Residential Emergency Services to Offer (Home) Repairs to the Elderly (RESTORE)

Housing Trust Fund Corporation

RESTORE funds may be used to pay for the cost of emergency repairs to eliminate hazardous conditions in homes owned by the elderly when the homeowners cannot afford to make the repairs in a timely fashion.
To be eligible for assistance, homeowners must be 60 years of age or older with an income that does not exceed 80 percent of the area median income.
Work undertaken cannot exceed $5,000 per building. Funds must be used in one- to four-unit dwellings owned and occupied by low-income elderly households.
ELIGIBILITY: Not-for-profit corporations and municipalities.
FUNDING: Approximately $400,000.
DEADLINE: 5 p.m. March 21, 2005.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please see list of Regional Offices.

Low-Income Housing Credit Program

Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR)

DHCR announces the Low-Income Housing Credit Program (LIHC). The tax credit amount is based upon the actual cost of acquisition, rehabilitation and/or construction of rental properties for low-income households.
ELIGIBILITY: Persons or firms that construct and/or rehabilitate rental housing that is reserved for low-income households.
FUNDING: Approximately $20 million in credit with $1 million being the maximum annual credit dollar amount that may be requested. Applicants requesting credit for projects in which a majority of the units will serve large families or special populations may request up to $1.2 million.
DEADLINE: 5 p.m. February 28, 2005.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please see list of Regional Offices.

New York State HOME Program

Housing Trust Fund Corporation

The HOME Program funds a variety of activities through partnerships with counties, towns, cities, villages, private developers, and community-based non-profit housing organizations. The program provides funds to acquire, rehabilitate, or construct housing, or to provide assistance to low-income homebuyers and renters.
HOME Program funds may only be used to assist households with incomes at or below 80 percent of area median income. Rental projects must primarily serve households with incomes at or below 60 percent of area median income. Assisted rental units must remain affordable for a period of between five and 20 years, depending on the initial amount of subsidy provided for the project. Funds may only be used with respect to residential housing.
ELIGIBILITY: Any private for-profit or not-for-profit entity that can demonstrate the capacity to develop and operate a qualifying project. Units of general local government that have not been designated by HUD as participating jurisdictions and not-for-profit corporations that meet certain administrative tests may also apply as local program administrators. Jurisdictions that receive HOME Program funding directly from the federal government may not apply for New York State HOME Program funds.
FUNDING: Approximately $39 million. A minimum of 15 percent of available funds is required to be reserved for projects developed, owned, or sponsored by Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO). Seed money loans of up to $45,000 per project are also available and may be requested at any time.
DEADLINE: Applications for locally administered programs must be received by 5 p.m. March 21, 2005 and site-specific project funding must be received by 5 p.m. February 28, 2005.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please see list of Regional Offices.

Low-Income Housing Trust Fund Program (HTF)

Housing Trust Fund Corporation

HTF provides funding to construct low-income housing, to rehabilitate vacant or under-utilized residential property, or to convert vacant non-residential property to residential use for occupancy by low-income homesteaders, tenants, tenant-cooperators or condominium owners. HTF can also provide seed money to eligible non-profit applicants who need financial assistance in developing a full HTF application.
ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must be not-for-profit corporations or charitable organizations or their wholly-owned subsidiaries; housing development fund companies; municipalities; counties; housing authorities; private developers who limit their profits or rate of return of investors; or partnerships in which the non-profit partner has at least a 50 percent controlling interest. Low-income persons may not be direct recipients of payments, grants or loans from the corporation, but may receive such funds from another eligible applicant. Non-profits, charitable organizations, and housing development fund companies must have been in existence for at least one year prior to application and have as one of their primary purposes the improvement or provision of housing for low-income persons.
FUNDING: Approximately $29 million. Funding under this program is limited to $55,000 per unit, and the HTFC has the discretion to make available up to an additional $20,000 per unit based on construction cost in the area, location of the project and the impact of the additional funding on the project's affordability to its low-income occupants. Seed money loans of up to $45,000 per project are available and may be requested at any time.
DEADLINE: 5 p.m. February 28, 2005.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please see list of Regional Offices.

