Archive for category: Opportunities

Need Support With BEPS Compliance?

April 10, 2022
April 10, 2022

 


With only one year left until the first major DC’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) deadline, the Building Innovation Hub recently released a new suite of tools to support you with BEPS compliance! HAND is proud to share the Building Innovation Hub’s resources below, which will help you navigate the regulations and enable easier building upgrades.

  • BEPS Compliance Pathway Wizard. This will help you understand which BEPS Compliance Pathway is most appropriate for you and your building.
  • BEPS Compliance Pathway Timelines. This will inform you about interim deadlines and major milestones associated with each BEPS Compliance Pathway.
  • Energy Audit Scopes of Work. Building Innovation Hub offers one version specific to the requirements outlined in the Prescriptive Pathway and another to help you choose a BEPS Compliance Pathway.
  • Find-A-Vendor Portal. This simple notification system will share project opportunities with local service providers and contractors via an email distribution list. The portal is now open and ready for building owners and representatives to submit their BEPS or energy-related projects to Building Innovation Hub’s list of vendors.
  • Request a BEPS Presentation. The Building Innovation Hub is in the process of training local experts in all the details of the BEPS regulations. If you’re interested in holding a presentation at your office or building about BEPS, please request one.
  • Contact the Building Innovation Hub. If you have any questions or need additional support, please contact the Building Innovation Hub directly at info@buildinginnovationhub.org.

 

ATTN Developers | Prince George’s County DHCD Request for Qualifications

January 6, 2022
January 6, 2022

 

Request for Qualifications: Right of First Refusal

The Prince George’s County Department of Housing and Community Development is seeking responses (“Qualification Statements”) from qualified non-profit and mission-oriented for-profit developers (“Developers”) with strong affordable rental housing track records and demonstrated experience in acquiring, owning, operating, rehabilitating, and developing quality rental housing with affordability covenants who are interested in serving in a pool of qualified parties to serve as assignees or designees (the “Roster of Responders”) to exercise DHCD’s Right of First Refusal (“ROFR”). For more information on the ROFR and to respond to this request, please review the ROFR developer bench application. The proposal closing date is January 31, 2022.

 

 

Didn’t Meet the District’s Building Energy Performance Standards? Help is Available

December 13, 2021
December 13, 2021

 

Didn’t Meet the District’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS)? Help is Available.

The DC Sustainable Energy Utility, in partnership with the District Department of Energy & Environment and the DC Green Bank, launched an Affordable Housing Retrofit Accelerator program offering enhanced technical and financial assistance to owners and managers of qualifying District affordable multifamily buildings that do not meet the District’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS). Apply today to find out if your building qualifies for the program, for the program, and join the DCSEU and DOEE for a webinar on December 15 to find out more.

 

 

We invite you to participate in a survey about DC’s housing market!

November 2, 2021
November 2, 2021
Judith Keller, a research scholar from Heidelberg University, is conducting a housing survey focusing on the Washington DC region. She aims to gain new insights into residents’ experiences on the housing and rental markets. If you are interested in participating, please find the link to her survey below. The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. Your help is very much appreciated! 
 
 

Maryland DHCD’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program

September 28, 2021
September 28, 2021

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development is administering federal emergency rental funding in two ways, directly to local jurisdictions through the Maryland Eviction Partnership Program and to property management on behalf of tenants residing in affordable rental properties​ that received federal or state financing through the Assisted Housing Relief Program. Local jurisdictions are operating rental assistance programs independently, see here for each counties’ program details and directions for how to apply for assistance. As of July 31 2021, more than $58 million has been provided through Maryland DHCD’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to nearly 10,000 renters in the state of Maryland. Maryland will also receive an additional $352 million through a second phase of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and is currently making plans for distribution. 

Interested in Maryland’s relief fund distribution data? The Maryland DHCD launched its’ Emergency Rental Assistance Data Dashboard to track the progress local jurisdictions are making in distributing relief funds for tenants and landlords affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The dashboard which will be updated on a monthly basis to show progress focuses on the first round of funding through the federal ERAP that was launched in Maryland in May 2021. The dashboard has information on specific county programs, demographics and data on marketing and outreach efforts. To access the dashboard, visit rentrelief.maryland.gov and click on “Data Dashboard.”

