At the Florida Housing May 29, 2020 Request for Applications (RFA) Workshop, it was announced that there will be a goal to fund five medium county applications that qualify for the Local Government Area of Opportunity Goal in RFA 2020-201, the small/medium geographic RFA. Applications from counties that qualified for the goal last year and were awarded funding in RFA 2019-113, even if the application was not funded to meet the Local Government Area of Opportunity Goal, will not be eligible for the goal.

It was also announced that there will be a goal to fund one application that qualifies for the Local Community Revitalization Initiative Goal in this RFA. Applications from counties that qualified for the goal last year and were awarded funding in RFA 2019-113, even if the application was not funded to meet the Local Community Revitalization Initiative Goal, will not be eligible for the goal.

If an application that is selected to meet the Local Government Area of Opportunity Goal or Local Community Revitalization Initiative Goal also meets the goal to fund one Development within 0.5 miles of a SunRail station (SunRail Goal), the SunRail Goal will also be considered met.

At the workshop, it was also announced that when selecting the first three applications to meet the goal to fund five medium county applications that qualify for the Local Government Area of Opportunity Goal in RFA 2020-201, preference would be given for applications that had been previously submitted, but not selected for funding. To implement this, Florida Housing expects to give preference to applications that applied in RFA 2019-113, met all eligibility criteria for the RFA and for the Local Government Area of Opportunity Goal, but were not awarded funding/invited to enter into credit underwriting if the Development Location and all Principals are identical on the Principal Disclosure Form submitted in both RFA 2019-113 and RFA 2020-201. Of the remaining applications selected to meet the goal to fund five medium county applications that qualify for the Local Government Area of Opportunity Goal in RFA 2020-201, preference would be given for applications of developments not submitted in RFA 2019-113. This will be discussed in more detail at the RFA Workshop.

The goals in RFA 2020-201 Housing Credit Financing for Affordable Housing Developments Located in medium and small counties are as follows:

  • Five medium county Local Government Area of Opportunity applications, with a preference that three of the applications had been submitted but not funded in RFA 2019-113, and two of the applications were not submitted in RFA 2019-113;
  • Two Family Developments that qualify as either Geographic Area of Opportunity Developments or SADDA Developments;
  • One application that qualifies for the Revitalization Goal; and
  • One medium county application that qualifies for the SunRail Goal.

The goals in RFA 2020-202 Housing Credit Financing for Affordable Housing Developments Located in Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach and Pinellas Counties are as follows:

  • One application in both Hillsborough and Orange Counties, with a preference for applications that qualify for the Geographic Areas of Opportunity/SADDA;
  • One application in Broward, Duval, Palm Beach and Pinellas Counties, with a preference for application that qualifies for the Local Government Areas of Opportunity (LGAO)**; and
  • Second application in Broward County.

The goals in RFA 2020-203 Housing Credit Financing for Affordable Housing Developments Located in Miami-Dade County are as follows:

  • One family development that qualifies as either a Geographic Area of Opportunity or SADDA;
  • One elderly development; and
  • One development located in an Urban Center, with a preference that the proposed development be located in a Tier 1 Urban Center. FHFC has considered the public comments regarding the expansion of this goal and will workshop those ideas for the 2021/2022 funding cycle.

Note:  This will be discussed in more detail at the Nine Percent Geographic RFA Workshop, which is expected to be held at the end of July.