STATE OF CALIFORNIA - BUSINESS, CONSUMER SERVICES AND HOUSING AGENCY GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
DIVISION OF STATE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
2020 W. El Camino Avenue, Suite 670, Sacramento, CA 95833 P. O. Box 952054
Sacramento, CA 94252-2054
(916) 263-2771 / (FAX) 263-2763
www.hcd.ca.gov
DATE: May 30, 2024
MEMORANDUM FOR: Interested Parties
FROM: Jennifer Seeger, Deputy Director
Division of State Financial Assistance
SUBJECT: Notice of Program Guideline Amendments
ADMINISTRATIVE NOTICE NO. 24-02
This Administrative Notice establishes a formal written notification of administrative guidelines and policies that affect the operation of the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s (“HCD” or “Department”) financing programs.
This format is used to identify, clarify, and record administrative guidelines and interpretations of public interest.
This Administrative Notice (“Notice”) sets forth and repeals certain requirements under multiple homeownership financing programs, specifically the CalHome program and the homeownership elements of the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant program (“Serna Homeownership”) as described below.
The matters set forth herein are regulatory mandates and are adopted in accordance with the authorities set forth below: “Quasi-legislative regulations … have the dignity of statutes … [and]… delegation of legislative authority includes the power to elaborate the meaning of key statutory terms…” Ramirez v. Yosemite Water Co., 20 Cal. 4th 785, 800 (1999).
WHEREAS the California Department of Housing and Community Development (Department) is authorized to adopt, promulgate, amend, repeal and administer standards, requirements, procedures or guidelines (collectively Program Guidelines) for financial assistance offered pursuant to Department housing finance programs, through the Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs) and related guidelines as identified below;
WHEREAS pursuant to the statutory authority for the programs referenced in the guidelines and Notices of Funding Availability below, the Program Guidelines shall not ATTACHMENT 4
Homeownership Programs Omnibus Amendments Memorandum
be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code; WHEREAS the Department is issuing this interpretative guidance for the purposes of (1) ensuring equitable access to CalHome funds, and (2) aligning previously issued program guidelines and NOFA requirements with the most recent program guidelines and NOFA regarding key elements to ensure consistent implementation of key program elements across all currently active contracts; THEREFORE, by the undersigned execution of the Department's Director, the Department hereby adopts and amends into the Program Guidelines and NOFAs the following amendments thereto, as if such provision were originally set forth in each publication of the Program Guidelines and NOFAs as detailed below:
Article II, General Program Requirements, Section 204, Local Program/Project Administration of the CalHome Final Guidelines (effective December 30, 2022), Article II, General Program Requirements, Section 204, Local Program/Project Administration of the Serna Homeownership Final Guidelines (effective December 30, 2022), and Article 2, General Program Requirements, Section 7721, Local Program/Project Administration of the CalHome Final Guidelines (effective November 27, 2019) are amended to add the following as a new subsection:
Recipient is prohibited from conditioning any prospective or current lender’s or Borrower’s access to (or use of) CalHome Program funds upon payment of any fee(s), fine(s), or other charge(s) to Recipient (e.g., Recipient is prohibited from requiring a first mortgage lender to pay Recipient a fee in order for such lender to make a loan to a Borrower who is utilizing CalHome Program Mortgage Assistance funds for its down payment).
Subsection (c)(1) of Section 404.3, Administration Req uirements, of the Serna Homeownership Final Guidelines (effective December 30, 2022), is amended as follows:
Process for monitoring the requirement of owner occupancy by an Agricultural Worker
Household with household income not to exceed Low Income limits ; Subsection (e) of Section 404.4, Underwriting and Loan Requirements, of the Serna Homeownership Final Guidelines (effective December 30, 2022), is amended as follows:
Financial assistance provided to individual Households to rehabilitate, repair, or replace Manufactured Housing located in a Mobilehome Park and not permanently affixed to a foundation purchase a Manufactured Home shall be Homeownership Programs Omnibus Amendments Memorandum
in the form of a secured forgi
vable Loan, which shall also be made in a manner
consistent with applicable law (H.S.C. § 50650.3, subd. (c)). The Loan shall be due and payable in 20 years, with 10 percent of the original principal to be forgiven annually for each additional year beyond the 10th year that the home is owned and continuously occupied by the Borrower (H.S.C. § 50650.3, subd. (c)). Pursuant to H.S.C. § 50650.3(c)), not more than 10 percent of the funds available in a given fiscal year shall be used for financial assistance in the form of secured forgivable Loans.
