53490 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–4951–N–01] 

Notice of Funding Availability for 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 Self-Help 

Homeownership Opportunity Program 

(SHOP) 

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Community Planning and 

Development, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice of Funding Availability 

(NOFA). 

Overview Information 

A. Federal Agency Name: Department 

of Housing and Urban Development, 

Office of Community Planning and 

Development. 

B. Funding Opportunity Title: SelfHelp Homeownership Opportunity 

Program (SHOP). 

C. Announcement Type: Initial 

announcement. 

D. Funding Opportunity Number: The 

Federal Register number for this NOFA 

is FR–4951–N–01. The Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

paperwork approval number is 2506– 

0157. 

E. Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance (CFDA) Number: Self-Help 

Homeownership Opportunity Program. 

The CFDA number is 14.247. 

F. Application Deadline: The 

application submission date is 

November 7, 2005. Applications may be 

submitted electronically or in paper 

version. Applications submitted 

electronically through www.Grants.gov 

must be received by grants.gov no later 

than 11:59:59 p.m. eastern time on the 

application submission date. Applicants 

submitting paper applications must 

send their applications via the United 

States Postal Service (USPS) no later 

than 11:59:59 p.m. eastern time on the 

application submission date. Please see 

the General Section of the SuperNOFA 

(70 FR 13575) published March 21, 

2005, for further information about 

application submission, delivery, and 

timely receipt requirements. 

G. Optional, Additional Overview 

Content Information: SHOP funds are 

awarded to national and regional 

nonprofit organizations and consortia 

demonstrating experience in 

administering self-help housing 

programs in which the homebuyers 

contribute a significant amount of 

sweat-equity toward construction or 

rehabilitation of the dwelling. 

The amount available for SHOP in 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 is approximately 

$24,800,000 to be awarded to eligible 

applicants. 

Full Text of Announcement 

I. Funding Opportunity Description 

A. Program Description 

SHOP funds are intended to facilitate 

and encourage innovative 

homeownership opportunities on a 

national geographically diverse basis 

through self-help housing programs that 

require a significant amount of sweatequity by the homebuyer toward the 

construction or rehabilitation of the 

dwelling. 

SHOP programs are administered by 

national and regional nonprofit 

organizations and consortia. Units 

developed with SHOP funds must be 

decent, safe, and sanitary non-luxury 

dwellings and must be made available 

to eligible homebuyers at prices below 

the prevailing market prices. Eligible 

homebuyers are low-income individuals 

and families (i.e., those whose annual 

incomes do not exceed 80 percent of the 

median income for the area, as 

established by HUD) who would 

otherwise be unable to purchase a 

dwelling but for the provision of sweat 

equity. Housing assisted under this 

NOFA must involve labor contributed 

by homebuyers and volunteers in the 

construction of dwellings and by other 

activities that involve the community in 

the project. 

B. Authority 

The funding made available under 

this program is authorized by Section 11 

of the Housing Opportunity Program 

Extension Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 12805 

note) (the ‘‘Extension Act’’). 

II. Award Information 

Approximately $24,800,000 will be 

available for this program in FY 2005. 

Any unobligated funds from previous 

competitions or additional funds that 

may become available due to 

deobligation or recapture from previous 

awards or budget transfers may be 

added to the FY 2005 appropriation to 

fund applications submitted in response 

to this NOFA. Awards will be made to 

successful applicants in the form of a 

grant. The period for drawing funds is 

up to 36 months from the date HUD 

establishes a line of credit for successful 

applicants. 

III. Eligibility Information 

A. Eligible Applicants 

You must be a national or regional 

nonprofit public or private organization 

or consortium that has the capacity and 

experience to provide or facilitate selfhelp housing homeownership 

opportunities. Your organization or 

consortium must undertake eligible 

SHOP activities directly and/or provide 

funding assistance to your local 

affiliates to carry out SHOP activities. 

A national organization is defined as 

an organization that carries out self-help 

housing activities or funds affiliates that 

carry out self-help housing activities on 

a national scope. A national 

organization must propose in its 

application to use a significant amount 

of SHOP funds in at least two states. 

A regional organization is defined as 

an organization that carries out self-help 

housing activities or funds affiliates that 

carry out self-help housing activities on 

a regional scope. A regional area is a 

geographic area, such as the Southwest 

or Northeast, that includes at least two 

states. The regional organization must 

propose to use a significant amount of 

SHOP funds in at least two states. The 

states in the region need not be 

contiguous, and the service area of the 

organization need not precisely conform 

to state boundaries. Affiliates working 

under regional organizations must be 

located within the regional 

organization’s service area. 

A consortium is defined as two or 

more nonprofit organizations located in 

at least two states that individually have 

the capacity and experience to carry out 

self-help housing activities or fund 

affiliates that carry out self-help housing 

activities on a national or regional scope 

and enter into an agreement to submit 

a single application for SHOP funding 

on a national or regional basis. The 

consortium must propose to use a 

significant amount of SHOP funds in 

each state represented in the 

consortium. One organization must be 

designated as the lead entity. The lead 

entity must submit the application and, 

if selected for funding, execute the 

SHOP Grant Agreement with HUD and 

assume responsibility for the grant on 

behalf of the consortium in compliance 

with all program requirements. 

A consortium agreement, executed 

and dated by all consortium members 

for the purpose of applying for and 

using FY 2005 SHOP funds, must be 

submitted with your application. All 

consortium members must be identified 

in your application. A consortium’s 

application must be a single integrated 

document that demonstrates the 

consortium’s comprehensive approach 

to self-help housing. If individual 

consortium members use different 

program designs, your application must 

briefly describe in factor 3 the program 

design of each consortium member. 

Upon being funded, the lead entity must 

enter into a separate agreement with 

each consortium member. The 

agreement must incorporate the 

requirements of the FY 2005 SHOP 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 53491 

Grant Agreement between HUD and the 

consortium and outline the individual 

consortium member’s responsibilities 

for compliance with HUD’s 2005 SHOP 

program. 

An affiliate is defined as: 

(1) a local public or private nonprofit 

self-help housing organization which is 

a subordinate organization (i.e., chapter, 

local, post, or unit) of a central 

organization and covered by the group 

exemption letter issued to the central 

organization under Section 501(c)(3) of 

the Internal Revenue Code; 

(2) a local public or private nonprofit 

self-help housing organization with 

which the applicant has an existing 

relationship (e.g., the applicant has 

provided technical assistance or funding 

to the local self-help housing 

organization); or 

(3) a local public or private nonprofit 

self-help housing organization with 

which the applicant does not have an 

existing relationship, but to which the 

applicant will provide necessary 

technical assistance and mentoring as 

part of funding under the application. 

You must carry out eligible activities 

or you must enter into an agreement to 

fund affiliates to carry out eligible 

activities. If you are a consortium, each 

of your affiliates must be linked to an 

individual consortium member. 

Your application may not propose to 

fund any affiliate or consortium member 

that is also included in another SHOP 

application. You must ensure that any 

affiliate or consortium member under 

your FY 2005 application is not also 

seeking FY 2005 SHOP funding from 

another SHOP applicant. If an affiliate 

applies for funds through more than one 

applicant, it may be disqualified for any 

funding. 

B. Cost Sharing or Matching 

There is no match requirement for the 

SHOP funds. However, you are expected 

to leverage resources for the 

construction of self-help housing 

assisted with SHOP. Failure to provide 

documentation of leveraged resources 

that meet the submission requirements 

for firm commitments as stated in factor 

4 will result in a lower application 

score. 

C. Other 

1. Eligible Activities 

Eligible activities are: 

a. Land acquisition (including 

financing and closing costs), which may 

include reimbursing an organization, 

consortium, or affiliate, upon approval 

of any required environmental review, 

for non-grant amounts expended by the 

organization, consortium, or affiliate to 

acquire land before completion of the 

review; 

b. Infrastructure improvements 

(installing, extending, constructing, 

rehabilitating, or otherwise improving 

utilities and other infrastructure, 

including removal of environmental 

hazards); and 

c. Administration, planning, and 

management development, including 

the costs of general management, 

oversight, and coordination of the SHOP 

grant, staff and overhead costs of the 

SHOP grant, costs of providing 

information to the public about the 

SHOP grant, costs of providing civil 

rights training to local affiliates as well 

as any expenses involved in 

affirmatively furthering fair housing, 

and indirect costs (such as rent and 

utilities) of the grantee or affiliate in 

carrying out the SHOP activities. 

