Affordable housing complex

[Brian Smith]

Hello everyone,

I have 5 acres of land located in a city where housing is an ever growing issue. It crossed my mind that this would be a great location for an apartment complex. The city has been contacted and are very much in favor. Meetings are scheduled with city officials to discuss next steps. However, I do have a few questions as to where I should be looking towards next. I know one article of business would be sourcing capital. Its been brought to my attention that there are government grants for projects like these. Has anyone here used any grants on an affordable housing project? My hopes are that the BP community could provide me with some insight on grants and primary stages in a project like this.

Thank you in advance

[Daniel Shaffer]

Quote from @Brian Smith:

Its been brought to my attention that there are government grants for projects like these. Has anyone here used any grants on an affordable housing project? My hopes are that the BP community could provide me with some insight on grants and primary stages in a project like this.

 Hi Brandon, as someone who writes grants for a living, there's a good chance grant opportunities exist in your area, however, as @Barry Ruby mentioned, you need an investment opportunity, not a plot of vacant land, before you begin any grant work. No one gets grants for land, they get grants for the story of the proposed opportunity/impact.

Most grants will require some form of site control (this changes grant to grant so I'd check with funders on what they consider "ownership") and even more grants will want to be the last funds in to complete a project's capital stack and will often ignore any projects that aren't "shovel ready".

I strongly suggest doing as Barry said first and make sure the project is feasible before spending too much time on it, however, when it comes to identfying grants, I'd start with the local government and go outwards until you get to a state level to find any programs to support the development. If there's nothing at the town/city level, check the county, if nothing at the county, check the state. Every state also has a housing agency (for example, in PA, it's PHFA, in WI, it's WHEDA) and some regions also have a housing agency. 

In terms of types of grants you're looking for, if this is your first time doing development, I would avoid any tax credit deals assuming you're taking this on by yourself (tax credit consultants are usually rather expensive and for good reason). I would start out trying to find grants that could cover pre-development costs (soft costs) as they will probably be easier to find than grants that cover construction costs (hard costs).

I feel like I'm rambling at this point since the tl;dr of grant writing is "it depends". Hopefully something I shared here is helpful!