Subsection (c) (2) of Section 603, Performance Goals, of the Serna Homeownership Final Guidelines (effective December 30, 2022), and the CalHome Final Guidelines (effective December 30, 2022), is amended as follows:
For Self-Help Technical Assistance Grants:
Unit construction shall be
completed within 36 60 months of the date the
Standard Agreement is executed by the Depart ment. If this goal is not met, then:
(B) If
the projected number of Assisted Uni ts has not been completed by the end of the 36th 60th month, the Recipient’s nex t application for funding under the Program may receive a penalty deduction in the total points awarded pursuant to
the current NOFA.
Subsection 2, Minimum and
Maximum Funding Limits, of Section D, Funding
Amounts and Limits, of Artic
le II, Program Requirements, of the CalHome
Disaster Assistance Round 2 NOFA (issued May 3, 2019, amended September 6, 2019) is amended as follows:
The minimum CalHome loan to a Borrower will be no less than $1,000. For the purposes of this NOFA, the maximum CalHome loan to an individual household will be 40 percent of the
Borrower’s purchase price for the property, up to a
maximum of $100200,000 per unit for First-Time Homebuyer Mortgage Assistance and or $250,000 per unit for First-Time Homebuyer Mortgage Assistance provided as part of Homeownership Project Development Loans and
$150200,000 for
Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Assistance except in the
following case: Th
e maximum loan amount will be $250,000 if the home is in need
of reconstruction. T
he total assistance for an impacted county, includin g all activity funds, and the Activity
Delivery Fee (ADF), cannot exceed the county set -
aside.
Subsection 2.a, Minimum and maximum per-unit funding amounts, of Section D, Funding amounts and limits, of Article II, Program Requirements, of the CalHome 2019 NOFA (issued November 27, 2019, amended December 23, 2019 and February 5, 2020) is amended as follows:
Homeownership Programs Omnibus Amendments Memorandum
Per-uni t fundi ng limits: Loans
The minimum CalHome Loan to a B orrower will be no less than $1, 000. For t he purposes of this N OFA, the maximum CalHome Loan p er-unit will be:
Fi
rst-Time Homebuyer Assistance
The maximum Loan amount will be 40 percent o f the Borrower’s purchase price for t
he property, up to a maximum of $100200,000. For Mortgage Assistance provided as part of a Homeownership P roject Development Loan, the ma
ximum Loan amount by an Award r ecipient to a Borrower w ill be 40 pe
rcent of the Borrower’s purchase price for t he property, up to a maximum o
f $250,000.
Owner-Occupied
Rehabilitation Assistance
The maximum Loan amount will be $ 75200,000, except in the following case: The maximum
Loan amount will be $125250,000 if the home is in need of reconstruction (Guidelines
Section 7716, subd. (zz)(2))
ADU/JADU Assistance
The maximum
per-unit Loan amount for ADU construction will be $100250,000.
H
omeownership Project Development
The maximum per-unit Loan amount for H omeownershi p Project Development Loans will be $ 100,000. If a n Applicant is applying t o fund H omeownershi p Project Development with a Self-Help Housing Project, the Applicant may additionally apply f
or Technical Assistance of $15,000 per-unit on top of the appli cation amount requested for Homeownership Project Development.
Subsection 2.a, Minimum and maximum per-unit funding limits, of Section D, Funding amounts and limits, of Article II, Program Requirements, of the CalHome 2020 NOFA (issued August 31, 2020) is amended as follows:
Grant Activities
F
or the purposes of this NOFA, the minimum and m aximum amount of funding t o individual Borrowers will be:
First-Time Homebuyer Assistance, including for mortgage assistance provided as a part of a Homeownership Development Project Loan The maxi
mum Loan amount by an award r ecipient t o an eligible Borrower will be 40 percent
of the Borrower’s purchase price for the property, up to a maximum of $100200,000. For First -Time Homebuyer Assistance provided as part of a Hom
eownership Development Project Loa n, the maximum Loan amount by an Homeownership Programs Omnibus Amendments Memorandum
award recipient to an eligible Borrower will be 40 percent of the Borrower’s purchase
price for
the property, up to a maximum of $250,000. The minimum
Loan to a Borrower
will be not less th an $1,000.