2. Threshold Requirements 

HUD will not consider an application 

from an ineligible applicant. An 

applicant must meet all of the 

applicable threshold requirements of 

Section III.C of the General Section of 

the SuperNOFA (70 FR 13575). Each 

applicant must meet and comply with 

the SHOP threshold requirements 

described below: 

a. Organization and Eligibility. You 

must be eligible to apply under SHOP 

(see Section III.A. of this program 

section). 

b. Non-Profit Status. You must 

describe how you qualify as an eligible 

applicant and provide evidence of your 

public or private nonprofit status, such 

as a current Internal Revenue Service 

(IRS) ruling that your organization is 

exempt from taxation under Section 

501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986. If you are a 

consortium, each participant in your 

consortium must be a nonprofit 

organization. Each consortium member 

must submit evidence of its nonprofit 

status to the lead entity for inclusion in 

the consortium’s application package. 

c. Consortium Agreement. If you are a 

consortium, each consortium member 

must enter into and sign a consortium 

agreement for the purpose of applying 

for and carrying out SHOP activities. 

Your consortium agreement must be 

submitted as an appendix to your 

application. 

d. Amount. The amount of SHOP 

funds you request must be sufficient to 

complete a minimum of 30 self-help 

housing units and may not exceed an 

average investment of $15,000 per unit. 

e. Homebuyer Eligibility. The 

population you propose to serve must 

be eligible for SHOP assistance. Eligible 

homebuyers are low-income individuals 

and families (i.e., those whose incomes 

do not exceed 80 percent of the median 

income for the area, as established by 

HUD). You must specify the definition 

of ‘‘annual income’’ to be used in your 

proposed program. You may use one of 

the following three definitions of 

‘‘annual income’’ to determine whether 

a homebuyer is income eligible under 

SHOP: 

(1) ‘‘Annual income’’ as defined at 24 

CFR 5.609; or 

(2) ‘‘Annual income’’ as reported 

under the Census long-form for the most 

recent available decennial Census; or 

(3) ‘‘Adjusted gross income’’ as 

defined for purposes of reporting under 

the IRS Form 1040 series for individual 

federal annual income tax purposes. 

You may also adopt or develop your 

own definition of annual income for use 

in determining income eligibility under 

SHOP subject to review and approval by 

HUD. 

f. Experience. You must demonstrate 

that you have successfully completed at 

least 30 self-help homeownership units 

in a national or regional area within the 

24-month period immediately preceding 

the publication of this NOFA. To qualify 

as self-help homeownership units, the 

homebuyers must have contributed a 

significant amount of sweat-equity 

toward the construction of the dwellings 

as set forth in Section III.C.2(g) below. 

g. Sweat Equity. Your program must 

require homebuyers to contribute a 

minimum of 100 hours of sweat equity 

toward the construction or 

rehabilitation of their own homes and/ 

or the homes of other homebuyers 

participating in the self-help housing 

program. However, in the case of a 

household with only one adult, the 

requirement is 50 hours of sweat equity 

toward the construction of these homes. 

This includes training for construction 

on the dwelling units, but excludes 

homebuyer counseling and home 

maintenance training. All homebuyers 

must meet these minimum hourly sweat 

equity requirements; however, grantees 

must permit reasonable 

accommodations for persons with 

disabilities in order for them to meet the 

hourly requirements. For example, 

homebuyers with disabilities may work 

on less physical tasks or administrative 

tasks to meet this requirement or a 

volunteer(s) may enter into an 

agreement to substitute for the disabled 

person. 

h. Community Participation. Your 

program must involve community 

participation in which volunteers assist 

in the construction of dwellings. 

Volunteer labor is work performed by an 

individual without promise, 

expectation, or compensation for the 

53492 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 

work rendered. For mutual self-help 

housing programs that are assisted by 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 

Rural Housing Services/Rural 

Development under Section 523 of the 

Housing Act of 1949 (7 CFR Part 1944, 

subpart I) or which have a program 

design similar to the Section 523 

program, the work by each participating 

family on other participating families’

homes may count as volunteer labor. A 

mutual self-help housing program 

generally involves 4 to 10 participating 

families organized in a group to use 

their own labor to reduce the total 

construction cost of their homes and 

complete construction work on their 

homes by an exchange of labor with one 

another. 

i. Eligible Activities. You must 

propose to use the SHOP funds for 

eligible activities (see Sections III.C.1 

and IV.D.). You must carry out the 

activities or you must fund affiliates to 

carry out the activities. 

3. Threshold Submission Requirements 

In order for your application to be 

rated and ranked, all threshold 

requirements must be met. Threshold 

requirements 2 (d) through (i) above do 

not require separate submissions. These 

requirements must be addressed under 

the submission requirements for the 

rating factors listed below in Section V, 

Application Review Information 

Criteria, of this SHOP NOFA. 

4. Other Requirements 

a. Affirmatively Furthering Fair 

Housing. SHOP recipients must 

affirmatively further fair housing. 

b. Economic Opportunities for Lowand Very Low-Income Persons (Section 

3). SHOP recipients must comply with 

Section 3 of the Housing and Urban 

Development Act of 1968 (Section 3), 12 

U.S.C. 170lu (Economic Opportunities 

for Low- and Very Low-Income Persons 

in Connection with Assisted Projects), 

and the HUD regulations at 24 CFR part 

135, including the reporting 

requirement of subpart E. Section 3 

requires recipients to ensure that to the 

greatest extent feasible, training, 

employment, and other economic 

opportunities will be directed to lowand very-low income persons, 

particularly those who are recipients of 

government assistance for housing, and 

business concerns that provide 

economic opportunities to low- and 

very-low income persons. 

c. Ensuring the Participation of Small 

Businesses, Small Disadvantaged 

Businesses, and Women-Owned 

Businesses. SHOP recipients (grantees 

and affiliates) must comply with 24 CFR 

84.44(b) to take all necessary affirmative 

steps in contracting for the purchase of 

goods or services to assure that minority 

firms, women’s business enterprises, 

and labor surplus area firms are used 

whenever possible. 

d. Executive Order 13166, ‘‘Improving 

Access to Services for Persons With 

Limited English Proficiency (LEP).’’ See 

the General Section for requirements for 

providing access to services under this 

Executive Order. 

e. Executive Order 13279, ‘‘Equal 

Protection of the Laws for Faith-Based 

and Community Organizations.’’ See the 

General Section. 

f. Participation in HUD-Sponsored 

Program Evaluation. See the General 

Section. 

g. Executive Order 13202, 

‘‘Preservation of Open Competition and 

Government Neutrality Towards 

Government Contractors’ Labor 

Relations on Federal and Federally 

Funded Construction Projects.’’ See the 

General Section. 

h. Salary Limitation for Consultants. 

See the General Section. 

i. Real Property Acquisition and 

Relocation. SHOP projects are subject to 

the Uniform Relocation Assistance and 

Real Property Acquisition Policies Act 

of 1970, as amended (Uniform Act or 

URA) (42 U.S.C. 4601), and the 

government-wide implementing 

regulations issued by the U.S. 

Department of Transportation at 49 CFR 

part 24. 

The Uniform Act is a federal law that 

establishes minimum standards for 

federally funded programs and projects 

that require the acquisition of real 

property (real estate) or displace persons 

from their homes, businesses, or farms. 

The Uniform Act’s protections and 

assistance apply to the acquisition, 

rehabilitation, or demolition of real 

property for federal or federally funded 

projects. The Uniform Act was enacted 

by Congress to ensure that people whose 

real property is acquired, or who move 

as a direct result of projects receiving 

federal funds, are treated fairly and 

equitably and receive assistance in 

moving from the property they occupy. 

