ARPA Affordable Housing Investment Process
The Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission is pleased to announce that the County Commissioners voted at their June 20, 2023 meeting to allocate $1.5 million of American Rescue Plan funds to the creation of the ‘Lincoln County Affordable Housing Investment Process’ with the intent of providing financial support for the development of affordable housing units in Lincoln County.
This Process and corresponding ARPA allocation is the first strategy to be implemented from the Lincoln County Housing Needs Assessment, published in May 2023. The Countywide housing study is a comprehensive assessment of the state of housing in Lincoln County and offers recommendations and strategies for addressing current housing needs and creating affordable housing in the County’s communities.
The Assessment found that 900 affordable units will be needed in the next decade to house working families and older adults of modest means in the County. The Lincoln County Affordable Housing Investment Process is a mechanism for the County to provide financial support in advancing the construction of a significant number of the needed units. View Background and Application Form below.
Lincoln County ARPA Affordable Housing Investment Process Background and Application Form
A few items to note:
- Applications will be accepted on an on-going basis as long as funding is available and will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. The applications will be reviewed by an advisory committee who will judge the merits of the application in accordance with the scoring criteria described in the attached application. Recommendations will be made to the County Commissioners for final review and approval.
- Eligible applicants include established non-profit housing groups in Lincoln County; community action agencies; non-profit housing developers; for-profit developers, community development financial institutions; and municipalities.
- To be eligible for this funding opportunity, the units must be constructed in Lincoln County.
- The grant award is calculated at $2,000 per each affordable unit proposed. If all the units in the development are designated affordable, an additional $1,000 per unit award may be granted. The total award amount is not to exceed $300,000 (calculated on the per unit basis).
- Funding shall only be used for the construction or other associated site/infrastructure improvements of those units in the development that are going to be dedicated affordable. The County Commissioners are especially interested in projects that are leveraging other dollars – local, state, and federal funding; other ARPA funds; private donations; etc.
If you have questions about the application details or the Process in general, please contact Emily Rabbe, Lincoln County Planner (207-882-5986, erabbe@lcrpc.org).