WASHINGTON–The Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) has opened the fiscal year 2021 funding round for the Capital Magnet Fund.
Through the Capital Magnet Fund, Treasury said the CDFI Fund competitively awards funds to CDFIs and qualified non-profit housing organizations.
“These awards can be used to finance affordable housing, as well as related economic development and community service facilities,” according to Treasury. “The objective is to attract private capital investment in metropolitan, rural and economically distressed communities.”
Funding for the Capital Magnet Fund comes from allocations made by the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and varies from year to year. The CDFI Fund plans to provide up to $380 million in awards for the FY 2021 round, which is the highest level of funding ever made available.
“Given the larger amount of funding available for the FY 2021 funding round, eligible organizations of all sizes are encouraged to apply, including new and previous applicants, past Capital Magnet Fund recipients, and applicants focused on homeownership, rental housing, or both,” Treasury said.
More Awards Anticipated
According to the department, the CDFI Fund anticipates making more awards in this round of various sizes, including larger and smaller award amounts. Award requests that significantly exceed the maximum amounts made available in past funding rounds will be considered; the most recent Capital Magnet Fund awards ranged in size from $750,000 to $8 million, and averaged $3.7 million.
Treasury noted the CDFI Fund cannot award more than 15% of the aggregate funding available in Capital Magnet Fund awards to any single applicant, its subsidiaries or affiliates.
“Capital Magnet Fund awardees are able to utilize these funds for financing activities, such as capitalizing affordable housing funds, economic development funds, loan loss reserves, revolving loan funds, undertaking risk-sharing loans, and providing loan guarantees,” Treasury said. “Recipients are required to leverage private and public funds to finance affordable housing and economic development activities that yield a minimum ratio of 10:1.”
Application Materials
Treasury noted FY 2021 Capital Magnet Fund Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA), application, application instructions, and related guidance can be found on the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov/cmf under How to Apply Step 2: Apply. The application process consists of two parts: submitting the SF-424 Mandatory form through Grants.gov, and submitting the rest of the application through the CDFI Fund’s Awards Management Information System (AMIS).
The deadline for submission of the SF-424 is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Oct. 12, 2021.