SHOP grantees and affiliates must 

comply with all applicable Uniform Act 

requirements in order to receive SHOP 

funds for their programs and projects; 

non-compliance could jeopardize SHOP 

funding. Real property acquisitions for a 

SHOP-assisted program or project 

conducted prior to completion of an 

environmental review and HUD’s 

approval of a request for release of funds 

and environmental certification are also 

subject to the Uniform Act. SHOP 

grantees and affiliates must ensure that 

all such real property acquisitions 

comply with applicable Uniform Act 

requirements. 

Generally, real property acquisitions 

conducted without the threat or use of 

eminent domain, commonly referred to 

as ‘‘voluntary acquisitions,’’ must satisfy 

the applicable requirements and criteria 

of 49 CFR 24.101(b)(1) through (5). 

Evidence of compliance with these 

requirements must be submitted to and 

be maintained by the SHOP grantee. It 

is also important to note that tenants 

who occupy property which may be 

acquired through voluntary means must 

be fully informed as to their eligibility 

for relocation assistance. This includes 

notifying such tenants of their potential 

eligibility when negotiations are 

initiated, notifying them if they become 

fully eligible, and, in the event the 

purchase of the property will not occur, 

notifying them that they are no longer 

eligible for relocation benefits. Evidence 

of compliance with these requirements 

must be submitted to and be maintained 

by the SHOP grantee. 

Additional information and resources 

pertaining to real property acquisition 

and relocation for HUD-funded 

programs and projects are available on 

HUD’s Real Estate Acquisition and 

Relocation Web site at http:// 

www.hud.gov/relocation. You will find 

applicable laws and regulations, policy 

and guidance, publications, training 

resources, and a listing of HUD contacts 

if you have questions or need assistance. 

j. Environmental Requirements. The 

environmental review requirements for 

SHOP supersede the environmental 

requirements in the General Section. 

The provisions contained in section 

305(c) of the Multifamily Housing 

Property Disposition Reform Act of 

1994, implemented in the 

Environmental Review regulations at 24 

CFR part 58, are applicable to properties 

assisted with SHOP funds. All SHOP 

assistance is subject to the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and 

related federal environmental 

authorities. SHOP grant applicants are 

cautioned that no activity or project may 

be undertaken, or federal or non-federal 

funds or assistance committed, if the 

project or activity would limit 

reasonable choices or could produce an 

adverse environmental impact until all 

required environmental reviews and 

notifications have been completed by a 

unit of general local government, tribe, 

or state and until HUD approves a 

recipient’s request for release of funds 

under the environmental provisions 

contained in 24 CFR part 58. 

Notwithstanding the preceding 

sentence, in accordance with section 

11(d)(2)(A) of the Housing Opportunity 

Extension Act of l996 and HUD Notice 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 53493 

CPD–01–09, an organization, 

consortium, or affiliate receiving SHOP 

assistance may advance non-grant funds 

to acquire land prior to completion of an 

environmental review and HUD’s 

approval of a request for release of funds 

and environmental certification. Any 

advances to acquire land prior to such 

approval are made at the risk of the 

organization, consortium, or affiliate, 

and reimbursement from SHOP funds 

for such advances will depend on the 

result of the environmental review. 

k. Statutory and Program 

Requirements. SHOP is governed by 

Section 11 of the Housing Opportunity 

Program Extension Act of 1996 (42 

U.S.C. 12805 note) (the Extension Act), 

and this NOFA. There are no program 

regulations. You must comply with all 

statutory requirements applicable to 

SHOP as cited in Section I, Funding 

Opportunity Description, of this SHOP 

NOFA and the program requirements 

cited in this SHOP NOFA. Pursuant to 

these requirements, you must: 

(1) Develop, through significant 

amounts of sweat-equity by each 

homebuyer and volunteer labor, at least 

30 dwelling units at an average cost of 

no more than $15,000 per unit of SHOP 

funds for land acquisition and 

infrastructure improvements; 

(2) Use your grant to leverage other 

sources of funding, including private or 

other public funds, to complete 

construction of the housing units; 

(3) Develop quality dwellings that 

comply with local building and safety 

codes and standards, that will be made 

available to homebuyers at prices below 

the prevailing market price; 

(4) Schedule SHOP activities to 

expend all grant funds awarded and 

substantially fulfill your obligations 

under your grant agreement, including 

timely development of the appropriate 

number of dwelling units. Grant funds 

must be expended within 24 months of 

the date that they are first made 

available for draw-down in a line of 

credit established by HUD for the 

Grantee, except that grant funds 

provided to affiliates that develop five 

or more units must be expended within 

36 months; and 

(5) Not require a homebuyer to make 

an up-front financial contribution to a 

housing unit other than cash 

contributed for down payment or 

closing costs at the time of acquisition. 

IV. Application and Submission 

Information 

A. Address To Request Application 

Package 

This notice contains all the 

information necessary for national and 

regional nonprofit organizations and 

consortia to submit an application for 

SHOP funding. This section describes 

how you may obtain application forms, 

additional information about the SHOP 

program NOFA, and technical 

assistance. Copies of the published 

SHOP NOFA and related application 

forms for this NOFA may be 

downloaded from the grants.gov Web 

site at www.grants.gov/FIND. You may 

choose from links provided under the 

topic ‘‘Search Grant Opportunities,’’

which allows you to do a basic search 

or to browse by category or agency. If 

you have difficulty accessing the 

information, you may receive customer 

support from Grants.gov by calling its 

help line at (800) 518–GRANTS or 

sending an e-mail to 

support@grants.gov. The operators will 

assist you in accessing the information. 

If you do not have Internet access and 

you need to obtain a copy of this NOFA, 

you may contact HUD’s NOFA 

Information Center toll-free at (800) 

HUD–2209. 

1. Application Kit. There is no 

application kit for this program. All the 

information you need to apply is 

contained in this NOFA and available at 

www.grants.gov/Apply. HUD has made 

an effort to improve the readability of 

this NOFA and publish all required 

forms for application submission in the 

Federal Register. The NOFA forms are 

available to be downloaded from 

www.grants.gov/Apply by clicking on 

Apply Step 1. Please pay attention to 

the submission requirements and format 

for submission specified for this SHOP 

NOFA to ensure that you have 

submitted all required elements of your 

application. 

The published Federal Register 

document is the official document that 

HUD uses to solicit applications. 

Therefore, if there is a discrepancy 

between any materials published by 

HUD in its Federal Register 

publications and other information 

provided in paper copy, electronic copy, 

or at www.grants.gov, the Federal 

Register publication prevails. Please be 

sure to review your application 

submission against the requirements in 

the Federal Register for this program 

NOFA. 

2. Guidebook and Further 

Information. A guidebook to HUD 

programs entitled, ‘‘Connecting with 

Communities: A User’s Guide to HUD 

Programs and the FY 2005 NOFA 

Process,’’ is available for the HUD 

NOFA Information Center and the HUD 

Web site at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/ 

grants/fundsavail.cfm. The guidebook 

provides a brief description of all HUD 

programs, identifies eligible applicants 

for the programs, and provides 

examples of how programs can work in 

combination to serve local community 

needs. You can also get a copy from the 

NOFA Information Center at (800) 

HUD–8929 or, for the hearing impaired, 

(800 HUD–2209 (TTY) (these are tollfree numbers). The NOFA Information 

Center is open between the hours of 10 

a.m. and 6:30 p.m. eastern time, 

Monday through Friday, except on 

Federal holidays. 

B. Content and Form of Application 

Submission 

You must meet all application and 

submission requirements described in 

Section IV.B of the General Section (70 

FR 13581). Your application should 

consist of the items listed in the section 

below called Assembly Format and 

Content. HUD’s standard forms can be 

found in Appendix B of the General 

Section (70 FR 13599). 

1. Page Limits. There are page limits 

for responses to the five rating factors. 

