Welcome to Helping Hands, our membership blog that promotes the highlights, accomplishments and success stories of HAND members in addition to areas of need and critical updates to the affordable housing and community development field.
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HAND Members, send the details on your organization’s success and other important updates to cbattle@handhousing.org
The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) is celebrating its 40th year of serving the housing needs of Washington, D.C. residents. The DCHFA was established on March 3, 1979 to stimulate and expand homeownership and rental housing opportunities in the District. The Agency’s mission is to advance the District of Columbia’s housing priorities. The Agency invests in affordable housing and neighborhood development, which provides pathways for DC residents to transform their lives. The DCHFA accomplishes its mission by delivering the most efficient and effective sources of capital available in the market to finance rental housing and to create homeownership opportunities.
The Agency has expanded beyond traditional bond and tax credit financing with the Housing Investment Platform Single Family Investment Fund which partners with emerging developers to construct homes priced for workforce families earning up to 120 percent of the area median income. The Agency’s homeownership programs DC Open Doors and the Mortgage Credit Certificate along with its co-administration of HPAP helps to create new D.C. homeowners. While the foreclosure prevention program HomeSaver helps residents retain ownership of their homes.
The DCHFA’s investment in D.C. communities extends to supporting local education, youth and senior programs through the Agency’s Community Outreach Initiative.
The Agency’s goal is to spend its 40th year and many years to follow continuing to provide solutions in affordable housing for the residents of the District of Columbia.
As a proud member of the Housing Leaders Group of Greater Washington (HLG), HAND is excited to share its new initiative: the CAPITAL REGION HOUSING CHALLENGE! Officially launched at the D.C. Metro Affordable Housing Summit, the challenge is a cross-sector, capital solutions platform created to catalyze $1 billion dollars of NEW capital commitments that will accelerate greater housing affordability in the Capital Region. As a key stakeholder, we wanted to make sure you heard the news, and most importantly, know how you can get involved!
WHAT IS THE CAPITAL REGION HOUSING CHALLENGE?
Effectively addressing housing affordability requires a collective effort across multiple sectors and jurisdictions in the Capital Region. The Challenge is a multi-faceted effort to secure $1 billion toward housing affordability in the region by 2020 ($500 million in new private capital and $500 million in new public funds above current commitments).
The Challenge is not creating a new fund, rather it’s a platform to catalyze support and a regional commitment to scale the investment of public and private resources to meet the region’s housing production needs.
READY TO TAKE THE CHALLENGE?
Commitments from private investors, employers, anchor institutions, the philanthropic sector, as well as local and state governments are encouraged. Thank you to these organizations that have accepted the challenge!
In addition to catalyzing capital to support regional housing affordability, HLG will also be actively engaged in advocacy campaigns that align with the goals of the Challenge. In particular, state and local Trust Funds can leverage significant additional private investment to ensure housing affordability production, preservation, and additional housing support for individuals and families across the income spectrum. HLG will promote working with government officials, housing practitioners, and advocates to create or expand local housing trust funds in every jurisdiction in our region.
Check out this fact sheet for more information on the Challenge and how your organization can get involved.
You can read the full press release on the Challenge’s launch here.
Kickstart your professional development today! Virginia Housing Alliance’s Housing Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI) is a three-day program designed to provide rising leaders in Virginia’s affordable housing industry with tangible knowledge and resources in the areas of leadership, communication, diversity, management practices and self-development.
The 3-day program is conducted by two highly skilled trainers with a great deal of experience. The program covers:
April 5 – June 28, 2019: Greater Hampton Roads Cohort
April 22 – June 24, 2019: Northern Virginia Region Cohort
You can check out the agenda & speaker bios here.
View the official flyer & register here.
HAND is pleased to announce that seven of its members are recipients of Capital Magnet Funds. The Capital Magnet Fund helps low-income families and economically distressed communities by attracting investment for affordable housing and related economic development. The Capital Magnet Fund provides competitively awarded grants to CDFIs and qualified non-profit housing organizations to develop, rehabilitate, preserve, and purchase affordable housing for Low-, Very Low-, and Extremely Low-Income families. Capital Magnet Fund awards can be used to finance affordable housing activities as well as related economic development and community service facilities such as day care centers, workforce development centers and health care clinics.
Of the 116 applicants, the Capital Magnet Fund awarded a total of 38 organizations, 14 of which are nonprofit housing organizations, and 24 of which are CDFIs. $142.9 million was awarded in total. Awardees plan to develop more than 25,700 affordable homes, including 23,000 rental units and 2,700 homeownership units. Combined, 95% of all housing will be developed for Low-Income Families (80% of the Area Median Income or below).
HAND members who received funding are as follows:
More details on the latest round of funding here. Congratulations to all awardees!
HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) has announced $1.5 million in new funding to create and relaunch a specialized training academy dedicated to preparing civil rights professionals to combat housing discrimination. Named for the Nation’s first African-American woman to hold a cabinet-level position, the Patricia R. Harris National Fair Housing Training Academy (NFHTA) will train civil rights professionals nationwide and provide a clearinghouse of fair housing education and outreach material.
The Fair Housing Act makes housing discrimination illegal on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. This includes housing discrimination in renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities.
About NFHTA
Through this premier training academy, the chosen applicant and FHEO will provide training related to housing discrimination, civil rights history, and current housing discrimination trends, and will teach methodologies to assess housing discrimination at local, state, and national levels. NFHTA will prepare civil rights professionals to understand the investigative process and to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of complaint processing. NFHTA will also serve as a think tank and conduit through which current and future generations of civil rights professionals share and explore best practices and raise industry standards. This includes the creation of a consistently evolving clearinghouse of fair housing education and outreach materials.
FHEO and the chosen applicant will select appropriate modalities to teach civil rights professionals. It is anticipated that HUD and the applicant will offer at least six high-quality trainings per year (each training lasting 24-32 hours and training approximately 20-30 persons). Trainings may include a blend of pre- and post-training reading materials, in-person trainings, webinars, videos, and/or other effective methods to create an environment that achieves identified outcomes.
Applicants must identify at least one individual (or a cadre of individuals) with at least two years of demonstrated experience conducting investigations, litigation, and/or education and outreach under the federal Fair Housing Act and/or state or local laws that HUD has determined to be substantially equivalent to the Fair Housing Act. Necessary experience includes delivery of training courses, ongoing review of courses to ensure accuracy and relevance, and development of new courses and new course delivery methods. Applicants must also have experience marketing training services to potential users. Identified individuals may include staff, contractors, or consultants.
How to Apply
HUD’s Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 was published to Grants.gov on Monday, December 17, 2018, under funding opportunity number FR-6200-N-06. Due to the government shutdown that began on December 22, 2018, HUD has extended the application due date to 11:59:59 PM EDT on March 14, 2019. The NOFA text and all other application requirements remain the same.
In addition to reading the full NOFA announcement on Grants.gov, potential applicants are encouraged to view the information about the NOFA on the Community Compass NOFA page. The NOFA page will be periodically updated to include Frequently Asked Questions, links to pre-recorded webinars, webinar presentation slides, and other relevant information.
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As mentioned above, providing affordable housing has benefits...January 31, 2017 - 2:43 am by Rick Rybeck
Well, it's there... quality research, good prose and passion......November 23, 2016 - 11:06 am by Van Driessen
Todd brings the right kind of business and finance experience...May 18, 2016 - 10:05 am by Mike
Good ideas, diplomatically stated. Short term ROI infects...February 23, 2016 - 11:21 am by Ralph Bennett
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