatives. The Livability Principles are as follows: provide more transportation choices; promote equitable, affordable housing;

enhance economic competitiveness; support existing communities; coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment; and value communities and neighborhoods. For further information, see www.hud.gov/sustainability.

12. Local Government. The term “local government” shall have the same meaning as “unit of general local government” in section 102(a)(1) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302).

13. Long-Term Viability. The term “long-term viability” refers to a community that has in place all five Neighborhood Assets sufficient to provide for resident well-being and community http://www.hud.gov/sustainability quality of life.

14. Low-performing School. The term low-performing school means, “schools receiving assistance through Title I that are in corrective action or restructuring in the State, as determined under section 1116 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and the secondary schools (both middle and high schools) in the State that are equally as low-achieving as these

Title I schools and are eligible for, but do not receive, Title I funds.”

15. Neighborhood. The neighborhood is the geographic area within which the activities of the

Transformation Plan shall focus. HUD understands that neighborhood boundaries are not fixed like municipal or county boundaries. The Department also recognizes that neighborhoods do not necessarily follow statistical boundaries, such as Census Tracts. For Choice Neighborhoods, HUD will rely on applicants to identify boundaries for the target neighborhood that are generally accepted as a neighborhood. In many communities, those typical neighborhood boundaries are delineated by major streets or physical topography. The neighborhood must be larger than just the footprint of the distressed public or HUD-assisted housing targeted in the application, but is typically an area less than two miles wide. Note: HUD reserves the right to ask applicants to provide evidence that the target neighborhood boundary is generally accepted. Such evidence might include planning, community development or zoning maps which have been adopted by a public jurisdiction.

16. Neighborhood Assets. Neighborhood assets means:

a. Developmental assets that allow residents to attain the skills needed to be successful in all aspects of daily life (e.g., educational institutions, early learning centers, and health resources);

b. Commercial assets that are associated with production, employment, transactions, and sales

(e.g., labor force and retail establishments);

c. Recreational assets that create value in a neighborhood beyond work and education (e.g., parks, open space, community gardens, athletics and arts organizations);

d. Physical assets that are associated with the built environment and physical infrastructure

(e.g., housing, commercial buildings, and roads); and

e. Social assets that establish well-functioning social interactions (e.g., public safety and community engagement).

17. Nonprofit Organization. Nonprofits eligible to be an applicant under this NOFA are entities that are classified as such in accordance with section 501(c) of the Federal Tax Code or have been designated as such by their state government. A nonprofit organization can be organized for the following purposes: charitable, religious, educational, scientific, or other similar purposes in the public interest. To obtain tax-exempt status, qualified organizations must file an application with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and receive designation as such by the IRS. For more information, go to www.irs.gov. Entities that are in the process of applying for tax-exempt status, but have not yet received nonprofit designation from the IRS by the application deadline date, will not be considered an eligible applicant. All nonprofit applicants must submit either their IRS determination letter to prove their 501(c) status or the letter from the state government to prove their nonprofit status.

18. Part I Violent Crimes. Part I violent crimes shall have the same meaning used by the

United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Uniform Crime Report.

Aggravated assault, rape, murder, and robbery are classified as Part I violent crimes.

19. Persistently Lowest-achieving School. The term persistently lowest-achieving school means, as determined by the State,

a. Any school receiving assistance through Title I that is in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring and that –

(1) Is among the lowest-achieving five percent of Title I schools in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring or the lowest-achieving five Title I schools in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring in the State, whichever number of schools is greater; or

(2) Is a high school that has had a graduation rate that is less than 60 percent over a number of years; and

b. Any secondary school that is eligible for, but does not receive, Title I funds that –

(1) Is among the lowest-achieving five percent of secondary schools or the lowest-achieving five secondary schools in the State that are eligible for, but do not receive, Title I funds, whichever number of schools is greater; or

(2) Is a high school that has had a graduation rate that is less than 60 percent over a number of years.

20. Principal Team Member. Principal Team Members are those entities that the Lead

Applicant, and Co-Applicant(s) if any, for an Implementation Grant has selected to have primary responsibility for coordinating the implementation of the activities to achieve one or more of the three core goals – Housing, People (including Education), and Neighborhood. A Principal Team

Member may also be the Lead Applicant or a Co-Applicant and may oversee the activities to achieve more than one of the core goals. A Principal Team Member need not be an Eligible

Applicant. For purposes of this NOFA, the following terms will be used as needed (e.g., in the rating factors) to refer to these Principal Team Members: Housing Implementation Entity, People

Implementation Entity (and Education Implementation Entity), and Neighborhood

Implementation Entity.

21. Public Entity. The term “public entity” means any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or local government.

22. Public Housing Agency. The term “public housing agency” has the meaning provided in section 3(b)(6) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a).