Homes for Working Families Program (HWF) and Senior Housing Initiatives (SHI)

Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR)

These are two separate initiatives involving tax-exempt bond financing. The primary source of project financing for each initiative is expected to be tax-exempt bonds. Applications submitted under the HWF initiative must propose projects for substantial rehabilitation or new construction of affordable rental housing. Applications submitted under the SHI initiative must propose projects for substantial rehabilitation or new construction of rental housing, with occupancy limited to seniors, defined as households in which at least one of the members is a person 55 years of age or older.
ELIGIBILITY: Contact DHCR for specifics.
FUNDING: Contact DHCR for specifics.
DEADLINE: 5 p.m. February 28, 2005.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE ABOVE HOUSING PROGRAMS:
Contact your nearest Regional Office: Capital District: Debra A. Devine, Hampton Plaza, 9th Floor, 38-40 State Street, Albany, NY 12207; (518) 486-5012. Buffalo: Thomas Van Nortwick, Statler Towers, 107 Delaware Avenue, Suite 600, Buffalo, NY 14202; (716) 842-2244, ext. 221. New York City: Deborah Boatright, 25 Beaver Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10004; (212) 480-7644. Syracuse: Vernita King, 800 South Wilbur Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13204; mailing address: P.O. Box 1127, Syracuse, NY 13201; (315) 473-6930.

. . . Foundations and Organizations

Relatives as Parents Program

The Brookdale Foundation Group

The Brookdale Foundation Group has announced the Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP) Local Seed Grant Initiative for 2005. RAPP is designed to encourage and promote the creation or expansion of services for grandparents and other relatives who have taken on the responsibility of surrogate parenting, when the biological parents are unwilling or unable to do so. The program is intended to award seed grants to local agencies, to private support groups and at least two other supportive services to relative caregivers and their families; encourage cooperation and collaboration among various service systems; ensure the development, expansion and future continuity of local services; and create replicable models of service.
FUNDING: Selected agencies will receive a $10,000 grant over a two-year period ($6,000 in the first year and $4,000 in the second year if all grant requirements have been met) as well as training and technical assistance. Matching support in cash or in-kind will be required of all selected agencies.
ELIGIBILITY: Local community based agencies.
DEADLINE:  January 13, 2005.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.brookdalefoundation.org for local RFP guidelines and application forms. Requests for the local RFP packets, written on agency letterhead, may also be submitted to the Relatives as Parents Program, The Brookdale Foundation Group, 950 Third Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10022.

New York State Conservation Partnership Program (NYSCPP)

Land Trust Alliance

The Alliance, along with the New York State DEC, is requesting proposals from New York land trusts for matching grants under the NYSCPP. These grants will increase the capacity of New York's Land Trust community to protect, steward, and provide appropriate public access to the open space, farms, forests, and waterways that characterize New York's natural environment.
ELIGIBILITY: To be eligible, a land trust must: be an LTA Sponsor Member at the time of the application and throughout the grant period; have land conservation as its primary mission; be located (along with its service area) in New York State; be tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code; have adopted Land Trust Standards and Practices within the last three years; and have filed all final LTA grant reports due prior to December 17, 2004.
FUNDING: A total of $400,000. Grants have ranged from $1,975 to $40,000. Applicants awarded a grant must match the grant with at least a 1:1 match ratio, the cash portion of which must come from non-State sources.
DEADLINE: December 17, 2004.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.lta.org/resources/ltagrants.htm.

. . . Grant Writing

The Grantsmanship Center

The Grantsmanship Training Program is coming to New York State: New York (lower Manhattan), January 24-28, 2005, hosted by Institute for Community Living. The class will be conducted by The Grantsmanship Center and is kept at a maximum of 30 participants. The cost is $825, which includes one-year enrollment in the TGCI Membership Program. A limited number of half-tuition scholarships are available to agencies with annual budgets of less than $300,000. To register, or to apply for a scholarship, contact TGCI at (800) 421-9512 or visit www.tgci.com. For local information and arrangements, call Ben Sher at (212) 385-3030, x198.

In addition to the New York City workshop, TGCI announced its 2005 schedule of additional workshops. The programs scheduled for New York State, and their hosts, are as follows:

March 7-11, Buffalo, American Red Cross, Greater Buffalo Chapter;
April 11-15, Binghamton, Cornell Cooperative Extension;
May 23-27, Potsdam, SUNY Potsdam;
June 13-17, Syracuse, P.E.A.C.E., Inc.; and
November 7-11, Buffalo, Junior League of Buffalo.