A national or regional organization is 

limited to 60 pages of narrative to 

respond to the five rating factors. A 

consortium is permitted up to 10 

additional pages total to accommodate 

the requirement to address the capacity 

and soundness of approach of its 

individual consortium members if they 

are different from that of the lead 

agency. Required appendices, forms, 

certifications, statements, and 

assurances are not subject to the page 

limitations. All pages must be numbered 

sequentially from 1 through 60 or 70, for 

factors 1 through 5. For paper 

submissions, tabs must be inserted to 

separate each factor. Your application 

may contain only the narrative 

statements that address the five rating 

factors and the required forms, 

certifications, assurances, and 

appendices listed in Assembly Format 

and Content below to be submitted for 

review. In responding to the five factors, 

information must be included in your 

narrative response to each factor, unless 

this NOFA states that it should be 

included as an appendix. If you are 

submitting material using the fax 

method described in the General 

Section (70 FR 13583), the narrative 

should refer to the documents being 

faxed as part of your narrative response 

to the factor. Any supplemental 

information not required in the 

narratives or appendices requested by 

HUD that further explains information 

required in the five factors will not be 

reviewed for consideration in the 

scoring of the application. Applicants 

are discouraged from submitting 

unnecessary documentation. 

53494 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 

2. Assembly Format and Content. 

Your FY 2005 application will be 

comprised of an Application Overview, 

Narrative Statements (rating factors), 

Forms, and Appendices. In order to 

receive full consideration for funding, 

you should use the following checklist 

to ensure that all requirements are 

addressed and submitted with your 

electronic application. For applicants 

that submit a paper application, the 

application must be assembled 

according to the following checklist to 

ensure that all of the required items are 

submitted. 

a. Application Overview (Not subject to 

the page limitations) 

lSF–424, Application for Federal 

Assistance (signed by the 

Authorized Organization 

Representative (AOR) of the 

organization eligible to receive 

funds). 

lSF–424 Supplement, Survey on 

Ensuring Equal Opportunity for 

Applicants. 

lSelf-Help Housing Organization 

Qualification—Narrative describing 

qualification as an eligible 

applicant and Evidence of 

Nonprofit Tax Exempt Status (in 

accordance with section III.C.2. of 

this NOFA). 

lConsortium Agreement, if 

applicable. 

lProgram Summary. 

b. Narrative Statements Addressing: 

(Subject to the page limitations 

described above.) 

lFactor 1—Capacity of the Applicant 

and Relevant Organizational Staff. 

lFactor 2—Need/Extent of the 

Problem. 

lFactor 3—Soundness of Approach. 

lFactor 4—Leveraging Resources. 

lFactor 5—Achieving Results and 

Program Evaluation. 

c. Forms, Certifications, and 

Assurances: (Not subject to the page 

limitations.) 

lHUD–424CB, Grant Application 

Detailed Budget. 

lHUD–424–CBW, Grant Application 

Detailed Budget Worksheet. 

lSF–LLL, Disclosure of Lobbying 

Activities, as applicable. 

lHUD–2880, Applicant/Recipient 

Disclosure/Update Report. 

lHUD–2990, Certification of 

Consistency with the RC/EZ/EC–II 

Strategic Plan. 

lHUD–2993, Acknowledgment of 

Application Receipt (paper 

submissions only). 

lHUD–96011, Facsimile Transmittal 

(electronic submissions only). 

lHUD–2994, Client Comments and 

Suggestions (optional) 

lHUD–96010, Program Outcome 

Logic Model. 

d. Appendices: (Not subject to the page 

limitations.) 

lA copy of your code of conduct (see 

section III.C.3 of the General 

Section, 70 FR 13577). 

lLeveraging documentation—firm 

commitment letters (see factor 4). 

lSurvey of potential affiliates, if 

applicable (see factor 2). 

lDemonstration of past performance 

for new applicants (see factor 1). 

lHUD–27300, Questionnaire for 

HUD’s Initiative on Removal of 

Regulatory Barriers (see factor 3). 

lEvaluative criteria for Removal of 

Regulatory Barriers to Affordable 

Housing in affiliate selection 

process, if applicable (see factor 3). 

e. Certifications and Assurances. 

Applicants are placed on notice that by 

signing the SF–424 cover page noted 

above in 2.a., Application Overview, the 

applicant is certifying to all information 

described in Section IV.B.2 

(‘‘Certifications and Assurances’’) in the 

General Section (70 FR 13581). 

C. Submission Date and Time 

1. The application submission date is 

November 7, 2005. 

2. No Facsimiles or Videos. HUD will 

not accept for review, evaluation, or 

funding, any entire application sent by 

facsimile (fax). However, third-party 

documents or other materials sent by 

facsimile in compliance with the 

submission requirements and received 

by the application submission date will 

be accepted. Facsimile corrections to 

technical deficiencies will be accepted. 

Also, videos submitted as part of an 

application will not be viewed. 

D. Intergovernmental Review 

Executive Order 12372 review does 

not apply to SHOP. 

E. Funding Restrictions 

1. Administrative costs. 

Administrative costs may not exceed 20 

percent of any SHOP grant. Indirect 

costs may only be charged to the SHOP 

grant under a cost allocation plan 

prepared in accordance with OMB 

Circular A–122. 

2. Pre-agreement costs. After 

submission of the application, but 

before the effective date of the SHOP 

Grant Agreement, an applicant may 

incur costs that may be charged to its 

SHOP grant provided the costs are 

eligible (see Section III.C.1.) and in 

compliance with the requirements of 

this NOFA (including environmental 

review requirements) and the 

application. Applicants incur costs at 

their own risk, because applicants that 

do not receive a SHOP grant cannot be 

reimbursed. 

3. Ineligible Costs. Costs associated 

with the rehabilitation, improvement, or 

construction of dwellings and any other 

costs not identified in Section III.C.1. 

are not eligible uses of program funds. 

Acquiring land for land banking 

purposes (i.e., holding land for an 

indefinite period) is an ineligible use of 

SHOP funds. Acquisition undertaken by 

the applicant or its affiliate before the 

submission of the application is not an 

eligible cost. 

F. Other Submission Requirements 

1. You must meet all submission 

requirements described in Section IV.F 

of the General Section, except the 

requirement for waiver of electronic 

submissions. Please refer to Section IV.F 

of the General Section (70 FR 13582) for 

detailed submission instructions, 

including methods for submission and 

timely receipt requirements for 

electronic and mailed applications. 

Applicants should carefully review 

these instructions as there have been 

major changes implemented for all 

HUD’s 2005 NOFAs. 

2. In addition to the submission 

requirements described in Section 

IV.F.4 of the General Section, please 

note the following direction specific to 

SHOP. During FY 2005, HUD strongly 

encourages submission of electronic 

applications. Electronic applications 

must be submitted through the 

www.Grants.gov portal. While electronic 

application submission through 

Grants.gov is encouraged, an applicant 

that wishes to submit a paper 

application must send an original and 

two copies to the Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, 

Central Processing Unit, Room 7152, 

451 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, 

DC 20410, ATTN: Self-Help 

Homeownership Opportunity Program 

(SHOP). In subsequent years of 

competition, electronic submissions 

will be expected. 