Where an Applicant is applying to perform a Homeownership Development Project Loa
n with a
self-hel p housing component, the Applicant may additionally apply for Technical Assistance of $15,000 per-unit in addition t o the Loan amount requested in the application
for the Homeownershi p Development Project.
Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Assistance
T
he maximum Lo
an amount by a n award recipient to an eligible Borrower will be $75200,000, unless the home is in need of reconstruction. If the home is in need of reconstruction, t
he maximum L oan amount will be $ 125250,000. The minimum Loan to
a Borrower will be not less th an $1,000.
ADU/JADU Assistance
T
he maximum Lo
an amount by a n award recipient to an eligible Borrower for ADU/ JADU construction will be $100 250,000. The minimum Loan to a Borrower will be not less than $1,000.
Subsection 2, Minimum and maximum funding limits, of Section D, Funding amounts and limits, of Article II, Program Requirements, of the CalHome Disaster Assistance 2021 NOFA (issued August 6, 2021, amended November 18, 2021) is amended as follows:
The minimum CalHome Loan from a Recipient to an individual Household will be no less than $1,000. For the purposes of this NOFA, the maximum CalHome Loan to an individual Household will be 40 percent of the Borrower’s purchase price for the property, up to a maximum of $100 200,000 per unit for F
irst-Time Homebuyer Mort gage Assistance or $250,000 per unit for First- Time Homebuyer Mortgage Assistance provided as part of
Homeownership Predevelopment Loans, and $250,000 per unit for ADU/JADU Assistance
, and Homeownership Predevelopment Loans. The
Technical Assistance for Self-Help Housing Projects maximum per-unit Grant amount will be $15,000, and all expenses shall be documented. If applying for the Shared Housing Pr
ogram, the maximum application amount is $300,000.
The maximu
m Loan amount for Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Assistance to an individual household will be $200,000 except in the following case: The maximum Loan amount will be $250,000 if the home is in need of reconstruction. The total assistance for an impacted county, including all activity funds, and the Activity Delivery Fee (ADF ), cannot exceed the county set-asi
de.
Homeownership Programs Omnibus Amendments Memorandum
Subsection 2.a, Minimum and maximum per-unit funding limits, of Section D, Funding amounts and limits, of Article II, Program Requirements, of the CalHome 2021 NOFA (issued September 21, 2021) is amended as follows:
Grant Activities
For the purposes of this NOFA, the minimum and maximum amount of funding to individual
Borrowers will be:
First-Time Homebuyer Assistance, including for mortgage assistance provided as a part of a Homeownership Development Project Loan The maximum Loan amount by an award recipient t o an eligible Borrower will be 40 percent of the Borrower’s purchase price for the property, up to a maximum of $100
200,000. For Mortgage Assistance provided as part of a Homeownership Development Project
Loan, the maximum Loa n amount by a n Award recipient
to a Borrower will be 40 percent of the Borrower’s purchase price for the property, up to
a maximum of $250,000. Th e minimum Loan t o a Borrower will be not less
than $1,000.
Where an Applicant is applying t o perform a Homeownership Development Project Loan with a self-help housing component, the Applicant may additionally apply for Technical Assistance of $15,000 per-unit in addition to the Loan amount requested in the application for the Homeownership Development Project.
Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Assistance
The maximum Lo an amount by an award recipient t o an eligible Borrower will be $100200,000, unless t he home is in ne ed of reconstruction. If the home is in need of reconstruction, t
he maximum Loan amo unt will be $150250,000. The minimum Loa n to a Borrower will be not less than $1,000.
ADU/JADU Assistance
The maximum Loan amount by a n award recipient to an eligible Borrower for ADU/ JADU construction will be $100 250,000. The minimum Loan to a Borrower will be not less
than $1,000.