Utilizing funds recovered by the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General (AGO) through a nationwide state-federal settlement over unlawful foreclosures, Attorney General Maura Healey is pleased to re-launch the Strategic Demolition Fund (SDF). In keeping with the mission of the Abandoned Housing Initiative (AHI) to ensure safer neighborhoods through blight reduction and the creation of safe, habitable homes, grant awards made under SDF will provide assistance to communities that suffer from the negative health and economic impacts of severely blighted residential properties.
Program Goals and Priorities
Abandoned properties that exist in an extreme state of disrepair create community safety hazards, drag down surrounding property values, and often produce large municipal tax delinquencies. In many cases, this type of property blight cannot be remedied through traditional avenues of rehabilitation due to the economic infeasibility of necessary repairs. When demolition becomes the only viable option for remediation, project cost can often prove prohibitive. The goal of SDF is to allow eligible organizations to leverage additional project funds for residential demolition projects while incentivizing post-demolition revitalization. While the remediation of dangers posed by severely blighted properties is a key component to SDF, the return of the resulting lot to an appropriate use is a cornerstone of the fund’s intent to revitalize neighborhoods.
Applications are requested from organizations with the capacity to act as a Fund Administrator that could successfully coordinate and oversee a statewide program that administers up to $250,000 in demolition grant funds to eligible projects.
SDF is structured to allow the Fund Administrator to provide direct grant assistance to organizations seeking to demolish severely deteriorated residential properties. Requests for demolition funding assistance to the Fund Administrator will demonstrate an immediate community need for demolition, an absence of any other viable blight remediation measures, and plans for post-demolition site redevelopment.
Submission Instructions
- Proposals must be delivered electronically through the AGO’s online grant application process by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 27, 2018.
- Interested applicants may access the application here.
- Applications received after the deadline will not be reviewed.
- Applications will not be accepted in any other format.
- New applicants will be asked to create a free online account. Any applicant that has applied for any grant using the online grant management system may log into its existing account.
- Once applicants have started an application, the application may be saved and returned to later.
- Confirmation of Receipt: Applicants typically receive an email confirmation within 48 business hours; if one is not received please call 617-963-2291 for further instructions and assistance.
Questions
Programmatic questions regarding this RFP may be submitted to AbandonedHousing@state.ma.us, only until 5:00 p.m. on July 13, 2018. All other questions may be submitted to agogrants@state.ma.us. When submitting your question(s), please include “Strategic Demolition Program 2019” in the email subject line. Questions received and answers provided regarding this RFP will be posted on the AGO’s website here: https://www.mass.gov/grant-opportunities.
Reasonable Accommodation
Applicants that seek reasonable accommodation, which may include the receipt of the RFP information in an alternative format, must communicate such requests in writing to agogrants@state.ma.us, no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 6, 2018.