V. Application Review Information 

A. Criteria 

Rating Factor 1: Capacity of the 

Applicant and Relevant Organizational 

Staff (30 Points) 

This factor examines the extent to 

which you, as a single applicant or 

consortium (including individual 

consortium members), have the 

experience and organizational resources 

necessary to carry out the proposed 

activities effectively and in a timely 

manner. Any applicant that does not 

receive at least 20 points under this 

factor will not be eligible for funding. 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 53495 

In evaluating this factor, HUD will 

consider your recent and relevant 

experience in carrying out the activities 

you propose, and your administrative 

and fiscal management capability to 

administer the grant, including the 

ability to account for funds 

appropriately. All applicants, including 

individual consortium members, must 

have capacity and experience in 

administering or facilitating self-help 

housing. If you are sponsoring affiliate 

organizations that do not have 

experience in developing self-help 

housing, HUD will assess your 

organization’s experience in providing 

technical assistance and the ability to 

mentor new affiliates. For applicants 

that currently have open SHOP grants, 

HUD will assess your organization’s 

past performance based upon 

performance reports that demonstrate 

your organization’s completion of 

eligible SHOP activities, the number of 

families provided housing, financial 

status information focusing on timely 

use of funds, and other program 

outcomes. HUD will consider whether 

you have had funds deobligated for 

failure to meet your drawdown and 

construction schedules or funds were 

returned because of monitoring findings 

or other program deficiencies. HUD will 

also rely on monitoring reports, audit 

reports, and other information available 

to HUD in making its determination 

under this factor. For applicants that 

currently have open SHOP grants from 

previous years, HUD will assess your 

pattern of meeting benchmarks in the 

most recent three years of participation 

in the program. If you are not a current 

recipient of SHOP funds, you must 

summarize your past performance in 

undertaking similar or the same 

activities during the past three years. 

You may supplement your narrative 

with existing internal or external 

performance reports or other 

information that will assist HUD in 

making this determination and submit it 

as an appendix. Supplemental 

information and reports from applicants 

that have not received previous SHOP 

funding do not count against the page 

limitations. Failure to provide this 

information will result in a lower score. 

Submission Requirements for Rating 

Factor 1 

a. Past Experience (12 points). You 

must describe your past experience in 

carrying out self-help housing activities 

(specify the time frame during which 

these activities occurred) that are the 

same as, or similar to, the activities you 

propose for funding, and demonstrate 

that you have had reasonable success in 

carrying out and completing those 

activities. You must include the average 

number of sweat equity hours provided 

per homebuyer family, and the average 

number of volunteer labor hours 

provided per unit. You may 

demonstrate reasonable success by 

showing that your previous activities 

were carried out as proposed, consistent 

with the time frame you proposed for 

completion of all work. You must 

provide evidence regarding your 

performance in meeting established 

benchmarks for acquiring properties and 

completing housing construction and 

indicate that performance reports were 

submitted as required. New applicants 

furnishing supplemental material 

should refer to the introduction to this 

rating factor. To the extent that you 

encountered delays that were beyond 

your control, please describe the 

circumstances causing the delays and 

the mitigating actions taken to overcome 

them to successfully complete your 

program. 

b. Management Structure (12 points). 

You must provide a description of your 

organization’s or consortium’s 

management structure, including an 

organizational chart. You must also 

describe your key staff and their specific 

roles and responsibilities for day-to-day 

management of your proposed SHOP 

program. You must indicate if you will 

or will not be working with 

organizations that are inexperienced in 

carrying out self-help housing and 

describe how you will provide technical 

assistance and mentor these 

organizations to develop capacity either 

directly or indirectly. 

c. Experience Developing Accessible 

Housing (6 points). You must 

demonstrate your experience in and 

ability to construct and alter self-help 

housing by describing the kinds of 

features that you have used to design 

homes in accordance with universal 

design and visitability standards, or 

otherwise make homes accessible to the 

elderly or persons with disabilities. You 

must provide data on the number of 

accessible units you have completed 

and the time frame during which units 

were constructed and/or altered. 

Rating Factor 2: Need/Extent of the 

Problem (10 Points) 

This factor examines the extent to 

which you demonstrate an urgent need 

for SHOP funds in your proposed target 

areas based on the need for affordable 

housing and the quality of the data 

submitted to substantiate that need. 

The purpose of this factor is to make 

sure that funding is provided where a 

need for funding exists. Under this 

factor, you must identify the community 

need or needs that your proposed SHOP 

activities are designed to address. If you 

plan to select some or all affiliates after 

application submission, you must 

demonstrate how the selection of 

affiliates will help to address the needs 

identified in the proposed target areas. 

Submission Requirements for Rating 

Factor 2 

Extent of Need for Affordable Housing 

(10 points). You must establish the need 

for affordable housing and the specific 

need for SHOP funds in the 

communities or areas in which your 

proposed activities will be carried out. 

You must specifically address the need 

for acquisition and/or infrastructure 

assistance for self-help housing 

activities in these identified areas and 

how your proposed SHOP activities 

meet these needs. Also, to the extent 

information is available, you must 

address the need for accessible homes in 

the target area(s); evidence of housing 

discrimination in the target area(s); and 

any need for housing shown in the local 

Analysis of Impediments to Fair 

Housing Choice, if appropriate. 

Applicants that select affiliates after 

application submission must submit a 

list of affiliates they surveyed and upon 

which they are basing their need for 

SHOP funding, as well as the specific 

criteria to be used to select communities 

or projects based on need. 

In reviewing applications, HUD will 

consider the extent, quality, and validity 

of the information and data submitted 

that addresses the need for affordable 

housing in the target area. Such 

information must include: 

a. Housing market data in the 

proposed target areas including, but not 

limited to: Low-income, minority, and 

disability populations; number of home 

sales and median sales price; and 

homeownership, rental, and vacancy 

rates. This information can be obtained 

from state or regional housing plans, the 

American Housing Survey, the United 

States Census, Home Mortgage 

Disclosure Act data or other local data 

sources, such as Consolidated Plans, 

comprehensive plans, local tax assessor 

databases, or relevant realtor 

information. Data included in your 

application must be recent and specific 

to your proposed target areas; and 

b. Housing problems in the proposed 

target areas such as overcrowding, cost 

burden, housing age or deterioration, 

low homeownership rate (especially 

among minority families, families with 

children, and families with members 

with disabilities), and lack of adequate 

infrastructure or utilities. 

53496 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 

Rating Factor 3: Soundness of Approach 

(40 Points) 

This factor examines the quality and 

soundness of your plan to carry out a 

self-help housing program. In evaluating 

this factor HUD will consider the areas 

described below: 

a. Your proposed use of SHOP funds, 

including the number of units and the 

type(s) of housing to be constructed, and 

the use of sweat equity and volunteer 

labor; your schedule for expending 

funds and completing construction, 

including interim milestones; the 

proposed budget and cost effectiveness 

of your program; and your plan to reach 

all potentially eligible homebuyers, 

including those with disabilities and 

others least likely to apply; and your 

criteria for selecting homebuyers. 

b. How your planned activities further 

the five HUD policy priorities that apply 

specifically to SHOP in FY 2005 as 

described in the General Section (70 FR 

13586). The policy priorities for SHOP 

are: 

(1) Providing increased 

homeownership opportunities for lowand moderate-income persons, persons 

with disabilities, the elderly, minorities, 

and families with limited English 

proficiency; 

(2) Encouraging accessible design 

features: visitability in new construction 

and substantial rehabilitation and 

universal design; 

(3) Providing full and equal access to 

grassroots, faith-based, and other 

community-based organizations in HUD 

program implementation; 

(4) Participation in Energy Star; and 

(5) Removal of regulatory barriers to 

affordable housing. 

Submission Requirements for Rating 

Factor 3 

Activities. Describe the types of 

activities that you propose to fund with 

SHOP and the proposed number of units 

to be assisted with SHOP funding, the 

housing type(s) (single family or 

multifamily, or both) to be assisted and 

the form of ownership (fee simple, 

condominium, cooperative, etc.) you 

propose to use. 

a. Sweat Equity and Volunteer Labor 

(6 points). Describe your program’s 

requirements for sweat equity and 

volunteer labor (i.e., types of tasks and 

numbers of hours required for both 

sweat equity and volunteer labor) and 

how you will provide reasonable 

accommodations for persons with 

disabilities by identifying sweat equity 

assignments that can be performed by 

the homebuyer regardless of the 

disability, such as doing administrative, 

clerical, organizational, or other office 

work or minor tasks on site. Reasonable 

accommodation can include sweat 

equity by the homebuyer that can be 

performed regardless of the disability or 

substitution of a non-homebuyer 

designee(s) to perform the sweat equity 

assignments on behalf of the 

homebuyer. Volunteers who substitute 

for disabled homebuyers must enter into 

an agreement to complete the work on 

behalf of the homebuyers. Include the 

dollar value of both the sweat equity 

and volunteer labor contributions and 

specify the amount by which these 

contributions will reduce the sales price 

to the homebuyer. Applicants showing 

a larger reduction of the sales price as 

a result of the homebuyer’s sweat equity 

and volunteer labor contributions will 

receive a higher score. 

b. Funds Expenditure, Construction, 

and Completion Schedules (5 points). 

