COMPREHENSIVE POLICIES

General

1. Applications recommended for funding shall be limited in accordance with the date/time of Application submission, score and rank of the Applications received, and availability of funds.
2. Applications will be received on a first-come, first served basis during the open and rolling Application cycle. Applications will be reviewed and scored by a Selection Committee in order of submission date and time. Applications will be ranked when more than one Application is in queue and RFA available funding is encumbered. Projects are expected to commence construction expeditiously upon closing of this loan.
3. The County’s Homeownership Development Program is an open and rolling Application designed to address high unmet needs in affordable homeownership housing units through the financing of construction and acquisition activities. Applications will be accepted until further notice.
4. Only Applications meeting Minimum Threshold requirements will be scored.
5. Applications lacking required items and/or criteria to meet the minimum threshold will be deemed non-responsive and will not be scored.
6. Applicants must score a minimum of 70 points in the general section, before the addition of bonus points, to be recommended for funding.
7. Applicants proposing to develop 20 or more units will need to provide a market study at the time of Application.
8. Eligible Applications will be recommended for funding, in accordance with the Development Category’s funding cap and based upon the financial analysis of the development project. Eligible Applications will be recommended for funding awards until the funding for this program is exhausted.
9. HCD reserves the right to determine award amount based upon the financing plan provided in the Application. The HCD Director has the discretion to right-size the loan, increasing or decreasing the allocation.
10. HCD requires developers to provide financing from non-County sources covering a minimum percentage of 15% of the development cost for each proposed unit in accordance with the development category.
11. HCD may finance up to 85% of the development cost of the proposed homeownership project. However, the maximum award/funding cap per development category is not guaranteed.
12. HCD may determine that partial funding may be made available to an Application. If this occurs, the applicant must sign an agreement, affirming that the amount of funding allocation that the applicant is recommended for is sufficient for the project to proceed without any additional funds from any HCD source, and that even if an Application is partially funded, subject to successful completion of underwriting, the developer can proceed. The partial funding acknowledgment agreement is attached.
13. Surtax/SHIP funding is disbursed as a reimbursement for construction soft cost related expenditures, which can be disbursed at loan closing or during the construction period.
14. Surtax/SHIP funding is disbursed as a reimbursement for construction hard cost related expenditures during the construction period only.
15. Applications for construction funding for homeownership development under this RFA shall be limited to a maximum cap and lending terms in accordance with small, medium, and large development categories.
16. At HCD’s discretion, the Applicant may be required to phase the development project, and funds may be issued as a revolving loan to fund phased construction. Access to the revolving line of credit is contingent upon sale of the constructed units for each phase.
17. Applicants are responsible for determining amount of potential subsidy needed per potential qualified buyer household in accordance with the proposed associated income band (i.e.: 30% AMI, 50% AMI, 80% AMI).  To address the financing gap for low-income buyers, the Applicant is expected to develop a strategy to prepare and link pre-qualified buyers with subsidy resources such as downpayment assistance and soft second mortgage programs.
18. Developers are responsible for conducting due diligence on the site(s) of the proposed development project prior to applying under this RFA for construction financing. The County will not reimburse or fund unforeseen development costs not specified in the original Application after funds are awarded, including infrastructure and expenses related to impediments that arise during project development.
19. HCD reserves the right to limit the risk associated with awarding funding to developers with incomplete projects or projects with unresolved issues, as such any requests for extensions on contracts and/or deeds may forfeit an award and are therefore subject to recapture.
20. The County reserves the right to determine whether an expense is a “soft cost" or Construction will be monitored to determine that progress is made and draws are submitted in a timely manner and ensure that the Developer costs are paid based on the percent of construction completed.
21. HCD reserves the right to rescind or reduce awarded funds for projects that present significant material changes, including but not limited to financing, financing terms and/or development type, or a reduction in the number of units, after being awarded funds for the project proposed in their
22. Applicants may be disqualified from consideration for funding based on poor performance, failure to repay previous HCD loans upon maturity, or non-compliance on any other projects with HCD.
23. Miami-Dade County will not fund an entity or an affiliate with outstanding defaulted loans, debarment actions or any other legal encumbrances with the County, State of Florida, or Federal programs regardless of the merits of the submitted proposal.
24. Upon loan maturity, Borrowers have the right to request a one-year, one-time extension to the maturity date.
25. Interest on the loan begins accruing upon commencing construction and continues until the loan is fully repaid.
26. Developers may include Loan Closing Costs in the requested funding It is anticipated that these costs will be absorbed into the project costs.
27. BCC approved maximum sales prices for Infill properties must be sufficient to meet all repayment obligations for all loans related to the project.
28. HCD will adhere to compliance guidelines pursuant to Resolution R-34-15 requiring developers to provide written notice to the County of the availability of homeownership opportunities, including but not limited to, the number of available units, bedroom size, and sales price at the start of any sales activity. The advertisement must include contact information for the Developer/Owner, or their appropriate agents and representatives. Developers must also advertise this information in widely circulated newspapers and post it on the Housing and Community Development website.
29. HCD will adhere to compliance guidelines pursuant to Ordinance No.14-56 providing an incentive for private developers of affordable housing projects competing for funding through the County’s Documentary Stamp Surtax Program. As part of any competitive process for the acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of homeownership projects, the County shall provide additional incentives, including but not limited to awarding extra points to those developers and applicants who propose additional set-aside units for Disabled Households beyond that which may be required by applicable Federal, state, or local fair housing laws or other applicable laws.
30. No entity shall be considered for funding where, within the past five (5) years, the entity, or any of its directors, partners, principals, members or board members have been found guilty of, or has pled guilty or no contest to, any crime related to a funding source, been sued by a funding source and been found in breach of contract, or been debarred by a funding Such entities shall not be eligible to receive funding.
31. HCD will adhere to compliance guidelines pursuant to Resolution No. R-697-13 approved by the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners on September 13, 2013, establishing allocations of Housing and Community Development funds for the purpose of acquiring or improving real property or for paying off debt secured by real property in excess of $25,000, that shall be in the form of a loan. Loans shall be secured by a mortgage or other security instrument, which will be recorded in Miami-Dade County public records, and may be forgivable, so long as obligations of the recipient are fully performed.
32. Acceptable forms of collateral to secure the loan(s) under this program are land and cash equivalents. When the land is the collateral, an as-is and as-build appraisal is required. The Applicant must provide a letter of credit (LOC) from a financial institution on letterhead as acceptable verification to secure the loan with cash and assets.
33. Applicants must provide documentation of experience with the development/construction and sale of homeownership units commensurate to a similar scale and project scope proposed in the Application.
34. For General Contractor’s or Builder’s experience to be factored as evidence in the scoring criteria, HCD will adhere to the requirement for applicants to submit evidence of a legally binding Development Agreement.
35. Applicant Entities comprised of multiple parties working together as the Developer/Owner/Affiliate require a Joint Venture Agreement accompanied by an Operating Agreement submitted with the Application.
36. As the primary lender, the County will remain in first lien position. Construction loans issued under this program will not subordinate to a secondary lender.
37. HCD will consider a shared first lien position for medium-sized projects, 11-40 units, and large sized projects, 41 or more units, non-phased development projects with a non-revolving loan of up to $10,000,000.00. HCD will require collateral commensurate to the amount of the loan awarded.  Shared first lien position is at the discretion of the Department Director. Revolving loans for phased development projects are not eligible for consideration.
38. The Applicant will be responsible for providing a Schedule of Values that will be used to evaluate the total development cost in comparison to the sales price as an assurance that the awarded funding results in homes for sale that are affordable to the County’s workforce.

Condominium Projects – Subject to Additional Review Factors

1. Proposed condominium homeownership projects are subject to additional review factors prior to issuance of a conditional loan approval.

1. 1. Must provide verifiable documentation of previous condominium development and sales comparable to the proposed project detailed in this Application. Verifiable documentation must be dated within five years prior to the submittal of this current application.
   2. Must provide marketing strategy and financing plan (including downpayment subsidy) for potential homebuyers whose income ranges between 51% to 140% AMI.
   3. Must provide documentation of partnership with a HUD Certified Housing Counseling agency or qualified Homebuyer Counseling and Education agency that will be responsible for developing a plan to identify and refer a pool of potential homebuyers for project’s units.
   4. Must demonstrate feasibility with analysis that includes structural integrity reserve funds in compliance with Florida Statute.
   5. Pro forma must include realistic cost estimate for legal services to establish the condo association in accordance with state law.
   6. Fannie Mae Underwriting Guidelines must be used when selling condo units.
   7. Must provide a timeline to accomplish sales to qualified buyers within term of the loan for a non-phased development project.
   8. Evidence of financing for the homebuyer. Examples of financing products can be found at: Multi-Language Resources for Lenders | Fannie Mae.

Applicants must respond to all questions in the following tabs to successfully submit an application in the ZoomGrants system for evaluation:

• Applications Questions;
• Sources and Uses Budget;
• Development Cost Proforma; and  
• Checklist Items.

Instructions

Points will only be awarded when supporting documentation outlined in the Application Checklist is both accurately labeled and attached to your electronic application. Points will not be awarded in cases where supporting documentation is inaccurately labeled or uploaded and/or attached to the wrong question.

ALL DOCUMENTS MUST HAVE A DETAIL SHEET AND ATTACHMENT NUMBERS

Applicants must upload all affidavits, supporting and evidence documents to meet threshold requirements.  Supporting documentation must be uploaded as attachments.  Applicants must use a cover sheet identifying the EACH attachment separately.  Coversheets must be accurately labeled to match attached documentation and corresponding questions.

If supporting documentation is too large for upload, applicant may upload attachments in multiple submissions, Attachment 1a, 1b, 1c, etc.

All supporting documentation MUST be attached as a PDF file. NO electronic links will be accepted as part of your submission in this application.

All required documentation MUST be uploaded by applicants for evaluation.  NO exceptions to the policy requirement.