NAHMA USDA Update: NOSA; Workshop for Off-Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants for New Construction, Letter of Priority Enrollment

June 22, 2021

Dear NAHMA Members,

Please view the announcements below from Rural Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing regarding:

1)      Fiscal Year 2021 NOSA for Section 514 Off-Farm Labor Housing Loans and Section 516 Off-Farm Labor Housing Grants for New Construction;

2)      How to Participate in Off-Farm Labor Workshop for New Construction on August 25th, 2021 (1:00pm – 2:00pm EDT);

3)      Letter of Priority Enrollment During Natural Disasters.

For more information, please see the announcements below.

Header_Together

 

Multi-Family Housing

Off-Farm Labor Housing Workshop

 

On February 2, 2021, Rural Development published a Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA) for the Section 514 Off-Farm Labor Housing (FLH) Loans and Section 516 Off-FLH Grants for New Construction for Fiscal Year 2021. This program provides financing for the construction of new Off-FLH units for domestic farm laborers, retired domestic farm laborers, or disabled domestic farm laborers. The program objective is to increase the supply of affordable housing for farm laborers. This NOSA offers three rounds of pre-application submissions and selections. The Fiscal Year 2021 NOSA can be found at the following link:

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-02-02/pdf/2021-02193.pdf.

The second round will open on September 1st, 2021.

Rural Housing Service will host an Off-Farm Labor Housing Workshop for New Construction on August 25th, 2021 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm EDT to discuss the application process, the borrower’s responsibilities under the Off-FLH program, among other topics. Requests to attend the workshop will be accepted beginning on August 18th, 2021. Requests must be sent to the following email address: [email protected]. The email must contain the following information:

Subject line: “Off-FLH Workshop”
Body of email: Borrower Name, Project Name, Borrower Contact Information, Project State
Request language: “Please reply with information for attending next week’s Off-FLH Workshop.”

 

Letter of Priority Enrollment

ANNOUNCEMENT:  If a Natural disaster displaces you from your home in a USDA Rural Development (RD) – financed multifamily property, you may be eligible for priority placement in other RD- financed multifamily properties.

Current USDA RD multifamily tenants displaced by natural disaster are entitled to receive a Letter of Priority Entitlement – or LOPE – allowing the household to apply for housing in properties financed by USDA Rural Development or U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 

Tenants with LOPEs may receive priority placement in vacant units, and also may be moved to the top of waitlists for RD-financed multifamily properties.  A LOPE is good for USDA or HUD properties anywhere in the United States or its territories.

Full announcement in English

Full announcement in Spanish