Submit a construction and completion 

schedule that expends SHOP funds and 

substantially fulfills your obligations if 

you are funded. You must provide a 

definition of ‘‘substantially fulfills’’ by 

specifically stating the percentage or 

number of properties that you propose 

to be completed and conveyed to 

homebuyers at the time all grant funds 

are expended. Your construction 

schedule must include the number of 

dwelling units to be completed within 

24 months or, in the case of affiliates 

that develop five or more units, within 

36 months, and a time frame for 

completing any unfinished units. 

Your schedule must also include 

milestones or benchmarks against which 

HUD can measure your progress in 

selecting local affiliates if they are not 

specifically identified in the 

application, expending funds, and 

completing acquisition, infrastructure, 

and housing construction activities 

within these schedules. These 

milestones or benchmarks should be 

established at reasonable intervals (e.g., 

monthly, quarterly). 

c. Budget (6 points). Provide a 

detailed budget including a breakdown 

for each proposed task and each budget 

category (acquisition, infrastructure 

improvements, and administration) 

funded by SHOP in the HUD–424–CB 

and 424–CBW. If SHOP funds will be 

used for administration of your grant, 

you must include the cost of monitoring 

consortium members and affiliates at 

least once during the grant period. Your 

detailed budget must also include 

leveraged funding to cover costs of 

completing construction of the proposed 

number of units. Budget amounts on the 

HUD–424–CB and 424–CBW must agree 

with amounts stated elsewhere in the 

application. 

d. Cost Effective (3 points). Describe 

how the cost of your proposed SHOP 

units compares to similar units in the 

target area(s) that are not funded with 

SHOP. You must demonstrate that your 

SHOP costs will not exceed an average 

of $15,000 per unit, and that your 

proposed self-help housing activities are 

cost-effective. Applicants must address 

costs of land, infrastructure, and 

housing construction for non-SHOP 

units. 

e. Policy Priorities (6 points). Describe 

how each of the five HUD policy 

priorities identified specifically for 

SHOP is furthered by your proposed 

activities. You will receive up to one 

point for each policy priority (1), (2), (3), 

and (4) based on how well your 

proposed work activities address the 

specific policy, and up to two points for 

how you address policy priority (5), 

removal of regulatory barriers to 

affordable housing, for which you must 

submit form HUD–27300, Questionnaire 

for HUD’s Initiative on Removal of 

Regulatory Barriers, except as provided 

below. Applicants that identify affiliate 

organizations and jurisdictions to be 

served in their application to HUD 

should address the questions in Part A 

or Part B of form HUD–27300 for the 

jurisdiction in which the majority or 

plurality of services will be performed. 

Applicants that do not identify affiliates 

and communities to be served in their 

application to HUD, but select affiliates 

competitively or through another 

method after application submission to 

HUD, may address this policy priority 

by including it as an evaluative criterion 

in their affiliate selection process. Such 

applicants may receive up to two points 

by requiring affiliate applicants for the 

awarded SHOP funds to complete the 

questions in either Part A or B, as 

appropriate. In order to receive points, 

applicants that identify affiliates after 

application submission must include 

their evaluative criterion as an 

appendix, and, if awarded SHOP funds 

in FY 2004, must demonstrate how the 

evaluative criteria that were included in 

your FY 2004 application were 

implemented. You must also describe 

how the evaluative criteria affected the 

selection and funding of affiliates, to the 

extent this has been completed. The 

narrative for your evaluative criteria 

does not count against the page limits 

described in Section IV.B.1, Page Limits. 

Applicants applying for funds for 

projects located in local jurisdictions 

and counties/parishes are invited to 

answer 20 questions under Part A. An 

applicant that scores at least five in 

column 2 will receive 1 point in the 

NOFA evaluation. An applicant that 

scores 10 or more in column 2 will 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 53497 

receive 2 points in the NOFA 

evaluation. The community(ies) must be 

identified on the form HUD–27300. 

Applicants applying for funds for 

projects located in unincorporated areas 

or areas otherwise not covered in Part A 

are invited to answer the 15 questions 

in Part B. Under Part B, an applicant 

that scores at least four points in 

Column 2 will receive one point in the 

NOFA evaluation. Under Part B, an 

applicant that scores eight points or 

greater will receive a total of two points 

in the evaluation. The community(ies) 

must be identified on the form HUD–

27300. 

A limited number of questions on 

form HUD–27300 expressly request the 

applicant to provide brief 

documentation with its response. Other 

questions require that, for each 

affirmative statement made, the 

applicant supply a reference, Web site 

address, or brief statement indicating 

where the back-up information may be 

found, and a point of contact, including 

a telephone number or e-mail address. 

Applicants are encouraged to read 

HUD’s notices published in the Federal 

Register on March 22 (69 FR 13450) and 

April 21 (69 FR 21663), 2004, to obtain 

an understanding of this policy priority 

and how it can impact your score. 

f. Program Outreach (4 points). 

Describe materials or services that will 

be used to reach potential homebuyers, 

including persons least likely to apply. 

For example, what alternative formats 

will be used to reach persons with a 

variety of disabilities and what language 

accommodations will be made for 

persons with limited English 

proficiency. 

g. Homebuyer Selection (6 points). 

Describe your criteria for selecting 

homebuyers, including the minimum 

and maximum income of targeted 

homebuyers, and other criteria and 

selection procedures. If the selection 

criteria or procedures used by 

individual consortium members or 

affiliates are different from your criteria, 

you must describe the differences. You 

must specify the definition of annual 

income that you will use to determine 

the income eligibility of homebuyers as 

described in Section III.C.2.e. If a 

consortium member’s or affiliate’s 

definition of annual income is different 

from your income definition, you must 

identify the consortium member or 

affiliate and its definition. For 

organizations that select affiliates after 

application submission, you must 

specify how you will impose this 

requirement in your selection of 

affiliates. 

h. Performance and Monitoring (4 

points). Describe your plan for 

overseeing the performance of 

consortium members and affiliates, 

including a plan for monitoring each 

consortium member and affiliate for 

program compliance at least once 

during the term of the grant. Your plan 

should address when and how you will 

shift funds among consortium members 

and affiliates to ensure timely and 

effective use of SHOP funds within the 

schedule submitted for item b. above. 

Rating Factor 4: Leveraging Resources 

(10 Points) 

This factor addresses your ability to 

secure other resources that can be 

combined with HUD’s program 

resources to fully fund your proposed 

program. When combined with the 

SHOP grant funds, homebuyer sweat 

equity, and volunteer labor, your 

leveraged resources must be sufficient to 

develop the number of units proposed 

in your application. HUD will consider 

only those leveraging contributions for 

which current firm commitments as 

described in this factor have been 

provided. A firm commitment means a 

written agreement under which the 

applicant, a partner, or an entity agrees 

to perform services or provide resources 

for an activity specified in your 

application. Firm commitments in the 

form of cash funding (e.g., grants or 

loans), in-kind contributions, donated 

land and construction materials, and 

donated services will count as leverage. 

Leveraging does not include the dollar 

value of sweat equity and volunteer 

labor for your proposed activities. 

Leveraging does not include financing 

provided to homebuyers. However, 

financing provided through the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture’s Section 502 

direct loans to homebuyers for 

construction of their dwellings counts 

as leveraging for mutual self-help 

housing programs. Firm commitments 

must be substantiated by the 

documentation described below. 