23. Public Housing Project. A public housing project is a group of assisted housing units that has a single Project Number assigned by the Director of Public Housing of a HUD Field Office and has, or had (in the case of previously demolished units) housing units under an Annual

Contributions Contract. If a PHA had two distinct projects, with different project numbers, under its original ACC, and those projects were combined into a single project number in the

Public Housing Information Center (PIC) for the purposes of implementing HUD‟s project-based budgeting requirements using Asset Management Project (AMP) numbers, the applicant should use the original project number to identify the public housing project targeted by the application.

Applicants should be clear throughout their application as to the project they are targeting.

24. Positive Youth Development. Positive youth development is an intentional, pro-social approach that: engages youth within their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, and families in a manner that is productive and constructive; recognizes, utilizes, and enhances youths‟ strengths; and promotes positive outcomes for young people, including social skills, emotional competence, positive relationships with peers and adults, and civic and school engagement.

25. Replacement Housing. Replacement housing is housing that will replace demolished, disposed of, or otherwise reduced public or assisted housing. It includes housing assisted under sections 8 or 9 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f and 42 U.S.C 1437g), section 202 of Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q), and section 811 of the National

Affordable Housing Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C 8013). With regard to section 8 housing, project-based vouchers (section 8o(13) of the US Housing Act of 1937) are included in this definition, but tenant-based vouchers are excluded except as permitted by HUD. To satisfy the one-for-one replacement requirement through acquisition, the replacement unit must not have been receiving assistance prior to submitting the application under the sections listed above in this paragraph.

For example, you cannot acquire a Section 202 funded property that is near the public or assisted housing site targeted in the application for the purposes of deeming that replacement housing.

26. Severely Distressed Housing.

a. In accordance with Section 24(j)(2) of the 1937 Act, the term means a public and/or assisted housing project (or building in a project) that:

(1) Requires major redesign, reconstruction, or redevelopment, or partial or total demolition, to correct serious deficiencies in the original design (including inappropriately high population density), deferred maintenance, physical deterioration or obsolescence of major systems, and other deficiencies in the physical plan of the project;

(2) Is a significant contributing factor to the physical decline of, and disinvestment by public and private entities in, the surrounding neighborhood;

(3) Is:

(a) Occupied predominantly by families who are very low-income families with children, have unemployed members, and are dependent on various forms of public assistance;

(b) Has high rates of vandalism and criminal activity (including drug-related criminal activity) in comparison to other housing in the area; or

(c) Is lacking in sufficient appropriate transportation, supportive services, economic opportunity, schools, civic and religious institutions, and public services, resulting in severe social distress in the project;

(4) Cannot be revitalized through assistance under other programs, such as the Capital Fund and Operating Fund programs for public housing under the 1937 Act, or the programs under sections 9 or 14 of the 1937 Act (as in effect before the effective date under section 503(a) of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-276, approved

October 21, 1998)), because of cost constraints and inadequacy of available amounts; and

(5) In the case of an individual building that currently forms a portion of the public and/or assisted housing project targeted by the application to this NOFA: (a) Is sufficiently separable from the remainder of the project of which the building is part, such that the revitalization of the building is feasible; or (b) Was part of the targeted public and/or assisted housing project that has been legally vacated or demolished, but for which HUD has not yet provided replacement housing assistance (other than tenant-based assistance).

“Replacement housing assistance” is defined as funds that have been furnished by HUD to perform major rehabilitation on, or reconstruction of, the public and/or assisted housing units that have been legally vacated or demolished.

b. A severely distressed project that has been legally vacated or demolished (but for which

HUD has not yet provided replacement housing assistance, other than tenant-based assistance) must have met the definition of physical distress not later than the day the demolition application approval letter was dated by HUD.

27. Service Coordination. Service Coordination is a systems-centered approach to coordinating multiple services across agencies within a community, based on the needs of the target resident population, in order to increase accessibility, utilization, and quality of services and to reduce fragmentation in service delivery systems. Service coordination often requires the negotiation of enhanced services to address unique needs and gaps in available services.

Partnership- and network-building with community-based supportive and social service agencies are critical components of service coordination.

28. Supportive Services. The term “supportive services” includes all activities that will promote upward mobility, self-sufficiency, or improved quality of life, including such activities as literacy training, activities that promote early learning and the continuum of educational supports, remedial and continuing education, job training, financial literacy instruction, day care, youth services, aging-in-place, public transportation, physical and mental health services, economic development activities, and other programs for which the community demonstrates need.

29. Transformation Plan. The Transformation Plan is a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy proposed (as presented in the Choice Neighborhoods grant application) to achieve the three core goals of Choice Neighborhoods (Housing, People, Neighborhood).

30. Transition Age Youth. Transition age youth are those aged 16 to 24 who experience a number of challenges on their path to a successful adulthood, including youth transitioning out of foster care or juvenile detention facilities, youth who have run away from home or dropped out of school, and youth with disabilities.

31. Tribal Entities. Tribal entities includes Indian tribes and Tribally Designated Housing

Entities, as defined in section 4(22) of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-

Determination Act of 1996, 25 U.S.C. § 4103(22).

