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 Abandoned Housing Initiative Receivership Fund (AHIR). The new phase of AHIR will provide financial assistance to receiverships aimed at revitalizing distressed neighborhoods, promoting home ownership, and combating the negative impacts of residential property blight. Grant funds will be utilized in partnership with the AGO’s Abandoned Housing Initiative (AHI) and municipal neighborhood revitalization projects.
Program Goals & Priorities
Applications are requested from organizations with the capacity to act as a Fund Administrator which would coordinate and oversee a regional or statewide program to administer revolving loan and grant funds to receivers. The AGO seeks to identify and approve one or two Fund Administrators. If two Fund Administrators are selected, each will administer funds in its respective region, to be determined based on the demonstrated capacity and interest of applications. Preferred regional organization would be as follows:
- West Region Counties:
- Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Worcester;
- East Region Counties:
- Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk.
The goal of the program is to increase the capacity of receivers to finance the rehabilitation of distressed and abandoned properties. Fund Administrators should propose an effective plan, based upon the documented need in their service area, to:
- Use the award to leverage additional funding to support the rehabilitation of abandoned residential properties and the creation of safe and affordable housing; and
- Provide services necessary to make eligible properties habitable.
Submission Instructions
- Proposals must be delivered electronically through the AGO’s online grant application process by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 26, 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 October 17, 2018. All other questions may be submitted to agogrants@state.ma.us. When submitting your question(s), please include “Abandoned Housing 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 October 12, 2018.