HCR has announced that $25 million will be made available for MRT projects. The following information and more can be found at http://www.nyshcr.org/funding/
I. Introduction And General Information
The Medicaid Redesign Team (“MRT”) was formed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2011 to bring together stakeholders and experts from throughout the state to work cooperatively to reform the system and reduce the State’s Medicaid spending. The MRT, recognizing that significant savings could be generated by expanding opportunities for supportive housing, has recommended funding for various initiatives to be administered through multiple State agencies to expand access to supportive housing for high need and high cost Medicaid recipients in the 2014-2015 budget. The money is designed to create new supportive housing opportunities through leveraging other public and private investments to maximize potential Medicaid savings.
As part of the State’s commitment to increase the number of supportive housing opportunities for its residents, New York State Homes & Community Renewal (“HCR”), acting through the Housing Trust Fund Corporation (“HTFC”), is making available up to an additional $25,000,000 of capital to expand supportive housing for high cost Medicaid populations emphasized by the MRT. For purposes of this RFP, supportive housing is defined as the pairing of capital assistance, rental assistance and supportive services in either a building(s) constructed or renovated for this purpose.
HCR is seeking proposals from development teams that include service providers who have awards funded through the MRT Supportive Housing Allocation Plan, the NY/NY III Agreement, or from other federal, state and municipal funding streams that provide social service funding for high need and high cost Medicaid recipients, to develop multifamily supportive rental housing projectseither through new construction, or the gut rehabilitation of vacant buildings.
This RFP seeks to increase the number of integrated supportive housing developments whereby a portion of the tenants are receiving services, and the remainder are affordable or market rate housing residents who are not in need of services. Evidence of the service funding is required as part of the application submission. Successful applicants and their service providers will be expected to collect and submit relevant Medicaid patient data to the State Department of Health or another state agency to track Medicaid cost savings.
This RFP also explains how HCR may offer a limited amount of Project Based Voucher (PBV) assistance, depending upon availability, for proposed projects seeking MRT Capital funds under this competitive Request for Proposals. HCR reserves the right to award all, a portion of, or none of the funding, based on the feasibility of the project, the applicant’s ability to meet HCR criteria for funding, and the applicant’s ability to advance the State’s MRT goals. Applicants applying under this RFP for MRT Capital financing are expected to have projects that will also have first mortgages financed by tax-exempt Private Activity Bonds issued by the New York State Housing Finance Agency. Please note however, that HCR may also make a portion of this funding available as part of the upcoming Unified Funding Competitive Round for projects seeking allocations of 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits (“LIHTC”).
HCR also reserves the right to: (i) amend, modify, or withdraw this RFP; (ii) revise any requirements of this RFP; (iii) require supplemental statements or information from any responding party; (iv) accept or reject any or all proposals/responses hereto; (v) extend the deadline for submission of proposals/responses hereto; (vi) negotiate or hold discussions with any proposed Respondent/Firm and to correct deficient proposals/responses which do not completely conform to the instructions contained herein; (vii) cancel or reissue this RFP, in whole or in part, if HCR deems it in its best interest to do so.
HCR expects to fully commit the funds made available through this RFP by March 31, 2015, therefore priority will be given to projects that meet the General Review Criteria listed in Section VI – A below. Due to the limited resources available, HCR is imposing a $200,000 per supportive housing unit cap on funding awards.
II. Eligible Populations Populations that are eligible for funding under the MRT Capital program include:
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Those categories that receive funding through the MRT Supportive Housing Allocation Plan,
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Populations covered under NY/NY III, and
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Populations covered by other federal, state and/or municipal funding streams that provide social service funding for high need and high cost Medicaid recipients.
All applicants seeking MRT Housing Capital funds must provide an integrated housing environment for the proposed residents. Applicants must also provide enough information to demonstrate the high cost Medicaid usage of any targeted population.
III. Open Window Application Deadline and Additional Submission Information
A. Application: Applicants are required to schedule a Project Development Meeting before submitting an application. HCR will utilize its MRT Housing Capital Program application for these funds. Applications are available online at: http://www.nyshcr.org/Forms/MultifamilyFinancing/.
