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Dutchess County Housing Trust Fund

The Dutchess County Housing Trust Fund (HTF) was created in the fall of 2022 in response to long-standing housing availability and affordability challenges throughout the county. The HTF provides a flexible and nimble funding source to aid the implementation of a variety of affordable housing efforts as outlined in the 2022 Dutchess County Housing Needs Assessment
 

First Funding Round Announced:
The first application round for funding requests from the Dutchess County Housing Trust Fund was released on October 13, 2022.

Deadline to apply:  Wednesday November 30, 2022 by 4:00 p.m.


2022 Application and Supporting Materials:

 

Goals, Programs, and Eligible Activities

Goals of the Dutchess County Housing Trust Fund include:

  • Provide financial support for the creation of affordable housing distributed throughout Dutchess County.
  • Make affordable housing activities throughout the county more competitive for securing other funding sources.
  • Support housing which is a priority for the county but for which other funding is unavailable or very limited.
  • Prioritize projects that result in the creation of housing at higher levels of affordability.

The Housing Trust Fund's framework includes three overarching programs, each with a variety of potential eligible activities. For each funding round, the County will indicate which programs and activities are eligible for funding at that time. 

Housing Creation and Preservation (HCP) Program:

  • New affordable rental housing via new construction, rehabilitation of existing housing stock, and adaptive reuse of non-residential structures. Funded projects may be fully affordable or mixed-income. Single-room occupancy (SRO) rental housing is eligible under this category.
  • Acquisition-only for the creation of affordable rental housing (limited to projects by non-profit development entities).
  • Acquisition and/or rehabilitation of occupied, naturally-occurring affordable rental housing with income-eligible tenants to secure long-term affordability with applicable compliance periods.
  • Preservation/rehabilitation of existing affordable rental housing with expiring compliance periods.

Infrastructure and Pre-Development Support (IPDS) Program:

  • Expand/extend water and/or sewer infrastructure for affordable and mixed-income housing developments.
  • Development of generic environmental impact statements (GEIS) to streamline the development of affordable/mixed-income housing supported by the local municipality. GEIS must be supported by zoning to permit and streamline the creation of affordable housing via inclusionary zoning, density bonuses, or other strategies.
  • Zoning revisions to permit and streamline the creation of affordable housing via inclusionary zoning policies, density bonuses, or other strategies. A municipal match will be required.
  • Oversee administration of affordable units created via municipal inclusionary policies, density bonuses, or other strategies.

First-Time Homeownership (FTH) Program:

  • Support a locally-sourced program for subordinate or “soft second” mortgages to provide down payment and closing cost assistance for low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers who can afford a mortgage but lack savings to cover the down payment and/or closing costs.
  • Support construction or rehabilitation to create affordable homeownership opportunities for first-time homebuyers undertaken by non-profit entities.

General HTF Reference Materials