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What is the Housing and Community Facilities Programs?
The Housing and Community Facilities Programs (HCFP)
is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Located within the Department's
Rural Development mission area, HCFP operates a broad range of programs to provide:
- homeownership options to
individuals;
- housing rehabilitation and
preservation funding;
- rental assistance to tenants of
HCFP-funded multi-family housing complexes;
- farm labor housing;
- help to developers of multi-family
housing projects, like assisted housing for the elderly and disabled, or apartment
buildings; and
- community facilities, such as
libraries, child care centers, schools, municipal buildings, and firefighting equipment to
Indian groups, nonprofit organizations, communities and local governments.
(Please check the description
of each program for a full listing of who is eligible to receive assistance, and for
specifics of what each program is designed to achieve.)
HCFP administers direct loans,
loan guarantees and grants. Direct loans are made and serviced by USDA staff; loan
guarantees are made to banks or other private lenders, and grants are made directly to a
person or organization.
Does HCFP work with other local
and state organizations to provide its services to the community?
HCFP works with other Federal
agencies, and a number of both nonprofit and private organizations nationally, in order to
pool resources to help America's rural residents most effectively. For a list of some of
these organizations, please check the Rural
Development Housing Links page.
Where are HCFP offices located?
The HCFP National Office is
located in Washington, D.C., and is responsible for setting policy, developing
regulations, and performing oversight. In the field, HCFP operations are carried out
through the USDA's state and local Rural Development offices and service centers, several
of which are located in each state and Puerto Rico. (Four multistate offices exist in
addition to local offices within the states -- Vermont/New Hampshire;
Massachusetts/Connecticut/Rhode Island; Maryland/Delaware; and Florida/Virgin Islands.)
The Centralized Servicing Center,
located in St. Louis, Missouri, provides loan origination and servicing directly to
HCFP
Single-Family Housing borrowers.
The list of
Rural Development
State Offices.
What is the HCFP service area?
HCFP programs are available to
eligible applicants in rural areas, typically defined as open country or rural towns with
no more 20,000 in population.
An exception to the rural
eligibility requirements is the Farm Labor Housing Program (Section 514/516), which is the
only Federal program available for development of housing for farm workers. This program
is available in both rural and urban areas.
To determine whether a particular
site is located within an HCFP-eligible area, contact the
Rural Development office located in that
state.
What is a NOFA, and how does it
work?
The Notice of Funding
Availability (NOFA) is a notice published each year in the Federal Register for some
HCFP
Multi-Family Housing programs. This notice describes the type of funding available on a
competitive basis and provides a State contact where an application may be submitted,
typically up to 60 to 90 days from the date of NOFA publication. Selection will then be
made based upon factors such as median area income, local access to credit, and the
availability of funding from other sources to be used to finance the project. Loan funds
will be available within the same fiscal year the application is received.
How do I receive a copy of
HCFP
regulations?
The regulations that guide
HCFP
programs are published in Chapter 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Most public
libraries have copies of CFRs. Copies of our regulations, instructions, and handbooks can
also be viewed in any Rural Development office, or can be downloaded and viewed online
here.
If the regulation you want is not
available online, you can order a copy at any Rural Development office, or contact Rural
Development, FC-313, 1520 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103. |
