APPLICANT INFORMATION
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
POTENTIAL AWARDEES
WORKSHOPS
FUNDING ALLOCATION
QUESTIONS REGARDING THE LAA APPLICATION
SCORING CRITERIA FOR APPLICATIONS
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
IHDA, as program administrator, will make funding available through a request for proposals from Local Administering Agencies (LAAs). Please contact RHS staff if you are having difficulties with the application. Applications are due to IHDA by 5:00 P.M. on Friday December 4, 2009.
We encourage you to turn in applications close to the due date rather than earlier because they will not be reviewed until after the deadline.
It is important to recognize that rental assistance programs require “maintenance of effort” funding; meaning without significant incremental increases in funding from year to year, the program is not able to assist new tenants annually. The Round Three RFP application is the final application round for the RHS Program.
POTENTIAL AWARDEES:
LAAs will administer the program by identifying property owners in their area willing to participate in the program and rent units to extremely low income and severely low income tenants. Extremely low income tenants are defined as below 30% of area median income (AMI). Severely Low income tenants are defined as living on at or below 15% the AMI. LAAs can be local governmental bodies, not-for-profit organizations, or local public housing authorities.
The RHS program is generally designed as a “unit based” program and not a “tenant based” program. The difference is that the subsidy stays with the unit and does not follow the tenant. Participating landlords will be required to provide safe and habitable housing, and to work with LAAs to comply with the program.
Potential Tenants in the program are the targeted beneficiaries of the program but cannot apply directly for subsidies, they must rent from a landlord participating in the program.
TRAINING SESSIONS:
Training will be held during the Fall of 2009 for all interested in applying to become an LAA through the Request for Proposals (RFP) process. The finalized training session list has been posted under the "Training Sessions" section of the web for the program. Training Sessions will include various types of methods, such as webinars, video conferencing, conference calls and trainings in cities and towns throughout the state.
You can also receive e-mail updates about the program, which will include updates about trainings, by e-mailing the manager of the program, April Lasker, at rhsp@ihda.org
FUNDING ALLOCATION:
The designated geographic areas are: Chicago, suburban Chicago, small cities, and rural communities. Funding is prorated geographically, based on analysis of the US Census data for the number of low-income households in an area.
For the 2009 RFP round, the amount available for the Geographic Regions has not been determined. Once the information is available, it will be published.
The allocation for Chicago will be directly administered by the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Chicago Department of Housing. A minimum of 10% of the resources will be targeted to provide permanent support (long term) for newly affordable rental units.
QUESTIONS REGARDING THE LAA APPLICATION
Agencies who would like to apply for funding from the Rental Housing Support Program and have questions about the application can contact the Program's Manager, April Lasker at 312-836-7424 or alasker@ihda.org.