Submission Requirements for Rating 

Factor 4 

Firm Commitments of Resources (10 

Points). Provide firm commitments 

(letters, agreements, pledges, etc.) of 

leveraged resources or services from the 

source of the commitment. In order to 

be considered, leveraged resources or 

services must be committed in writing 

and include your organization’s name, 

the contributing organization’s name 

(including designation as a Federal, 

State, local, or private source), the 

proposed type of commitment, and 

dollar value of the commitment as it 

relates to your proposed activities. Each 

letter of commitment must be signed by 

an official of the organization legally 

able to make the commitment on behalf 

of the organization. See section IV.F, 

Other Submission Requirements, of the 

General Section (70 FR 13583) regarding 

the procedures for submitting thirdparty documentation. Each letter of 

commitment must specifically support 

your FY 2005 SHOP application or 

specific projects in your FY 2005 

application. If your organization 

depends upon fundraising and 

donations from unknown sources/ 

providers, you must submit a separate 

letter committing a specific amount of 

dollars in fundraising to your proposed 

FY 2005 SHOP program. Likewise, if 

you have received funds from 

organizations and agencies from 

previous years that are not committed to 

another activity and you have the sole 

discretion to commit these funds to your 

FY 2005 SHOP program, you must 

submit a separate letter committing 

these dollars to your FY 2005 SHOP 

program. In all instances, the dollar 

amount must be stated in the letters. 

Letters of commitment may be 

contingent upon your receiving a grant 

award. Letters of commitment must be 

included as an appendix to your 

application, and do not count toward 

the page limitation noted in Section 

IV.B.1. Unsigned, undated, or outdated 

letters, letters only expressing support 

of your organization or its proposal, or 

those not specifically stating the dollar 

amount or linking the resources to your 

FY 2005 SHOP application or specific 

projects in your FY 2005 application do 

not count as firm commitments. 

To receive full credit for leveraging, 

an applicant’s leveraging resources must 

be clearly identified for its FY 2005 

SHOP application and must total at least 

50 percent of the amount shown on 

forms HUD–424–CB needed to complete 

all properties, minus the proposed 

SHOP grant amount, homebuyer sweat 

equity, and volunteer labor. 

Rating Factor 5: Achieving Results and 

Program Evaluation (10 Points) 

This factor emphasizes HUD’s 

determination to track whether 

applicants meet commitments made in 

their applications and grant agreements 

and assess their performance in 

realizing performance goals. HUD 

requires SHOP applicants to develop an 

effective, quantifiable, outcome-oriented 

evaluation plan for measuring 

performance and determining whether 

goals have been met using the Logic 

Model, form HUD–96010. ‘‘Outcomes’’

are benefits accruing to the families 

and/or communities during or after 

participation in the SHOP program. The 

self-help housing units developed are 

outputs as described under this factor, 

53498 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 

not outcomes. Applicants must clearly 

identify the outcomes to be achieved 

and measured. Examples of outcomes 

for SHOP include increasing the 

homeownership rate in a neighborhood 

or among low-income families by a 

certain percentage, increasing financial 

stability (e.g., increasing assets of the 

low-income homebuyer households 

through additional savings or home 

equity) or increasing housing stability 

(e.g., whether persons and families 

assisted remain in the home one, two, 

or five or more years after completion). 

Outcomes must be quantifiable. 

In addition, applicants must establish 

interim benchmarks for which outputs 

lead to the ultimate achievement of 

outcomes. ‘‘Outputs’’ are the direct 

products of the applicant’s program 

activities. Examples of outputs for 

SHOP include the number of houses 

constructed, number of sweat equity 

hours, or number of homes 

rehabilitated. Outputs should produce 

outcomes for your program. Outputs 

must be quantifiable. 

‘‘Interim benchmarks’’ are steps or 

stages in your activities that, if reached 

or completed successfully, will result in 

outputs for your program. Examples of 

interim benchmarks for SHOP include 

income-qualifying homebuyers, 

obtaining building permits, or securing 

construction materials and equipment. 

Program evaluation requires that you 

identify program outcomes, outputs, 

benchmarks, and performance 

indicators that will allow you to 

measure your performance. Performance 

indicators should be objectively 

quantifiable and measure actual 

achievements against anticipated 

achievements. Your evaluation plan 

should identify what you are going to 

measure, how you are going to measure 

it, and the steps you have in place to 

make adjustments to your work plan if 

performance targets are not met within 

established time frames. This factor 

reflects HUD’s goal to embrace high 

standards of ethics, management, and 

accountability. Successful applicants 

will be required to periodically report 

on their progress in achieving the 

proposed outcomes identified in the 

application. 

Submission Requirements for Rating 

Factor 5 

Program Evaluation Plan (10 Points). 

In narrative format, you must submit a 

program evaluation plan that 

demonstrates how you will measure 

your own program performance. Your 

plan must identify the interim 

benchmarks, outputs, and outcomes you 

expect to achieve including time frames 

for accomplishing these goals. Your 

plan must demonstrate how interim 

benchmarks relate to outputs and 

subsequently to outcomes in your 

proposed program. Your plan must 

include performance indicators to 

measure actual accomplishments 

against anticipated achievements. You 

must indicate how your plan will 

measure the performance of individual 

consortium members and affiliates, 

including the standards and 

measurement methods, and the steps 

you have in place or how you plan to 

make adjustments if you begin to fall 

short of established benchmarks and 

time frames. In addition to your 

program evaluation plan, you must 

complete the Logic Model, form HUD–

96010. Using form HUD–96010 to 

respond to this factor counts toward the 

page limits set forth in section IV, B of 

this NOFA. Form HUD–96010 may be 

downloaded from www.grants.gov/ 

Apply. In rating this factor, HUD will 

consider whether the application 

identifies outcome measures that meet 

the definition set out in this NOFA as 

well as the effectiveness of proposed 

measurement techniques. 

B. Review and Selection Process 

1. Factors for Award Used To Evaluate 

Applications 

HUD will evaluate all SHOP 

applications that successfully complete 

technical processing and meet threshold 

and submission requirements for 

Factors 1 through 5. The maximum 

number of points awarded for the rating 

factors is 100 plus the possibility of an 

additional 2 RC/EZ/EC–II bonus points. 

2. RC/EZ/EC–II Bonus Points 

Applicants may receive up to 2 bonus 

points for eligible activities that the 

applicant proposes to locate in federally 

designated Empowerment Zones (EZs), 

renewal communities (RCs), or 

enterprise communities (ECs) 

designated by the United States 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 

Round II (EC–IIs) that are intended to 

serve the residents of these areas and 

that are certified to be consistent with 

the area’s strategic plan or RC Tax 

Incentive Utilization Plan. For ease of 

reference in this notice, all of the 

federally designated areas are 

collectively referred to as ‘‘RC/EZ/EC–

IIs’’ and the residents of these federally 

designated areas as ‘‘RC/EZ/EC–II 

residents.’’ The RC/EZ/EC–II 

certification must be completed for an 

applicant to be considered for RC/EZ/ 

EC–II bonus points. A list of RC/EZ/EC–

IIs can be obtained from HUD’s grants 

web page at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/ 

grants/fundsavail.cfm. Applicants can 

determine if their program or project 

activities are located in one of these 

designated areas by using the locator on 

HUD’s Web site at www.hud.gov/ 

crlocator. Copies of the certification can 

be found in the electronic application 

and on HUD’s Web site at http:// 

www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/ 

nofa05/snofaforms.cfm. 

The certification must be completed 

and signed by the appropriate official in 

the RC/EZ/EC–II for an applicant to be 

considered for RC/EZ/EC–II bonus 

points. 

3. Rating 

Applications that meet all threshold 

requirements listed in Section III.C will 

be rated against the criteria in Factors 1 

through 5 and assigned a score. 

Applications that do not meet all 

threshold factors will be rejected and 

not rated. 