B. Application Deadline:
Applications may be submitted at any time between July 1, 2014 and January 31, 2015, or until all funds offered under this RFP are committed. Prior to application submission, please contact the appropriate HCR staff listed at the end of this RFP with any questions. Applications will be reviewed as received and funding determinations will be made throughout the year. HCR reserves the right to allocate the resources made available through this RFP to further the state’s objectives outlined by the MRT.
Application Review:
New York State Housing Finance Agency (“HFA”), in its capacity as HCR’s tax-exempt bond issuing agency and allocator of 4% LIHTC, will retain lead role in all facets of project application review, design standards review, construction inspection and post completion compliance monitoring, unless otherwise specified.
IV. Offer of a limited amount of Project Based Voucher (PBV) assistance, depending upon availability, for proposed projects seeking MRT Capital under this competitive Request for Proposals
As authorized by program regulations at 24 CFR 983, HCR may offer a limited amount of Project Based Voucher (PBV) assistance, depending upon availability, for proposed projects seeking MRT Capital funding under this competitive Request for Proposals. Applications seeking consideration for PBV assistance in combination with MRT Capital will be reviewed for eligibility, scored and underwritten at the end of each calendar quarter. All complete applications requesting PBV’s received through this RFP will be competitively selected based on the result of these reviews.
A complete description of all applicable PBV program regulations can be found within the Electronic Code of Federal regulations at: www.ecfr.gov (Title 24, Part 983).
Applicants interested in being considered for PBV assistance should fully review program regulations prior to making application in order to ensure that their proposed project is consistent with all terms and provisions of those regulations. Applicants are advised to carefully examine the subsidy layering review guidelines relative to PBV assistance issued by HUD in its notice of July 9, 2010. These guidelines establish certain development and operations standards that must be adhered to by projects receiving PBVs, including limits on builder’s fees, developer’s fee, and project cash flow. The guidelines can be found at: http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2010/07/09/2010-16827/administrative-guidelines-subsidy-layering-reviews-for-proposed-section-8-Project based-voucher
HCR will give priority to those projects requesting PBVs with a proposed developer fee at or below the HUD safe harbor standard of 12% of the total development cost.
Applicants are invited to submit proposals for the use of PBVs in connection with the preservation of rental units in only those local program areas serviced by HCR’s Section 8 Voucher Program and its network of Local Administrators. A complete listing of those local program areas can be found on the HCR website at:http://nysdhcr.gov/Programs/Section8HCV/sec8admins.htm
Applications requesting project based assistance only will not be accepted. Requests for PBV assistance must be accompanied by a request for assistance for MRT Capital.
Only applications submitted in response to this RFP will be considered for this PBV assistance. Applications requiring permanent relocation of current tenants will not be eligible.
HCR requires all applicants seeking PBVs to provide information on the degree to which PBVs enable a project to serve a lower income population than the project would otherwise be capable of serving absent the PBVs. A detailed description of the impact PBVs will have on the population served must be provided in an application seeking PBV assistance. The description must be provided in a Proposal Summary as part of the response to the question of what public purpose is served by the project and who the project beneficiaries will be. Regulations generally limit PBV assistance to no more than 25% of the units in a project. Projects serving persons who are elderly (62 years or older), persons with disabilities or families receiving supportive services generally equivalent to HUD “Family Self-Sufficiency” programming may be allowed to exceed the 25% per building cap.
Davis-Bacon wage requirements are applicable to construction of all projects receiving nine or more PBVs.
V. Evaluation and Selection Criteria
A. General Review Criteria:
HCR will evaluate the investment of the resources made available through this RFP using the following three criteria: fundamentals, leverage, and outcomes.
Fundamentals consider the basic components of any real estate investment; feasibility, capital structure, and team experience. In this RFP, it also considers certain threshold requirements specific to each resource. HCR will evaluate, among other things: whether the investment is feasible but for our investment; whether all the necessary components are identified and committed, such as credit enhancement, site control, tax credit equity, and other sources of subsidy contemplated in the financing; and whether the applicant has the proven experience and team members to successfully complete the investment.
