SARASOTA — A Sarasota County program with $40 million for affordable housing is now accepting applications.
The money in the Resilient SRQ Multifamily Affordable Housing program represents nearly one-fifth of the $201.5 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds awarded to the county last year by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A condition of the grant is that at least 70% be used for the benefit of low-to-moderate income people, Steve Hyatt, of the county Office of Financial Management, reminded the County Commission on Tuesday.
The money in the housing program is available for nonprofit developers, for-profit developers, county municipalities and public housing authorities that want to propose multifamily affordable housing projects, a county news release stated.
At a minimum, the proposed project has to meet these criteria, it says:
• More than five rental units in Sarasota County, with a minimum of 51% of them affordable.
• A minimum affordability period of at least 20 years.
• Proposes the rehabilitation, reconstruction or new construction of affordable multifamily housing projects.
• Steps to secure underwriting have been taken, or underwriting is in place.
• Mitigation measures are included.
Resilient SRQ staff will review and score qualified applications based on their "financial plan, leverage of funding, project readiness, project impact, period of affordability, the number of affordable units and a pre-award assessment," and make recommendations to the County Commission, the release says.
Interested parties can attend information sessions virtually from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday, March 25, or in person from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, March 29, in the first-floor training room at 1660 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota.
Registration is at bit.ly/4aoImxF.
Applications are being accepted through 5 p.m. May 1. More information is available at SCGgov.net/ResilientSRQ or by calling 311.
The housing program is actually the second one launched to distribute recovery funding, Program Manager Laurel Varnell told the Commission Tuesday.
The first was an infrastructure and public facilities program, funded with $45 million in CDBG-DR money. The application window for it has closed, she said, with 10 applications from nonprofits and 37 from public entities submitted.
The amount requested is "far more" than the amount allocated, she said. Staff will review and score the applications and present them to the Commission in May with recommendations.
The next program in line also involves housing — the allocation of $55 million for home rehabilitation and renovation and homeowner reimbursement. Applications will be available next month, the Resilient SRQ presentation shows.
A career and trades training program funded with $15 million will open up in April or May, it shows.
Other allocations of the $201.5 million include $25 million for the South River Road evacuation corridor; $6.5 million for voluntary housing buyouts; and $15 million for program planning and administration.
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