Housing Finance Professionals, Developers, Policymakers, Academics, & Other Affordable Housing Stakeholders: The NHP Foundation & Enterprise Wants You to Participate in Their Survey

September 28, 2021
September 28, 2021

 

The NHP Foundation & Enterprise Needs You!
The NHP Foundation and Enterprise invites you to participate in their survey. The goal of the survey is to offer a comprehensive look at lessons learned over the last 10 years of affordable housing policy challenges, starting from the Great Recession, up until now. Findings will be presented this fall at the NHP Foundation’s 5th Annual SymposiumA Decade of Rental Housing Vulnerability: Lessons Learned from Financial Crisis to Coronavirus. The survey should take only 15 minutes and is available hereThe survey deadline is September 24.

Invitation to Submit Proposals for Initiative to be Considered at the Heirs’ Property Prevention and Funders’ Forum

August 17, 2021
August 17, 2021

 Heirs’ property occurs when a property owner dies intestate or with a will that leaves property to multiple beneficiaries, resulting in a fractured or entangled title. Left unresolved, this becomes a barrier to the ability to sell, collateralize, improve, or otherwise transfer the property. Because heirs’ property is disproportionately found in racial and ethnic minority, low-wealth, rural, and distressed urban communities, it is a critical barrier to minority homeownership and the creation of generational wealth and racial equity. As a significant contributor to blight and unrealized equity in poor neighborhoods throughout the country, the scale and pervasiveness of this challenge is shocking. For example, in the state of Georgia, $34 billion worth of tax appraised property is probable heirs’ property according to a 2017 USDA study. In 1980, the Emergency Land Fund estimated that 41 percent (3.8 million acres) of all Black-owned land in the Black Belt region was heirs’ property. 

On December 2, 2021 in Atlanta, GA, the Funders’ Forum will seek to bring together potential funders with dozens of nonprofit and other organizations from 22 states and the District of Columbia. The intended outcome of this forum is to establish a capital, human, and organizational support basis for heirs’ property resolution and prevention pilot initiatives in the following areas: education and awareness; pro-bono legal services; academic research; local government innovation; and developer/contractor driven affordable housing initiatives. Potential funders, including philanthropic and other grant and resource providers, law firms, financial institutions, and builder and realtor trade groups, will have the opportunity to hear from nonprofits and other organizations as they pitch scaled pilot solutions to this group in an in-person and virtual environment. The forum has been designed to allow funders and organizations with initiatives in their market to connect and determine their mutual interest in funding a proposed solution. 

INVITATION TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS

LEARN MORE

Kaiser Permanente Announces a New RFP

August 17, 2021
August 17, 2021

In June, Kaiser Permanente sponsored a Regional Forum on Homelessness to foster collaboration among cities and counties in Greater Baltimore, suburban Maryland, DC, and northern Virginia to reduce the prevalence of homelessness. This regional collaboration is Kaiser’s answer to homelessness since people experiencing homelessness often cross city and county boundaries. In an effort to continue working to provide solutions to end homelessness, Kaiser Permanente intends to award at least two grant awards of $50,000 each before the end of 2021 to nonprofit organizations that are working to address homelessness in more than one city or county. The grant term will be from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022. The deadline for applications is September 9, 2021. The Request for Proposals is here, and you can also access the project budget template and logic model template, referenced within the RFP.

HAND & Greystone Launch ‘Equity in Action: A Response to Ensure Access to Capital for Developers of Color’

April 1, 2021
April 1, 2021

Even in the midst of the growing housing affordability challenge, black and brown real estate developers are still facing the obstacle of accessing the capital needed to execute their plans to revitalize communities. HAND is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Greystone to launch Equity in Action, a debt and equity platform designed to increase opportunity for black and brown real estate developers who seek to create communities where all can thrive. Participating developers and investors will gain direct access to advisory and financing solutions for affordable housing construction, refinancing, recapitalization, and acquisition, including Greystone’s #1 ranked FHA lending platform.

Keeping with our commitment to center racial equity, HAND is intentional in embedding these values into our operations, creating solutions that drive just and equitable outcomes for communities of color. We know there is a vested interest in doing more of the same, and we strive to model for our members what it means to address the longstanding barriers that are woven into the very fabric of our society – benefiting a few at the expense of others.

The platform is open to current HAND members, and developers of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

Learn more about Equity in Action here.

You can access the full press release here.

Celebrate Veterans Day with Montgomery County

November 6, 2020
November 6, 2020
 
Remember our veterans on November 11th! Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless (MCCH) serves veterans in both its emergency shelter and permanent supportive housing programs. You can honor Veterans Day by providing a financial donation, donating a meal, or by donating items that our veterans need.
 
The winter holidays are also approaching and MCCH is working to adjust its holiday gifts and meal donations for clients to ensure the safety of all. If you, your family, or an organized group would like to provide a meal to our shelter or one of our programs for any of the upcoming holidays, please reach out to: volunteer@mcch.net