At a workshop on May 29, the Florida Housing Finance Agency discussed the following proposed approaches to the 2020 and 2021 request for application (RFA) cycles:

Removal of Proximity Services
At the May 29, 2020 workshop, Florida Housing stated that Applicants would be eligible for proximity points for 6 Community Services:  Grocery Store, Medical Facility, Pharmacy, Public Library, Public Park, and Public School.  The Community Services of Public Library and Public Park will be removed from consideration for the 2020/2021 RFA Cycle.  There will be further discussions on the use of these services for the 2021/2022 RFA Cycle.  This affects the Proximity Funding Preference qualifications proposed at the May 29, 2020 workshop as well. The qualifications for the Proximity Funding Preference will be the same as what was used in the 2019/2020 RFA Cycle as follows:

 Location of Proposed Development Required Minimum Transit Service Points if Eligible for PHA or RD Proximity Point Boost Required Minimum Transit Service Points if NOT Eligible for PHA or RD Proximity Point Boost Required Minimum Total Proximity Points that Must be Achieved to be eligible for funding Total Proximity Points that Must be Achieved to Receive the Proximity Funding Preference
Large County 1.5 2 10.5 12.5 or more
Medium County N/A N/A 7 9 or more
Small County N/A N/A 4 6 or more

Proximity Level
At the May 29, 2020 workshop, it was announced that all eligible Applications in the Miami-Dade and Medium/Small County HC RFAs would be assigned Proximity Levels 1 – 3 based on the number of proximity points awarded.  Florida Housing has revised this and will instead assign Proximity Levels 1 or 2 to all eligible Applications in those RFAs as follows:

All eligible Priority I Applications will be listed in ascending order beginning with the Application with the highest number of proximity points and ending with the Application with the lowest number of proximity points.

The total number of Applications on the List will be multiplied by 50 percent and the resulting figure will be rounded up to the next whole number (the resulting figure after rounding will be referred to as the “Proximity Level 1 Cut-Off”).  A line will be drawn below the Application whose place on the list is equal to the Proximity Level 1 Cut-Off.  If any Application(s) below the line has the same number of Proximity Points as the Application immediately above the line, the line will be moved to a place immediately below that Application.  Applications above the Proximity Level 1 Cut-Off will be classified as Proximity Level 1 and Applications below the Proximity Level 1 Cut-Off will be classified as Proximity Level 2.

Tiebreaker based on Transit Points
At the May 29, 2020 workshop, a new tie-breaker was discussed for use in the Geographic HC RFA for Large Counties (Miami-Dade, and the other six large counties RFAs) which would use the Application’s actual Transit Score.  Florida Housing has revised this and will instead give preference to Applications that are awarded at least 4 Transit Points.

Definitions for Transit and Community Services used for Awarding Proximity Points
Florida Housing has received a request to modify the Transit and Community Service definitions recognizing that temporary closures due to COVID-19 may mean services are unable to be open and available for use by the Application Deadlines.  Florida Housing has modified the service definitions to say the following:

Additionally, it must have either (i) been in existence and available for use by the general public as of the Application Deadline; or (ii) been in existence and available for use by the general public as of March 1, 2020 but is not available as of the Application Deadline because of temporary closures or service suspensions due to COVID-19 or other emergency suspension based on an official emergency declaration.