Pandemic Relief Housing Program

The Pandemic Relief Housing Program provides a total of $8,000,000 in grant funding to eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations for projects that result in the development of affordable housing that serve disproportionately impacted populations in Nebraska, including refugee and immigrant households and income-qualifying households in a disproportionately impacted county or qualified census tract (QCT). Eligible organizations may submit applications for projects that include the following activities: • Rental Housing – construction, acquisition, and/or rehabilitation of single- or multi-family housing units for rent. • Homeowner Rehabilitation – rehabilitation of owner-occupied housing units. • Homebuyer Projects – homebuyer assistance, construction, acquisition, and/or rehabilitation of housing units for homebuyers. At least 50 percent of the total program funding of $8,000,000 must be awarded to organizations with project located in counties with a population of fewer than 100,000 residents. During the third application cycle, $2,000,000 will be available for eligible projects located in rural Nebraska. No remaining funding is available for projects in urban counties. Projects serving refugee and immigrant households exclusively and may be located anywhere in the state. The Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) determined that refugees and other such immigrants were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency. An average of 800 refugees settled in Nebraska each year between 2015 and 2020. DED analyzed labor force participation data of Nebraska’s foreign-born population between 2019 and 2020. The foreign-born population includes legally admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents (e.g., students, temporary workers), and undocumented immigrants. No data are available that measures labor force participation for refugees only. DED utilized available data on Nebraska’s foreign-born population, which identified a more significant, negative economic impact during the COVID-19 pandemic among the foreign-born population as compared to Nebraska’s native-born population. Gender, age, educational attainment, and the presence of children in the household were also considered in this analysis. This trend for Nebraska’s refugee population is consistent with the analysis of all foreign-born residents and is likely to be more severe. Overall, refugees and other such legal immigrants faced myriad hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects to develop housing for households with an income at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and must be located in a disproportionately impacted county or qualified census tract (QCT), which maintains its affordability for a 20-year period. The Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) defines as a disproportionately impacted class of communities, certain rural counties whose labor force was disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This class, by definition, excludes counties with a population greater than 100,000 people (i.e., Douglas, Lancaster, and Sarpy counties). To be included in the disproportionately impacted class, a county must meet at least three of the following criteria: (1) a decrease in labor force participation over the prior decade; (2) a depression in labor force growth rate compared to expected growth rate between 2019 and 2020, attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic; (3) a higher per capita share of housing cost-burdened households than the state measure; and (4) a median household income less than the state median. The following 41 rural counties have been determined by DED to be disproportionately impacted: Arthur Boone Box Butte Boyd Brown Butler Cherry Cheyenne Custer Dakota Dawes Deuel Dixon Dundy Franklin Frontier Gage Garden Greeley Harlan Holt Hooker Howard Jefferson Kimball Lincoln Logan Merrick Morrill Nemaha Pawnee Phelps Polk Red Willow Richardson Scotts Bluff Sherman Valley Wayne Webster Wheeler A qualified census tract (QCT), as defined by 26 U.S.C. § 42(d)(5)(B)(ii)(I), is any census tract that meets one of the following criteria: (1) Has 50 percent or more of the households with an income less than 60 percent of the area median income; or (2) Has a poverty rate of at least 25 percent. A map of eligible QCTs is available at https://www.huduser.gov/PORTAL/sadda/sadda_qct.html.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law in March 2021 and established the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). Use of SLFRF funds will respond to the economic and public health impacts of COVID-19 and in an effort to contain impacts on communities, residents, and businesses across the United States. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) implemented program guidelines that enumerated eligible uses of SLFRF funds. The Pandemic Relief Housing Program is an authorized use of SLFRF (Assistance Listing 21.027), providing federal grant funding to eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations for the purpose of development, repair, and operation of affordable housing and services or programs to increase long-term housing security, pursuant to 31 C.F.R. § 35.6(b)(3)(ii)(A)(5). At least 50 percent of the total program funding of $8,000,000 must be awarded to organizations with project located in counties with a population of fewer than 100,000 residents. During the third application cycle, $2,000,000 will be available for eligible projects located in rural Nebraska. No remaining funding is available for projects in urban counties. Application Cycle→ Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 Total Project Location↓ Urban 3,210,000 790,000 0 4,000,000 Rural 1,000,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 4,000,000 TOTAL $4,210,000 $1,790,000 $2,000,000 $8,000,000 With the exception of Homeowner Rehabilitation projects only, proposals for projects with sites that are not vacant at the time of application will not be considered. A property will be considered vacant if (1) no tenant, homeowner, farm owner, or business owner occupied the property within 60 days of application submittal to DED; and (2) no tenant, homeowner, farm owner, or business owner would be displaced as defined by the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act (URA) as a result of the project.

Program guidelines are available at https://opportunity.nebraska.gov/programs/recovery/pandemic-relief-housing-program/

General and program-specific user guides and videos may be found at https://opportunity.nebraska.gov/amplifund/. Individuals who are hearing- and/or speech-impaired and have a TTY may contact the Department through the Statewide Relay System by calling (711) in state, 800-833-7352 (TTY), or 800-833-0920 (voice). The relay operator should be asked to call DED at 800-426-6505 or 402-471-3111. Additional information can be reviewed at the Nebraska Relay website, http://www.nebraskarelay.com. Nebraska Relay ofrece servicio gratuito para clientes de habla español: Español-a-Español (711) o 888-272-5528/ Español-a-Inglés (711) o 877-564-3503.