II. AWARD INFORMATION

A. Availability of Choice Neighborhoods Funds

1. Choice Neighborhoods Grants. A total of $120 million has been appropriated for Choice

Neighborhoods in FY2012, of which at least $80 million must be awarded to public housing authorities. Approximately $110 million in funding is being made available under this NOFA.

HUD will set aside one grant award for the highest scoring application that targets a multifamily

HUD-assisted housing property that is receiving project-based rental assistance under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (exclusive of tenant-based or project-based vouchers), section 221(d)(3) or section 236 of the National Housing Act, section 202 of Housing Act of

1959, or section 811 of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990. The maximum grant amount is listed below. Voucher assistance needed for relocation purposes in association with the Implementation Grants will be in addition to the amounts below.

Grant Type Allocation of Funds

(Approximate)

Maximum Grant

Request

Anticipated

Number of Grant

Awards

Implementation

Grants

$110,000,000 $30,000,000 or the calculated amount described in Sections

II.A.2 and IV.E.3, whichever is lower.

4-5

Planning Grants (to be awarded under a separate NOFA)

$5,000,000 $300,000 17-20

TOTAL $115,000,000

2. Grant Sizing. For the purposes of establishing the maximum amount of Choice

Neighborhoods Implementation Grant funding that you may request, you will calculate a development cost for the replacement housing units to be developed in the Transformation Plan and allow for additional funding to cover non-housing activities. See Section IV.E.3 for detailed instructions on how to calculate this amount. You may request the lesser of this calculated amount or $30,000,000. HUD will provide a grant sizing limitations worksheet which you must complete in order to determine the maximum amount you may request. This worksheet must be provided in the attachments section of your application.

3. Grant Term. Grantees must proceed in a timely manner, as indicated by the timeframes established in this NOFA and Grant Agreement. See Section IV.E.1 for statutory time limits related to the grant and expenditure of funds, including the requirement that all FY2012 Choice

Neighborhoods funds must be expended by September 30, 2019.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

A. Key Eligibility Criteria

1. Eligible Applicants. Eligible applicants for Choice Neighborhoods grants are Public

Housing Authorities (PHAs), local governments, tribal entities, nonprofits, and for-profit developers that apply jointly with a public entity.

a. Ineligible to Apply. Private citizens are not eligible to apply.

b. Troubled Status for PHAs. This applies to PHA applicants and is considered a threshold requirement under Section III.C.2 of this NOFA. If HUD has designated a PHA as troubled pursuant to section 6(j)(2) of the 1937 Act, HUD will use documents and information available to it to determine whether that PHA qualifies as an eligible applicant. In accordance with section 24(j) of the 1937 Act, a troubled PHA may still be eligible to apply if it:\

(1) Is designated as troubled principally for reasons that will not affect its capacity to carry out a revitalization program;

(2) Is making substantial progress toward eliminating the deficiencies of the agency that resulted in its troubled status;

(3) Has not been found to be in noncompliance with fair housing or other civil rights requirements; or

(4) Is otherwise determined by HUD to be capable of carrying out a revitalization program.

c. Previous Participation Certification for Multifamily Assisted Property Owners. If the Lead

Applicant is the owner of the assisted property that is the subject of the Choice Neighborhoods activity grant, the applicant is required to submit form HUD2530, Previous Participation

Certification. If the property listed has defaulted on a mortgage loan or has less than satisfactory review ratings (physical inspections, management and financial reviews), HUD will use documents and information available to it to determine whether the owner of that property qualifies as an eligible applicant. Approvals of entities that have defaulted or received unsatisfactory review ratings will be subjected to HUD‟s Previous Participation clearance review process. Applicants may still be eligible to apply for Choice Neighborhoods funding if

HUD deems the applicant to be making substantial progress in addressing the deficiencies related to such default or review rating. However, multifamily assisted property owners with defaults or less than satisfactory review ratings are strongly encouraged to consider partnering with another entity (such as a local government, a nonprofit, or a for-profit developer) to serve as the lead applicant for purposes of the Choice Neighborhoods grant.

2. Eligible Target Housing. Each application must focus on the revitalization of at least one severely distressed public and/or HUD-assisted housing project. The definition of severely distressed housing from section 24(j)(2) of the 1937 Act is included in section I.C along with definitions of public housing and assisted housing. To demonstrate eligibility, applicants must use the severe distress certification form provided and include it in the attachments section of your application. The certification must be signed by an engineer or architect licensed by a state licensing board. The license does not need to have been issued in the same state as the severely distressed project. The engineer or architect must include his or her license number and state of registration on the certification. The engineer or architect may not be an employee of the Lead

Applicant, Co-Applicant (if any), Principal Team Member (if any), the public housing authority

(if applicable), or a unit of local government in which the housing is located. If the targeted project is not severely distressed, your application will not be considered for funding.

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