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2025-2026 Salt Lake County Housing and Community Development Request for Applications (RFA)

The Salt Lake County Division of Housing and Community Development Office (HCD) is releasing a single Request for Applications (RFA) for the 2025-2026 program year. This consolidated RFA combines multiple funding opportunities, including:

  • Community Development Block (CDBG) Hard Cost Programs
  • Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG)
  • Socials Services Block Grant (SSBG)
  • HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME)

This Request for Applications (RFA) is the first of the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan which will be approved May 2025. Because the plan has not been adopted and we anticipate that many of the needs remain the same, this RFA will include priorities set in the 2020-2024 adopted plan.

Those needs include focuses on affordable housing, homelessness, special needs, and community development. Salt Lake County supports housing, housing stability, and the economic mobility of individuals and families. Low- and moderate-income households face obstacles of ever-increasing rents, food insecurity, access to health care, and access to opportunities e.g., living wage jobs and economic mobility.

In response to these challenges, Salt Lake County is prioritizing resources to activities that increase or sustain affordable housing inventory, increase a household's housing stability, or contribute to economic mobility.

2020-2024 Consolidated Plan Objectives are as follows:

  1. Housing Rehabilitation
    • Rental Housing
    • Homeownership
    • Rental Assistance
  2. Neighborhood/Community Improvements Infrastructure
    • Public Facilities
    • Infrastructure
  3. Essential services

Timeline

Date

Activity

Location
October 28, 2024 Applications Available
Smartsheet
November 6, 2024 In- Person Application Training

9:30am-11:00am

You can view a recording of the presentation and the presentation slides at the links below this table.
November 22, 2024 Final Day to Submit Questions https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/8bc36b9f0e8b40c99ec6679a29bff73f
December 2, 2024
Applications Due
Smartsheet
January - February 2025 Application Reviews with board members Initial recommendations will be posted on Salt Lake County HCD website TBA
March 2025 Public Hearing and public comment period Date & time will be announced two weeks before hearing date TBA
April 2025 Final Funding Allocations Announced TBA
June 2025 2025-2026 Grant Recipient Training TBA
July 2025 Start of 2025-2026 Program Year N/A
In-Person Application Training PowerPoint | November 6, 2024
2025-2026 Consolidated RFA - Application Training and Q&A Session | November 6, 2024

Request for Applications (RFA)

Request for Applications (RFA)

Important Links

  1. For service projects funded by CDBG, SSBG, ESG, or HOME TBRA, please complete the Service Projects Smartsheet.
  2. For Acquisition and Rehabilitation projects, including single family rehab programs and public facility improvements please complete this Acquistion and Rehabilitation Smartsheet.
  3. For new development of affordable housing, please complete this New Development Smartsheet.
Service Projects Smartsheet
Acquisition and Rehabilitation Smartsheet
New Development Smartsheet
Questions From Applicants

Required Documentation

To be considered complete, application submittals must include the components below.

Additional Resources

An application checklist and contract templates are provided below. 

Score Sheets

Please double check the specific excel sheet within the workbook matches your application type.

2025-2026 RFA Score Sheets

Questions and Answers

Correct. There are two Project Budget options. Appendix B(a) is for Construction/Acquisition/Rehabilitation projects only. Appendix B(b) is for all other project types such as programs.

Thank you for your question. New Development is not an eligible activity for CDBG funds in most cases. If you are looking for New Development funding, that will be available through the HOME program, which does not have restrictions to specific areas within the county like CDBG does.

Correct. There are two Project Budget options. Appendix B(a) is for Construction/Acquisition/Rehabilitation projects only. Appendix B(b) is for all other project types such as programs.

Thank you for reaching out. We are requesting certification that your organization is licensed to do business in the State of Utah. Please ensure that your agency is registered with the Utah Divisions of Corporations and Commercial Code, which you can verify by searching on this site:

 A project that is providing rehabilitation of an affordable housing complex, whether transitional or permanent, would be considered an affordable housing rehab project and must provide the required documentation for that project type.

The location of an agencies administrative offices does not impact the eligibility of that project, unless services will be provided at the admin offices. Please provide additional details about the services provided, we are unable to determine if the project is eligible as an acquisition of a building based on the information provided in this question.

The 51% requirement for location of clients assisted is separate from the qualification of a client as low/mod income. Based on the information provided, your clients would qualify as low/mod income on a presumed benefit basis. The sentence you highlight from Chapter 7 of the Basically CDBG for Entitlements guidebook (https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/19/basically-cdbg-training-guidebook-and-slides/) that reads "limited group of persons either LMI or presumed LMI, regardless of where they live" is taken in context to mean that the person themselves qualifies as low/mod income, even if they don't live in a low/mod area. This is not outlining that the services can be provided predominantly to individuals who live outside of the jurisdiction of the CDBG entitlement area.

