North Suburban Consortium

Information For Developers

The NSC utilizes Federal Housing and Urban Development HOME Funds to assist developers in the creation of low and moderate income housing. These funds are available for both rental and homeownership projects in any of the 8 member communities (Arlington, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Revere, and Winthrop).

Process for Applying to us for "Home" Program Funding.

Below we outline the process for applying to the North Suburban Consortium for US Department of Urban Development ("Hud") "Home" Program Funding.

1. Make contact with your member community.

Contact is usually made to the Mayor's Office/City Manager's Office or the community's Office of Planning/Community Development

Describe the development activity you have in mind
Learn about the program's requirements
Who supports your idea: other residents of the area? financing sources?
Are the tenants or buyers you are targeting eligible to qualify you for the HOME program funding?
Is the project feasible as a development project? Is the project feasible for long-term operations?
What about zoning and other permitting issues?

2. Prepare a preliminary development and operating pro forma and review it and the project in general with a staff person assigned to the project at the member community.

The staff person may request that you prepare various forms that will become a part of your formal application for funding.

3. Start looking at the design/plans, the budget and the timetable for the project in greater detail.

Do you have site control or how will you achieve site control? Is the other financing you'll need in place (other than the possible HOME funding)

4. Receive the go-ahead from the local community staff person to prepare an application for HOME funds to submit to the local staff person. (Application available for download at bottom of page.)

The application must be submitted to the local staff person, who will determine whether to submit it with the community's formal sponsorship to the NSC Board itself. The NSC only considers applications that are sponsored by the host community.

5. If the local community sponsors the application, the NSC will review it at the next monthly NSC meeting.

If You Receive a Commitment of NSC Funds

If the NSC approves your application, a final review and closing process will begin.

1. The NSC commitment will include conditions for moving forward; the conditions can range from:

Design issues
Amount of HOME financing
Number or affordability level of affordable units
Affirmative fair marketing plan for units
... or any number of other considerations.

2. After you get an NSC commitment letter, you would begin to satisfy its pre-closing conditions, which will include, among many other things, finalizing design, zoning and financing matters.

This period can take anywhere from a few weeks to, in some extraordinary cases, over a year.

3. As the pre-closing conditions near completion, the NSC will assign a private attorney to close your loan; you will be responsible for the NSC's legal costs.

4. Among the closing documents will be:

Promissory note
Loan agreement
Mortgage on the property where your development is taking place (this mortgage is often subordinate to other private financing)
Affordable housing restriction which will describe the terms under which you can sell or rent the units in the development.