Housing Preservation Program

Program Overview

The Housing Preservation Program makes funds available for major building improvements, preservation, and system replacements necessary for existing Housing Trust Fund (HTF) multi-family rental projects. The purpose of the program is to maintain long-term viability of the existing HTF portfolio.

Funds

The state legislature has made available $10 million from bonds and the HTF repayment account by appropriation in the 2017-2019 biennial budget. Housing Preservation Program funds may not be used to create new units.

The 2019 legislative session began on Jan. 14, 2019. Commerce is waiting to hear if funds will be appropriated for the program in the 2019-2021 biennial budget.

Eligible Projects

The property is part of the existing HTF multifamily rental property portfolio (i.e., has an active HTF contract);
The building(s) of the property are more than 15 years old; and
At least 50 percent of the housing units are occupied by families and/or individuals with household incomes at or below 30 percent of area median income (AMI).

Eligible Activities

Capital building improvements;
System replacement or major upgrade;
Energy efficiency upgrades;
Accessibility retrofits;
Fire sprinklers and fire safety retrofits;
Other activities that add to the depreciable basis of a building; and
Funded activities resulting in the reduction of operating and/or utility costs.

Funding Availability

The 2018 Housing Preservation Program NOFA closed on June 30, 2018.

Application Solicited (NOFA)	April 2, 2018
Application Q and A	April 2 – June 1, 2018
Application Submittal Due Date	June 30, 2018
Commerce Review of Applications	July/August, 2018
Notification of Award Date	Sept. 14, 2018
Contract Negotiations, Drafting and Execution	Sept./Oct., 2018
Project Must Be Ready to Proceed With Preservation Activities	Feb. 1, 2019
Demonstration of Full Funding for Preservation Project Activities	Before contract execution but no later than Feb. 1, 2019
Anticipated Completion of Preservation Activities	May 30, 2019

Commerce reserves the right to revise this timeline.

Questions

For answers to questions related to the 2018 Housing Preservation Program NOFA or Application, please refer to the FAQ.

2018 Funded Projects Announcements

Awards for the 2018 HTF Housing Preservation Program (HPP) funding round were made on Oct. 18, 2018. The awards are posted on the Applying to the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) webpage. The HTF was able to fund 23 of the 38 applications received, for a total amount of $9,890,679. Click here to view the complete list of awarded projects.

POSTED 01/10/2019: Funded projects must be in contact with their assigned Asset Manager by January 31, 2019. It is a pre-contracting requirement that the grantee has kept their Asset Manager apprised of the status of the project. All grantees received an email, following the notification of their award, from their assigned Asset Manager. If you do not know who your Asset Manager is, please contact the HPP Program Manager.

POSTED 2/25/2019: Per the timeline posted for the 2018 Housing Preservation Program NOFA, projects were expected to be ready to proceed with construction by February 1, 2019 with completion of preservation project activities by May 30, 2019. Some grantees have requested an extension to these deadlines. The intention of the funding is to rapidly deploy resources so that projects could address issues and ensure the continuing viability of much needed multifamily rental units.

If you are experiencing difficulties getting under contract or completing the rehab project by the above deadlines, you must contact your assigned Asset Manager. If a project is not under contract by June 30, 2019, we may withdraw the funding award. Projects with funds withdrawn will be eligible to reapply if there is a new funding round in the fall of 2019. For all projects under contract, the majority of rehab activities and expenditure of funds must be complete by December 31, 2019.

Please click here for additional information about program requirements and documents for pre-contracting.

Need help?

Tanya Mercier
HTF Housing Preservation Program htfportfoliomgmt@commerce.wa.gov
360-725-2936