The Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Grant empowers Indiana communities to establish local home repair programs.
Donor Name: Indiana Office of Community & Rural Affairs
State: Indiana
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 11/15/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
Awarded communities create programs that directly fund repairs on owner occupied residential properties, including roof replacement, heating, cooling, and water heater replacement, lighting and electrical upgrades and ADA accessibility modifications up to the threshold of the home. This program allows communities to improve their housing stock and for low-income homeowners to age in place, have better mobility and make needed repairs for their comfort and safety.
Funding Information
- The maximum grant award for Owner Occupied Rehabilitation recipients is $350,000 for a city or town, or $500,000 for a county to create or fund a local Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Program. Individual grants to homeowners may not exceed $25,000.
- To participate in the Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation program, communities must commit at least ten percent (10%) of the total project cost in matching funds toward the grant. For example, an applicant applying to fund a project that costs $50,000 must commit at least $5,000 (10%) of this project cost. The grant request would then be $45,000.
Grant Period
The project is ready to proceed upon grant award and will be completed within 18 months.
Eligible Activities
Eligible activities that communities may offer in their Owner Occupied Rehabilitation programs include:
Rehabilitation activities of privately owned residences:
- Roof repair or replacement
- ADA accessibility up to the threshold of the home
- Heating and cooling replacement
- Select lighting and electrical upgrades
- Water heater replacement.
Eligible Communities
- Lead applicants must be a non-entitlement local unit of government (city, county, or incorporated town) that possesses the legal capacity to carry out the proposed program.
- If the applicant has previously received any CDBG funds through OCRA or IHCDA, the applicant must not have any unresolved monitoring/audit findings, any overdue grant reports or any overdue closeout documents.
- Applicants must notify their community liaison of their intent to apply. Applicants without previous OOR-related experience are required to have a site visit with their community liaison prior to application. Collaborating with community liaisons on application materials is highly encouraged.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Grant assistance, projects must meet the following requirements:
- The lead applicant must be a non-entitlement city, county or incorporated town that possesses the legal capacity to carry out the proposed program. Unincorporated areas must apply through their county.
- The lead applicant may contract with a not-for-profit organization to carry out eligible project activities, if the organization can document its non-profit status with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the Indiana Department of Revenue, and the Indiana Secretary of State.
- The proposed project must meet a national objective and be an eligible activity under Section 105 (a) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. With the eligible activity as Low- and ModerateIncome – Housing, the project must benefit homeowners who are verified as low- and moderate-income based on HUD Income Limits.
- Applicants are required to inform their OCRA Community Liaison of their intent to apply so that they may receive technical assistance on their application. Applicants without demonstrable Owner Occupied Rehabilitation experience are required to have a site visit (which may be a virtual meeting) with their Community Liaison for technical assistance prior to application submission.
- If the applicant has previously received any CDBG funds through the Office of Community and Rural Affairs or the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) the applicant must not have any unresolved monitoring/audit findings or any overdue grant reports or closeout documents.
- If the applicant has previously received CDBG funds through OCRA, in accordance with Policy Notice 24- 004: Program Income Policy, any CDBG Program Income collected by a grantee and/or a subrecipient must be returned to OCRA if such amount is greater than $35,000 per calendar year or the local government must first utilize any CDBG program income cash on hand on active CDBG grant(s) being administered before requesting additional CDBG funds from OCRA. Approval from OCRA is required to use available Program Income as part of the local match for a CDBG project. For approval or questions, please reach out to the CDBG Team.
- For OCRA-funded OOR projects, eligible communities may reapply to receive additional OOR funding after all prior OOR grants awarded to them by OCRA have achieved closeout
- A minimum local match of 10% of the project cost is required from the applicant or a third party. Other state, federal or local grants can count toward the local match requirement.
- Grant Administrators used for CDBG projects must be certified by OCRA.
- All maps and photographs included in the application must be in full color and accompanied by captions with dates or clearly defined legends.
- Communities are not required to have list of properties to repair prior to application. However, feedback from former awardees suggests that starting an interest list to determine the existing level of local need is helpful for setting program goals and meeting deadlines.
For more information, visit OCRA.
