Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC)

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Program Details

Purpose

Administered by the Strategic Growth Council and implemented by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the AHSC Program funds land-use, housing, transportation, and land preservation projects to support infill and compact development that reduce greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions. 

Funding for the AHSC Program is provided from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), an account established to receive Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds.

Statutory Funding Set-Asides

Fifty (50) percent of the available funds are set aside for Affordable Housing Developments, and 50 percent of the available funds are set aside for projects benefitting Disadvantaged Communities.

Note:  A single project can address both set-asides above, and are not mutually exclusive.

Assistance Type

The AHSC Program will assist project areas by providing grants and/or loans, or any combination thereof, that will achieve GHG emissions reductions and benefit Disadvantaged Communities through increasing accessibility of affordable housing, employment centers, and key destinations via low-carbon transportation resulting in fewer vehicle miles traveled (VMT) through shortened or reduced trip length or mode shift from Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV) use to transit, bicycling, or walking.  Three Project Area types have been identified to implement this strategy:

  • Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Project Areas,
  • Integrated Connectivity Project (ICP) Project Areas, or
  • Rural Innovation Project Areas (RIPA).

Terms 

The assistance terms and limits include, but are not limited to, the following requirements:

  • The maximum AHSC Program loan or grant award or combination thereof is $20 million with a minimum award of at least $1 million in TOD Project Areas and $500,000 in ICP and RIPA Project Areas.
  • A single developer may receive no more than $40 million per NOFA funding cycle.*

*These limitations may be waived if necessary to meet statutorily required Affordable Housing and Disadvantaged Community set-asides.

Eligible Activities

  • Affordable Housing Developments**
  • Housing-Related Infrastructure
  • Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure
  • Transportation-Related Amenities
  • Program Costs (including active transportation, transit ridership, or criteria air pollutant reduction programs)

**includes new construction, acquisition, and substantial rehabilitation, including preservation of affordable housing at risk, or conversion of one or more nonresidential structures to residential dwelling units.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicant entities include any of the following:

  • A locality, public housing authority, redevelopment successor agency, transit agency or transit operator, Regional Transportation Planning Agency (RTPA), local Transportation Commissions, Congestion Management Agencies, Joint Powers Authority (JPA), school district, facilities district, university or community college district.
  • A developer or program operator.

If a public agency has a financial or real property interest in the proposed project, the application must either include the public agency as a co-applicant or otherwise include a commitment to enter into a contractual agreement to develop the project, if it is awarded.

Guidelines

Get Funding

Applications are invited through the issuance of a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). Applicants must submit a concept proposal for review and evaluation. HCD will notify and invite selected applicants to submit a full application based on the ranking of concept proposals and available funds.

Current NOFAs

Application due date: January 16, 2018 has passed. HCD is no longer accepting applications for Round 3. Awards were announced on June 28, 2018. Please be sure you are subscribed to the AHSC emailing list to receive notifications and announcements.

More information regarding the Strategic Growth Council's role in the AHSC Program can be found on the SGC website .

More information regarding the California Air Resources Board's role in the AHSC Program can be found on the ARB website .

+ Previous NOFAs

Fiscal Year 2016-2017, NOFA Round 3

Greenhouse Gas Quantification Methodology (GHG QM)

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is responsible for providing the quantification methodology to estimate GHG emission reductions from projects receiving monies from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). For the AHSC Program, CARB staff developed the GHG emission reduction quantification methodology to be used by grant applicants to estimate proposed project GHG emission reductions.

The updated Quantification Methodology, calculator tool and other resource tools may be accessed on ARB’s website .

Fiscal Year 2015-2016, NOFA Round 2

Quantification Methodology (QM)

Since the adoption of the Program Guidelines in December 2015, Air Resources Board (CARB) has issued an updated version of the Quantification Methodology (QM) for ease-of-use. Note, no equations or methods have changed, but the updated QM version includes:

  • Development of an Excel-based calculator tool to simplify the use of the quantification methodology, referred to as the AHSC GHG Calculator (described in Sections B and C of the updated QM)
  • Addition of an example project (see Appendix A)
  • Clarification of default parking rates for calculating PDT-1 in CalEEMod (Appendix B)
  • Guidance for estimating weekly auto trip by pedestrian facilities (Appendix C).

The updated Quantification Methodology, calculator tool and other resource tools may be accessed on ARB’s website .

Fiscal Year 2014-2015, NOFA Round 1

Loan Closing Documents

Reporting Requirements (Asset Management and Compliance)

Upon completed construction of your project and closing of your HCD permanent loan, oversight of your project and loan is transferred to HCD’s “Asset Management and Compliance (AMC)” section.

Visit Asset Management and Compliance to find:

  • Your reporting requirements
  • Forms
  • Additional resources
  • Who to contact is you have questions

Program Forms

There are currently no AHSC forms on the website at this time.

Management Memos

There are currently no AHSC Management Memos on the website at this time.

Training and Technical Assistance

There are currently no AHSC Training and Technical resources on the website at this time.