July 17, 2006

ISSUE 1124

FARMWORKER HOUSING RECOVERY PROGRAM TIMETABLE ANNOUNCED

At a public meeting Tuesday (July 11), Florida Housing Finance Corporation discussed the development of an emergency rule and application for two newly established hurricane housing recovery programs. One of those, the Florida Farmworker Housing Recovery Program (FHRP), is mandated by the Legislature to prioritize rental housing solutions for migrant farmworkers and encourage partnerships with nonprofits, farmers, growers, local governments, trade associations or other organizations that can share in the cost of providing this housing.

Following is the agenda for this year’s Florida Farmworker Housing Recovery Program:

7-18-06 Comment Period Ends at 5PM
7-31-06 Rule Adopted
8-1-06 Open FHRP/SHADP cycle (45 days)
9-15-06 Close FHRP/SHADP cycle
9-26-06 Preliminary Scores issued
10-4-06 NOPSEs due
10-12-06 NOPSE Scores issued
10-23-06 Cures due
10-31-06 NOADs due
12-15-06 Board approves final ranking for FHRP/SHADP Application Cycle
12-18-06 Staff issues Final Ranking Scores and Notice of Rights

For farmworkers unaccompanied by their families, rents should be based on “beds” as necessary and paid daily, weekly, or monthly. Also the program is to provide flexible funding toward the construction or rehabilitation of housing in the form of loans which should be forgivable in certain situations.

Finally, the program should be targeted to agricultural areas of the state impacted by the 2004 and 2005 storms and proximate to services.

To access detailed application instructions, CLICK HERE.