June 27, 2022

New Disaster Recovery Funding Available

to Organizations and Agencies Serving Vulnerable Populations

 U.S. Virgin Islands – The Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority (VIHFA) announces the availability of Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery funding available under the Public Services and Special Needs Housing Program.

Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, government agencies and NGOs that service vulnerable populations in the Virgin Islands. The goal is to fund those entities that may have been affected by the hurricanes or that were born from a need that was realized after the hurricanes.

The Public Services and Special Needs Housing Program was initially awarded $37.5 million in the CDBG-DR Action Plan. An amendment is forthcoming and will redirect funding to other urgent need programs. In consideration of the proposed changes, a notice of funding availability (NOFA) now reserves $7,395,000 for public services and special needs housing. Under the conditions of the NOFA, the VIHFA intends to award grant funds to eligible applicants in an individual award amount not to exceed $2.5 million.

The Application deadline is Wednesday, August 03, 2022, at 4:00 PM. Applicants must submit a completed application and all supporting documents described in the program NOFA electronically to [email protected]. No hard copies will be accepted, and no extensions of the due date will be granted. VIHFA reserves the right to award selected applicants in accordance with funds made available by HUD and based on any applicable statutory constraint at the time of award issuance.

Prospective applicants must attend one of the MANDATORY orientation sessions as follows:

For more information contact Mr. Dan Derima at (340) 777-4432 (St. Thomas/St. John) or Ms. Zakenya Ross at (340) 772-4432 (St. Croix).

CDBG-DR is a Presidentially declared during a major disaster, Congress appropriates funds to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) when there are significant unmet needs for long-term recovery.  The 3 core aspects of recovery are Housing, Infrastructure and Economic Revitalization.  CDBG-DR funds can only be spent to meet the recovery needs caused by the disaster(s) specifically stated in the appropriation.  Each funded project must meet at least one of the three national objectives as follows:

• Address slums & blight
• Address an urgent need for recovery
• Benefits low- and moderate-income (LMI) persons

“Primary benefit to low/mod income persons” means:

• at least 51% of the direct beneficiaries of an activity or area residents are low-income
• the activity benefits a population generally presumed to be low-income
• housing is created that will be restricted to occupancy by low-income households
• jobs are created/retained and at least 51% of the jobs will be held or available to low/mod income residents

Download Application