BACKGROUND

The City seeks to partner with a qualified nonprofit developer to rehabilitate one- and two-family vacant homes in several neighborhoods for the purpose of creating affordable homeownership opportunities. The target neighborhoods are Brightwood, Memorial Square, Liberty Heights, South End, Six Corners, Old Hill, Upper Hill, Bay and McKnight. The City is assembling funds for this initiative, which may come from federal, state, and private funding sources. The initial funding pool is $500,000 allocated to the City by a FY22 state legislative earmark. The City's goal is to rehabilitate 10-20 homes over a four-year period.

PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY

The selected Qualified Developer will be eligible for funds administered by the City of Springfield to rehabilitate eligible houses in the target neighborhoods. The City will enter into an agreement with the Qualified Developer that describes the terms under which the City will provide funding for specific rehabilitation projects.

Eligible houses will be vacant, and may be City-owned or purchased from the property owner. The anticipated sources of vacant properties for this project include:

• Select City-owned properties made available for bidding through a Request for Proposal process;
• Properties which have been subject to housing code enforcement where a court-supervised receivership has been ordered and the property owner chooses to sell the property rather than potentially losing the property through eventual foreclosure of the receiver’s lien; and
• Any other vacant houses in the target neighborhood identified by the Qualified Developer, subject to the City’s approval.

The Qualified Developer will identify appropriate houses for acquisition and will seek funding from the City on a per-project basis. For each project, the Qualified Developer will submit to the City a proposed scope of work and project budget. The City will complete its own review to assess reasonable scope and budget, and the partners will negotiate a contract for the City to fund rehabilitation of the house. 

The City’s goal is to create high-quality homeownership units. Homes rehabilitated through this project will be required to local building and housing codes, meet federal and state standards for lead free housing, and incorporate energy efficiency measures through materials, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

City funds negotiated for project properties may be used for acquisition and development, except for any properties acquired from the City. Properties purchased from the City must use a different source of funds to pay for acquisition.

Each house will be sold upon completion of rehabilitation to an income-qualified homebuyer at an affordable price. The City expects that the eligible income cap for homebuyers will be 80% of area median income, but this may be changed for specific properties depending on the actual source of funds the City commits for a specific property. The potential range is 80%-120% area median income. The City expects that there will be high demand for the rehabilitated homes, so it plans to use a lottery to select from among qualified buyers who submit timely applications.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

Not-for-profit organizations, Community Based Development Organizations (CBDOs) and Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) are eligible to respond to this RFQ. Respondents must demonstrate that they have appropriate experience and sufficient technical and financial capacity to complete high-quality rehabilitation projects.

FUNDING AVAILABILITY

No funding will be awarded based solely on this RFQ. The RFQ will be used to select the nonprofit Qualified Developer that will be eligible to request and negotiate funding for specific rehabilitation projects on a per-property basis. The Qualified Developer will be eligible for project-related hard costs and soft costs.

Eligible hard costs include: 1) Acquisition costs for existing vacant 1or 2 unit residential properties in need of rehabilitation, except that acquisition costs for City-owned properties is not eligible; and 2) Rehabilitation costs for the alteration, improvement, or modification of an existing structure. 

Soft costs associated with a project will be eligible as long as they are reasonable and necessary to the project, and are incurred in conjunction with an eligible hard cost. Eligible soft casts include: financing fees and other finance related costs; title binders and insurance; recordation fees and transaction related taxes; legal and accounting fees; surety fees; environmental reviews; homebuyer education; property appraisals; architectural engineering; construction management and other related professional services; and builder and developer fees.

HOW TO APPLY

Click  Request for Qualified Nonprofit Developer  to access the application. Complete all sections, attach required documents listed on page 3 of the application, and SUBMIT when complete. The deadline for applications is by noon on June 24, 2022.

 HOW APPLICATIONS WILL BE EVALUATED

Proposals that are submitted on time and are complete will be reviewed and scored by a committee which will consider the following factors: 

1. Organizational Capacity: The organization's core business activities include housing rehabilitation or development and it has staff who are experienced with the tasks involved in housing development, including evaluating properties/projects, developing budgets, and overseeing construction. The organization has demonstrated capacity to collaborate with government and private partners to carry out projects. The organization has the ability to comply with complex federal regulations for the use of funds and program administration. 

2. Technical Capacity-Rehabilitation: The organization demonstrates the ability to carry out the tasks of undertaking high-quality housing rehabilitation in compliance with building codes, state and federal lead-based paint standards, and using materials and standards which improve energy efficiency of residences. . 

3. Experience: The organization has successfully completed a significant number of development and rehabilitation projects. The organization deminstrates experience with coordinating multiple development/rehabilitation projects simultaneously.

4. Financial Capacity: The organization has experienced fiscal staff. The agency's audits indicate strong financial controls. The organization has the financial ability to fund pre-development work.

5. Diversity-Equity-Inclusion: If the nonprofit will use partners from outside the organization, the development team includes at least one Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE). The organization has a track record of setting and meeting ambitious MBWE and local goals for hiring of contractors and subcontractors.

The following standards will be applied to evaluate each of the criteria:

• Exceptional: The proposal significantly exceeds the standards set forth in the criteria and shows significant innovation and benefit.
• Acceptable: The proposal meets the standards set forth in the criteria.
• Needs Improvement: The proposal does not meet the standards set forth in the criteria, and could or could not be modified to meet the standards.
• Non-Responsive: Response does not provide information relevant to the evaluation criteria.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Any questions regarding this RFQ should be submitted in writing no later than June 16, 2022 to gmccafferty@springfieldcityhall.com. Responses will be posted on the City’s website on or before June 20, 2022 at: http://www.springfieldcityhall.com/housing/