Affordable Housing Land Acquisition Grant Program
The Charleston Redevelopment Corporation’s (CRC) Request for Applications (RFA) is open to for-profit and nonprofit applicants proposing the development of affordable rental and for-sale housing developments, including affordable rental housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness or persons with special needs.
Funds provided under the Affordable Housing Land Acquisition Grant Program (AHLAGP) will be utilized to acquire interest in real property to facilitate the development of long-term affordable and workforce housing throughout Charleston County. Funds will support affordable rental and for-sale housing to include single family residences, fee-simple townhomes, other fee simple multiunit projects, diverse multi-family rental developments to include townhouses, apartments, and infill housing, and the adaptive reuse of existing buildings.
This RFA is made possible through Charleston County Council’s allocation of a portion of its Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Applicants are required to comply with all provisions of the Act as may be amended by the United States Department of the Treasury.Applicants are strongly encouraged to review Treasury Department guidance on SLFRF funding, including specific guidance on affordable housing.
Applicants that apply to the RFA will be evaluated based on scoring criteria described in the RFA. CRC will submit funding recommendations to Charleston County Council based on the evaluation criteria herein. The subsidy is provided for the acquisition of property for the rehabilitation and new construction of affordable rental, for sale, and supportive housing developments. Applicants are expected to pursue additional project financing from all available sources.
Applications should serve households with earnings up to 120% area median income (AMI). All projects funded under this RFA must agree to a minimum 20-year affordability period to be detailed in the grant agreement. Extra points will be awarded for projects agreeing to a 30-year or greater affordability period.
The amount of funds available is Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000.00) Dollars. The funding allocation will be divided into two primary programmatic areas:
· Scattered Site/Infill Site Acquisition: Applications for scattered site/infill sites acquired both in incorporated and unincorporated portions of the County for the purposes consistent with the AHLAGP. These funds would be targeted to support either single family lot acquisition or sites that may accommodate Nine or fewer units of affordable housing.
· Multi-Family Site Acquisition: It is anticipated that a portion of the funds awarded will be utilized for acquisition of properties intended to support larger multi-family projects. This may include sites that may utilize Low Income Housing Tax Credits as a part of the financing structure.
Individual awards are intended to be limited to $500,000 per Multi-Family project or $250,000 for Scattered Site/Infill Site Acquisition. Maximum award amounts per affordable unit are intended to fall within between $25,0000 to $175,000 and will be set following analysis of individual property characteristics and their impact on market value. There is no pre-determined funding split between Scattered Site/Infill and Multifamily Site projects. All project applicants will compete for the same available funding. For projects proposing a mix of affordable and market rate units, AHLAGP award amounts shall not exceed the percentage of appraised land value commensurate with the percentage of affordable units proposed for the project.
Applications should review the entire RFA package. Prior to the application deadline, please check the CRC Websiteregularly for any updates, corrections, or posted questions and answers regarding this RFA. Applications will be submitted via the Neighborly application system. The link is posted on the CRC website as well as on the Charleston County Community Development and Revitalization website.
Application Link:
Full Copy of Land Acquisition RFA
Addendums: