Partners and Stakeholders –
I’m pleased to be reaching out to let you know that Housing Finance staff have worked diligently to streamline our site review and site visit process for the upcoming funding rounds. As you may know, in recent offerings OHCS has required potential applicants to submit their development site in advance of a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) in order to schedule the required site visit. We were concerned that the timing of this requirement posed a barrier to applying for those sponsors who may identify a property or a fund offering after this deadline had passed.
As such, we are modifying our process. OHCS will no longer require applicants to submit a request for a site visit in advance of a NOFA being published. Instead, the site review checklist will be included in the NOFA application process. Each NOFA will include within it the required path for completing the site review checklist and submitting it to OHCS. Depending on the fund source requirements, some solicitations (like the 2019 LIHTC / HOME NOFA) will require applicants to submit the site review checklist before the final application due date, but no solicitations will require that submission before the NOFA is published.
In the coming weeks we will be updating the required site review checklist with updated information and instructions. Once this is finalized we will notify you through a Technical Advisory and make it available for anyone who would like to begin work on this part of OHCS requirements. If you have any questions, please contact John Wright at John.E.Wright@oregon.gov
Published Technical Advisories can be found here. If you haven’t already, you can sign up to receive the Multifamily Technical Advisories directly to your email address here.
Stay tuned to the October 5, 2018 Housing Stability Council as we will be presenting the funding calendar for the upcoming year, which will detail both the timing and resource availability for fund offerings in 2019. You can receive a preview of this presentation at the next Multifamily Partner Call which will be held on October 1, 2018 at 3pm; 1-877-273-4202, room # 4460912.
Sincerely,
Assistant Director for Housing Finance Julie V. Cody
