The Downtown Investment Authority (“DIA”) has a vested interest in facilitating housing development that meets the needs of workers in the Downtown area covering a wide range of income levels. The DIA includes “Improving the breadth and diversity of housing options across Downtown to provide all types and varied price ranges of rental and owner-occupied opportunities, including mixed-income and mixed-use structures” among its strategic objectives in meeting its goals.

A principal approach to fulfilling this strategic objective will be found in making available the Affordable Housing Support Loan. Such funding shall be used in conjunction with a Notice of Funding Availability (“NOFA”) issued by the Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority (“JHFA”) in further coordination with the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (“FHFC”) where the Local Government Areas of Opportunity Designation (“Designation”) is a structural consideration within the FHFC Request for Application (“RFA”).

In these situations, the FHFC issues a competitive RFA wherein the Local Government Areas of Opportunity Designation benefits the score of an applicant, but only one such Designation may typically be submitted from any County or local jurisdiction designated as eligible under the RFA. The competition for the Designation within Duval County is managed and awarded by the JHFA which issues a NOFA to open the opportunity for Designation to applicants under a competitive process with a single recipient of the Designation chosen by the JHFA Board. Submissions under the NOFA may include applications from affordable housing developers proposing developments meeting the FHFC criteria anywhere within Duval County.

The strategic objective of the DIA related to the creation of housing at varied price levels is served by offering the Affordable Housing Support Loan which may then be helpful in a developer’s application to the JHFA in its NOFA that will determine the assignment of the Designation as prescribed in the FHFC RFA. However, application and approval of an Affordable Housing Support Loan by the DIA is not competitive, and more than one recipient may be granted such approval in any given year subject to the eligibility guidelines identified below.

Program Structure

The unique nature of the Affordable Housing Support Loan program will follow the structural outline presented below:
  1. Multiple eligible applicants may apply for and receive approval for funding in a given year under the Affordable Housing Support Loan program; however, further selection for Designation by the JHFA under its NOFA, and approval by the FHFC under its RFA shall be a condition for closing on any approval made by the DIA Board.
  2. Should the FHFC RFA and the JHFA NOFA allow for more than one Designation in any year and approvals under the Affordable Housing Support Loan program are given to two or more applicants, subject to available funding, the DIA funding commitment will be provided to applicants in the order of their scores as determined by the JHFC Board.
  3. Funding under the Affordable Housing Support Loan shall be made from the Downtown Economic Development Fund Loans balance or the applicable CRA.
  4. The principal amount of, repayment requirements, maturity, interest rate, collateral interests, and other terms of the Affordable Housing Support Loan shall materially mirror the requirements of the FHFC RFA. Once an Affordable Housing Support Loan is approved for a development, it may not be replaced by funding under any other DIA program. Eligibility under this program may be rescinded in any year where the DIA does not approve of the terms and structure as outlined in the FHFC RFA.
  5. Any approval under this program will automatically terminate if the Developer is not selected for Designation by the JHFA in the year in which the approval was granted.
  6. The minimum ROI for funding under the Affordable Housing Support Loan program shall be 0.50X as calculated over a 20-year timeline.
  7. Loans approved under the Affordable Housing Support Loan program will not be forgivable.

Eligibility Guidelines

In order to be eligible for any Affordable Housing Support Loan, the following minimum requirements must be met:
  1. The Developer/Applicant shall meet the minimum eligibility criteria as set forth in the JHFA NOFA and the FHFC RFA.
  2. The Developer/Applicant must also make application to the JHFA under its NOFA that will determine the Local Government Areas of Opportunity Designation as further defined by the FHFC in a given year. If the name of the Designation as defined by FHFC shall change in any year, this program shall then adopt the new name for such Designation that provides bonus points in the scoring rubric.
  3. Only applications made for an affordable housing, or mixed-income housing development to be constructed on non-riverfront or non-creek front properties within the Northbank or Southside CRA boundaries of the DIA will be considered.
  4. Development applications that remove the subject property from the property tax rolls shall not be eligible for funding.
  5. All development work and design features must comply with all applicable city codes, ordinances, the established Downtown Development Review Board Guidelines and the Downtown Zoning Overlay without waiver.
  6. Each recipient of a DIA Multifamily Housing REV Grant must agree to promote Downtown activities and events organized by the City to its residents using electronic or static bulletin boards, newsletters, emails, and/or other standardiz