FY18 NOFA for Choice Neighborhood Planning Grants Now Available

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made up to $5,000,000 available for Planning Grants, including Planning and Action Grants. Planning Grants are two-year grants that assist communities with severely distressed public or HUD-assisted housing in developing a successful neighborhood transformation plan and building the support necessary for that plan to be successfully implemented. Local leaders, residents, and stakeholders, such as public housing authorities, cities, schools, police, business owners, nonprofits, and private developers, come together to create and implement a plan that revitalizes distressed HUD housing and addresses the challenges in the surrounding neighborhood.

Planning and Action Grants are three-and-a-half year planning grants that pair planning with action. Planning activities occur during the first 24 months of the grant period, and the planning process identifies Action Activities that will be carried out during the latter portion of the grant period. Such Action Activities must build upon the planning for the target housing and neighborhood.

The three core goals of the Choice Neighborhoods program are:

1. Housing: Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood;
2. People: Improve outcomes of households living in the target housing related to employment and income, health, and children’s education; and
3. Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and commercial activity, that are important to families’ choices about their community.

Applications for Choice Neighborhood Planning Grants are due Tues., June 12, 2018. The NOFA is available here, and the application package must be downloaded from the Grants.gov site. Further information may be found here, and potential applicants may also review the Choice Neighborhoods website for more information about the program. Questions about the NOFA may be submitted to ChoiceNeighborhoods@hud.gov.

If you're considering pursuing any housing development or rehabilitation options like those listed above, you may also wish to attend the LeadingAge NY Annual Conference and Exposition from May 22-24, 2018 in Saratoga Springs, NY. Conference sessions discussing housing development include "Affordable Housing Plus Services for Older Adults: Health Care Savings and Project Development Challenges and Successes" and "Models for the Senior Living Middle Market." Further information and registration for the conference is available here. Any questions about the content or speakers at the conference should be directed to LeadingAge NY's Director of Conference Management, Kathy Gormley.

Contact: Sara Neitzel, sneitzel@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8835