Because Salt Lake County is providing CDBG funding on behalf of the Urban County, these services must primarily benefit people within the boundaries of the Urban County. This requires a separate 51% test that shows that although the services are being physically provided within another CDBG jurisdiction, the beneficiaries of those services are a majority from the jurisdiction of the Urban County. 

The Urban County jurisdiction is defined as: All unincorporated areas of the county plus Copperton Metro Township, Emigration Canyon Metro Township, Kearns Metro Township, Magna Metro Township, White City Metro Township, Town of Alta, Town of Brighton, Bluffdale City, Cottonwood Heights City, Draper City, Herriman City, Holladay City, Midvale City, Millcreek City, Murray City, Riverton City, and South Salt Lake City. The reason for this is that HUD provides CDBG funds to other areas of the County and those areas are expected to provide services to their residents with CDBG funds. 

Additional guidance was provided by HUD in March 2019 that outlines this question (https://www.hudexchange.info/faqs/3558/can-urban-counties-fund-cdbg-activities-within-entitlement-communities-or/)  An applicable section of that FAQ reads:

"An urban county may also choose to locate a CDBG-assisted public service in an entitlement city within its boundaries that will serve persons countywide. This is because the city is located centrally in the county, providing easy access to people all over the county. This is fine if the county can demonstrate at least 51 percent of the beneficiaries are low/moderate income and live in areas considered part of the urban county for CDBG program purposes."

If you are serving a clientele that qualifies as a presumed benefit, you do not need to document their income. You do still need to provide verification that the client qualifies as a member of the presumed benefit category. Your agency is responsible to determine that verification process and save that verification for review as requested by Salt Lake County or HUD.

All application materials must be submitted prior to the due date in the RFA. This includes the Smartsheet application as well as any attachments. The Onedrive link will be sent to grantees within 2 business hours of submission of the application (Defined as two hours during regular working hours, M-F 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM)

Please submit whatever eligible costs for the project type and application you are seeking funding for. Some costs, such as rehabilitation of affordable housing or new development, have a separate application and would need to be applied for separately.

Funding is a mixture of block grant funding provided to Salt Lake County through the HOME Consortium, Urban County, and as a direct entitlement grantee. There is also federal SSBG funding that is provided to the county as passthrough from the State of Utah.

If you are applying for a Service project, you will need to submit appendix A, B(b), C, and the Smartsheet application. The remaining appendices are optional.

There is not a character limit but there is a line limit (20 lines per question).

If awarded CDBG funds, the agency would need to demonstrate that 51% of the individuals served are part of the Urban County. The Urban County jurisdiction is defined as: All unincorporated areas of the county plus Copperton Metro Township, Emigration Canyon Metro Township, Kearns Metro Township, Magna Metro Township, White City Metro Township, Town of Alta, Town of Brighton, Bluffdale City, Cottonwood Heights City, Draper City, Herriman City, Holladay City, Midvale City, Millcreek City, Murray City, Riverton City, and South Salt Lake City. Your agency would be responsible to determine the tracking mechanism.

Award letters from funding sources are sufficient. Partnership letters can also be submitted in addition to the award letters.

The Smartsheet application and appendices A-C are required for all applications. The remaining forms are optional based on the agency and project.

For the service project application, the applicant can align with as many goals of the Consolidated Plan as possible that fit with the proposed project. There is not a minimum number of goals required.

Appendices A-C are required for all applications. The remaining forms are optional based on the agency and project. If the agency is requesting a NICRA admin rate, it must also be submitted (optional).

Projects are encouraged to apply only for the amount needed. However, minimum request is $100,000.00. Final award amounts may be lower than $100,000.00 based on the discretion of the review committee.

Project size refers to the number of individuals who will benefit from the program. Project size does not include program staff.

No, if an agency meets the "area benefit" or "presumed benefit" criteria for a CDBG project, it does not need to additionally meet the "limited clientele" requirements; the area benefit criteria already signifies that the project serves a broad population within a designated area, making the limited clientele requirement unnecessary.

Thank you for reaching out. CDBG Public Service regulations allow grant funds for a wide range of activities. For eligible activities, please refer to the Basically CBDG handbook, chapter 7 (https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/DOC_16476.PDF).

Equipment may be purchased, but there are a few restrictions depending on funding sources. Equipment must be an integral fixture to an assisted structure to be eligible under CDBG. 24 CFR 570.207(b)(1)(iiii) lists the ineligible equipment activities. For HOME eligible and prohibited activities, please review 24 CFR 92 Subpart E.

CDBG funds can be used to demolish deteriorated buildings located in designated slum or blighted areas. Please visit the following websites for further guidance https://www.hudexchange.info/faqs/553/guidance-on-demolition/ and https://www.hudexchange.info/faqs/3451/what-are-the-basic-principles-to-meet-cdbg-eligibility-and-national/. HOME funding can be used for demolition to make way for affordable housing.