4. Ranking and Selection Procedures 

Applications that receive a total of 75 

points or more (without the addition of 

RC/EZ/EC–II bonus points) will be 

eligible for selection. RC/EZ/EC–II 

bonus points will be awarded as 

follows: 2 points to an applicant with 

over 25 percent of its proposed units in 

RC/EZ/EC–II; 1 point for 10 to 25 

percent of units in RC/EZ/EC–IIs; and 0 

points below 10 percent of units in RC/ 

EZ/EC–II zones. After adding any bonus 

points for RC/EZ/EC–IIs, HUD will 

place applications in rank order. HUD 

will consider rank order, funds 

availability, and past performance in the 

selection and funding of applications. 

5. Technical Deficiencies 

After the application submission date 

and consistent with regulations in 24 

CFR part 4, subpart B, HUD may not 

consider any unsolicited information 

you may want to provide. HUD may 

contact you to clarify an item in your 

application or to correct technical 

deficiencies. In order not to 

unreasonably exclude applications from 

being rated and ranked, HUD may 

contact applicants to ensure proper 

completion of the application and will 

do so on a uniform basis for all 

applicants. However, HUD may not seek 

clarification of items or responses that 

improve the substantive quality of your 

response to any rating factor. 

Examples of curable (correctible) 

technical deficiencies include 

inconsistencies in the funding request, a 

failure to submit the proper 

certifications, or failure to submit an 

application that contains an original 

signature by an authorized official. In 

each case, HUD will notify you in 

writing by describing the clarification or 

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technical deficiency. Applicants will be 

notified by facsimile or by United States 

Postal Service (USPS), return receipt 

requested. Clarifications or corrections 

to technical deficiencies in accordance 

with the information provided by HUD 

must be submitted within 14 calendar 

days of the date of receipt of the HUD 

notification. If the due date falls on a 

Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday, 

your correction must be received by 

HUD on the next day that is not a 

Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday. If 

the deficiency is not corrected within 

this time period, HUD will reject your 

application as incomplete and it will 

not be considered for funding. 

6. HUD’s Strategic Goals To Implement 

HUD’s Strategic Frameworks and 

Demonstrate Results 

See the General Section (70 FR 13586) 

for HUD’s Strategic Goals. 

7. Policy Priorities 

Please refer to Section V.A.2 of the 

General Section (70 FR 13586) for 

information regarding application 

criteria addressing HUD’s policy 

priorities. 

Note: Upon completion of all applications, 

grant selections and awards, HUD intends to 

add relevant data for the SHOP program 

obtained from the ‘‘Removal of Regulatory 

Barriers’’ policy priority factor to the 

database on state and local regulatory reform 

actions maintained at the Regulatory Barrier 

Clearinghouse Web site at 

www.huduser.org.rbc/ used by states, 

localities, and housing providers to identify 

regulatory barriers and learn of exemplary 

local efforts at regulatory reform. 

VI. Award Administration Information 

A. Award Notices 

1. HUD reserves the right to: 

a. Fund less than the amount 

requested by any applicant based on the 

application’s rank, the applicant’s past 

performance, and the amount of funds 

requested relative to the total amount of 

available funds; 

b. Fund less than the full amount 

requested by any applicant to ensure a 

fair distribution of the funds and the 

development of housing on a national, 

geographically diverse basis as required 

by the statute; and/or 

c. Not award funds to an applicant 

with significant performance problems. 

HUD will not fund any portion of an 

application that is ineligible for funding 

under program threshold requirements 

in Section III.C.2 or which does not 

meet other threshold and pre-award 

requirements in Section III.C.4. The 

minimum grant award shall be the 

amount necessary to complete at least 

30 units at an average investment of not 

more than $15,000 per unit or a lesser 

amount if lower costs are reflected in 

the application. If any funds remain 

after all selections have been made, 

these funds may be available for 

subsequent competitions. 

2. Debriefing. For a period of at least 

20 days, beginning 30 days after the 

awards for assistance are publicly 

announced, HUD will provide to a 

requesting applicant a debriefing related 

to its application. A debriefing request 

must be made in writing or by email by 

its authorized official whose signature 

appears on the SF–424 or his or her 

successor in the office and submitted to 

Ms. Lou Thompson, Office of Affordable 

Housing Programs, U.S. Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, 451 

Seventh Street, SW., Room 7164, 

Washington, DC 20410–7000. 

Information provided during a 

debriefing will include, at a minimum, 

the final score you received for each 

rating factor, final evaluation comments 

for each rating factor, and the final 

assessment indicating the basis upon 

which assistance was provided or 

denied. 

B. Administration and National Policy 

Requirements 

1. When administering your SHOP 

award, you are required to comply with 

the following administrative and 

financial requirements: 

A–122 Cost Principles for Non-Profit 

Organizations; A–133 (Audits of 

States, Local Governments, and NonProfit Organizations); and the 

regulations at 24 CFR part 84 (Grants 

and Agreements with Institutions of 

Higher Education, Hospitals, and 

other Non-Profit Organizations). 

2. Copies of the OMB Circulars may 

be obtained from EOP Publications, 

Room 2200, New Executive Office 

Building, Washington, DC 20503, 

telephone (202) 395–3080 (this is not a 

toll-free number) or (800) 877–8339 

(toll-free TTY Federal Information Relay 

Service) or from the Web site at 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

circulars/index.html. 

3. Please refer to all award 

administration information 

requirements described in Section VI 

(‘‘Award Administration Information’’) 

of the General Section (70 FR 13590). 

C. Reporting. Grantees are required to 

submit quarterly and annual reports 

providing data on the construction 

status, unit characteristics, and income 

and racial and ethnic composition of 

homeowners in SHOP-funded 

properties. For each reporting period, as 

part of the required report to HUD, grant 

recipients must include a completed 

Logic Model (form HUD–96010), which 

identifies output and outcome 

achievements. 

VII. Agency Contact 

Further Information and Technical 

Assistance. Before the application due 

date, HUD staff is available to provide 

general guidance and technical 

assistance about this NOFA. However, 

staff is not permitted to assist in 

preparing your application. Also, 

following selection of applicants, but 

before awards are announced, staff may 

assist in clarifying or confirming 

information that is a prerequisite to the 

offer of an award. You may contact Ms. 

Lou Thompson, SHOP Program 

Manager, Office of Affordable Housing 

Programs, U.S. Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, 451 Seventh 

Street, SW., Room 7164, Washington, 

DC 20410–7000, telephone (202) 708–

2684 (this is not a toll-free number). 

This number can be accessed via TTY 

by calling the toll-free Federal 

Information Relay Service Operator at 

(800) 877–8339. For technical support 

for downloading an application or 

electronically submitting an application, 

please call Grants.gov Customer Support 

at 800–518-GRANTS (this is a toll-free 

number) or e-mail at 

support@grants.gov. 

VIII. Other Information 

A. Please review Section VIII.A., B., 

E., F., G., and H. (‘‘Other Information’’) 

of the General Section (70 FR 13591), 

and please note that these subsections 

are incorporated by reference. 

B. Paperwork Reduction Act. The 

information collection requirements 

contained in this document have been 

approved by the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501–

3520) and assigned OMB control 

number 2506–0157. In accordance with 

the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD may 

not conduct or sponsor, and a person is 

not required to respond to, a collection 

of information unless the collection 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. Public reporting burden for the 

collection of information is estimated to 

average 60 hours per annum per 

respondent for the application and grant 

administration. This includes the time 

for collecting, reviewing, and reporting 

the data for the application, quarterly, 

and annual report, and final report. The 

information will be used for grantee 

selection and monitoring the 

administration of funds. Response to 

this request for information is required 

in order to receive the benefits to be 

derived. 

53500 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices 

C. Environmental Impact. A Finding 

of No Significant Impact with respect to 

the environment has been made for this 

Notice in accordance with the 

regulations at 24 CFR part 50 that 

implement Section 102(2)(c) of the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332 (C)). The Finding 

of No Significant Impact is available for 

public inspection between 8 a.m. and 5 

p.m. in the Office of the General 

Counsel, Regulations Division, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 

Room 10276, Washington DC 20410–

0500. 

Dated: August 31, 2005. 

Pamela H. Patenaude, 

Assistant Secretary for Community Planning 

and Development. 

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