Leverage considers whether the investment leverages significant outside resources such as third party funds, local funds, and /or local support. HCR will consider the extent to which the application supplements or advances a coordinated investment by State agencies, federal government and local partners as well as the applicable Regional Economic Development Council strategic plan.
Outcomes consider the policy goals achieved by a particular investment such as: applications that propose well designed, quality housing that most efficiently provide the greatest number of units, a project that produces a transformative or priority outcome such as providing integrated supportive housing in an area not previously served, and well-designed buildings that are consistent with their surroundings.
In general, HCR will consider the extent to which the application supplements or advances a coordinated investment by State agencies, federal government and local partners as well as the applicable Regional Economic Development Council strategic plan. HCR will also consider the proximity of a proposed project to locally undesirable land uses which expose residents to adverse physical, chemical, biological, social and/or cultural factors when making award decisions.
B. Review Process and Funding Priorities All Projects that express an interest in receiving MRT Capital funding will undergo the following reviews.
- The application will be reviewed for eligibility based on the requirements of the RFP
- Feasibility Review – An underwriting feasibility review will be performed to determine whether the proposed financing and operating assumptions are valid
- Projects will be rated based on the following criteria:
- Expands supportive housing for high cost Medicaid populations as defined by the MRT. (25 points)
- Projects that leverage third party resources, including the utilization of capital and rental subsidies from other state and municipal funding sources, with highest priority being given to Projects that have capital and operating awards for other State Agencies (20 points)
- Provides an integrated housing environment (15 points)
- Projects located in areas underserved by supportive housing. (10 points)
- Readiness to proceed. (10 points).
- Organizational capacity and strength of the development team/past performance.(5 points)
- Service Provider is part of the ownership structure (5 points)
- Recipients awarded funding under the OMH NY/NY III Services only RFP (5 points).
- Coordinated investment by State agencies, federal government and local partners as well as the applicable Regional Economic Development Council strategic plan. (5 points)
C. Equal Employment Opportunity/Minority and Women Owned Business
Under Article 15A of the New York State Executive Law, all award recipients and their contractors are required to comply with the equal employment opportunity provisions of Section 312 of that Article in any instance in which an award of funds includes state-funded construction costs in excess of $100,000. HCR is required to comply with Article 15-A of the Executive Law, which promotes the participation of minority and women‐owned businesses (MWBEs) in contracting opportunities. Therefore, HCR encourages contracting with certified minority‐and/or woman‐owned firms on Projects. ESDC’s MWBE Directory should be used as a resource to identify certified MWBE firms and can be found at:
http://www.esd.ny.gov/MWBE/directorySearch.html.
Also, all contractors and awardees are required to make affirmative efforts to ensure that New York State Certified Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises are afforded opportunities for meaningful participation in projects funded by HTFC pursuant to Section 313 of the Article.
D. Applicant Past Performance
An applicant’s past and current performance in State programs and contracts, including their performance under Article 15A of the New York State Executive Law, will be considered in reviewing its application. HCR reserves the right to deny an award to any applicant if it has been determined that the applicant is not in compliance with existing State contracts and has not taken satisfactory steps to remedy such non-compliance.
Applications will be subject to HCR feasibility reviews including an assessment of architectural design features, underwriting of the project’s development costs and operational feasibility and viability and the provision of units for persons with special needs.
E. Board Approval
All awards must be approved by the HTFC Board. Any project also seeking HFA bond financing will be subject to approval by the HFA Board.
F. Award Letter
HCR will issue Award Letters to notify the applicant that the project has been selected for funding, and sets forth the number of units and award amount(s) and closing deadline. Successful applicants will be required to assist HTFC in measuring cost savings resulting from the creation of housing funded under this RFP.
G. Project Development Meeting
Applicants are required to schedule a Project Development Meeting before submitting an application. This provides a forum for the applicant’s development team and HCR to discuss the project’s development timetable; the project budget and the roles and responsibilities of the development team members and HCR.
VI. Contacts for Further Information
Bret Garwood, Senior Vice President, Multifamily Programs (212) 872-0440, [email protected]
Richard Brown, Multifamily Finance (212) 872-0389, [email protected]
David Simmons, Multifamily Finance (212) 872-0481, dsimmons@nyshcr.org