Rural Housing Preservation Grant | USDA RD HCFP HPG 2023

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA RD HCFP HPG 2023

The Rural Housing Preservation Grant (HPG) is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Housing Service (RHS), focused on preserving and improving housing conditions in rural communities. The program funds eligible organizations so they can carry out repair and rehabilitation activities that directly benefit very low-income and low-income households. The core purpose is to keep existing rural housing safe, decent, and livable by helping homeowners address needed repairs, and by improving certain rental and cooperative housing properties that serve income-qualified residents.

Under HPG, grant recipients are not typically individual homeowners applying directly to USDA for their own repairs. Instead, USDA funds qualified intermediaries such as public agencies and nonprofit organizations, including faith-based and community organizations, that then administer repair and rehabilitation assistance in eligible rural areas. The program is designed to support projects that fix substandard conditions, extend the useful life of housing, and reduce risks to health and safety for residents who have limited financial ability to make these improvements on their own.

The opportunity also extends to rental housing and cooperative housing complexes. In those cases, the program can assist property owners or co-ops with repairs and rehabilitation if they agree to make the improved units available to low- and very low-income persons. This income-targeting requirement is a key tradeoff: the funding supports the physical improvements, while the property owner commits to serving households with limited incomes, helping maintain an affordable rural housing supply.

This funding notice is issued in line with USDA regulations at 7 CFR part 1944, subpart N, which require RHS to formally announce the opening and closing dates for receipt of preapplications. In practical terms, the notice functions as the official window for eligible applicants to submit a preapplication so USDA can evaluate eligibility and readiness for funding under the HPG program.

A notable feature of this particular announcement is the disaster assistance set-aside. About $2.5 million of FY 2023 HPG funding is reserved for disaster assistance, with a maximum award of $50,000 for those disaster-related grants. These disaster assistance preapplications are restricted to areas that received a presidential disaster declaration for calendar year 2022. Applicants are expected to confirm that their proposed service area falls within an eligible 2022 presidentially declared disaster area, which USDA points to FEMA disaster declaration listings as the reference source.

Eligible applicants include a wide range of governmental and nonprofit entities: state, county, and city or township governments; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations; nonprofits with IRS 501(c)(3) status; nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions); and certain other entities as allowed under the program rules and any additional eligibility clarifications in the full notice. The funding activity aligns with community development and housing (CFDA number 10.433). For FY 2023, the opportunity anticipated roughly 160 awards overall, reflecting that awards are distributed among many projects rather than concentrated into a small number of large grants.

Key administrative details from the notice include the funding opportunity number USDA RD HCFP HPG 2023 and an original closing date of June 5, 2023 (with a creation date of April 19, 2023). While the listing shows an award ceiling of 0, this typically indicates the ceiling was not specified in that particular data field, not that awards are zero; the disaster assistance component specifically notes a $50,000 maximum award for that set-aside. Overall, the HPG program is best understood as a tool for mission-driven organizations and public entities to deliver targeted housing repair and rehabilitation support in rural areas, with an added, time-limited emphasis here on helping communities recover from 2022 presidentially declared disasters.

• The Department of Agriculture, Rural Housing Service in the community development, housing sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Rural Housing Preservation Grant" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.433.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 19, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 05, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 160 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for USDA RD HCFP HPG 2023

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