Maryland

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development released a draft revision of its QAP and Multifamily Rental Financing Program Guide (Guide) for public comment. The following is a summary of a few of the proposed changes to the 2020 QAP and Guide. Please note that this list contains some, but not all revisions.

Congratulations to the NH&RA members who won the 2019 Housing Award from the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition! Chickie Grayson with Enterprise Homes won the President’s Award; Bob Cleckner with Whiting-Turner Contracting Company won the Housing Person of the Year Award; and Homes for America won the Innovation Award for their Homes on Johnsons Pond development.

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will hold regional listening sessions to solicit feedback on its QAP and Multifamily Rental Financing Program Guide. Following the regional listening sessions, DHCD will issue to a draft QAP and Multifamily Rental Financing Program Guide for comment during the fall. It is the Department’s goal to complete this process and adopt a new QAP and Multifamily Rental Financing Program Guide in early 2020.

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development released an updated listing of applicants with a disclosure of all waivers granted to applicants and identification of projects which received State Bonus Points along with a rationale for why these points were awarded.

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development released a list of all applications and funding award amounts for the 2019 nine percent LIHTC funding round. In sum, fifteen projects received reservations totaling $21,684,948 of nine percent credits, $13,970,000 of Rental Housing Financing Program Funds and $8,595,480 in Partnership Rental Housing Funds.

HUD opened registration for its new National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) Demonstration. NH&RA encourages all eligible PHAs, owners and agents to participate in the NSPIRE demonstration. Properties will be given an advisory NSPIRE score and the most recent UPCS score will remain on the books. NSPIRE demonstration participants will have the opportunity to shape the new REAC inspection protocol and to prepare in advance of the mandatory changes.

The Maryland DHCD is in the process of reviewing the received 9 percent LIHTC applications. Threshold reviews are taking place over the next month, or so, and, as projects are reviewed, applicants will be notified if their projects fail to satisfy the threshold criteria. Applications that pass the threshold will move forward to scoring and DHCD expects to make funding announcements during the summer.

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) released Multifamily Notice 19-09 which subjects additional properties that are subject to End of Year (EOY) reporting requirements associated with the LIHTC program.

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) updated it FAQ for the 2019 competitive funding round as follows:

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), office of multifamily housing updated its FAQ for the spring 2019 competitive funding round.  Please contact Gregory Hare with questions at Gregory.hare@maryland.gov or 301-429-7775.

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development released an updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the 2019 QAP and Guide. Additional FAQs will be added as questions are received. In accordance with Section 5 of the Guide, waiver requests for the 2019 Spring Competitive Funding Round are due by April 8, 2019.

After reviewing public comments, DHCD has decided to retain the Taxable/Tax-Exempt Financing technique on a limited basis; specifically, this technique will only be available for projects that do not rely on subordinate financing from DHCD through Rental Housing Works and other subordinate financing programs of DHCD.