Minnesota Housing adjusted the 2020 Consolidated request for proposals (RFP) timeline to provide applicants more time to finalize application materials with a variety of partners who are adjusting to a telework environment:

  • Thursday, May 14 by noon: Intent to Apply deadline. Required for all Multifamily applications submitted in the consolidated RFP. Only the basic project information and HIB form are due at this date.
  • Thursday, June 18 by noon: Qualification Forms and Site Control deadline. Please see the Qualification Forms Instructions section below for additional guidance.
  • Thursday, July 16 by noon: Multifamily application deadline. Note: the application fee is also due by this date. Please see the Application Fees section below for more information.

Minnesota Housing expects to recommend proposals for selections at its December Board of Directors Meeting.

Qualification Forms Instructions
All qualification forms must be submitted via the Multifamily Secure Upload Tool by noon on Thursday, June 18. View instructions on how to use the secure upload tool. The recipient email address that you will use is mhfa.app@state.mn.us.

Important Reminders
Each RFP funding round and/or year-round funding application requires the submission of a qualification form from ALL development team members if any of the following apply:

  • Minnesota Housing does not have the required qualification form on file.
  • The information on a previously submitted qualification form has changed significantly.
  • The qualification form has been on file with Minnesota Housing longer than 12 months.

You can verify if Minnesota Housing has your qualification forms by checking the Previously Submitted Qualification Forms document. The Qualification of Attorney Form has been discontinued. If you have questions, please contact mhfa.app@state.mn.us.

Site Control Instructions
All site control documents must be submitted via the Multifamily Secure Upload Tool by noon on Thursday, June 18. View instructions on how to use the secure upload tool. The recipient email address that you will enter into the upload tool is mhfa.app@state.mn.us.

Site Control applicants must demonstrate acceptable evidence of title/site control, which includes the following: a purchase agreement, purchase option or letter of intent from a governmental body for a sole developer. If there is no transfer of ownership, then the warranty deed or contract for deed is acceptable. The evidence of site control must:

  • Be current – not expired.
  • Be fully executed by both buyer and seller.
  • Include the legal description of the property.
  • Have the purchase price clearly indicated.
  • Extend at least through the calendar year of the funding round, including automatic extensions. If the purchase agreement does not contain a specific date of expiration, but rather a series of phases with timeframes, the applicant must document how long the agreement extends, given the allowable timeframes.

Application Fees
Effective for the 2020 Consolidated RFP/2021 HTC Round 1, all applicants are required to submit an application fee of $800 per application. Fees must be received by the application deadline of noon on July 16. All fees are non-refundable. Minnesota Housing is practicing social distancing due to COVID-19 and will not be able to accept hand-delivered checks.  All fees and the Fee Remittance Form should be sent to:

Minnesota Housing
Attention: Tamara Wilson
400 Wabasha Street North
Suite 400
St. Paul, MN 55102

Intent to Apply Reminders
Applicants who plan to submit a full application must submit their Intent to Apply (ITA) via the Multifamily Customer Portal by noon on Thursday, May 14. The ITA process has been streamlined for the 2020 RFP. The ITA checklist no longer includes the Excel Intent to Apply form; applicants will now enter key project information into the Multifamily Customer Portal when creating projects.

Scoring Training
Minnesota Housing is making the scoring training used by our internal scoring team available to our partners. You can view the training in its entirety here. Minnesota Housing linked time stamps for each section in the description on its application resources webpage.

Be sure to check the training tutorials section on the application resources webpage over the next week as Minnesota Housing releases sections as individual videos for easy reference as you put your application together.

Useful resources to have on hand while viewing the training are the slides, the PDF version of the 2021 HTC Self-Scoring Worksheet – Competitive Funding Round, and the 2021 HTC and 2020 Deferred Scoring Guide.

Scoring Tips
There are two primary scoring documents all applicants should review thoroughly, paying careful attention to the required documentation and terms:

Minnesota Housing will defer to the supporting documentation when awarding points (e.g. using dollar amounts, voucher amounts, etc. in the supporting documentation). Some frequently asked questions are clarified below.

Financial Readiness to Proceed/Leveraged Funds
All permanent capital contributions that meet the supporting documentation requirements should be counted in the Financial Readiness to Proceed/Leveraged Funds calculation. Minnesota Housing created the Scoring Calculation Worksheet to help applicants with scoring. Applicants are encouraged to complete the worksheet and submit it with their application in the Financial Readiness to Proceed/Leveraged Funds checklist item in Multifamily Customer Portal.

Minority-owned/Women-owned Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE)
An Executive Director of a government entity would not qualify for MBE/WBE points. Board composition does not qualify.

Other Contributions
This category only includes non-capital sources of funding. If applicants are using in-kind donations such as land, materials or labor, documentation that supports the market value must be submitted in order for points to be awarded. For example: documentation for land donations could include an appraisal, tax assessment information, or a broker opinion with comparable properties or other reasonable data.

Park Dedication Fees
Waivers of city fees, including park dedication fees, count towards the Other Contributions scoring calculation.

People with Disabilities (PWD) and Age Restricted Projects
PWD points cannot be claimed for projects with age restrictions. Therefore, projects with age restrictions are ineligible for PWD points.

Unit Dependencies
Some of the selection criteria in the Self-scoring Worksheet prohibit points being claimed for the same units in multiple categories. Minnesota Housing will validate this by using the information you provide in the rent and income grid of your submitted Multifamily Workbook. Refer to the information in the HTC and Deferred Scoring Guide for additional information. Examples of some of the categories that are impacted include:

  • High Priority Homeless and People with Disabilities
  • Serves Lowest Income and Rental Assistance
  • Preservation and Rental Assistance

Pay close attention when structuring and scoring the project. The unit distinctions must be evident in the rent and income grid of the Multifamily Workbook in order for points to be awarded.

Walk Score
If applicants would like to request revisions of a location’s Walk Score, contact Walk Score directly at mhfa-request@walkscore.com. Walk Score staff will review the request and make necessary adjustments to scoring within 45 business days. If an address can’t be found in the Walk Score tool, use the closest intersection within ¼ mile of the proposed location. For more information, contact Kody Thurnau at kody.thurnau@state.mn.us or 651.215.5972.

Application Instructions
The Multifamily Application Instructions: Consolidated RFP and HTC Rounds 1 and 2 provides instruction on how to get started with your application, how to set up a Multifamily Customer Portal account, eligibility requirements, guidance for dual applications, guidance for projects eligible for Housing Infrastructure Bonds and much more. You can also learn about Minnesota Housing’s selection framework, including the role of scoring, capacity reviews, deferred loan funding priorities, and how they impact decision making.